How the Lyons Corner House became a haven for the single working woman

In Whitechapel, in the mid 19th century, rolling and selling cigars was a way for a newly arrived immigrant to scrape a living. This is what Samuel Glückstein did, after he landed in London from Belgium in 1843. He built up his cigar business until he could send for his parents and siblings. One of his sisters married a man named Salmon (also in the tobacco trade) and thus the Salmon & Gluckstein firm was born. The fortunes of these intertwined families and their business empire are traced in this book.

Within 20 years they had a large chain of tobacconists, and their brand was known across the country. They even had the capital to consider expansion — and Samuel’s son Monte had the foresight to look at catering, providing refreshments at the many public exhibitions during the last decades of Queen Victoria’s reign. They also decided that for the new venture they needed a less ethnic-sounding name, so chose an acquaintance, Joseph Lyons, as their frontman. Thus the Lyons brand was born.

Having decided to turn to catering, they didn’t do it in half measures. Not for them a tent with stale sandwiches. Their first refreshments pavilion, at a mining and engineering exhibition in Newcastle in 1887, was a two-storey affair, to seat more than 1,200. It was richly decorated with an Oriental theme. Lyons set out to supply decent food and non-alcoholic drinks at reasonable prices, in a pleasant atmosphere — quite a revolutionary idea at the time. And one that exhibition punters took to in droves.