Spike
House
Many
of the early ex-employees of Lyons would have
started their careers in a building known as Spike
House. It formed part of the Cadby Hall estate but
was situated on the south side of Hammersmith Road,
a little to the west of the new laboratory building
and sandwiched between the Red Cow public house and
Nazareth House Convent. Its official address was
161 Hammersmith Road and it was acquired by Lyons
in about 1907. For many years it was an accounting
centre where all the teashop receipts were
processed in what was generally known as the
Checking Department (originally formed in
1902).
Embedded
in the front wall of Spike House was a stone on
which were engraved the letters 'EL'. These letters
stood for Edward Latymer, the son of the Dean of
Peterborough, who was born in Ipswich during the
reign of Mary. Edward Latymer is described in
historical documents as A Clerk of the Court of
Wards and Liveries. During his lifetime he acquired
large amounts of land and when he died in 1626 he
bequeathed his land to three Charity Trusts: for
the use of the poor people of Edmonton; St
Dunstan's in the West (Fleet Street); and
Hammersmith. It is recorded that he bought the land
on which Spike House stood in 1624 together with a
house called Fairlawn now the site of Nazareth
House Convent and originally the site of the
Latymer Foundation School.
Spike
House was built in about 1627 and for many years
was leased to a variety of occupants. One of these
was William Keene who leased the property in 1794
until his death in 1827. A year before his death
the lease was taken over by Richard Spike and the
house undoubtedly derives its name from him. After
Richard Spike the next leaseholder was R. McEwan
who took the lease for 21 years from 1868. He was
followed in 1889 by James McMichael who remained in
residence until his death in 1906.
When
Lyons first occupied Spike House it became the
Joinery Department having the benefit of a large
yard at the year with access on to what is now
Talgarth Road. The Joinery Department moved to
Rannoch Road in 1927 and the property was then
shared by three other departments: a repair shop
for Normand Garage; the Linen Room and the Outdoor
Catering Store. It is not known when these
departments moved out but it became the Checking
Department (later the Catering Office) who occupied
it until early 1950s when the LEO computer took
over some of the work. In 1948 a Horsa glider was
positioned under the canteen in Spike House and
fitted out to represent an airliner, with galley,
restaurant and cocktail bar, and where stewardesses
of BOAC and South American airlines were trained in
the preparation of frozen food (Frood) manufactured
by Lyons. The supervision of this work was carried
out by Airwork Ltd. Although the design was not
based on any particular plane, the capacity of the
interior was that of a VIP Dakota. On entering the
glider one stepped into the front cabin which
formed a small cocktail lounge with seats for 12
people. They were upholstered in cherry red piped
with turquoise blue. The walls were pale grey and
short green curtains framed the windows. Thick red
carpet covered the floor of the dining cabin and
the seats here were dark blue leather and arranged
in twos and fours around tables as in a railway
dining car. From the galley at the far end, meals
consisting solely of Frood dishes were prepared in
microwave oven by an experienced chef and were then
served by stewardesses. The galley was small but
compact. The specially designed oven was made by
G.E.C. and held 9 trays (three for the entree
dishes, three for potatoes and three for other
vegetables) sufficient to serve 24
passengers.
After
the Checking Department vacated the building it
housed the Typewriter Maintenance Department, was
home to the Lyons Club, the Purchasing Department
and no doubt many other departments or
sub-departments. In the 1960s it became a
stationery store and a Management Training Centre
and in the 1980s was demolished to make way for a
new office building (non Lyons).
©
Peter Bird 2005
|