Sir Joseph Lyons death location (29th December 1847 to 22nd June 1917)

 

For sixty years Lyons Tea Houses were woven into London’s society. About 250 of their classy upmarket Corner Tea Houses were dotted around the country. They first appeared in 1909 and their bigger restaurants were spread over four or five levels and employed about 400 staff. They were named after Sir Joseph Lyons who was a pioneer of mass catering - something we're acquainted with now - but was unknown a century ago. He was the Chairman of J. Lyons and Co. Which he founded in 1884 and here I outside the posh five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge (near Harrod’s) where he died suddenly one summer.

 

You’d think a restaurant chain, food manufacturing and hotel conglomerate would bulldoze itself into the future becoming a bigger titan every decade but it wasn’t to be. Though you still get Lyons treacle tart, Bakewell tart, Battenberg and Lyons trifle sponges the company didn’t adapt to changing demands and every single Corner House had closed by 1977. Away from business Joseph painted watercolours, wrote novels, was actively involved in the Territorial Army and supported a number of charities. He married but had no children.

 

Anatomy is destiny and ultimately we are out bodies. As World War One raged the 69 tycoon he was staying in the opulent hotel off Hyde Park in London when he died suddenly of a heart attack. He was a Jew and now lies in a Jewish Cemetery on the outskirts of London.

 

I'm too ugly and scruffy to even look at a posh hotel like that but I took a couple of photos as I passed by. One summer when I was passing and there was some whooping and bell-ringing behind me. Upon turning around a group of lightly-dressed women passed by one biked (see last photos.) Good stuff.

 

 

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Death - Sir Joseph Lyons 2

 

 

 

 

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