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I joined
J. Lyons in 1955 and left in 1976 having
worked in both the Strand and Coventry
Street Corner Houses in various positions,
the Cumberland Hotel and on the Steak
House group incorporating the Robley group
and various other inns and restaurants,
also Olympia and out door catering.
Additionally I was lucky enough to chosen
by Harold Young to work abroad as a
consultant for other companies in places
such as Egypt, Israel and
Nigeria.
My first
post was as a member of the Corner House
internal audit group, based in the Strand
Corner House where a vast number of
changes took place over approximately 10
years. In 1955 there were in the basement
the Brasserie restaurant which had a three
course table d'hote luncheon tariff and
salad bowl and changed to an a la carte
waiter service for the evenings complete
with a 4 or 5 piece ensemble. The ground
floor had an a la carte waiting service
all day from breakfast through to 11.30pm.
The front shop was also on the ground
floor with its various counters. The
first floor again had a 4 tier table
d'hote luncheon and a la carte waiting
services in the afternoon and evening
while the second floor was a 24 hour self
service cafeteria.
By 1965 or
thereabouts we had the Brasserie as a
reduced table d'hote restaurant lunchtimes
which became the showboat restaurant in
the evenings (eventually the lunch time
tariff was discontinued). The ground
floor still contained the a la carte
restaurant but both the restaurant and the
area of the front shop were reduced to
introduce a Wimpy bar.
The first
floor over a period of time changed
completely and we ended up with a Grill
& Cheese (forerunner of the
steakhouses), carving room and trident
fish restaurant, the second floor self
service disappeared completely the
majority of the floor space becoming
offices for the Teashop group while the
remainder became the Bacon & Egg
restaurant.
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