Menu: Cumberland Hotel. Marble Arch. Lon…

Brochure for the Cumberland Hotel,  Marble Arch, London, dated 1948, which had opened on 12 December 1933. Adhered to the cover is a food ration coupon. 

Rationing began after the start of the Second World War and the first commodity to be controlled was petrol. On 8 January 1940 bacon, butter and sugar were rationed. This was followed by successive ration schemes for meat, tea, jam, biscuits, breakfast cereals, cheese, eggs, lard, milk, and canned and dried fruit. Almost all foods apart from vegetables and bread were rationed by August 1942.

The hotel took its name from the Duke of Cumberland (son of George II 1721-1765) a public house which stood on the site from as early as 1747 until it was demolished at the turn of the twentieth century.  In 1901 the  site bounded by Oxford Street, Old Quebec Street, Bryanston Street and Great Cumberland Place, was progressively acquired by Lyons for the erection of the Cumberland Hotel. When completed the Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments of comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned and all 900 bed-rooms had their own en-suite.