Food in 1970s pubs

Rising living standards after WW II led to an increased demand for food in pubs. Though the form that food took varied considerably. From cold snacks to full meals.

In 1970, the head of Watney Mann’s catering department, Mr. F. MacPhillips, identified four different categories of pub food:

1.    Full meals.
2.    Speciality restaurants, such as steak or fish.
3.    Warm snacks.
4.    Cold snacks. 

The latter two of these categories being the most common.

Brewers were in an odd position when it came to food. In tenanted houses, they had no direct financial interest in the catering. As it was run purely by the tenant. However, knowing that the provision of food encouraged custom, and hence beer sales. So, food did benefit brewers indirectly. In managed houses, however, the catering was run by the brewery, as was everything else.

Customers weren’t totally satisfied with pub meals. Especially the prices. This punter had some harsh words on the subject:

But some of the prices charged are really monstrous. Publicans obviously use this side of their trade to pay for their holidays or the wife's new fur coat. They seem to push the prices to their limit, like they do with foreign lagers. And when they do attempt to keep the price down either the meals shrink or the plates get bigger something happens to the size of the portions anyway.
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 99, May 1970, page 56.

Another complaint was that, as most urban pubs concentrated on serving food at lunchtime, in the evenings everything had been reheated. Insufficient seating meant meals and snacks often had to consumed in crowded conditions or even standing up.