British Transport Hotels menu cards
Following on in the tradition of the Hotels Executive, established with the nationalisation of railway owned hotels, British Transport Hotels maintained high standards of printing and publicity – including the widespread use of Monotype typefaces and “printers’ flowers”. This 1967 menu card is from the old Great Eastern Hotel at Liverpool St station, constructed and opened by the Great Eastern Railway that would be merged into the LNER and then BR. The hotel, now privately owned and run, is still in business.
Below:
British Transport Hotels – Montfort Restaurant, Charing cross Hotel, London WC2 – menu card from 1967, printed at Curwen Press. Another in the fine series of BTH menu cards – to their house style and printed at the exemplary Curwen Press at Plaistow in east London.
3 Comments on “British Transport Hotels menu cards”
Alan Brignull identifies the borders as “a really ingenious use of Glint ornaments (designed by David Bethel in 1956)”. See more of David Bethel’s Monotype Ornaments in Mike Ashworth’s Flickr stream, and join the Glint Club.
Everything “Great Eastern” was exquisite!
I was a commis waiter at the Great Eastern Hotel in 1966, and after 2 years at catering college, and 5 years in stock control, eventually, back to BTH AS AREA supervisor for the South of England in 1974.-December 1975.
I got wind of the THF take over, and decided that the eve of Silver Service was around the corner, and promptly resigned. I am sure that l made the right decision at that time.