The Rendezvous Cafe was established by Alfonso Forte, and a cousin Consalvo Forte in the 1920s.

Alfonso Forte was born in Mortale, Casalattico on 5th Feb 1880. He married Filomena D’adamo in 1906. In 1907, Alfonso set off with his friend Crescenzo Forte for New York.  This didn’t work out and he soon returned to Italy.

Alfonso served in the Italian army during the First World War and after the war settled back in the village.

In January 1922 he decided to follow some of his relatives and head north to Scotland with his three eldest sons, Giovanni (13), Aquilino (12) and Annino (8). He left his two younger children with Filomena and her mother.

Alfonso and sons went first to Civitavecchia, from where they headed by train through northern Europe all the way to the Scottish Borders. 

Together with Consalvo Forte, the son of a second cousin, Alfonso bought a shop in Kelso.  They started in business with a cafe, selling fish and chips and, amongst other things,  Italian ice cream.  They would get ice from the frozen River Tweed and life was tough but they worked hard. 

In September 1922, Filomena made the long journey on her own to Scotland to join her husband. She arrived safely  and, nine months later in June 1923, their last child, Mariannina was born in Kelso.  The other two childen, Charles and Teresa, remained in Mortale with their grandmother Maria Giuseppa for about three years before being collected by Filomena to unite the family back in Kelso.

Consalvo sold his share to Alfonso and Filomena and they worked hard to build up the business, eventually managing to expand by buying the shop next door. 

The shop was at 19 Horsemarket, Kelso, and today remains as a fish and chip shop, called Rendezvous, run from 1983 by Italians to whom the business was sold.  The Fortes name is still visible in the tiles on the front door step. 

In 2017 the business was put up for sale – the current proprietor wishing to retire.

Source: http://www.fortefamilyhistory.com/Brighton.html