Caterer and Hotelkeeper – 31709

100 years ago

}The wage of the waiter is still a burning subject with those devoted representatives of wagedom, Messrs Keir Hardie and Cremer. The Kitchen Committee of the House of Commons has, it seems, endeavoured to carry out its much-criticised rule against the tipping of waiters. The sessional staff receive wages of about 30s per week with three meals a day, but this revised scale apparently falls short of what the tips produced on the lower grade of salary, and the waiters say that 30s a week in session means only 15s a week per year.

~(An advert in the same issue of Caterer reveals that 30s would have bought a dozen bottles of Haut Sauterne, 1891 vintage.)

50 years ago

}More than 500 guests had a fortunate escape when a flying bomb hit the annexe of the Regent Palace Hotel in London recently. The bomb burst a few minutes before luncheon, but the only fatality was a waitress resting in her room at the top of the hotel. Mr Charles, one of the managers, told a reporter: ‘The annexe was not in use but more than 500 guests were in the Winter garden. There was a number of minor casualties among the guests through flying glass. The orchestra had not yet taken their places. Their instruments were thrown about the room. Within half an hour we were carrying on asusual.'

~10 years ago

}Hoteliers in Tenby may sue the National Union of Mineworkers for compensation because it has cancelled its July conference in the town. The hoteliers claim they will lose about £75,000 in bookings and up to £1m in spin-offs as a result of the miners' sensitivity to being seen at the seaside while the strike is on. The case for compensation could turn on whether it can be clearly established that the NUM has breached a contract with the hoteliers.

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