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Situated on the corner of London's
Shaftesbury Avenue and Windmill Street,
famous for its theatre 'which never
closed', the Trocadero Restaurant was one
of the most exclusive restaurants in
Europe when it opened in 1896. Located
close to Piccadilly Circus the history of
the site is well documented and its first
reference can be found in Lord Claredon's,
History of Rebellion published
posthumously in 1704. Originally a tennis
court, it became a circus, a theatre, a
club and a venue for music and dancing
when Robert Bignell (a wine merchant)
opened the Argyll Rooms (named after the
famous rooms in Argyll Street which burned
down in 1832) in 1851. It attracted the
nobility and the demi-monde (fringes of
society) of the period and became famous
for its masquerade balls. Because of the
rooms notoriety the licence was not
renewed and the Argyll Rooms closed in
1878. Between 1878 and 1895 the rooms were
leased to a number of theatrical agents
until 1895 when Bignell's granddaughter
granted a 99-year lease to Lyons; Bignell
having died in 1888.
Lyons
rebuilt the property to the design of W.
J. Ancell and J. Hatchard Smith as an
exquisite restaurant with a 6 ft deep x 90
ft long frieze, depicting Arthurian
scenes, running round the beautiful marble
foyer entrance. With the main restaurants
on the lower and ground floors the upper
floors were given over to private function
rooms which could be adjusted depending on
numbers to be catered. The famous Long Bar
opened in 1901. It was a strictly male
preserve, and its visitors' book, first
instituted at the request of overseas
visitors so they could trace friends with
whom they had lost touch, bore addresses
ranging from Tooting Bec (in London) to
British Guyana, Waziristan, Fiji and the
French Cameroons. In December 1937 it
changed its name to the Salted Almond
cocktail bar, where women were welcome.
During the two World Wars it was a
rendezvous for British and Allied
officers, some of whom must have said
hopefully: 'Meet you in the Long Bar
...'
In 1896
and for several years afterwards, a
nine-course meal at the Trocadero cost
half a guinea, but lunch was 3 shillings
and less expensive dinners could be
obtained for 5 shillings and 7s. 6d. Apart
from the table d'hôte, diners could
choose from an à la carte menu
containing a couple of dozen hors
d'oeuvres, at least a dozen soups and
numerous entrées, roasts,
entremets, pastries, savouries and
desserts. Another feature of the Trocadero
was the telephone dinner whereby customers
could place their order by telephone, for
a given time, perhaps specifying the price
they were prepared to spend. Alternatively
they could give a general idea of the meal
they required leaving the details to be
decided by the maître d'hôtel.
For example, customers could order a
dinner for 12s. 6d. per head, specifying
partridges and a Japanese salad and
leaving the rest to be chosen by the
maître d'hôtel. Trocadero
prices remained unchanged for many years,
since management were reluctant to
increase them, even though the rise in the
cost of raw materials would have justified
higher prices.
The
concert tea had its beginnings at the
Trocadero. During the First World War the
banqueting rooms were under-utilised, and
in 1916 tea was served for the first time
in the Empire Hall along with a full
concert programme. It was not long before
fashionable London realised that with its
music, its delightful teas, and the
pleasant atmosphere the Empire Hall held
attractions that were too good to miss.
Indeed the Trocadero's concert teas became
so popular they were soon copied by many
other hotels and restaurants across
London.
In the
mid-1920s cabaret was introduced and
continued every night until the start of
the Second World War. Marjorie Robertson,
later known as Dame Anna Neagle, started
her career as a dancer at the Trocadero in
1926 when she joined one of Charles Blake
Cochran's late-night cabarets, called
Supper Time, in the Grill Room.
The 1920
wine list had no fewer than 560 varieties
and none had spurious labels. So much wine
was consumed at the Trocadero, and the
other Lyons restaurants and hotels that
developed, that it became necessary to
employ a full-time buyer who regularly
travelled to France to secure huge
quantities of the best vintages. During
the years 1895 - 1916, Lyons purchased,
among others, the entire output of
Château Belair St Emilion. As to
price, in 1921 an excellent Château
Lafite of 1906 vintage cost 14s. 6d. The
Château Mouton Rothschild 1905 was
marginally cheaper at 14 shillings.
The
Trocadero restaurant set new standards in
catering. It became a popular topic of
conversation for London's Victorian and
Edwardian glitterati and attracted the
most discerning customers from home and
abroad. From the very first year the
Trocadero made a profit of £200 per
week, increasing to £800 by the turn
of the century - nearly twice as much as
all the teashops put together and a third
of Lyons' profits but by the 1930s its
revenues declined. Uniquely placed, at
what many believed to be the hub of the
British Empire, it was used from 1896 to
1962 as the venue for the shareholders'
Annual General Meetings, during which they
were frequently reminded by the Chairman
to use its facilities for their own
business or private entertaining needs.
The Trocadero closed on 13 February
1965.
Postscript November 2007
Property developer Asif Aziz was refused, for the second time, a plan for a 503-bedroom hotel on the Trocadero site. Despite months of redesign and securing approval from planning officers for the £100m overhaul of the site on Shaftesbury Avenue, the project was derided by councillors. During a planning meeting on 1 November 2007, councillors described the new glass façade, lit with different colours, as hideous. Those opposing the plan included English Heritage, Shaftesbury plc and the Westminster Society. This was the second rejection of Aziz's plan which was refused in 2006.
© Peter
Bird 2002 |
