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Restaurants In Birmingham 1960s

They were sold to Grand Metropolitan in 1907, and then to Whitbread's in the 1990s, who then debased them into Beefeaters. but , if I remember rightly , before the 1990s they had already been a bit corrupted and introduced some burger items (YUK)
 
Did anyone try Jonathons, I hope that's the right spelling. It was at the crossroads of Hagley Road and the Wolverhampton Road at Quinton. It was a Victorian Style restaurant, I could only afford to go once and had Jugged Hare which was delicious.
 
mikejee said:
They were sold to Grand Metropolitan in 1907, and then to Whitbread's in the 1990s, who then debased them into Beefeaters. but , if I remember rightly , before the 1990s they had already been a bit corrupted and introduced some burger items (YUK)
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Don't knock the burgers, remember the ones we used to have from the street vendors in town whilst we waited for the late night bus on a Saturday night !
 
Chris,

Berni Inns, founded by the two Berni brothers, was at one time the largest catering chain outside the USA. Sold first to Grand Metropolitan & then Whitbreads, they were renamed the Beefeater chain, and have somewhat changed! Both brothers have passed away.

Ross Frozen Foods started a similar one called Cavalier, my late brotherin-law managed the one in Bournemouth and I did the accounts for him every Wednesday morning. Steak meals with the bar on the ground floor and fish meals, including huge dover soles in the basement. But I think Ross decided that they had deviated too far from their key business and the chain was eventually closed, although both of us had departed by then.

Both chains offered good value for money, but in the late 60s there wasn't enough business midweek to make them really profitable. I wish they were still about now, but what would their prices be like?

Maurice :cool:
 
Correct, Mort, and owned by Watneys, while Toby Grills were owned by Bass Charrington and still exist. The page I got the information from still reckons that Beefeater is the nearest thing to Berni. It's about 20 years since I went in a Beefeater, but nowhere near as cosy as Berni.

Maurice :cool:
 
I recall they all had quite a similar menu:

soup, prawn cocktail, melon

Rump Steak

Chicken

Gammon with egg or pineapple

Served with chips, peas and half a grilled tomato.

Black Forrest gateau

Ice-cream

Trifle

Cheese and biscuits

Irish coffee
 
Morturn said:
I recall they all had quite a similar menu:

soup, prawn cocktail, melon

Rump Steak

Chicken

Gammon with egg or pineapple

Served with chips, peas and half a grilled tomato.

Black Forrest gateau

Ice-cream

Trifle

Cheese and biscuits

Irish coffee
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gosh i am hungry now mort :D :D
 
As far as the Cavalier chain were concerned, upstairs or downstairs, the choice of the usual starters was the same, as were desserts. The latter always included port & stilton or Black Forest gateau, Upstairs the big T-bones were still available (no mad cow disease then) and a choice of 8 or 12 oz rump or fillet steak. Downstairs the top item was a huge Dover sole, which almost covered the plate. Or you could have lemon sole or plaice. Of course, nothing stopped you sitting upstairs and ordering fish or vice versa, and since the kitchen, stores and office were downstairs, and the bar & coffee machine were upstairs, there was no great intermingling of smells.

My brother-in-law was French and knew the trade well, his under manager was an Italian, who had worked in many of the restaurants of local hotels, and the chef was a huge British guy, who was always on hand if ever there was any trouble with drunks, which was rare. Altogether quite an experienced and professional staff.

Maurice :cool:
 
Anyone visit this ? Portrays the jet setting age, but I doubt the restaurant survived for long.

Viv

61D950C6-5629-4459-B878-BAF0FAFF8932.jpeg
Source: British Newspaper Archive
 
Morturn said:
The first Chinese restaurant I knew of was one at the end of Sutton New Road, Erdington. It was in that block of shops between Wilton Road and Station Road, by the church. It was there for years.
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I remember that, it was called "The Lotus House" if memory serves me right.
 
sylviasayers said:
Restaurants in Birmingham

Another restaurant I recall was the Burlington - was it part of the Burlington Hotel? - time has dimmed my memory, but it was in Burlington
Passage off New Street, we went there for special occasions, I think it later became Bobby Browns.

Another place for special occasions was The Albany Hotel, I think it was called the Four Seasons Resaurant, my sister and her husband took us there for their Silver Wedding Anniversary 1971, and my parents for their
Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1973.
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The burlington great place go in down the stairs for well served 3 course
 
Folk MUST remember "The Curry Garden" in Erdington........had a FEW curries there over the years.
Also "The Green Bengal" I think it was in Coton Lane Erdington.
But the BEST place for a curry was 'The Asian Grill" at Town Gate in Sutton..........
 
The Heathen said:
This one might be an ask too far for anyone to remember - not least because I don't remember seeing anyone else in there when we ate in there! :D

The place in question was an Indian restaurant we would go to lunchtimes from the mid-70s up to about 1980 and it was on Edgbaston St, opposite the Rag Market. It was notable for the "Businessmen's Lunches" we would go there for.

Three courses for under a quid. Fruit juice or soup starter (both tinned, I think), chicken or beef curry and rice (or prawn for a surcharge) and ice cream or tinned fruit for dessert. I seem to recall coffee being involved but I don't know if that was an extra. IIRC, when we first started going there for a lunchtime scoff it was 75p but eventually was 90p.

Stonking value even if it wasn't the best food you'd ever eat. If it hadn't have been decent, we wouldn't have gone back because gash food is gash whatever the price.

So, I can remember quite a bit about it except the name. Any chance anyone knows what it was called? Whatever it was, I'm pretty sure by 1990 it was gone.
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In the 60s/early 70s this was called the Arabian Nights.
 
The Heathen said:
Thanks very much. That's interesting, I wonder if that's what it was called? However, it doesn't ring a bell, unfortunately, and 1973 is at least two, maybe three, years prior to when we went to the place.

I'll mention Jalalabad to the fellow diner who has oft shared a fond reminiscing of the place to see if it jibes with them.

My feeling has long been that we couldn't recall the name because it was analogous to "Red Lion" and "King's Head" named pubs. There is - or more accurately and absolutely tragically was - absolutely hundreds across the country.

Similarly, permutations of "Royal Indian" or "Royal Bengal" abound and have done for a long time. Hence I wouldn't be surprised if it was definitively named as "The Green Bengal" or "Moghul".

I'll do some image searching later for Edgbaston St. If I can find an image of it, perhaps I can narrow down the retail unit it was located at and what businesses might have been around it.

Cheers for the suggestion. Certainly gives me a starting point I didn't have last night!
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This was called the Arabian Nights in late 60s/early 70s.
 
I have been to both The George in the Tree and The Moat House. They were eating places of their time. The good old classic prawn cocktail to start. Rump steak, with chips, peas and grilled tomatoes as a main and Black Forest Gateau for a desert.

They did Irish coffee too.

We would really paint the town red and buy a bottle of Mateus Rosé or Liebfraumilch. Did we think we were part of the in crowd then.
 
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