Rising cost of food, 1940s

This week a topic of conversation has been the rising cost of food – what’s affordable, what’s not, and how to make sure we eat a balanced diet. Which reminded me of last week’s post about Gertrude Mary Hutton, who worked at Unity House, and later uses of that building.

I seem to remember from one of the episodes of “A House Through Time” that during the Second World War, the Ministry of Food set up what it initially called communal or community ‘feeding stations’. These establishments were variously referred to as community meal centres, community kitchens, or civic or municipal restaurants, but became better known as “British Restaurants”, allegedly at the suggestion of Churchill.   

The Minister of Food at the time was Lord Woolton, and he was concerned enough about British health during the War, especially considering rationing and the lack of availability of foodstuffs, that he was instrumental in the setting up of the British Restaurant in 1940, where the aim was to improve the health and strength of Britons during a period of war. These restaurants ran from 1940 to about 1949, although there are cases where some lasted much longer.  

If a place didn’t have a suitable venue, like a working men’s club, or a church hall, a town hall, or even a school, or if any venue wasn’t able to be easily and cheaply converted, then a prefabricated building, made from mostly concrete, and called a Naschcrete, could be erected.  Some villages where no suitable building or space for one was available, were served by a British Restaurant on wheels, as were places that had been bombed.

If a building had a suitable kitchen, or if it could be equipped with cooking utensils provided by the Ministry of Food, meals would be prepared on-site, and cooked and served by volunteers, but some places received ready-prepared meals provided by either the local authority, or the Ministry of Food itself.  

Many of the restaurants were self-service, rather than waitress service, so more like a canteen than a restaurant, and at some, you could buy food to take away and eat at home. Some were staffed by volunteers, like those from the WVS (as it was then known), or had staff who were paid a minimum wage. The interiors of the restaurants were often quite different from each other, depending upon the space and furniture available, but they weren’t depressing places, and were often decorated with brightly painted furniture, bunting, tablecloths and posies of flowers, and in some cases, suitable paintings decorated the walls. Payment for meals was made by buying a special British Restaurant token, a different colour depending on how much one could afford to spend, so didn’t use coupons out of the ration book.

The restaurant generally served starters, main courses, and puddings, and some areas grew their own vegetables, although whether this happened before the coming of Woolton Pie or not, I don’t know!! However, one of the staple foods during the shortages brought on by the Second World War was the Woolton Pie, which was usually made of cooked, diced vegetables – a mixture of cauliflower, swede, carrots, and potatoes – along with spring onions if available, and vegetable extract and oatmeal. All these vegetables would be placed in a pie dish, and then baked, covered with either potatoes or pastry. Gravy was a welcome addition, to serve over the top, and one of the companies that made this – trademarked as Vita-Gravy - was William Symington’s of Market Harborough, not to be confused with the company founded by his brother James Symington!

But what has all this to do with Loughborough?? Well, Loughborough actually had two of these British restaurants, one in the Medical Aid Centre on Fennel Street, and one in the dance hall of the Bull’s Head in Shelthorpe.

Bull's Head, Shelthorpe, from Ling Road

The ‘Leicester Evening Mail’ of 4th July 1941 carried an advert from the Town Clerk, A. Gwynne Davies, as the British Restaurants were looking for 2 capable chefs, at £5 per week, and 3 women helpers, at 37/6d per week, plus a free midday meal. The closing date for applications was 15th July 1941, so it looks as though these will be open in the summer of 1941.

In a report in the ‘Leicester Chronicle’ of Saturday 12th July, it seems Loughborough’s ‘communal feeding centres’ were the talk of the county!!! Plans for the two centres were complete, and they were expected to be officially opened in September, and would provide one, three-course midday meal at a cost of 10d per head. It was planned that they would be open six days a week, and were primarily intended for use by factory workers, and their families. However, plans were already in place “to set up separate feeding centres for Loughborough school children.” The same newspaper confirmed in a later edition (26th July) that the Education Board of Loughborough were endeavouring to secure the Emmanuel Parochial Hall for the feeding and accommodation of children.

I don’t know when the Medical Aid Centre opened as a British Restaurant, but the 42nd one to open in the North Midlands area, was opened in Shelthorpe at the beginning of September, 1941. The Mayoress, Mrs George Hill, whose husband, George was the Mayor, attended the opening ceremony, as did the Deputy Regional Commissioner, Professor Wortley, and Alderman George Bowler. The adult dinner cost 11d, while the children ate soup, meat and vegetables, sweets and a cup of tea or coffee, at a cost of 7d..

Mayor George Hill, although he had been quite ill during his mayoral year, accepted the invitation of the Town Council to remain as mayor into a second year, and the mayor-making ceremony took place in November 1941, after which lunch was taken a the British Restaurant in Shelthorpe.

Bull's Head, Shelthorpe, from Park Road

In December 1941, a group of people from Kettering visited the British Restaurants at Loughborough and Leicester. The Ministry of Food had suggested to Kettering Town Council that meals for their proposed British Restaurant should be cooked at one of the cooking depots in a nearby town, and delivered to the Kettering premises, but the Town Council really wanted to have the cooking done in their actual restaurant, so they came to Leicestershire to see how this could work. They reported that apparently, the meals cost 7d. for an adult portion of meat and vegetables, while children under 14 could pay 4d., pudding was 2d., soup, 1d., and tea also 1d.. The chef was paid £5 weekly, women helpers £1 17s. 6., and the ticket office attendant £1 5s.. The outcome of their visit is not known.

In May 1942, the Loughborough MP, the Conservative, Major Lawrence Kimball, dined at a British Restaurant in Loughborough, and is reported to have said he had a better and bigger lunch for one shilling here than he could usually get in the House of Commons for four shillings!!

Finally, the ‘Leicester Evening Mail’ of 18th February 1943 reported that Loughborough’s total war savings, in the two and a half years to date, amounted to £1,725,063, which was about 8s. 6d. per head of population. The British Restaurant in Fennel Street served more than 37,000 meals, and brought in a surplus of £202, but there was a loss at the Shelthorpe venue of £144. By 1943, there were about 2,160 British Restaurants in the country, and about 600,000 meals were served each day, at a cost of around 9d.. Although the scheme was designed not to be profit-making, Fennel Street was not alone in making a profit – venues in about 546 local authorities also did; equally, around 203 made losses.

Medical Aid Centre on Fennel Street

British Restaurants largely ceased operation a few years after the end of the war. 

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Dyer, Lynne (2022). Rising cost of food, 1940s. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/03/rising-cost-of-food-1940s.html     [Accessed 13 March 2022]

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