Kathy's Café: Back where it belongs

After a 21 year gap, the café is back where it belongs, with Kathy! And it's once again named "Kathy’s Café". This follows numerous owners and name changes such as Al’s Café, Laura’s Café, Cindy’s Café, Shirley’s Café, Mandy’s Café and Bridge Street Café.

When EastEnders began in 1985 Ali and Sue Osman were the café owners, which was also home to their taxi firm, OzCabs. But by 1989, Ali's gambling addiction had become so bad that he had no choice but to sell it.

Walford's favourite entrepreneur, Ian Beale, purchased the café because his mother had always wanted it, fittingly naming it "Kathy’s Café". Ian proceeded to run it with wife Cindy until Kathy eventually bought it from him.

Kathy remained in charge until 1995, when Ian bought back his shares of the café from her following the birth of her baby, Ben Mitchell.

Ian later ended up losing the café when he tried to avoid paying tax - but it caught up with him and he was left in a huge amount of debt. The café closed down for a couple of months and underwent a makeover, eventually reopened under the ownership of the Mitchell family. Phil Mitchell enjoyed erasing any memory of his rival Ian Beale from the it and making it his own!

Ian, wanting to regain his business empire, desperately wanted to regain control of the café. Phil, knowing how much the it meant to Ian and loving seeing him suffer, was having none of it- and even hired Ian's ex-wife, Laura Beale, as manager to wind him up even more.

Phil, framed for armed robbery in 2003 by Den Watts, signed the café over to his sister, Sam. Ian took advantage of Sam's naivety and persuaded her to sell it to him. Ian employed his new lover, Jane Collins, to manage it.

When Ian and Jane’s marriage fell apart in 2011, Phil helped Jane to win the café in the divorce battle, leaving Ian devastated. However, Jane left Walford soon after and sold the café back to Phil, who gave it to Shirley as a present. The name was changed to "Shirley's Café".

Ian bought the café back off Phil in April 2012 (are you keeping up with this?), and named it "Mandy's" after Mandy Salter, his current fiancee. When Ian and Mandy split up Ian had a nervous breakdown and disappeared onto the streets. With no one to help, Ian's daughter, Lucy, took charge all the businesses herself, and named the cafe "Cindy's", after her mother. Eventually, the café returned to Ian, as did Jane!

In 2015 the unexpected happened - and that's putting it mildly. Despite claims that she had died in a road accident in 2006, Kathy returned from the dead, having faked her own death. In December 2016 Ian handed back the reins - and the name - to his beloved mother, and "Kathy's Café" was once again re-born.