Lyons Tea Shops.

The front of a J. Lyons Corner Shop.

When I was courting my wife – that word courting has gone out now, I suppose, but the word, the same as many other words which have disappeared from the vernacular, is the only one to describe the activity which we were up to; dating?

I remember seeing the movie Elizabeth; Cate Blanchard played Elizabeth I in a very dark looking piece, and I saw it in Los Angeles. On the way out of the cinema I heard someone trying to explain who everyone was in the movie and I heard 'So Elizabeth was dating . . . .. ' Dating? An historical character dating?
Anyway back to the opening sentence – when I was courting my wife we would meet up, on some of our dates, and go to Lyons Restaurant in Birmingham. It might have been called Lyons Tea Rooms or Lyons Tea Shop (always in the plural); we would meet there and order hot blackcurrant drinks. These were served in a glass which had a metal holder with a handle so you could pick it up. Maybe in the modern idiom it would be called a sleeve; they have paper ones at Starbucks – what is the world coming to; or The Planet as they say these days. The Planet!!! I ask you!
Can you imagine a modern Shakespeare? All the Planet's a Stage and all . . etc.
But back to Lyons Tea Shops (which we shall call them); these were in most big cities; there were a number of them in London in places like Piccadilly, Shaftesbury Avenue and, the one I used later in life, The Strand.
The Lyons Tea Shop we used in Birmingham was in either Corporation Street or New Street – I can't remember which – and we would stay in there for some time; maybe even ordering more hot blackcurrant drinks as we gazed into each others eyes.
I remember meeting a friend in the 70s at the Lyons Tea Shop in The Strand and for some reason I don't remember it disappearing – together with the rest of them they faded away; like old soldiers and actors.
Lots of Lyons Tea Shops started to close in the 60s so I was fortunate to have witnessed the one in The Strand at such a late time. They have all disappeared now.

The image that floods into my mind, is piping hot chromium water holders and steam. For our blackcurrant drinks we would watch as the woman behind the counter put about one third of blackcurrant cordial into the glass and then fill it with boiling water. I think I figured out that the metal sleeve would prevent the glass cracking because of the heat although I have noticed in pubs these days hot drinks are poured directly into drinking glasses.

It's a pity that such places don't exist any more; they were more comfortable than Starbucks or the dreaded Kosta – no I'm not going to go on about Americano again (but at least you can get proper filter coffee in Starbucks) – and they were so well designed.

Above the entrance to a J. Lyons Restaurant.

 The shops had a distinctive art deco style and the waitresses, I hear, were called Nippies; a Nippy was a waitress who would nip in and out of the tables to serve customers. By the time I frequented Lyons Tea Shops the Nippies were a thing of the past and the Lyons Tea Shops were converted into a cafeteria style.
They had an artistic director who would design the shops and the name Lyons Tea Shops came from the first man to run the company, Joseph Nathanial Lyons, who was appointed by the tobacco company, who owned it, Salmon and Gluckstein.

Nippy Uniform.                                                                                                                                                             

The Nippies wore these kind of uniforms (above) and when I went to America first I was amazed at the waitresses in the diners who wore similar attire. Of course they don't call them waitresses any more – they're called 'servers' just as the postman or mailman, post woman or mail woman are called carriers!! Makes life so simple doesn't it to invent bland asexual words!! Heaven forbid if we should identify people by their sex!
All the Planet's a Stage and all the carriers and servers merely players!
A few years ago I remember reading that Lyons Tea Shops style was making a come back under a different banner Cadbury Cocoa House; their aim was to bring back the elegance of Lyons Tea Houses.

The concept, and I quote “ will challenge the dominance of the bland US coffee shop culture with its foreign mix of paninis and ciabatta, capuccinos and lattes”

The team behind it was headed by a former operations chief at Starbucks UK and I will quote again “The restaurants, which are more upmarket than existing coffee shops, will offer a 'Ritz-style' tea for two served on a tiered silver stand.
It includes a collection of finger sandwiches, such as cucumber, cream cheese and garden mint, and oak smoked salmon and lemon butter.
These come with freshly baked scones, served with Devon cream and raspberry preserve, together with a collection of pastries and Twinings tea.”
Preserve??? Don't they mean jam?
Back to the quotes -

“The price for this teatime feast comes in at £12.50 each for two or £14.50 for one.”

In dollars that would be around $18 to $20. Can we see that working? Let's see: they promised 50 locations but I can only see one in Bluewater near Dartford in Kent.

I used to take my wife to The Farmers' Market most days in Los Angeles for coffee and doughnuts and it cost about $3.50 – but I'm not counting my wife's Starbucks cappuccino.

Lyons Waitresses.