What Is The Future Of The Ace Cafe Following Sunday’s Horrific Crash?
Despite being most famous as a biker hang out, the legendary Ace Cafe London has a special place in the hearts of thousands of car lovers. And that includes us. Collectively we’ve been to countless meets at the Brent-based diner, and even hosted our very first Car Throttle meet at the place.
That’s why we found the news about a Lexus IS200 driver injuring a pedestrian near the cafe last weekend (see below for the shocking video footage) rather troubling. To recap, the young driver was reported to have been showboating on the road outside the cafe while the Ford Enthusiasts Charity Meet - attended mostly by the RS Ford and Ford Enthusiasts group plus the Zetec S Owner’s Club - took place. The driver managed to lose control off a nearby mini roundabout and strike a parked car, shunting several cars forward and pinning one of the meet’s attendees between his own Ford Sierra and another vehicle.
Just got sent a better video of Sundays crash, you can see my dad get wiped out as the camera zooms in! Set this to public Alexis so you should be able to share.
Posted by Anthony White on Tuesday, 5 January 2016
Fortunately, while the injuries were initially thought to be quite serious, comments on the Facebook video above suggest that the man escaped without any broken bones, and was apparently released from hospital today.
The sad part is for many - us included - that this shocking incident doesn’t come as a surprise. If you’ve ever been to the Ace Cafe, you’ll know it’s common to see drivers, bikers and scooter riders showing off on the road immediately outside the venue, something the local council and Brent police understandably don’t take too kindly to. In fact, the Ace has been threatened with closure in the past due to this antisocial behaviour.
So, while we’re reluctant to draw attention away from the unfortunate injuries this fellow car enthusiast suffered, we couldn’t help but wonder what all this might mean for the future of the Ace Cafe. Could this be the ‘final nail in the coffin’ for the iconic venue? After speaking with managing director Mark Wilsmore, we got a clearer picture.
Mark - who reopened the Ace in 1997 following its 28 year closure - said of the incident “it’s always a tragedy, and regrettable when someone’s been injured. It’s one of the nastiest accidents that I have seen.” However, while these sort of occurrences paint car meets and petrolheads in a bad light, Mark had plenty of positive things to say about those who were present at the meet, and how they reacted to the crash: “the thing I was particularly struck by on the evening, was that those present were exemplary; so helpful to each other.” Mark also confirmed what we’d all assumed: that the Lexus driver had nothing to do with the event being held, and hadn’t even entered the premises that evening.
As for the ramifications the cafe might suffer from this particular incident, Mark isn’t sure. “It’s very early to say as yet,” he says, “certainly, it’s no secret we are under close scrutiny and we work very closely with police and the local authority.”
But since the police and the local authority seem to be keen on holding Ace Cafe accountable for the actions of a few idiots who often ruin it for everyone else, what can be done? Mark talks about how he and Ace attendees can “set examples to the younger guys about time and place” and certainly, there are now a few signs warning patrons and passers-by about the dangers of anti-social behaviour, but a more effective deterrent comes in the form of technology.
Mark tells us that the local authority recently secured the funding to install a pair of high-tech surveillance cameras, which he hopes should curtail the sort of behaviour seen on Sunday evening. In fact, he’s more upbeat about the prospect of the Ace Cafe staying open than he has been in recent years.
Let’s hope this icon of the motoring and motorbike worlds stays open. It’d be a damn shame to lose it.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
At Pittsburgh Cars and Coffee, we don’t allow filming at the exits. This helps reduce more reckless behavior. Also, no hard accelerations are allowed on the grounds.
Pfft who needs to see ‘reckless driving exits’ when you’ve got Mr. Regular to hunt for? 😂
There is no way of stopping people filming at Ace. Its a public area.
Replace “Ace Cafe” with “Football Stadium” and you understand just how nonsensical it is. Riots after sporting events happen that cause far greater problems than one car hitting another, yet football hooligans who openly punch police horses get prime time on the news (seriously, look it up).
But one idiot crashing a car? OH DAYUM SON CLOSE ERRTHANG!
):<
I know this is out of context but do you know how redneck you sounded with that last sentence XD but yeah you’re right football riots and stuff like that (I noticed that sh!t particularly happens with American football/rugby, Soccer and basketball)
The 300zx driver really needs to chill, damn. The lack of skill is huge…
Haha I was thinking the exact same thing!
Yeah a lot of them seemed to not actually be very good at controlling the slides. Not saying I could do better, but I wouldn’t dream of doing it on a busy mini roundabout with loads of people around
Unbelievable lack of skills
I’d like to open a contest - think of a slogan against these kind of people related in car way! Stuff like: Don’t Maldonado the fun, or something like that. Get creative CTzens! Cheers to all real car enthusiasts.
I think there should be a couple of police officers roaming about if you do dumb s* then you get screwed. Let them have their place for the meet, they can rev their cars but don’t let them drive like morons around crowds of people and other cars. That’s just dumb. A little bit of enforcement to calm people down and I think it should be fine.
Theres always cops at big meets at the ace, like friday night is bike night. Unfortunately there are still always idiots, that manage to do something stupid. The police do what they can , but inevitably people still get away with it and just carry on :(
Wow these MOTHER………breaths deeply these ‘people’ need to chill hwo can you call yourself a carperson when you’re endangering other folks with these non sensible, ill controlled and ugly af so called drifts
Edit: I really hope that place lives long enough so unlucky people like me can come visit with their own cars some day
I never been to Ace Cafe. But I would love to attend it with my E30. Unfortunately I live in Hungary. But in would be a frikkin cool road trip. :))
It doesn’t disappoint, I’ve been several times and can’t wait to go back. It’s the one good thing about living near London :)
It’s sad how one event largely changes the public perception of an entire group, while this undoubtedly paints car and bike enthusiasts in a bad light people need to remember this is just one incident not a common occurrence. Hopefully Ace will not bear the repercussions for one man’s reakless actions
What was horrific there?
Maybe read the article a little more closely.
The Lexus crashed into a rare Ford - the owner of the Ford was crushed between the Ford and the Lexus.
That’s pretty horrific.
Thankfully he is okay.
Around here we dont make that kind of driving on public roads. We used to meet every weekend on a private industrial area, there people could show off their cars,.
And even so there was a line drawn.
Gotta have limit’s and respect for others.