Experiences of British Restaurants 1940s UK

Guest contributions

British Restaurants were more like canteens than restaurants. Customers collected a tray and queued up to receive their food. This was cooked on site.

Dick Hibberd

We sat on long wooden benches and I believe the tables were covered in American cloth (a fabric with a glazed or varnished wipe-clean surface). The amply-built ladies who served us seemed to have had some military training! They wore green overalls, the uniform of the WVS (Women's Voluntary Service, a support unit for the ARP) (Air Raid Precautions)). This was at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.

Rob Williams

British Restaurant tokens

Example of British Restaurant tokens, courtesy of Malcolm Johnson. He reports that the top ones appear to be of a more brittle type of plastic than the others and are 3mm thick whereas the others are 2mm thick. There are more and larger examples on his Tokens website.

Another example of a British Restaurant token, courtesy of David Powell. He would like to know where it came from via the webmaster and in particular, what the V stands for.

The material of British Restaurant tokens

The top ones from Newcastle seem to be made of Urea Formaldehyde, a thermosetting plastic developed around 1930, which can be in any colour, so is ideally suited to tokens. The bottom ones seem to be the cheaper alternative of cellulose acetate, which is a development of the earlier Celluloid.

Colin Williamson

There were wobbly fold-up tables and benches, rather like at school dinners, but there were additionally table cloths. These were made of American cloth (a sort of waxy/oil-skin type of material which could easily be wiped clean) and they had check pattern which reminded me of a draught board. This was in the Edgware British Restaurant.

Tony Woods

We occasionally ate at the Edgware British Restaurant when out shopping. They had some sort of token system for main course and desert, but my mother always took care of that.

Tony Woods

We queued at the entrance with our old pennies. Then, depending on the state of our wealth that day we were issued with brown, green and, I think yellow tokens. One was for the main course, one for the 'sweet' and the other for a cup of tea. I think all three cost 10d, but I cannot recall ever being in that gourmet range.

Alan Clarke

During our school holidays we would go to a British Restaurant in the local church hall in Edmonton. We got a main course, afters, and a mug of tea, all for less than a shilling.

Peter Johnson

Guest contributions

For the main course, I only recall mashed potato with minced meat and maybe peas, but I enjoyed the desserts. There was something like trifle and 'spotted dick' (a stodgy pudding with raisins in it), both served with runny custard. This was at the Edgware British Restaurant.

Tony Woods

In Hampstead in the early years of the Second World War, I remember having whale meat in the local British Restaurant. That's what my mother told me it was. I seem to remember that it was light in colour and tasted a bit like pork.

I went to the British Restaurant in Edgware once but all I remember was the very runny custard.

Christine Tolton