Time travel – back 68 years to Vegetarian Central London 1947. These 5 restaurant businesses had all survived WW2. Kudos to all of the owners & their teams!
Sharing a few items from our Ernest Bell Library archives.
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The ‘London Vegetarian Society’ in 1947 – minus most of its archives as its previous home had been destroyed in the ‘Blitz’ 6 years earlier in 1941.
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5 places to eat – including the birthplace of veganism.
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Italian & German vegetarians – returning to work after being interned during WW2.
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Vegetarian Government Ministers, Actors, Actresses, DJs……
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Centre Pages – Winter 1947 issue of – ‘The Vegetarian News’
The magazine of the London Vegetarian Society – then at 9 Adam St. The original offices at 6 Duke St. had been destroyed in the London Blitz, on October 10th 1940.
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Section by section – with notes
1 – Jill-in-the-Green
2015 news – Leo Zanelli’s father was interned for being Italian!
Racing cyclist, jazz musician, author and photographer Leo Zanelli has lived at Holcroft Court in Fitzrovia for 15 years. He was born in 1930 near Kings Cross, to Italian parents (his father was a chef, his mother a waitress).
“Towards the end of the war my mother turned the ground floor into a vegetarian restaurant called ‘Jill-in-the-Green’. I think it was the second vegetarian restaurant in London. We cooked things like nut cutlets but it wasn’t a commercial success and when my father got out of the internment camp, my mother asked him if he’d like to work there.
He was a big carnivore so he said, ‘Cooking nuts all day — you must be nuts’ and went off and got another job, but when the restaurant finally closed he took it over and it became The Tosca, an Italian restaurant which served meat dishes.”
source
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2 – Shearns
Q: Which is the best vegetarian restaurant you have been to?
Minna Pick: “Shearns in Tottenham Court Road was wonderful! We used to go there for meals because the food there was so good. The Rabbonim used to go there to eat because they knew it was kosher. It was very nice food there – really lovely food. That was the one I most enjoyed. I can’t remember when it closed down.”
source
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3 – Attic Club
The Vegan Society started here in 1944.
Early in November 1944, Elsie Shrigley, Donald Watson, and four others met at the Attic Club in Holborn, London to discuss the founding of a new organisation. According to Elsie Shrigley, the day of the founding meeting was “a Sunday, with sunshine and a blue sky – an auspicious day for the birth of an idealistic movement”.
source it is a large .pdf file!
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4 – Orzone
The Sixth International Vegetarian Congress was held in London from May 26th to 28th, 1926……
On Wednesday morning, May 26th, the Congress was formally opened by the President, Mr. ERNEST BELL, M.A., of London. In welcoming the delegates, he said it was advisable to have conferences to make known that theirs was not a ”hole-and-corner” movement; it was a great international movement and stood at the back of many other economic and humane reforms. Evolution was on their side, and there were signs everywhere that they were making progress.
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By kind invitation of Mr. and Mrs. W. G. ORR, luncheon was taken at the Orzone Company’s Restaurant, 21 Ludgate Hill, E. C.
source
A 1930 Ad for the ‘Orzone’ businesses
source it is a large .pdf file!
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5 – Vega
Walter Fliess had been interned in the UK & also shipped to Australia – he & Jenny were German.
Minna Pick – again –
“….there was the Vega in Leicester Square. We used to be very friendly with the owner Mr. Fliess. He and his wife Jenny were such a lovely couple – so nice. And his clientele were wonderful – if they came to his restaurant, they had to be vegetarian. Roy Fox’s band used to come there and we used to sit there and listen to them talking. There was a minister who used to go there and he used to have a special little room and sit and eat on his own!”
source
~ In 1934 they opened their London Vega at the corner of Panton and Whitcomb Streets, and it became the best known vegetarian restaurant in town. Among their famous customers were Sir Michael and Lady Redgrave, and during the war Sir Stafford Cripps, who would be served in the office to avoid attracting attention to himself. ~ – Radio Luxembourg DJ Pete Murray was a regular customer – as were Harry & Miriam Mather – Harry later published Vegan Views in the 80s.
Plant eaters are usually interesting people! ……..
Walter Fliess (1901-1985) was the owner of ‘Vega’ restaurant with his wife Jenny. Born in Germany. In 1920, Walter Fliess joined the IJB (Internationaler Jugenbund or International Youth Group), a small educational group led by the philosopher Leonard Nelson, which evolved into the ISK (Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund or Militant Socialist International) in 1926. Walter Fleiss was head of the Cologne branch and, following persecution by the Nazis, moved to England in 1934 (preceded by his wife, Jenny, in 1933.) In London, the couple opened a vegetarian restaurant, Vega, based on previous restaurants they had run in Germany which gave financial support to the ISK. During the Second World War both were interned as ‘enemy aliens’, Walter Fliess being held in Australia from 1940 to 1941. Later, he held a number of official posts including service with the Bipartite Control Commission from 1947 to 1949 and became a British citizen. He was a member of the Socialist Vanguard Group (later the Socialist Union), the British section of the ISK. Following the sale of the Vega restaurant in 1957, Walter and Jenny Fliess campaigned on behalf of the Labour Party. Married in 1924, they had a daughter born in 1929. Jenny died in 1969.
This is a little advertising booklet for ‘Vega – Modern Vegetarian Restaurant’ at 56 – 58 Whitcomb Street W.C.2 – (Corner of Panton Street). It probably dates from the 1940’s – the business was wound up in 1957. 12 pages plus covers. Thin card covers with integral dust wrapper attached along spine. It contains details of the restaurant, the tariff and the dietary ideas of Dr. Bircher-Benner, on which the restaurant was based.
Size – 8.2cm x 12cm.
There are also 4 small business cards for the restaurant.
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A high-resolution image – click on the image to open
A high-resolution image – click on the image to open
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London Vegetarian Society ran from – 1888 to 1969
– detailed history – here
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London Vegan & Vegetarian History – on HappyCow
London – 1838 vegan communal living & much more – here
London – 1856 vegan potlucks – here
London – 1879 vegetarian menu – here
London – 1880 vegetarian restaurant review – here
London – 1890 vegetarian flyers – here
London – WW1 less-meat rations improving health – here
London – 1931 M. K. Gandhi – here
London – 1930s Vegetarian Society badges, logos & some more history – here
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Our Projects
The Henry Salt Archive is one of our, almost completed, projects.
The Humanitarian League is our Hong Kong registered charity. It cares for The Ernest Bell Library, which was conceived in 1934.
The library is still strong & very active eighty years later – its primary objectives are to: –
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Collect all of Ernest Bell’s book & non-book works and make them easily accessible to everyone.
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Collect the literature of vegetarianism and all the other humanitarian movements in which Ernest Bell was so deeply involved.
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Assist students and scholars in their research.
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Introduce all aspects of Ernest Bell’s life, including his writings, campaign work, influences and his circle of friends.
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Undertake our own research into missing aspects of Ernest Bell’s life and work.
We already have more than 300 pieces of Ernest Bell’s own writings.
We are also actively building a collection of examples of promotional material, campaign material, fundraising & marketing activities etc. – related to: –
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veg(etari)an products.
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veg(etari)an books & other publications.
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veg(etari)an organisations.
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veg(etari)an businesses.
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animal rights organisations.
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animal rights publications.
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humanitarian organisations.
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humanitarian publications.
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rambling clubs run by members of the above groups & related publications.
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the work of Richard St. Barbe Baker & the ‘Men of the Trees’ organization & its many sub-branches.
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the history of Democratic Socialism.
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pre-WW2 Trade Union badges / pins / ephemera.
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