Pub meals in 1860s London

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  • on 01.07.09
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  • How much would a weekday tavern supper cost for one person in London in the early 1860s?


  • Hello kh22 - nice to see you here again. A short answer could be that 1 shilling and sixpence (eighteen pence or 1s 6d) to 2 shillings is a fair guideline. A longer answer about 1860s England has to mention social class. We also have to take a quick look at what we mean by "pub" and "supper"! Not all pubs served meals. Some, especially those with poorer customers, were mainly for drinking, with the possibility of a snack. Some taverns had full meals on offer, generally in a dining-room. At the end of this answer are some links to descriptions of different kinds of pub (public house) and tavern in Victorian London. The names and times of meals have varied in England over the years, and have been different for different social classes. For the 19th century upper classes, supper was a meal to be eaten after an evening at the theatre. They ate dinner later than working people who tended to eat their main meal (dinner) at one o'clock. A working class/lower middle class supper would not have been a full cooked meal: more likely bread and cheese with cold meat and extras for those who could afford it. Here are some examples of meals and prices: 1850: "Billingsgate market opens at 5 o'clock throughout the year. . . . . Here every day (at 1 and 4), at the "One Tun Tavern" looking on the river, a capital dinner may be had for eighteen-pence, including three kinds of fish, joints, steaks, and bread and cheese." http://www.victorianlondon.org/markets/billingsgate.htm 1879: "A fish dinner of quite a different and more digestible class, although 11 kinds of fish, and a selection of joints, are included in the bill of fare, is served twice a day?at 1 and 4 ?at the ?The Tuns Tavern,? Billingsgate, at 2s. ? about the price you are expected to give the chambermaid at Greenwich when you wash your hands. But although the price is low, and the accommodation a little rough, the dinner is excellent. " (The writer is Charles Dickens' son.) http://www.victorianlondon.org/food/fishdinners.htm 1850: "Among the many taverns that cook joints every quarter or half an hour, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., (charge 2s. a head), we can recommend the following : - Simpson's, at the Albion, over against Drury-lane Theatre ; Simpson's, at the Cigar Divan, 102, Strand; and the Rainbow Tavern, 15, Fleet-street. " http://www.victorianlondon.org/food/hotelandtaverndinners.htm In 1873 a guide to London dining includes taverns, recognisable by typical pub names like The Mitre or The King's Head: "In the matter of dining London presents many aspects. The visitor may dine well and respectably for a shilling, or luxuriously for a guinea. He has all the choice between a quiet chop or a dish of meat and vegetables, at rooms like Lake's in Gracechurch-st.. for about a shilling or fifteenpence; . . . . Those who require a good dinner at a moderate price may go to the London, the Rainbow, or the Mitre, in Fleet St. . . . If his taste and business take him to the City, he will find himself well served at . . . the King's Head, Fenchurch-street, in which are capital billiard-rooms. A great variety of dishes, and two, three, four, or five course dinners at very moderate' prices, from one to ten shillings, may be obtained at the City Restaurant, Milk-street, Cheapside, where there is a first-rate smoking- room, a large, airy billiard-room, and special provision for ladies. For real turtle and cold punch, there is Painter's, the Ship and Turtle, in Leadenhall-street, and the well-known Birch's, in Cornhill. Many excellent hotels and taverns have a luncheon-bar, at which during the day you may have a chop, or a snack for sixpence, or a plate of hot meat, with vegetables and bread, for about eightpence. These are to be found in the Strand, Fleet-street, Holborn, and the City." http://www.victorianlondon.org/food/dickens-restaurants.htm In some pubs you could get a "a porkpie and a glass of ale at a bar for a few pence". http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400321.txt Street salesmen brought snacks into some downmarket pubs in the mid-nineteenth century. For instance, "whelks are sold at the stalls at two, three, four, six, and eight a penny . . . For sale in the public-houses, the whelks are most frequently carried in jars, and transferred in a saucer to the consumer. "There's often a good sale," said a man familiar with the business, "when a public room's filled. People drinking there always want to eat. They buy whelks, not to fill themselves, but for a relish." (1853) http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications/mayhew1-9a.htm 1899 at the Cheshire Cheese, the pub famous for its association with Dr. Johnson, and it is "pudding night". The pudding of "lark and kidney and oyster and steak" is served at 6.30.: " This was [my bill] ?Ye rump steak pudding, 2s.; vegetables, 2d.; cheese, 4d.; beer, 5d.; total, 2s. 11d." (2 shillings and 11 pence) http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications2/dinners-02.htm Supper was a lesser occasion than midday dinner for most people. If the "lower" classes ate supper away from home, it was probably just a snack. Here's an illustration of the social differences around supper in 1859: "The children of the aristocracy and some sections of the middle classes are gone to bed - save those who have been so good that their fond parents have taken them to the play, which entertainment they are now enjoying, with delightful prospects superadded of "sitting up" to supper, perchance of oysters, afterwards. But the children of the poor do not dream of bed. They are toddling in and out of chandlers' shops in quest of ounces of ham and fragments of Dutch cheese for father's supper . . " http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications/sala-20.htm Dinner times for gentlemen (scroll down): http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications/londonatdinner.htm Late 19th century prices for a gentleman diner at the end of most chapters here: http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications2/dinners.htm Public Houses http://www.victorianlondon.org/entertainment/publichouses.htm Different kinds of pub 1859: http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications2/gaslight-6.htm 1858 pubs http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications3/nightside.htm City eating places c.1850 http://www.victorianlondon.org/food/cityeateries.htm Hope this helps! I was guided by background knowledge of Victorian England, and found most of the excerpts on this website full of fascinating source material: http://www.victorianlondon.org/ You can search the site here: http://www.victorianlondon.org/search.cgi Just ask if you have a query about any of this. Best Wishes - Leli







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