This rather grand and sophisticated menu was set before customers who dined at the Lyon’s Popular State Café in Liverpool in 1928. The seal on the front reminded people that the company had the Royal seal of approval – by appointment to George V.

J Lyons and Co was a restaurant and food manufacturing conglomerate whose main commercial outlets were teashops. The company also owned a number of supersized restaurants including the Trocadero in London and the Piccadilly. The State Café was opened in Liverpool in 1905 and immediately became a hit with middle class folks. A string quartet played during “luncheon” and a dance band livened up the evenings when a range of meals, including set dinners written in French, were served. Indian curries were served twice weekly. A uniformed Superintendent kept a beady eye on the standard of service as waiters and waitresses scurried around the dining room. Like its counterpart in London, this restaurant had an on-site bakery that serviced the restaurant and also sold bread and cakes. Several State Cafes opened in provincial English cities but most of them had closed by the late 1940s. 

Courtesy Private Collection.

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