Visiting Joe’s Kiosk at Henley Beach is a ritual for Rebecca Morse and her family

THERE are few better vantage points from which to caffeinate along the state’s coastline than this Henley Beach institution, Rebecca Morse says.

Joe Weber has been at the helm of Joe's Kiosk, at Henley Beach, for 20 years, Rebecca Morse says.

• Joe sells his Henley Beach kiosk
• Huge backlash to Henley Square paid parking

OUR weekends are always a bit all over the shop. School sport, nippers, footy, birthday parties etc, interspersed with 11 loads of washing. But central to our family’s weekend ritual for the best part of the past decade has been making the journey along the beach to Joe’s Kiosk.

There are few better vantage points from which to caffeinate along the state’s coastline than this Henley Beach institution.

It hasn’t changed much over that time, apart from the enclosure of the front veranda and the addition of a toilet that took some serious lobbying.

When Joe replaced the outdoor wooden benches, painted in an unsightly khaki green and bearing the carved initials of those wanting to make their mark on the place, we put our hands up to inherit one. We had to hire a small truck to get it to our place but it now dominates the backyard, our very own piece of Joe’s memorabilia.

Joe has just sold up after more than 20 years. He’ll be starting a new venture in Adelaide next year.

It wasn’t a trendy crowd that congregated at Joe’s. The menu was simple. There was no smashed avo for a start. In fact the only green item was the lettuce in the BLT. It was pretty much eggs and bacon. And a serve was essentially an entire pig which, while an affront to my vegetarian diet, certainly represented bang for your bacon buck for the carnivores in the family.

The only thing stronger than the ocean breeze was the coffee. Double shot standard.

And if you didn’t turn up to collect your beverage of choice when your name was called out, the second and subsequent calls could be mildly aggressive. That’s just Joe. He could be brusque. He was running a tight kiosk.

But he would always greet me with a kiss on both cheeks and tell me I needed to eat more and worry less, while stuffing chocolates in my pockets. The kids had birthday parties there. Joe has known them since they were babies. He remembers their star signs. He forgave them for traipsing sand through the place all summer.

Among the crowd of regulars were state and federal politicians, judges, media types and sporting teams post beach recovery sessions.

The new owners are hospitality stalwarts and have retained the staff and the essence of the place. It will continue to be our local.

You’ve got to have a local, don’t you think? A place, to quote Cheers, where everybody knows your name. And how you have your coffee. And that until you’ve consumed said coffee you’re really not worth talking to.

A local restaurant where you order the same thing every time because when you change it up you’re disappointed. A local fish and chip shop which is generous with the minimum chips and chucks in an extra crab stick on occasion. A local supermarket where you recognise your checkout chick (this remains at the centre of my opposition to the self serve system).

Coincidentally around the time of Joe’s departure a series of parking meters has popped up along the strip. While we are lucky to live close enough to walk the dog to Henley Square, this can’t be good for businesses.

For what it’s worth, I reckon convenient parking access to our beautiful beaches should be free. Anyway I hope I’ll see you at Joe’s Version Two soon. I’ll spot you change for the meter.

Follow @RebeccaMorse10