The Aerated Bread Company…

The Aerated Bread Company started life in 1862 as an Islington Bakers of fine healthy, additive-free bread in England, and within two years opened the first of 250 ABC self-service Tea Shops. In the late Victorian period – an ABC tea room was the sort of place a woman could enjoy a meal unescorted and without risk to her reputation! By 1923 ABC had a further 150 branch shops selling their highly popular ‘graham bread’ and were second only to the famous Lyons Corner Houses. In 1955 ABC… who seemed to be in every major street in London, was bought by Garfield Weston for $8.1 million and added to the high end retailer of Fortnum and Mason. As one American magazine put it at the time – “The Piccadilly Prince is about to marry The Tea Room Cinderella” … Sadly ABC was gone from our streets by the end of the 1980s – the victim I’m sure… of a mood change in our food and drinking habits.