Peter Coia owned a cafe in the row of shops in Shieldhall Road, Linthouse – opposite what was then the David Elder Cottage Hospital, and not far from the Southern General Hospital (now the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital).
According to Joe Pieri (in his book ‘The Scots-Italians’, Peter’s Cafe had the biggest sale of Terry’s chocolate boxes of any confectioners in Glasgow.
Joe believed that, had he been so-minded, Peter could have made a fortune in the restaurant business. His business acumen apart, his wife, Anna was an accomplished cuisiniere.
Having had the good fortune to have been invited to a convivial lunch at the Coia home in Shawlands, along with Joe Pieri and my son-in-law’s mother Nina Pagliari (ms. Visocchi), I can personally endorse Joe’s assertion that ‘Anna was a wonderful cook who might readily have developed her talent commercially’.
The Pieri family owned the renowned Savoy Cafe in Glasgow’s Cowcaddens.
Nina and her husband Luigi had the Bungalow Cafe in Dumbreck, – close to Bellahouston Park.
Camillo Pagliari (Nina’s father-in-law) ran the Castle Cafe at Halfway, Cardonald.