Café Royal

Constructed in 1946-1947, Café Royal is a vernacular two-storey commercial building with a brick front façade. It is located on J.-D.-Gauthier Boulevard in Shippagan.

The heritage value of Café Royal lies in its historical significance relating to the commercial growth of the Town of Shippagan. After the Second World War, a Chatham merchant by the name of Mike Leggets bought a parcel of land on September 18, 1946, near Hôtel Marquis, which later became Hôtel Robichaud. The building put up by Mike Leggets would house a restaurant and a bakery, with 10 rooms on the second floor. It was divided into two sections and was called the Mic-Mac Restaurant and Bakery, the same name as his business in Chatham. The Mic-Mac Restaurant could accommodate about 50 people in its booth-type seating. In 1949, the new owner, Willie Manzerolle, changed the name of the business to Café Royal and Boulangerie Royale. The bakery’s products were delivered by horse-drawn carriage to stores in the Shippagan, Lamèque and Miscou Islands, Inkerman, Tracadie, Caraquet, Saint-Isidore and Paquetville areas. In 1960, the bakery ceased operations, and the space it had occupied became a reception hall.

The restaurant was well situated, near schools, fish plants, stores, offices, the Collège Jésus-Marie, the skating rink, the ball field, and the garage. Its long life can be attributed to its geographic location.

Source: Shippagan Town Hall, site file “248, boul. J.-D.-Gauthier”

The character-defining elements of Café Royal include:

- strategic commercial location;

- rectangular two-storey massing;

- moderately pitched gable roof;

- arrangement of the window and door openings on the front façade;

- group of three windows on the upper floor of the front façade.