Wartime British Restaurant (now Illtud’s 216)

Wartime British Restaurant in Llantwit Major. In 1940 to combat the severity of rationing, the Government set up what was known as British Restaurants. They were essentially canteens with basic nutritional meals at reasonable prices, and most importantly they were off ration. One such restaurant was opened in upper Church Street in Llantwit Major, in what is now the restaurant “Iltud’s 216” shown in the photo insert.
Simple three course meals and tea were available for the cost of around 1/6d, equivalent to 7p these days not allowing for inflation, and would consist of a soup starter, a simple meat dish and a pudding. These could be eaten in the restaurant or taken home.
At the height of the War there were over 2000 such restaurants in the UK, plus mobile units for country areas, these were eventually closed in 1947, (in comparison there are in 1924 only 1453 McDonalds in the UK).
Hughie Andrews ( our local postmaster at the time) wrote in his diary that in the 1940’s when on a shopping trip he had lunch at a British Restaurant in Cardiff. We wonder if any Llantwit residents have memories of using the Llantwit restaurant or any others. One can’t help comparing these WW2 restaurants with the food banks and food share organisations we have these days in the town.