It has been argued that the first business using the name "milk bar" was started in India in 1930 by an Englishman, James Meadow Charles, when he opened Lake View Milk Bar at Bangalore. The concept soon spread to the UK, where it was encouraged by the British Temperance Society to lure people away from the pub; over 1,000 milk bars had opened nationally by the end of 1936.
Now a new book has appeared that focuses on the Australian experience. Greek Cafes & Milk Bars of Australia by Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis (published by Halstead in 2016) reported that during the Great Depression, Greek migrant Joachim Tavlaridis/later Mick Adams migrated from Greece at the age of 14. He accepted low status jobs in restaurants and food shops to save up enough money to build his own business. Food businesses, take-away shops, restaurants and delis were good industries for individual Greek migrants to establish their own financial viability.
Now a new book has appeared that focuses on the Australian experience. Greek Cafes & Milk Bars of Australia by Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis (published by Halstead in 2016) reported that during the Great Depression, Greek migrant Joachim Tavlaridis/later Mick Adams migrated from Greece at the age of 14. He accepted low status jobs in restaurants and food shops to save up enough money to build his own business. Food businesses, take-away shops, restaurants and delis were good industries for individual Greek migrants to establish their own financial viability.
These industries also represented community services to thousands of newcomers to Australian shores. Food businesses, often family-owned, allowed newly arrived Greek migrants a way to assimilate in their adopted country, by creating job opportunities. The Greek migrants could learn English and develop skills that would help them integrate into the Australian economy.
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Black and White 4d. Milk Bar in Sydney's Martin Place, 1933
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So if the influence was not the temperance movement, Janiszewski looked to an American influence instead. He explained that Adams' milk bar was different because it broke away from the sit-down meal affair of other Greek-run businesses of the time. Adams had the idea to efficient take-away table service, to get a lot of customers.
Wanting to serve Australia a slice of the American Pie, the Black and White 4d. Milk Bar's main feature was the bar counter with limited seats on one side and milkshake makers on the other. This design was inspired by his observations of early 1930s American soda parlours. For local families who loved establishments like the Black and White 4d. Milk Bar, Adams and other Greek businessmen turned a basic American offering into a an iconic part of Australian culture, with a Greek accent. Dream merchants indeed!
5,000 customers crowded into the Black and White 4d. Milk Bar on its opening day and within five years there were some 4,000 registered milk bars throughout Australia. Mick Adams himself went on to open several more milk bars in NSW (both in Sydney and other regional cities) plus the interstate cities of Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne.
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Prahran milk bar today
After WW2 ended, milk bars continued to thrive but were radically changed. Although the personal relationship between the customer and the shop owner continued, the milk shake bar and stools were taken away. Much of the clean, open, modern Art Deco look disappeared from the remaining milk bars, to be replaced by an enormous range of products like groceries, soft drinks, newspapers, fish and chips, sandwiches meat pies, cigarettes, Chico rolls and lollies.
As a child in 1955 I was not allowed to eat lollies at home. But if I had a penny pocket-money left over at the end of a week, I could rely on the local milk-bar owner to select 4 small, luscious lollies for me to eat on the way home from school. Thank you Mr Pickering for not telling my mum!
In time, the milk bar was gradually replaced by fast food franchises and shopping malls. Milk bars can still found across the suburbs today, usually within walking distance from most family homes. But now they serve as small Mixed Businesses or Convenience Shops. And they feel cluttered.
Beautiful Wellington milk bar, 1935
Photo credit: Shorpy
The research of Janiszewski & Alexakis reported that Greek migrant Mick Tavlaridis Adam was the first businessman to open the traditional Australian milk bar after returning from a trip to the USA. Adams set up the Black and White 4d. Milk Bar in Sydney's Martin Place in November 1932.
Early milk bars were bars where the product was a non-alcoholic milkshake. Then they added some seating, served snacks and later provided a juke box. They became a place for young people to socialise, and were often located close to picture theatres. They became a social centre for Greeks, as well as becoming an integral part of the local community. Every year for example, Adams gave a day's takings from his milk bar to the local Dellwood Children's Home.
It has been suggested that the temperance movement influenced businesses to offer milk-based drinks as a way of encouraging Australians away from too much alcohol. And I agree that during the horrible Depression years, any business that enticed male workers away from the pub across the road was a good thing. After all families during the Depression were often unemployed or didn’t have enough money to feed the children.
But the temperance movement, which had been so dominant in the development of Australian coffee palaces in the 1880s-1890s, lost its driving energy after the Great War. Yes many people would rather come to the milk bar and have a milkshake rather than a beer, but that was because milk was healthier and cheaper, not because the customers were committed teetotallers. [The 4d fourpence in Adam' shop name was designed to emphasise the very affordable price set by Adams for the purchase of a milkshake].
Early milk bars were bars where the product was a non-alcoholic milkshake. Then they added some seating, served snacks and later provided a juke box. They became a place for young people to socialise, and were often located close to picture theatres. They became a social centre for Greeks, as well as becoming an integral part of the local community. Every year for example, Adams gave a day's takings from his milk bar to the local Dellwood Children's Home.
It has been suggested that the temperance movement influenced businesses to offer milk-based drinks as a way of encouraging Australians away from too much alcohol. And I agree that during the horrible Depression years, any business that enticed male workers away from the pub across the road was a good thing. After all families during the Depression were often unemployed or didn’t have enough money to feed the children.
But the temperance movement, which had been so dominant in the development of Australian coffee palaces in the 1880s-1890s, lost its driving energy after the Great War. Yes many people would rather come to the milk bar and have a milkshake rather than a beer, but that was because milk was healthier and cheaper, not because the customers were committed teetotallers. [The 4d fourpence in Adam' shop name was designed to emphasise the very affordable price set by Adams for the purchase of a milkshake].
So if the influence was not the temperance movement, Janiszewski looked to an American influence instead. He explained that Adams' milk bar was different because it broke away from the sit-down meal affair of other Greek-run businesses of the time. Adams had the idea to efficient take-away table service, to get a lot of customers.
Wanting to serve Australia a slice of the American Pie, the Black and White 4d. Milk Bar's main feature was the bar counter with limited seats on one side and milkshake makers on the other. This design was inspired by his observations of early 1930s American soda parlours. For local families who loved establishments like the Black and White 4d. Milk Bar, Adams and other Greek businessmen turned a basic American offering into a an iconic part of Australian culture, with a Greek accent. Dream merchants indeed!
5,000 customers crowded into the Black and White 4d. Milk Bar on its opening day and within five years there were some 4,000 registered milk bars throughout Australia. Mick Adams himself went on to open several more milk bars in NSW (both in Sydney and other regional cities) plus the interstate cities of Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Milkshakes were not new in Australia, so we have to ask what was so special about an American-style milk bar that served nothing else. With its handsome art deco design, the impact of Adams' Black and White 4d. Milk Bar was far-reaching. As they spread across the country, to every town on a railway line, the passion for milk bars spread. And although icecream was not an ingredient of these early milk shakes, the flavours were new and exciting.
After WW2 ended, milk bars continued to thrive but were radically changed. Although the personal relationship between the customer and the shop owner continued, the milk shake bar and stools were taken away. Much of the clean, open, modern Art Deco look disappeared from the remaining milk bars, to be replaced by an enormous range of products like groceries, soft drinks, newspapers, fish and chips, sandwiches meat pies, cigarettes, Chico rolls and lollies.
As a child in 1955 I was not allowed to eat lollies at home. But if I had a penny pocket-money left over at the end of a week, I could rely on the local milk-bar owner to select 4 small, luscious lollies for me to eat on the way home from school. Thank you Mr Pickering for not telling my mum!
In time, the milk bar was gradually replaced by fast food franchises and shopping malls. Milk bars can still found across the suburbs today, usually within walking distance from most family homes. But now they serve as small Mixed Businesses or Convenience Shops. And they feel cluttered.