Ace Cafe London: The revival tale

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We were lucky to bump into Mark Wilsmore, a British motorcycle touring legend and the man behind the revival of a biker’s paradise – the Ace Café London. Located in jam-packed London’s southern end, the Café is the centre of pilgrimage for every nomad on two wheels. 

The café opened its door to its patrons from 1938 but was destroyed during World War II. It was then rebuilt and restored to its glory. With bikers and rock and roll going hand in hand, there was a double of post war teenage energy and enthusiasm and soon the Ace Café became the place to be for anyone who dared to call himself a biker. However, over the course of time, the café began to lose its patrons due to a variety of reasons and ultimately downed its shutters for the last time in 1969.

It was during the summer of 1993 when Mark was out for a ride and one of his pals said that the next year would be historic for this café! Mark kept wondering what it meant and then it suddenly dawned on him that it would be 25 years since the Ace Café stopped operations back in 1969! Mark used to organise rides and events back then and so the mission to commemorate the 25th anniversary began. 

Mark Wilsmore successfully organised the first Ace Café reunion in 1994 and thus the story of the Ace Café revival began. As Mark and his friends kept on getting support from bikers all around, they reopened the café in 1997 and it was slowly restored to its glory by 2001. Well, With Mark Wilsmore and more such iconic personalities around, if you haven’t left for Goa yet here’s a reminder:  the India Bike Week is rocking on till tomorrow!