Remembering the intangible heritage of Victoria Park’s World War 2 communal ‘British Restaurant’ to co-create future social eating networks

In World War 2 communal British Restaurants fed people who were bombed out of their houses or could not return home for lunch or did not have access to a works canteen by providing a nourishing low-cost meal. Seventeen were set up in Portsmouth in converted or prefabricated buildings, one of which was in Victoria Park. Part of the intangible heritage of the war, buildings were subsequently returned to their original use, repurposed or destroyed.

This project draws on Deborah Sugg Ryan’s research on British Restaurants, which informs a package on National Heritage Lottery funded work by Portsmouth City Council on the heritage of Victoria Park. It will provide additional opportunities for volunteers and community groups to co-create research, which will be exhibited in the park’s new Community Hub. In so doing, it will contribute to the Heritage Hub and support UoP’s aim to become one of the UK's leading civic universities.

In collaboration with sociologist Simon Stewart, drawing on and extending his research on migrants experiencing homelessness, the project will also explore how the legacy of British Restaurants can be applied to contemporary concerns about the cost of living and fuel poverty through social eating initiatives led by PCC’s Cost of Living team and community groups. Thus, the project will contribute to UoP’s strategy to deliver globally recognised research and innovative solutions that improve society and contribute to the Democratic Citizenship and Health and Wellbeing themes.

The project’s outputs will also act as pathways to impact for Sugg Ryan’s and Stewart’s REF 2028 Impact Case Studies and contribute to the development of future funding bids:
1.Note and discussion points for book groups on 3 books on British Restaurants;
2.Pompey BookFest 2023 hybrid event;
3.Workshop on social eating;
4.2 x recipe illustration workshops;
5.Recipe booklet.

The project is funded by a £2,956.50 award from the University of Portsmouth Culture and Heritage Hub Seed Funding 2023-4.

The project’s outputs will also act as pathways to impact for Sugg Ryan’s and Stewart’s REF 2028 Impact Case Studies and contribute to the development of future funding bids:
1.Note and discussion points for book groups on 3 books on British Restaurants;
2.Pompey BookFest 2023 hybrid event;
3.Workshop on social eating;
4.2 x recipe illustration workshops;
5.Recipe booklet.