The building has gone but the British Restaurant’s outline can be traced in three modern shops, Lemongrove, a nail bar and the Helen & Douglas House charity shop.

 In mid-1941 the Council decided to apply for Henley to join in a scheme organised by the Ministry of Food to create government canteens, called British Restaurants. The restaurant was aimed at those who did not have access to cooking facilities in their homes or a workplace canteen, and for women undertaking war work outside the home.  A large number of war workers and evacuees were continuing to arrive in Henley and the British Restaurant produced food extremely efficiently and quickly to feed large numbers of people a nutritionally balanced meal.  British Restaurants were not subject to rationing.  Most of those eating at British Restaurants would never have eaten out before, a big change for those stationed in Henley.

The first British Restaurants were opened in November 1940 and by 1943 there were over two thousand across the country, serving 600,000 meals a day.  By contrast, the ubiquitous McDonalds currently has approximately 1,450 restaurants in the UK and Ireland. This was a huge logistical operation across Britain.

The Henley British Restaurant opened on 8 December 1941.  It employed a manager and had a small paid staff to do the cooking, but the cash desk, hatch servers and dining room were all staffed by WVS volunteers, 13 for the lunch shift and 7 for tea. We don’t exactly know what meals were served in Henley, although hearty stews, roasts and sausages and mash were staple British Restaurant foods at the time. Very quickly the Henley restaurant was a real success, serving over 8,000 meals each month.

Early in 1944, it began sharing its facilities with the US Forces who were using it in the evenings as a temporary club and service of light refreshments. The British Restaurant continued for a short time after the war, although funded by the Council when Ministry of Food funding was withdrawn. It became a private restaurant briefly before it was shut down and replaced by the shop units which are there today.