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==1961-2014==
The Excelsior 'greasy spoon' cafe was a Cowley Road institution which closed in == 1954-2014, as [http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/11371061.Closing_time_for_cafe_after_53_years_of_froth_and_stir/ reported by the Oxford Mail].==
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The Excelsior 'greasy spoon' cafe was a Cowley Road institution which closed in 2014, as [http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/11371061.Closing_time_for_cafe_after_53_years_of_froth_and_stir/ reported by the Oxford Mail]. It first appeared in directories as the Excelsior in 1954. Before that it was a cafe run by Mrs E Chiddington from 1939 and by Mrs M E Harding from 1947.
A memorable [http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/excelsior_special.htm review by Robin Mackay] described the atmosphere (evidently predating the 2007 smoking ban):
''"No sooner has one entered this place than one is entirely overcome by an almost toxic metaphysical gloom, way beyond what might be causally explained by the miasma of budget cigarette smoke streaming constantly from the antediluvian countenances of the regulars... "''
A video memory of the cafe from an Oxford University perspective in 2013: [https://youtu.be/N6YOto6tBUIhttps://youtu.be/N6YOto6tBUI]
[[File:250CowleyRoadByKamyarAdl.jpg|frame| Legendary proprietor Costas photographed in the Excelsior in 2005, by Kamyar Adl on Flickr. The original analogue till was just as famous.]]
[[File:250CowleyRdbyGeograph.JPG|frame|2008: A photo of the Excelsior cafe exterior by Ceridwen from geograph.co.uk]]
