Out of Time: The wartime kitchen that sprung up on Broad Street

While most in Nottingham will know Broadway in its current iconic facade, the original building was constructed as a Wesleyan Chapel in 1839. With a cost of just £11,000 and featuring four Corinthian columns outside the front of the building, this was an incredible achievement considering the harsh recession that same year. 

The space has had many uses over the years, predominantly as a film-related space or cinema. One of the more interesting yet lesser-known uses was as a British kitchen during World War II. The communal restaurants were an initiative by Britain’s Minister for Food, Lord Woolton to help feed struggling communities during the war years. The overall aim was to improve the health and strength of a nation in a time before the creation of the NHS. They were designed to help those who had been bombed out of their homes or run out of ration coupons, and provide for men whose wives were involved in the war effort or evacuated.

Broad Street was one of many such kitchens across the country but Nottingham’s sixth to open. Some of the other locations included the densely populated areas of St. Ann’s and Sneinton. The local council was under pressure to get the communal kitchens open as quickly as possible in order to have them in place before the city was bombed. 

Unfortunately, the kitchen doesn’t appear to have opened until 1942, just missing the Nottingham Blitz in 1941. Considered the most serious air raid on Nottingham, 159 people were killed and hundreds injured when 95 aircraft attacked the city. It was officially opened on 9 April 1942 by the Lord Mayor, Louis Pilsworth. It was expected that the kitchen would do the most business out of any of the city centres due to its location. The other five previously opened locations were serving between 14 to 15,000 meals per week with new locations in Sherwood, Bulwell and Lenton being considered. 

Broadway, or then the Wesleyan school room, was an obvious choice as it was in a good location and was commutable for most. If the nearby kitchens of St. Anns or Sneinton were full, it would not have been a long walk to Broad Street. It wasn’t just the communities that had British Kitchens as some opened at the site of coal mines such as Gedling Pit to feed the miners.

It wasn’t the first time the communal kitchen model had been used by the city. During the First World War, kitchens had been established on King Street with the same purpose. Winston Churchill was said to be less than a fan of the term ‘communal kitchens’ so he told Lord Woolton the name was, "an odious expression, redolent of Communism and the workhouse. I suggest you call them British Restaurants. Everybody associates the word 'restaurant' with a good meal." 

The kitchen did not require coupons so people could supplement their small food rations to access a good meal. Prices were kept low with meat and veg 7d, soup 2d, sweets 2d and tea 1d. They were self-service catering setups with customers going to a counter so that food could be kept as warm as possible. This was partially because of the realisation that vitamin C was perishable when food was kept for a long time in hot containers and it also reduced cooking times. 

It was also possible to get a ‘cash and carry service’ or what we would call a takeaway today. You could purchase a meal to take away with you. This was often split and shared among poorer families. Although in Nottingham it was noted that more people preferred to sit in the kitchens to eat their meals.

The staff at Broad Street would decorate the kitchen for Christmas with whatever decorations they could find. They would also add festive food to the menus such as mince pies and puddings. 

By 1943, there were over 2,000 British restaurants and many more set up across Nottingham. The largest was in Basford which could seat 650 where they hoped to have the facilities to serve 1,500 lunches daily at the centre. On Broad Street, the kitchen also took part in an initiative instigated by Winston Churchill in 1939 to encourage local people to stay at home instead of travelling far for their holidays. This was an effort to preserve fuel and prioritise travel for the military. It was also hoped that it might boost morale among those who were at home. Special attractions and features were put on locally to give people something to do with the kitchens advertising special lunches and teas for those attending.

The food could be… interesting at times. The Ministry created Woolton pie, which made a virtue of vegetables. It contained diced and cooked potatoes, cauliflower, swede, carrots, spring onion, vegetable extract if possible, and a tablespoon of oatmeal. The vegetables were cooked and cooled, placed in a pie dish sprinkled with chopped parsley and covered with a crust of potatoes or wholemeal pastry. It was served hot with brown gravy.

Despite being very popular with the public, British Restaurants were officially disbanded in 1947 while there were 1,850 left across the country. The government began to withdraw financially which meant they gradually closed although some remained open until the mid-fifties in cities. Some kitchens had made substantial losses but had been viewed as ‘insurance’ in case the worst happened. This was despite a visit to the Broad Street kitchen by Sir Frederick Sykes, a British military officer and politician who, while praising the kitchen for its airiness and cleanliness, predicted the ‘social experiment’ could be needed for another two to three years.

It’s unclear when the Broad Street kitchen closed but by 1949 newspaper reports it was still open. Much was made of the facilities being impressively modern. This included the use of a washing machine so that dishes could be quickly washed, sterilised and heat-dried. A three-course meal by this time cost 1s 4d. 

The church and its school were closed in 1954 with the building converted into a theatre, and in 1990 Broadway Cinema opened, making Broad Street the cultural hub we know today.