In today’s gastronomical world with its impressive array of chain and independent restaurants providing a multitude of cuisines, it is perhaps difficult to conceive of a time of council-run restaurants.

A mid-20th century country-wide phenomenon, these municipal eateries stemmed from a government initiative to establish communal kitchens during the Second World War to provide inexpensive meals for people made homeless by bombing, or otherwise in need.

Originally ‘Communal Feeding Centres’, the more palatable moniker ‘British Restaurants’ was eventually settled on.

By 1943, 2160 British Restaurants had been set up serving 650,000 nutritious and filling midday meals daily for under a shilling, as well as breakfasts and evening meals. Walthamstow had two British Restaurants, one of them located in the newly built Town Hall on Forest Road.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

A 1938 map showing Selborne Park - marked recreation ground opposite Hoe Street Station - now Walthamstow Central

British Restaurants were disbanded in 1947, but some were converted into civic restaurants run by local councils.

In Walthamstow a new civic licensed restaurant was built by the council in the early 1950s overlooking the part of Selborne Park where the bus station now stands; the restaurant building stood in front of the public baths adjacent to Walthamstow Library.

Known as Selborne Municipal Restaurant, or Selborne Restaurant, it seated around 90 diners and provided slightly more upmarket meals than the local market cafes. A takeaway service counter was installed - very modern and innovative at the time.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

The restaurant overlooked Selborne Park

The restaurant’s central location attracted shoppers as well as local workers and was especially popular with public sector workers. The restaurant was also regularly used as a venue by a variety of societies and organisations for events, especially suppers and annual dinners with entertainments, which presumably provided a good source of additional revenue for the council. Other events included literary suppers organised by Walthamstow Public Libraries, and coffee mornings.

By the 1960s economic and social changes were influencing the way people spent their money and leisure as eating out was becoming more widely affordable. Chain and franchise restaurants became familiar sights in many high streets from the 1960s into the 1970s and Selborne Restaurant’s popularity waned as it became old-fashioned and outdated, no match for the new burger bars and modern eateries that were commonplace by the 1980s.

Karen Averby is a seaside-loving historian and research consultant specialising in researching histories and stories of buildings, people and places. She researches house histories for private clients and collaborates in community heritage projects (karenaverby.co.uk). She is also director of Archangel Heritage Ltd, an historical research consultancy providing research services for the commercial heritage sector (archangelheritage.co.uk). Also found on Twitter @karenaverby and @archaheritage