438th AAA AW BN
APO 527 % Postmaster, N.Y.
England
Thursday, January 20, 1944 1530
Dearest Sweetheart –
I got back from London about an hour ago, changed clothes, washed and I’m now ready to write you, dear. I stopped at the mail office but there was no mail – which I couldn’t understand. However – a few minutes ago I was informed that they had just brought back 10 bags of mail and this must be the batch I’ve been waiting for. It better be, or I’ll be keenly disappointed. There was one letter for me – from Frank M. and his APO is 515 here in England. He hasn’t been here long. I’ll write him later. It will be nice if I can meet him on a pass. He says he was home for Christmas, the lucky stiff – so I may be able to get hold of some local news. So far he’s been following me wherever I’ve gone.
Well, darling, now about London. Having raced around on my first visit, I decided to just take it easy this time and relax. Pete couldn’t make it this trip, but I went in with a couple of nice fellows, Ted A. and Larry D.. We got to London about 1300 on Tuesday and checked in at the American Officers’ Red Cross Club – the Reindeer Club, so-called. They had rooms for us, and I must say, for the 1st time since I’ve had any contact with them, the Red Cross is doing a fine job here in England.
After washing, we just wandered around aimlessly, looked in shop windows, stopped at book stores etc. In the evening we went to the Piccadilly Hotel and had dinner and some rum (all they had). We got to bed early.
Wednesday, yesterday, I was determined to find out about the possibility of calling home and you, and also about making a broadcast. Concerning the former – I visited the central telephone office and was informed that at the present time – no calls were allowed, but that the ban might be lifted “one day”, as they put it. Darling I would give anything just to say ‘hello’ and tell you orally that I love you and hear you say the same. I’m not giving up, though, and I’ll try them again.
The BBC has several offices in London and I guess I hit everyone but the right one, dear. Each office sent me to another one and no one seemed to know anything much about the Sat. nite rebroadcast. Some of the English are really stupid. I didn’t follow through because I suspected anyway that it takes place on Thursdays. But I’ll try that again, too, dear.
Well – the boys wanted to round up some women – as is usual for the boys, but I didn’t so we split up for the late afternoon and evening. I preferred to wander around and watch people. England, or London, rather, is fascinating for its Cosmopolitan people. You see French, Polish, Norwegian, Yugoslav etc. officers all over, not to mention Scotch soldiers formally dressed in kilts – out walking or dancing with a girl. I’m still not used to it and find it amusing.
I decided to go to the Grosvenor House for tea. Everybody in England, everybody has tea from 4-6 pm. They stop their work; if you’re in a barber shop, a girl brings tea in to the barber; a fellow I know went to a matinée and everyone was served tea in the intermission between the 2nd and 3rd act. They’re crazy!
The Grosvenor House is very lovely and serves nice pastry with the tea. Incidentally, if you ask for no milk in the tea, they think you’re crazy. Well I sat down at a small table, or rather was seated. Next to me was a man of about 50 and we got to talking. He was waiting for his sister and brother-in-law to join him and asked me to, also. He was very interesting – Edwin Steiner – was his name, I don’t know his nationality – or should I say religion. About 1700, a couple aged about 50, also, came in and we were introduced. They were very interesting, had traveled in the U.S. in 1938 and we exchanged ideas and views. About 1800 tea is usually over. They asked me what my plans were and I had none, of course. Well they insisted I have dinner with them – and frankly, I didn’t mind accepting, because I hate to eat alone. We got into a cab and went to the Trocadero – which is really a very elaborate night club type restaurant (an ash-tray and plate is included in the trash I’m sending you, dear). We had some cocktails, etc. and then dinner – roast pigeon, by the way. It wasn’t bad either. They had that – or rabbit. Anyway we spent the entire evening there and they were really swell. We became quite friendly and at the end of the evening they all invited me to visit them at their home the next time I got to London. I don’t expect I will though, dear, because they live out of town in a place called Godalming, in Surrey. It helped pass a very pleasant and quiet evening though – and then I went back to the club and to bed. This a.m. we started back – and there you are again darling, with a full account of my activities. Perhaps the next time I go to London, I can arrange to meet Frank.
After we’ve been here 3 mos. – we’re entitled to a 7 days’ leave. Most everyone goes to Edinburgh for some reason or another. One fellow I know was able to buy some swell plaid material for the making of a dress. It’s not usually available – but if I ever get there – and can get some – do you like plaid, and what kind?
Darling – that’s all for now; I’m going out to see about the mail, and if I get my quota I ought to have a pleasant evening in store for me. Sweetheart – not one moment that I was away did I have you out of my mind. Always it was ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful if Wilma were here with me?’ Some day, though, darling, you will be, and it will be wonderful. Solong for now Sweetheart, until tomorrow.
I got back from London about an hour ago, changed clothes, washed and I’m now ready to write you, dear. I stopped at the mail office but there was no mail – which I couldn’t understand. However – a few minutes ago I was informed that they had just brought back 10 bags of mail and this must be the batch I’ve been waiting for. It better be, or I’ll be keenly disappointed. There was one letter for me – from Frank M. and his APO is 515 here in England. He hasn’t been here long. I’ll write him later. It will be nice if I can meet him on a pass. He says he was home for Christmas, the lucky stiff – so I may be able to get hold of some local news. So far he’s been following me wherever I’ve gone.
Well, darling, now about London. Having raced around on my first visit, I decided to just take it easy this time and relax. Pete couldn’t make it this trip, but I went in with a couple of nice fellows, Ted A. and Larry D.. We got to London about 1300 on Tuesday and checked in at the American Officers’ Red Cross Club – the Reindeer Club, so-called. They had rooms for us, and I must say, for the 1st time since I’ve had any contact with them, the Red Cross is doing a fine job here in England.
After washing, we just wandered around aimlessly, looked in shop windows, stopped at book stores etc. In the evening we went to the Piccadilly Hotel and had dinner and some rum (all they had). We got to bed early.
Wednesday, yesterday, I was determined to find out about the possibility of calling home and you, and also about making a broadcast. Concerning the former – I visited the central telephone office and was informed that at the present time – no calls were allowed, but that the ban might be lifted “one day”, as they put it. Darling I would give anything just to say ‘hello’ and tell you orally that I love you and hear you say the same. I’m not giving up, though, and I’ll try them again.
The BBC has several offices in London and I guess I hit everyone but the right one, dear. Each office sent me to another one and no one seemed to know anything much about the Sat. nite rebroadcast. Some of the English are really stupid. I didn’t follow through because I suspected anyway that it takes place on Thursdays. But I’ll try that again, too, dear.
Well – the boys wanted to round up some women – as is usual for the boys, but I didn’t so we split up for the late afternoon and evening. I preferred to wander around and watch people. England, or London, rather, is fascinating for its Cosmopolitan people. You see French, Polish, Norwegian, Yugoslav etc. officers all over, not to mention Scotch soldiers formally dressed in kilts – out walking or dancing with a girl. I’m still not used to it and find it amusing.
I decided to go to the Grosvenor House for tea. Everybody in England, everybody has tea from 4-6 pm. They stop their work; if you’re in a barber shop, a girl brings tea in to the barber; a fellow I know went to a matinée and everyone was served tea in the intermission between the 2nd and 3rd act. They’re crazy!
The Grosvenor House is very lovely and serves nice pastry with the tea. Incidentally, if you ask for no milk in the tea, they think you’re crazy. Well I sat down at a small table, or rather was seated. Next to me was a man of about 50 and we got to talking. He was waiting for his sister and brother-in-law to join him and asked me to, also. He was very interesting – Edwin Steiner – was his name, I don’t know his nationality – or should I say religion. About 1700, a couple aged about 50, also, came in and we were introduced. They were very interesting, had traveled in the U.S. in 1938 and we exchanged ideas and views. About 1800 tea is usually over. They asked me what my plans were and I had none, of course. Well they insisted I have dinner with them – and frankly, I didn’t mind accepting, because I hate to eat alone. We got into a cab and went to the Trocadero – which is really a very elaborate night club type restaurant (an ash-tray and plate is included in the trash I’m sending you, dear). We had some cocktails, etc. and then dinner – roast pigeon, by the way. It wasn’t bad either. They had that – or rabbit. Anyway we spent the entire evening there and they were really swell. We became quite friendly and at the end of the evening they all invited me to visit them at their home the next time I got to London. I don’t expect I will though, dear, because they live out of town in a place called Godalming, in Surrey. It helped pass a very pleasant and quiet evening though – and then I went back to the club and to bed. This a.m. we started back – and there you are again darling, with a full account of my activities. Perhaps the next time I go to London, I can arrange to meet Frank.
After we’ve been here 3 mos. – we’re entitled to a 7 days’ leave. Most everyone goes to Edinburgh for some reason or another. One fellow I know was able to buy some swell plaid material for the making of a dress. It’s not usually available – but if I ever get there – and can get some – do you like plaid, and what kind?
Darling – that’s all for now; I’m going out to see about the mail, and if I get my quota I ought to have a pleasant evening in store for me. Sweetheart – not one moment that I was away did I have you out of my mind. Always it was ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful if Wilma were here with me?’ Some day, though, darling, you will be, and it will be wonderful. Solong for now Sweetheart, until tomorrow.
All my love –
Greg.
Regards to the family
Love
G.
* TIDBIT *
about the Trocadero Restaurant
and J. Lyons & Co., Ltd.
Photo of ashtray taken from the Trocadero
(The bottom has the inscription: J. Lyons & Co. Ltd.)
about the Trocadero Restaurant
and J. Lyons & Co., Ltd.
Photo of ashtray taken from the Trocadero
(The bottom has the inscription: J. Lyons & Co. Ltd.)
London in the 1890's, unlike many European capitals, had no great restaurant. The Trocadero Restaurant of J. Lyons & Co., Ltd. opened in London in 1896 at a site on Shaftesbury Avenue near the theaters of the West End, which formerly had been occupied by the notorious Argyll Rooms, where wealthy men hired prostitutes. The new settings were magnificent in an Opera Baroque style, and the various Trocaderos of the English-speaking world have derived their names from this original, the epitome of grand Edwardian catering. Murals on Arthurian themes decorated the grand staircase, and the Long Bar catered to gentlemen only.
J. Lyons & Co., Ltd. had been set up by tobacco salesmen Barnett Salmon, Isidore and Montague Gluckstein, as a mobile caterer providing meals at exhibitions and private functions in the 1890's. They felt it inappropriate to use their names, as tobacconists, and approached Joseph Lyons to run the new company. He agreed and became an employee and part owner of the new company - and ultimately Director, knighted in 1911.
Salmon & Gluckstein, Tobacconists
The first Lyons teashop opened in 1894 at 213 Piccadilly. It was the forerunner of some 250 white and gold fronted tea shops which occupied prominent positions in many of London's high streets and suburban towns and cities. Corner sites with two entrances were preferred. At one time seven teashops operated in London's Oxford Street alone. Food and beverage charges were identical in each tea shop and the highest standards of hygiene were demanded by management. A customer's complaint was a serious matter investigated at the highest level. Such attention to detail was one of the secrets of their success, for the name of Lyons had come to convey to the public a standard of good quality at a reasonable price. Their tea was said to be the best available and the blend used was never sold or made available to the public.
During the grim days of World War I, the Trocadero initiated the first "concert tea", where tea was served in the Empire Hall, accompanied by a full concert program. After WWI, cabaret was a feature of the Grill Room. An example can be seen here:
From these beginnings, Lyons became one of the largest catering and food manufacturing companies in the world. Always innovative and with an acute awareness of popular taste, Lyons brought a unique blend of showmanship, style and spectacle to its aim of combining high quality with value for money by maintaining control of all its manufacturing and servicing departments. Its world-leading food laboratory attracted many graduates from Oxford and Cambridge. In fact, Margaret Thatcher worked as a scientist in the laboratory before she became a member of the British Parliament and eventually Britain's first woman Prime Minister.
J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. expanded into building and operating hotels, laundries, tea estates, meat pie companies, ice-cream companies, tea and coffee companies, engineering works, jam and soft drink factories and confectionery manufacturing. They were the first to introduce frozen food to the British public. During WWII they managed one of the largest bomb-making facilities in the UK and their engineering works made a range of war material. They packed millions of rations for troops fighting in Asia and other parts of the world and bequeathed one of their teashops to the American personnel stationed at Grosvenor Square. Another of their tea shops formed part of the famous Rainbow Corner in Shaftsbury Avenue, near Piccadilly Circus.
After WWII the company embarked on a rebuilding program, expanding their operations into Europe and America. They acquired Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream and Dunkin Donuts. The Trocadero Restaurant closed on 13 February, 1965. Over-expansion and a difficult international economy in the 1970's began their demise. In 1978 Allied Breweries Ltd made an offer for the company which was accepted and Lyons lost its independence. It survived for a few years under new management but eventually it's component parts were gradually sold to pay for acquisitions associated with the drinks trade, notably Hiram Walker of Canada and Pedro Domecq of Spain. The Lyons company had survived for over 100 years having traded from 1887 until 1998 as J. Lyons & Co. Ltd.
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Postcard of the Trocadero Entrance
Postcard of the Trocadero Entrance
J. Lyons & Co., Ltd. had been set up by tobacco salesmen Barnett Salmon, Isidore and Montague Gluckstein, as a mobile caterer providing meals at exhibitions and private functions in the 1890's. They felt it inappropriate to use their names, as tobacconists, and approached Joseph Lyons to run the new company. He agreed and became an employee and part owner of the new company - and ultimately Director, knighted in 1911.
Salmon & Gluckstein, Tobacconists
The first Lyons teashop opened in 1894 at 213 Piccadilly. It was the forerunner of some 250 white and gold fronted tea shops which occupied prominent positions in many of London's high streets and suburban towns and cities. Corner sites with two entrances were preferred. At one time seven teashops operated in London's Oxford Street alone. Food and beverage charges were identical in each tea shop and the highest standards of hygiene were demanded by management. A customer's complaint was a serious matter investigated at the highest level. Such attention to detail was one of the secrets of their success, for the name of Lyons had come to convey to the public a standard of good quality at a reasonable price. Their tea was said to be the best available and the blend used was never sold or made available to the public.
During the grim days of World War I, the Trocadero initiated the first "concert tea", where tea was served in the Empire Hall, accompanied by a full concert program. After WWI, cabaret was a feature of the Grill Room. An example can be seen here:
From these beginnings, Lyons became one of the largest catering and food manufacturing companies in the world. Always innovative and with an acute awareness of popular taste, Lyons brought a unique blend of showmanship, style and spectacle to its aim of combining high quality with value for money by maintaining control of all its manufacturing and servicing departments. Its world-leading food laboratory attracted many graduates from Oxford and Cambridge. In fact, Margaret Thatcher worked as a scientist in the laboratory before she became a member of the British Parliament and eventually Britain's first woman Prime Minister.
J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. expanded into building and operating hotels, laundries, tea estates, meat pie companies, ice-cream companies, tea and coffee companies, engineering works, jam and soft drink factories and confectionery manufacturing. They were the first to introduce frozen food to the British public. During WWII they managed one of the largest bomb-making facilities in the UK and their engineering works made a range of war material. They packed millions of rations for troops fighting in Asia and other parts of the world and bequeathed one of their teashops to the American personnel stationed at Grosvenor Square. Another of their tea shops formed part of the famous Rainbow Corner in Shaftsbury Avenue, near Piccadilly Circus.
After WWII the company embarked on a rebuilding program, expanding their operations into Europe and America. They acquired Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream and Dunkin Donuts. The Trocadero Restaurant closed on 13 February, 1965. Over-expansion and a difficult international economy in the 1970's began their demise. In 1978 Allied Breweries Ltd made an offer for the company which was accepted and Lyons lost its independence. It survived for a few years under new management but eventually it's component parts were gradually sold to pay for acquisitions associated with the drinks trade, notably Hiram Walker of Canada and Pedro Domecq of Spain. The Lyons company had survived for over 100 years having traded from 1887 until 1998 as J. Lyons & Co. Ltd.
