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Prana (health food shop and restaurant)

M

Maria Magenta

master brummie
It became Holland & Barratt - does any one remember it? Opposite Lewis's back entrance (I haven't got an A-Z here at the moment) and across a circular underpass with shops around the edge, which has been filled in, as I found a few years ago when visiting.

I still have a silver ring I bought at Prana in about 1970. My father, who was keen on herbal remedies, used to go there as well.

When it became Holland and Barratt, there was a vegetarian cafe upstairs (H&B in Oxford also used to have one).
 
Prana had a lovely gift shop. I have frog made of plaster I bought for my mom in the 1960's. The cafe used to sell the most amazing stewed apples with cream.

My sister-in-law worked for the company that produced the tiles that decorated the walls in the cafe, they were a little odd, lots of gold and navy blue swirly patters. Typical of 60's decor.

I think Laura Ashley moved over to that side at some time, did they take the Prana store?

Do you remember the Old Square, which was there before the circular underpass you mention? The busses used to stop there, the roads were cobbled and there were underground toilets.
 
I don't remember a lot about Prana, just that I sometimes used to go there. Am I right that they used to sell vitamins, etc?

The Old Square I don't remember, but I will have a look in my books about old Birmingham.

Along from Prana (towards the 14 bus stop, I think) was a place called the Ceylon Tea Centre. I know I went in there once with some friends, but I'm not sure what sort of place it was, perhaps a tea room, but it seems now as though it was a bit exotic (mind you, it wouldn't have taken much to seem exotic at the time!)

I think Holland & Barratt moved to New Street Station.
 
I remember the Ceylon Tea Centre too but I don't think I ever went in there. I used to work in Steelhouse Lane and live in Alum Rock, so often walked that way to get the nnumber 14 bus which was just around the corner in Corporation Street. I think the Old Square must have changed in the early 1960's. It had gone by 1966 when the World Cup was on because I remember walking around the area and there were lots of "foreigners" who were in Birmingham to watch the game which I think was being played at Villa Park. Sure someone on the Forum will know.

I used to buy my Union Jack carrier bags (cost 1/6d) from a shop down there.
 
I don't remember the Prana shop but I used to work across the road from The Good Earth restaurant in Newhall Street which sold exotic things like coleslaw! It was quite a novelty eating all that healthy food in the early 70s! Anyone remember it?
 
Thank you, Aidan. That is really interesting, and a vegetarian hotel seems a novel idea!

One of my teachers told me about a vegetarian restaurant in the arcade (no A-Z here and can't recall the arcade's name, sorry) near the Big Top, which would have been there in the 1940s or '50s. She had a fling with vegetarianism, but reverted after fainting after a lunch of a nut cutlet and a banana!

My father used to read some one called Gaylord Hauser (great name), who I think was a sort of early Gillian McKeith, only less extreme. I think Mr Hauser used to advocate large quantities of vitamins, and used to advise various Hollywood actors on their health. He wrote a column in a British newspaper as well.

I remember being extremely shocked to see the underapass filled in - what have they done, etc.
 
There is a little about Hauser at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayelord_Hauser. It is a little unfair to Hauser to compare him to Gillian McKieth. Hauser was controversial and some of his practices could be criticised, but he never fraudulently claimed to be a PhD, his "advice" was never condemned as dangerous, and he was in no way such a dubious character as McKieth.
Mike
 
mikejee said:
There is a little about Hauser at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayelord_Hauser. It is a little unfair to Hauser to compare him to Gillian McKieth. Hauser was controversial and some of his practices could be criticised, but he never fraudulently claimed to be a PhD, his "advice" was never condemned as dangerous, and he was in no way such a dubious character as McKieth.
Mike
Click to expand...

Quite agree about Gillian McKeith (I think she's ghastly in many ways, and she has terrible posture!), but I couldn't think of any one comparable.
 
Just came across this old thread. I regularly went into the cafe/restaurant upstairs. It was, I suppose, very 'alternative' in its time. It was a modern place with I think a lot of pine dining tables. I loved the food. Healthy salads, wholemeal pastry for flans, pies, homemade soups. They made enormous bowls of salad and you chose a selection. The salad counter was just to the left as you reached the top of the stairs. The food was I think quite reasonably priced but HEALTHY too. I loved their carrot and grated cheese, sweetcorn in a yoghurt dressing and theirnwholemeal flans. Downstairs was the shop and, if memory serves, I think they sold bread, herbal remedies etc. Customers were of all types, but it was often popular with 'hippy' types seeking a better source of natural food. Remember many beardy types in there! I'm not a health food fanatic but it did teach me a lot about the value of a healthy diet. However, I'm as ready as the next person to tuck into a full English any day. My thinking is : anything in moderation. Viv.
 
I've been trying to recollect Prana but I just can't - I used to work in Temple Row near Lewis's in the 70's as well!

Amazing to think that Brum had a vegetarian shop then when it was quite unusual but there doesn't seem to be any in the city centre now.

I am surprised that no one has opened an independant health food shop, I would think it would go well.
I know that the Friends of the Earth place is still open but they are not very central and have a limited range of stock.
 
I had forgotten all about Prana.I loved it,great food and interesting place to look around.
 
Yes Keegs I'd forgotton about it until I came across this old thread. I can't even visualise the shop/restaurant name sign on the front. It was opposite Lewis's (Old Sq side). But it was in that modern block of offices/ shops that swept around the Priory Queesway/Old Square and joined the section of Corporation Street that went down to the Fire Station. Prana was on the other end of that row nearest the Gaumont, there was a Post Office just round the corner. Still with me ? !!! I suppose it was a bit out of the way, but we used to go in there, not only for the healthy food, but because it was en route to the bus stops by the Post and Mail building. The general look of the place was modern - the pine furniture revival was very much in evidence and I seem to remember a lot of yellows, greens and brown colours - all very earthy. Viv.
 
I borrowed this 1969 photo which Astoness posted on the 'Old street pics..' thread. It shows where Prana was - pretty sure it was by Halfords (see red dot - right edge of photo). It has very little signage. I think this is a brilliant photo of the subway shops etc which are no longer there but Lyn (Astoness) mentioned in the original caption that it's thought the shops were just backfilled and are still there. Wonder what future Time Teams will make of that! Viv.

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Hi Viv.I have seen this great old pic before.The girl sitting on the bench ,I married her !!
 
Wow Keegs that's truly amazing! I think it's a great view as the photo was taken from above, most of the people being unaware too. If this place was just backfilled, maybe that very bench is still down there! One for your family album. Viv.
 
One of the salad bar options at the Prana on Priory Queensway (or whatever it's called today) was grated carrot and grated cheese mixed together. Strangely enough I did this as part of a salad just last week, for the first time since eating it at Prana's (1970ish) and it's still as delicious as I remember. Another nice Prana salad bar option was sweetcorn in a yoghurt dressing. All very simple and easy to prepare but full of flavour. Viv.

PS Having praised healthy eating the Prana way, I'm also partial to a pint or two of beer and a bag of pork scratchings. V.
 
Hi Viv, what a great pic. If the date is 1969 then I used to work Saturdays in the Ceylon Tea Centre which would have been round to the right of the photo almost opposite The Minories (Lewis's). They had a great salad bar but I spent most of the time making tea. By the time I left I knew practically every Ceylonese tea there was! So many lovely places gone now.
 
Hi Jennifer. And specialist teas are all the rage again, so your Saturday job knowledge won't be wasted!

I've just remembered that Prana sold bread downstairs. Very healthy fibrous stuff. It was pretty dense in structure, could use it as doorstops! Some aspects of health food. have come a long way since then, bread being one of them Viv.
 
Used to go to Prana as a child. Loved the healthy food served in the restaurant upstairs. We were family friends of the owners. They all live in the USA now.
Have always wanted to bring the brand back . . .
 
I was thinking about Prana again today for some reason, and I think they used to sell their own ready-to-heat tofu burgers, which were very good.
 
Hi Maria Magenta, for some reason I had never heard of Prana. I wouldn't have gone there in the 70's but I definitely would like to go now! Holland & Barrett isn't what it used to be is it?
I have to say that I've never been impressed with the shop in Allison Street or the cafe. The shop is vegan so limited stock and the restaurant food is always a little lacklustre. Nice people though.
Mike, sad that Gaylord Hauser had some iffy ideas together with his good ones. It leaves the door open for general criticism which is a shame as many of the things he recommended are being promoted today. Another doctor ahead of his time was John Yudkin who wrote 'Pure White & Deadly' about the effects of refined sugar in the 1960's. He came up against the might of the giant food companies and his reputation was ruined. Now the powers-that-be are saying he was right!
 
You're right about Holland & Barrett, Lady P.
I think I might have the John Yudkin book, or perhaps he wrote another one? I've got some cookery books from the Vegetarian Society that I've had since the 1970s or 80s, and they're so grim - very plain in appearance, and also the recipes. I also have one by Walter and Jenny Fliess, which also has incredibly plain and straightforward recipes. Very different from all those clean eating bloggers (and I have doubts about them).
 
In the 1970s I suddenly took up a health food diet, not extreme, but just eating healthier. Made my own yoghurt, baked whole meal bread and pies made with whole meal flour and ate lots of veggies. Yoghurt was great, bread and pastry was dense and heavy going. Veggies got pretty boring after a while. But now..........

All this has moved on. There's more inspiration around to make nice healthy meals and lots of ideas for interesting recipes. But I do wonder if all that effort in the 70s ever balanced out the damage of the rampant drinking and smoking of my youth?!!

Viv.
 
Maria Magenta, you're right about the earlier veggie books but they are getting better now. I find most of my recipes on the internet and although I've had one or two failures, most are OK. The problem that I have is eating out - there's always cheese or pastry and usually both. Generally I'm more of a wholefood cook, or at least I try to be. Was Prana like that? It sounds great.
Viv, my pastry is quite awful even if I make it with white flour - I just don't have the patience. My wholemeal pastry wouldn't disgrace a rock garden so I buy frozen pastry and I'm hoping that one day they'll bring out a wholemeal version.
 
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