There were
roughly 200 teashops each with a front
shop for selling bakery items and inside
one or more cafeteria type counter
services for hot meals and beverages. Each
shop had a code number for quick
reference. The first was A - Picadilly.
The code ran through from A to Z - Kings
Cross and then AA to ZZ followed by A3 -
Z9. Provincial and coastal shops had a
double letter viz HE - Bournemouth. I can
still remember a few as I was a young
draughtsman in the New Teashops works
department in the 1950s, drawing the
catering equipment that made up the
counters and kitchen.
In the
immediate post WW2 years the Teashops were
bustling with customers necessitating the
installation of queue barriers to control
the line waiting to enter the cafeteria.
Ten years later the customers started to
fall off as the building of competing
restaurants surged.
A large
cup of tea at a Lyons Teashop cost 2.1/2d
(old pennies) in the 1950s.
The Head
Office of Teashops was at Orchard House
near Selfriges in Oxford Street.
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