West Moreton Cafe

West Moreton Cafe opened Wednesday 31 March 1915 in rooms in Cameron's  new buildings in Nicholas Street, Ipswich. This location was described at the time as being "near the station".  The cafe had been specially fitted out and boasted a special room for ladies. To celebrate the opening of his new enterprise, John (Jack) Black the owner and proprietor promised to donate half of the first day's takings to the Belgian Special Appeal Fund, a World War I aid fund.

The cafe initially sold seafood and poultry (either alive or dressed. Later there would also  be soft drinks, chocolates, lollies, fruit, smallgoods, rabbits and smoked fish served between the hours of 7.30 am and 11.50 pm.

In early 1917 Jack Black relinquished ownership of West Moreton Cafe to George Marcellos and Peter Spathis. It was decided that Marcellos would run West Moreton Cafe and Spathis would conduct their Brisbane Street cafe. After a year or two, in about 1919, George Marcellos left the business and Nick Sklavos joined the enterprise to run West Moreton Cafe.

The cafe's next door neighbours were McQueen's Boot Palace on one side and Horsley's Bookseller & Stationer on the other side during this period. 

Around this time (1920), P. Spathis & Co. assumed ownership of the cafe. The company also owned Central Cafe and Olympia Cafe. P. Spathis & Co. involved three partners: Nicholas Sklavos, Peter Spathis and C. Marneros. In November 1924 the partnership was dissolved and Sklavos became the sole owner of West Moreton Cafe.  However, in an interesting twist, by March 1930 Spathis is once again proprietor of the West Moreton Cafe.

Although it is not known when the cafe closed down or changed hands, it was almost certainly during the 1930s. By 1940, Spathis had disposed of his Ipswich cafes and moved to Brisbane.