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Catering Establishments
Messrs. Thompson and Flynn, the two public health inspectors who specialise in the hygiene
of catering establishments, report to the following effect:—
As we enjoy the festivities of Christmas and New Year, Time, that fleet footed robber of all
our good intentions reminds us that the hour is approaching, all too quickly, when we must again
account for the year that has passed beyond recall.
There is at first recollection a sense of panic and frustration at the apparently superficial
progress which has been made. An elegant or brash specimen of the Shop Fitter's art is no true
indication of progress, but many of these new shop fronts have been the means of giving a spring
look to a run down business. If shop fronts were a reliable yardstick whereby an assessment
could be made of hygienic standards inside the premises, we might feel happier about our progress.
However, a more critical examination indicates that a single year's work in the sphere of
food hygiene is an inadequate unit of time upon which to make an accurate estimate of the extent
of improvements and progress. Indeed, if we were compelled to use this parameter of progress we
could think of no more unrewarding task. Inevitably this feeling of dissatisfaction must be the
lot of those who endeavour to work for the public well-being. We would therefore invite the
critical general public to look back over a period of say ten years and compare the standard's they
knew then with those existing today. If they consider the effort involved is worth while we would
suggest that they re-iterate their demand for even better standards in the future.
Without question the rebuilding of the City on the scars enobled by the lowliest weeds proceeds
apace. With the very able assistance of the developers and planners we see the sky lines
changing and the edifices which now inspire our daily lives springing up from the beds of these
lowly plants, but, with these large new buildings come the problems which are likely to be
troublesome for years. Only where the small caterer struggled or the fortunate vendor of alchohol
plied his trade and were rudely blasted away by the bombs or chased out of existence with indecent
haste by the flames, has there been any insistence upon the re-establishment of catering
facilities for the many additional people now working in the City. Where a two-storey building
existed before the devastation a twenty-storey office block now stands, but no provision has
been made for the feeding of the many additional day-time citizens.
In the early stages of the construction of new buildings, it has been our practice to make
enquiries from agents and architects as to the likelihood of a restaurant being incorporated therein.
In many instances, however, no information was available as to whom the building was to be
let or what the individual requirements of the new occupiers might be. Usually in such circumstances
no provision has been made for catering facilities and no essential services such as
drain connections etc. have been made available for a major eating establishment should one be
required. With catering arrangements in the City already stretched to their limits it is suggested
that an essential requirement in each large new building is the provision of adequate catering
facilities for the personnel employed therein. In considering these points of view, two things
become obvious. Firstly, when a caterer is working to the limit of his resources the hygienic
standards of his staff are likely to go by the board. This is in no way a condemnation of the
caterer as obviously he must, by and large, meet the demands for his services. Secondly, the
developer is loath to provide voluntarily facilities for caterhig accommodation because the rents
he could obtain for purposes other than restaurants, are far higher than a caterer can afford.
Perhaps the time is rapidly approaching when under the special circumstances which are
operating in the City of London a more critical look should be given to the caterer. He is of
course primarily there as a business man with the object of making a profit. But does he not do
something more than that? We believe that he provides a valuable service to the community, a
service which would be sadly missed if the pressure of rents and other costs forced him to give
up what is in many cases an arduous struggle to make a success of his business. There may be
some justification for a local authority accepting the fact that he is providing an essential service
to the community and consequently assist him to remain in business by more favourable
rating assessment or by some other device. It may become necessary for the planning authorities
to insist also upon the provision of suitable catering facilities in all new buildings, and means
will have to be found to ensure that efficient caterers are available to provide these essential
services. Again this is not an attempt to revive municipal catering but unless some attention is
paid to the provision of adequate feeding arrangements in such areas as town centres, people may
eventually refuse to work there.
Repeatedly during the last year our attention has been drawn to the inadequate standard of
ventilation proposed when plans have been submitted to us for our observations. It is obvious,
as in the case of chimneys from furnaces, that the terminal points of exhaust ducts from ventilating
plants will continue to give increasing cause for concern. In many instances it is certain
that as these new buildings tower above their more lowly neighbours they will be the unwilling
recipients of the waste products from these low placed outlets which can be just as offensive and
objectionable as the emptying of rubbish bins on one's doorstep. Here again it may well be that
the solution lies with the planners. Unless they insist upon the provision in these new giant
buildings of ducts and chimneys to take waste gases from lower adjoining premises, some of the
new office accommodation in the City may become almost uninhabitable. We have digressed.
It seems a far cry from good planning to good catering, but it is obvious that many of the considerations
mentioned above are an essential pre-requisite to good catering.
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