You have to be of a certain age to admire Formica, the high pressure laminate used widely after the war. There is something about those classic examples of 1950s furniture which extol the feeling of those post war years. Life was good, colour was back in everyone’s life and hope was back in peoples hearts.

In those days Lorenzo Marioni’s family had arrived from Italy to run cafes and trattoria up the whole of Denman Street. His father opened the New Piccadilly in 1951, Lorenzo started to work there aged seven and on September 23rd this year he will finally close the doors after giving up a valiant struggle with a landlord who wants to redevelop the area or impose another savage rent hike.

Interviewed last year at Classic Cafes he said :

“The café is my life. I know nothing else. I’m here seven days a week. People like to see the same face, it gives a sense of comfort and familiarity.

In some places, one waiter serves you the soup, and you get another one for the main course, because the first one got sacked halfway through.

One guy said he hadn’t been here for 35 years, and that nothing had changed. Yeah, but why spend the money? If there’s nothing really wrong you don’t need to change it.

I couldn’t say I know London. All I know is this area. I grew up in council flats over there on Shaftesbury Avenue, behind the fire station. I don’t go east of the British Museum, and I’ve never been south of the river.

The west end is the centre of the world. It’s true, I have lost touch with time ­ I’m living in the time I was formed. But I’m happy with that.

I’ve got no social life, apart from what goes on here. But we can get very social here, with partying until late. We were partying here till midnight the other night.

It’s an organic living thing. I can close whenever I feel. It’s the lazy bastard’s approach. If I’ve had enough, I’ve had enough. I’m here seven days a week.

The captain’s got to be on the bridge. If I go on a ship and don’t see the captain he’s the only one who can inspire confidence.”

Sitting in the cafe on Saturday I watched Lorenzo working behind the counter and listened to him pass on his views of the world. “I hate opera”, he said after whistling along to something that sounded very operatic on the radio. I guess that’s the beauty of the place. Everything is very simple and very down to earth. if you want organic brown sugar or something that’s “lo-salt” it’s not the place to come. If you want fish and chips with a bowl of tartare sauce, the best tea in London and white sugar lumps then it’s a mecca, somewhere to hide from the bland, samey Starbucks places on every street.

The New Piccadilly is very much a place lost in time. The Formica work surfaces still have their cheerful yellow swirls, the waiters are dressed in white with red epaulets just like I remember when my parents took me to London and people are still recognised as regulars and greeted with a cup of tea and a smile. Even the menu refuses to be updated with the old 01 telephone code for London.

Soon it will be a place that’s lost forever. Make sure that you go and visit it to admire the Formica, to thank Lorenzo and get a little hope in your heart before that sad day.

Elsewhere on the Net:

• Rapiers Are Go : Cry for the New Piccadilly
• Eggs Bacon Chips And Beans : New Piccadilly
• Flickr : New Piccadilly Memories
• Classic Cafes : New Piccadilly Special
• The Girl in the Cafe : A Talk With Lorenzo