At Nourish, our new project looks at the heritage of communal dining in Scotland, including the ‘British restaurants’ government initiative of the 1940s and contemporary examples such as the Langar. Our learning will help us develop a Public Dining concept that will feed and support local communities today. 

British Restaurants were created to provide a healthy, and affordable meal (9p equivalent to £1.50 today) and were open to everyone in society. By 1943 there was more than 2,000 restaurants serving 500,000 meals a day. Restaurants were set up by local councils in a variety of spaces from town halls to local churches, they also featured artwork to make the space engaging and joyful- far from a soup kitchen but a proud place for community.  

Ourselves and our fantastic volunteers are researching these Restaurants on an array on themes such as looking at geographical locations of where restaurants where, what purpose they had to local communities and their reactions to them, Government plans, the art and design history of restaurants and the menu and food distribution. We are visiting local libraries, archives and museums to develop our understanding on these restaurants. 

Volunteers will also be interviewing individuals on their firsthand experience of British Restaurants during and after World War Two.  We hope this enriches the project by including local voices and stories to define the impact British restaurants had during and after the war. 

We are also interested in contemporary examples of communal dining. We will look at existing community meals, and institutions such as Langar and how they shape our experience of eating together. We are interested in the traditions, knowledge and experiences the News Scots bring with them, for instance Polish ‘milk bars’ and Singaporean hawker. 

All this research will conclude with the creation of a touring exhibition. The purpose of the exhibition is to firstly showcase this forgotten history and the impact it had on society but secondly to act as evidence and inspiration to local communities, authorities, and government that a reinvented Public Diner is something that would work and that is needed to feed and support people in Scotland today.  

We are excited to see where this project will go and the change it could make! 

If you would like to get involved, please visit our current vaccines page with a link to our volunteer application. Alternatively, please email our project research coordinator, Jade Balmer for more information at jade@nourishscotland.org.uk 

Please follow us on our social media to keep up to date with our progress and please share. 

Images: British Restaurant in Duke Street in 1944, Burton Latimer (Burton Latimer Heritage Society), ‘The Vegtabul’ Poster 1941, George Lewitt-Him, Ministry of Food (V&A Collections), British Restaurant Meal Tokens, Newcastle, Malcolm Johnson (1900s.org.uk), Still from ‘Eating Out with Tommy Trinder’, 1941 (Strand Film Company), UK Magazine Symington Vita-Gravy Advert, 1942 (Alamy), Mitcham Corporation British Restaurant Paper token 1941 (br/history.htm), Picture of British restaurant line 1940 (Gettyimages).

Public diners are state-supported restaurants which offer nutritious price-capped menus.

They operated in the UK under the banner of ‘British restaurants’. At their peak in 1940s and 50s there were approximately 2,500 of these operating throughout the UK (nearly twice the current number of McDonald’s). Similar models can be found in other countries, for instance Mexican Wellbeing Public Diners or German and Dutch Mensas – subsidised canteens aimed at students and university staff, but open to the public.

Public diners were state-subsidised. The Treasury and the Ministry of Food ran a grant programme open to businesses and local authorities. A quarter of the capital grant could be used for start-up costs, such as equipment.

Public diners had a clear economic model. Although grants were awarded to get these enterprises off the ground, any future funding was conditional on the venues breaking even or tuning a profit. The diners also benefited from a central procurement of food, reducing the costs.

Public diners struck a balance between what people ‘should’ eat and what they would like to eat. The grants offered by the government were conditional on certain nutritional criteria, corresponding to the current Eatwell Guide. But, there was a tension between the government’s nutritionists, who were keen for people to eat more veg, and restaurateurs whose priority was to offer customers what they wanted to eat (meat and pudding!).

Public diners were desirable places to go to. They saved time and energy spent on cooking, making life easier particularly for women. The diners were designed as places where anyone – that is ‘you and I’ – might dine. They were well decorated, inviting, contemporary. Food historian Bryce Evans describes them as “centres of civilization where people looked forward to go and dine”.

Public diners could provide a valuable avenue away from crisis response and charitable food aid and towards a universal approach. They could form an important part of our social infrastructure, alongside public libraries, leisure centres, and schools. They could become a valuable part of community life, enhancing social cohesion and reducing loneliness. They have the potential to contribute to many of the Scottish Government’s policy objectives including 20-minute neighbourhoods, ending the need for food banks, local food growing strategy, community empowerment, the Good Food Nation ambition, and healthy diets. They are firmly in line with the human rights centred approach which the Government wants to progress.