Pearce & Plenty | |
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Restaurant information | |
City | London |
Country | England |
Pearce & Plenty was a chain of working class restaurants in London, formed in the late 19th century. Its motto was "Quality, Economy, Despatch". [1]
The company was started by John Pearce as a coffee stall on the corner of East Road and City Road, which he operated from 1866 to 1879. [2] He opened a shop in Aldersgate in 1879, [2] moving it to Farringdon Street in 1882, and the company had 46 refreshment rooms by the 1890s.[ citation needed] 14 were attached to hotels. According to The Caterer it catered to poor workers with "large appetites but small means", serving an average of 40,000 meals a day. [2] The restaurants served coffee, tea and cocoa. Beef pudding was a popular dish. [3]
Most of the chain's patrons were workmen, the New Penny Magazine describing them as a "shouting, swallowing throng of newsboys, printers' "devils", bricklayers' labourers, carters and sweeps". [2] Pearce went on to create another restaurant chain, "British Tea Table", aimed at city clerks. [2]
51°31′37.36″N 0°5′17.18″W / 51.5270444°N 0.0881056°W