After the Chevals departed Sydney the Café Français maintained its reputation as one of the city’s principal establishments.
John Maloney was licensee from 1865 until 1874. He was also involved with the Sir Joseph Banks Hotel at Botany, which he ran initially with his nephew Samuel Moreton (Empire, 15 July 1868, p. 5; Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), 30 November 1868, p. 4). Whatever Maloney’s plans were, it seems that the Sir Joseph Banks venture was less than successful. On more than one occasion he advertised that he was leaving the Café Français (SMH, 23 September 1868, p. 7; SMH, 28 August 1869, p. 12) until eventually Maloney was declared insolvent and announced the closure of the Café Français due to losses incurred as lessee of the Sir Joseph Banks Hotel (Empire, 26 June 1871, p. 1; Evening News, 1 July 1871, p. 2).
The next licensee was Thomas Briggs, who, according to the available record, almost immediately transferred the license back to Maloney. Maloney then held it until February 1874 when it transferred to James Wheeler who was licensee for around twelve months (NSW Government Gazette, 26 September 1871, p. 2149; Empire, 4 November 1871, p. 3; SMH, 25 February 1874, p. 7). The Café Français was in the hands of Thomas Mansell Giblin (SMH, 27 June 1879, p. 7) for the next eleven years. During his tenancy the freehold was sold for £39,500 to ‘the Hon. Mr. Levy’ (SMH, 28 April 1882, p. 9; Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate, 15 June 1882 p. 2), and when the new owner decided to increase the rent Giblin decided it was time to move on.
The next incumbent was Mrs W. P. (Elizabeth) Bowes late of the Australian Hotel, Bourke Street, Melbourne, who closed the café while she oversaw extensive alterations and additions, redecorating, renovating, and refurnishing, paying ‘especial attention’ to the ventilation (SMH, 12 February 1886, p. 5; SMH, 15 Feb. 1886, p. 2; SMH ,17 August 1886 p. 2). The rejuvenation began with the façade – the ‘ancient shop front’ in George Street being replaced by a modern one ‘neatly ornamented in the Italian style’ with four large plate-glass windows and wide double doors.
Mrs Bowes inherited an establishment ‘in a condition of disrepair and dinginess’. The floors were ‘old, worm-eaten and decayed’, the stairs dark, narrow, and unsafe. A team of fox terriers had been employed to keep the rats at bay, but the place was also infested with cock roaches. A detailed description of the refurbished premises provides a picture of how the café restaurant functioned. On George Street there were two entrances – one to the café and the other to the restaurant/public dining room. The latter was 63 ft by 18 ft and housed three rows of tables capable of seating 100 customers. At the far end of the room was a small private bar and a heated carving table and servery. The kitchen was behind the dining room equipped with all the latest equipment, including a serving lift connecting to the floor above. The kitchen also communicated with Wynyard Lane for deliveries etc. The café, which measured 68 ft by 18 ft, housed a counter fitted with ‘three pull beer engines’ and a buffet. A lounge room adjoining the café for domino players and smokers was set up with marble topped tables and easy chairs. Stairs form the lounge room led to another bar. From the café another flight of stairs led to the first floor where there was a club room and a private dining room, a private drawing room and a parlour, as well as the billiard room, manager’s office, storeroom, and three bedrooms. The second floor housed a total of 13 bedrooms and two bathrooms. Lavatories were also provided in the restaurant and café, conveniently located near the entrance in both cases. The site had a frontage of 40 ft to George Street and 76 ft to Wynyard Lane and was 90 ft deep. In total the building contained 28 rooms exclusive of the restaurant and café. (SMH, 15 March 1887, p. 8).
Mrs Bowes had some experience of running a licensed premises. She had taken over the management of the Australian Hotel in 1879 on the death of her husband, William Patrick Bowes, a well-known sportsman who was killed in a hunting accident (The Herald (Melb.), 25 August 1879, p. 3; Argus, 20 November 1879, p. 8). As a result of business falling off, losses from bad debts, and depreciation in the value of the Australian Hotel Elizabeth was declared insolvent in June 1885 (Argus, 25 June 1885, p. 5). She was released from sequestration in February 1886, the same month she took over the Café Français (The Age (Melb.), 8 February 1886, p. 6). Who financed the extensive alterations to the cafe restaurant is not recorded? What sort of fare was now being served in the restaurant is also not recorded.
Mrs Bowes transferred the license to William Stewart Balfour in August 1888 (SMH, 3 August 1888, p. 4) and the Café Français briefly became the city office of the Bondi Aquarium Company, but exactly what Balfour’s association was with the Aquarium and pleasure grounds, is not known (SMH, 18 February 1889, p. 1).
In December the lease on the café premises was purchased by John James Roth, a wine and spirit merchant, and the licensee and manager became Olaf Andersen (SMH, 13 December 1889, p. 4; Daily Telegraph, 24 December 1889 p. 7). Andersen was a native of Denmark and ‘a thoroughly efficient restaurateur’ with considerable experience both in Europe and in ‘the best colonial establishments’. Anxious to maintain the reputation of the Café Français as ‘one of the best places for procuring a refresher or a first class dinner at moderate figures’ the new team promised ‘a daily menu fit for the most fastidious epicure’ (The Australian Star, 18 February 1890, p. 2). Andersen’s association with the business did not last long and the liquor license went back to William Balfour in April 1891 (SMH, 17 April 1891 p. 7). Despite his initial optimism, by the end of that year Roth was selling up at the Café Français due to the failure of his wholesale wine and spirit business (SMH, 9 November 1891, p. 7; 14 November 1891 p. 3). Jules Gandiol appeared on the scene briefly as ‘le directeur du restaurant’ (Le Courier Australien, 30 April 1892, p. 4) but finding someone to run the dining room proved elusive (SMH, 31 May 1892 p. 8) until the license was taken up by Mr Frederick Dewe Beach in November 1892 (Evening News, 4 November p. 7).
Frederick D. Beach was a qualified confectioner and caterer before he arrived in South Australia in 1850. He worked briefly in Adelaide before taking his skills to the Victorian goldfields. Returning to Adelaide, in the 1860s he established Beach’s Restaurant on Hindley Street (The Advertiser (Adelaide), 15 November 1895, p. 5). There is no record of what prompted him to consider extending his business to Sydney, but he took over the Café Français with his son Frank at the end of 1892 and then transferred the license to his eldest son Frederick James Beach early in 1893 (SMH, 17 February 1893, p. 6; The Register (Adelaide), 1 May 1928, p. 8).* Frederick James had the advantage of a good education, experience gained in the restaurant business in Adelaide, and the support of his brother (presumably Frank) who acted as chief cook and buyer (The Register (Adelaide), 1 September 1883, p. 7; Evening Journal (Adelaide), 6 September 1884, p. 1; SMH, 2 February 1909, p. 5; The Register (Adelaide), 1 May 1928, p. 8). The café became popularly known as Beach’s Café Français, and remained a fashionable venue for meetings, celebratory dinners, functions, and events of one sort or another. Stability reigned for the next 25 years until Frederick James Beach retired in 1918. But the saga of the Café Français did not end here.
*Frederick Dewe Beach died in 1895, his son Herbert Way Beach carrying on the Adelaide business until it was taken over in 1909 (Advertiser (Adelaide), 15 November 1895, p. 5; The Register (Adelaide), 3 July 1909, p. 14). Frederick Dewe Beach was married to Elizabeth Way the sister of Sir Samuel Way, chief justice and lieutenant-governor of South Australia.