BEANS
A Beanfeast
Daniel
Day was a successful blockmaker whose business was based in Wapping. With his wealth he acquired some property
within Hainault Forrest in Essex. Early
in the 18thC he started hosting a meal of beans and bacon to anyone who
presented themselves to him beneath the bows of a vast tree that was known as
the Fairlop Oak. This hospitality proved
to be popular and the beanfeast acquired a size that pedlars and performers
travelled to the site for the day. In
turn, this made it even more appealing so that it kept on increasing in
size. By the start of George I's reign
it was a de facto fair and continued to be until its suppression.
Beanz Meanz ... Civil Disturbance
During
the 1970s politics in Britain was polarised.
Both the extreme right and the totalitarian left engaged in street
violence. There were rumours of private
armies being planned. At one point, a
story spread that a certain politician had taken the reports so seriously that
she - or he - had been food hoarding, filling the cupboards of her - or his -
home in a swish London neighbourhood with cans of baked beans.
Location:
19 Flood Street, SW3 5ST. The residence of one Margaret
Thatcher, where baked beans may - or may not have - been hoarded. (blue,
yellow)
See
Also: FASCISM Private Armies
Biba Beans
In 1963
the designer Barbara Hulanicki had a modest mail order business that was losing
money. Felicity Green the fashion editor
of The Daily Mirror ran a piece that featured a gingham dress was
modelled by Pauline Stone. 17,000 were
sold. Hulanicki made d. a dress. From this piece of luck she went on to create
the Biba department store. Hulanicki was
of the view that ordinary foodstuffs could be glamorous by being bought in a
glamorous setting. She sold Biba branded
baked beans. This was because her
husband Stephen FitzSimon adored them.
Location:
113
Kensington High Street, W8 5SQ (orange, grey)
See
Also: CLOTHES SHOPS, DISAPPEARED Biba
Heinz Baked Beans
Too
Sim-ilar
In the
late 1950s Ron Moody was a well-respected revue artist. An advertising agency hired him to provide
the voice-over for a television advertisement for Heinz Baked Beans. The voice that he used bore a similarity to
that of the actor Alastair Sim. It was
too close for Sim. He sued Moody,
claiming that when he dined out he would be asked whether he would like beans.
The two
actors appeared together in a 1975 production of The Clandestine Marriage.
Location:
The Savoy Theatre, Savoy
Court, WC2R 0ET (blue,
turquoise)
See
Also: FOOD BRANDS Heinz
Inflation
In the
mid-1970s Britain's economy experienced a period of rampant inflation. On one occasion Freddie Hornik, the
proprietor of the Chelsea boutique Granny Takes A Trip, tried to pay his
employees in cans of baked beans. He
claimed that the legume seeds would hold their value better than cash would.1
Location:
488 The King's Road, SW10 0LF (blue, pink)
See
Also: CLOTHES SHOPS, DISAPPEARED Granny Takes A Trip; ECONOMICS The Mars Bar Inflation Index; SKYSCRAPERS Centre Point
1. Mr Hornik was en route to developing a serious drug
problem. (In later life he was a South
London mini-cab driver.)
David
Backhouse 2024