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.