Berni Inn
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Founded in 1955, Berni Inn was a chain of British restaurants established by brothers Frank and Aldo Berni, who were Welsh Italians. The Berni Inn logo consisted of red block lettering, with elongated leading lines on the R and N, throughout the chain's duration. The first Berni Inn was at The Rummer, a historic public house in central Bristol.[1][2]
The restaurants introduced the post-war British public to its own home-grown restaurant chain, which came with its own pre-stylised restaurants with Tudor-looking false oak beams and white wall. A typical menu was of the form:[3]
- Starters: melon boat with maraschino cherry, or prawn cocktail
- Main course: steak, Gammon Steak or plaice with chips, and peas
- Dessert: Black Forest gateau or a choice from the cheese board (Danish Blue, Stilton or Cheddar)
- plus Irish coffee and After Eight mints
n.b. Stilton tended only to be available in the more expensive section of the restaurant!
The chain quickly expanded, first throughout Bristol and then the rest of the country. Unlike other restaurants, they did not do their own butchery but brought in steaks already prepared. The chain was sold to Grand Metropolitan for £14.5m in 1970 and then sold to Whitbread in 1995.[4] Over the following years, British tastes had changed due to foreign travel, and by the late 1990s the chain started losing money. Whitbread announced the closure of the chain, by converting many of the former premises into other Whitbread-owned brands, including the steak-orientated Beefeater or more generalised pub-orientated Brewers Fayre.[citation needed]
Their brother Marco managed the famous and prestigious Harvey's Restaurant Bristol in the 1960s.
Aldo Berni died in 1997 at the age of 88.[5] Frank died 10 July 2000, aged 96.[6]
The first female manager within the Berni Inn franchise was Mrs Gerda Thut,[7] who took over The Sawyer's Arms in Nottingham in the 1960s. This was noted as a progressive step in management and equality at the time, and Mrs Thut was known as 'The Lady with the Keys'.[8] Mrs Thut died on 17 October 2011, aged 86.
References
- ^ http://www.therummer.net/
- ^ http://eugenebyrne.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/what-i-did-today-berni-inns/
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/sep/30/foodanddrink.shopping
- ^ http://www.goforanenglish.com/meals/berni_inn_meal.html
- ^ http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/69/101069185/ - Aldo Berni
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1347993/Frank-Berni.html
- ^ http://www.flickr.com/photos/55108793@N04/6284175138/ - Berni Inn Newsletter, circa 1967
- ^ http://www.flickr.com/photos/55108793@N04/6284185104/ - Newspaper article; 'the lady with the keys', circa 1967
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