CATERING FOR ALL

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 23, 28 January 1924, Page 8

CATERING FOR ALL

MEALS AT THE EXHIBITION.

Mr. Noel Elmslie, British Government Trade Commissioner in New Zealand, has been advised that the caterers for the British \Empire Exhibition, Messrs. J: Lyons and Company, Ltd., have arranged for the simultaneous seating of at least 25,000 people, and for meals to be provided for an estimated daily total of 175,000 visitors. The authorities are counting on there being'3o,ooo,ooo visitors to the Exhibition during the six months in which it will be opened next year. Practically every form. of taste will be catered for, from the simplest ■ light refreshments to'elaborate table d'hote meals and public .banquets. For distribution of light refreshments there will be twenty cafes of the well-known Lyons' . teashop type. In addition there will be five restaurants, the largest of which will seat 1500 people on each floor, and the tariff will ' vary from that supplied at the Trocadero Grill Room down to that in the "Popular" cafe. There will also be built one or two restaurants on the lines of the "Corner House," as well as many buffets. It is anticipated that no visitor at any time will be more than two or three hundred yards from a place of refreshment. ,A dance floor will also be provided in a cafe to be conducted on the most modern lines. ■

Provision will also be made for the large number of deputations which are" expected to consist largely of overseas visitors, such as delegates to the Advertising Convention.' For these there will be special banqueting halls and excursion halls capable of accommodating parties of from 50 to 1000 people. The Dominion buildings will have their own restaurants, but these will be under the control of Messrs. Lyons. It is estimated that a staff of at least 7000 will be permanently employed in connection with the catering. Stress is laid on the fact that meals will be obtainable to suit every purse. The building of the British Empire Exhibition is proving an, important factor in solving the unemployment problem in the neighbourhood of London. Over 5000 men were at work at the end of November witliin the grounds at Wembley; and the number was being increased at the rate of 300 men per week. Nearly as many are employed on roadmaking and other public work in connec-, tion with the Exhibition under the control of the authorities, central and local. As Sir Malcolm M'Alpine, one of the partners in the firm which is responsible for the main buildings of the Exhibition, pointed out recently, the employment created by work at Wembley does not end in,the Exhibition grounds. The mining of coal and the making of a vast amount of steel and ■ other materials means that every man who is employed at Wembley involves employment for more than two men elsewhere: in other words, the British Empire Exhibition ia directly and indirectly providing employment for about 20,000 men.