Let them eat cake

It is a truth universally acknowledged by the creative team behind Across the Square that every endeavour is better with cake!

Which begs the question, where might Lady Ottoline or Millicent Fawcett take tea? Two options come to mind. The first of course would be Gunter’s in Berkley Square. Originally established in 1757 by the Italian, Domenico Negri, twenty years later he was joined in partnership by James Gunter. This business had an enviable reputation as the best confectioners in London. Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Louise ordered her wedding cake from Gunters’ and the business continued as a high class tea shop until its closure in 1956.

However, if either of our ladies wanted to have a little something closer to home, no doubt they would have considered the Lyons’ Corner House which was located on the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street. Rather more modest than Gunter’s, Lyons’ Corner Houses were established in 1909. On the ground floor, Lady Ottoline would have found a food hall with delicatessen counters whilst arranged over the four floors above were different restaurants each with their own theme and musicians. The last of these wonderful emporiums closed in 1977.