For more than 50 years there has been a counter cafe tucked away in a building at the eastern end of Church Street.

But today Donna Gray, its final owner, will wave goodbye to the Hamilton cafe that far outlived the era in which it was born.

Ms Gray took over the business almost 15 years ago from the previous owner who is believed to have operated the cafe for 40 years.

As Donna’s Cafe, it was a popular meeting place for customers who would sit on stools at a long counter tucked away in a corridor between the Sports R Us store and M & M International’s audio and video shop.

“I had many regular customers. It was like a family and it reminded me of the TV show Cheers,” said Ms Gray.

“People like it when you remember their name and what their regular order is.”

With a lifetime of experience as a waitress and bartender, Ms Gray honed her ability to memorise names and orders to such a degree that many customers asked how she was able to do it.

With the business closing, Ms Gray said one of the things she is going to miss is the to-and-fro of banter with customers.

The curtain came down on the cafe at the end of April when it served its last snacks. For the past month Ms Gray has been busy dismantling the cafe equipment and selling off the last few kitchen items, such as cups and plates.

Back in the 1960s she worked at the US Air Force base, in Southside. It was there that she met her American husband.

They moved to New Mexico in 1964 and that was where she lived for a large part of her life before returning to Bermuda.

She recalls the impact the Island had on her when she saw it again after being away for so many years.

“I thought ‘This is paradise’. The place was beautiful,” she said.

In Bermuda, Ms Gray has worked in many restaurants and bars, including the Hog Penny, Queen’s Club and the defunct MR Onions. She also worked at Whites supermarket in Warwick.

It was her sister who first told her that the counter cafe was up for sale 15 years ago. Ms Gray seized the opportunity and has run the cafe as a one-person operation ever since.

“I come in at 5.30am to get things ready, then I’d sit down and have my breakfast and read the paper before opening up at 7am,” she said.

The cafe served breakfasts and lunches, closing at 2pm each day.

“The biggest seller was the hamburgers, and I got the award for the best hamburger in Bermuda in 2005.”

While some customers would come in to sit down at the counter and eat, others popped by to grab a takeaway snack, a coffee or a copy of the morning’s newspaper.

The economic recession of the late 2000s had some impact on business, but because Ms Gray was the sole member of staff she was able to keep tight control of costs.

There are a number of reasons why she has now decided to close the business. One is the increasing expense of fitting and maintaining grease traps, an enforced requirement following the appearance of grease balls on a south shore beach, close to a waste discharge pipe. a few years ago.

Ms Gray has also reached retirement age and is heeding the advice from her son in the US to return to the States.

She did try to sell the business as a going concern, but without success. Ms Gray said she will miss the cafe, its customers and the smiley faces. She loves the instantly recognisable stylised representations of a smiling face. The cheerful image became an unofficial trademark of Donna’s Cafe.

The cafe’s sign, which was still in place yesterday, bears the image of a painted sun featuring a smiley face in the centre.

Customers would bring Ms Gray trinkets and mementos, such as key rings, featuring the smiley face image, and these would adorn the walls and counter of the cafe.

While the smiley faces on the walls and the smiling faces of the cafe’s customers are now gone, Ms Gray is thankful for the happy memories the cafe have given her.

“It has been hard work, but it was nice. I’ll miss being here. There was a very relaxing atmosphere,” she said.