Jim's Cafe was situated at 12 Rosamund Street and opened for business in January 1980. Previously it had been known as Dawson's Cafe and was a tea shop selling cakes under the management of Emily Bishop. Jim Sedgewick bought the establishment off Joe Dawson and immediately put into place plans to turn it into a "Trucker's Caff", catering to the lorry trade and taking advantage of the opening up of a new car park on Canal Street. Such customers were not to the taste of the refined Mrs Bishop and after tolerating the change in style for a couple of weeks, she walked out on the spot when London driver Jeff Bateman started pawing Gail Tilsley. Unemployed Elsie Tanner was hired due to her ability to take the driver's behaviour in her stride although she found the arrival of Jim's lazy wife Alma