History milked for all it's worth

When I was a teenager growing up in the tiny town of Nyngan in western NSW, "The Cafe" was the centre of my universe. It was where we headed every day after school and on Saturdays and Sundays too, ensconcing ourselves at one of the mustard-yellow laminated tables in one of the dark vinyl-clad booths that ran down the right-hand side.

Here we would spend hours over a milkshake or, if we were really flush with funds, an ice-cream sundae, flirting with the boys and trying to pretend we were much older and much more sophisticated than we really were. The Cafe was where all the cool kids hung out.

In a place like Nyngan, population 2500 on a good day, The Cafe, as it was simply known, was the social hub of the town, particularly for those too young, too old or too teetotal to frequent one of the town's five pubs. A meeting place more than an eating place, it was where you went to find out the latest news, complain about the weather or ask about road conditions if you were just passing through.

The coffee may have been instant but the milkshakes were icy cold and creamy and the mixed grills large and meaty. Every single country town had a California or Niagara cafe just like it.

It's been more than 25 years since I last spent an afternoon in a booth at The Cafe. But all those memories came flooding back when I recently pushed my way through the multi-coloured fly strips in the doorway of Bells Milk Bar in Broken Hill. Bells is a time capsule straight from the 1950s. This was when cafe culture reigned, in the days before the old-fashioned milk bar morphed into just another fast-food takeaway place. But what makes Bells really special is the fact it's not some city-slick retro fit out – it's the real deal.

Originally a confectionery store and cordial factory in the 1890s, it was a soda fountain shop in the 1920s before becoming Bells Milk Bar in 1938. Its last major renovation was in 1956 and it hasn't changed since. Inside, you'll still find the original Jetsons-style "dancing fruit and aliens" interior murals, as well as laminex marble tables and vinyl and chrome chairs.

Bells was a Broken Hill icon for most of the 20th century but it was sold by the original Bells in 1980. After a string of owners and local mine closures, the business languished, tired and forgotten, in a sleepy part of Broken Hill on the wrong side of the tracks. That is until self-styled "Milk Bar Crusader" Jason King rescued, restored and revived it five years ago.

“It was a restoration rather than a renovation,” says King from behind the chrome-trimmed glass-topped counter. "We didn't really have to do much to it. We cleaned it up a bit but what you see today is pretty much the way it was when we bought it.”