BEANS

See Also: FOOD; MENU

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)

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)

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