"DOWN DISHES."

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1739, 2 May 1913, Page 7

"DOWN DISHES."

LIGHTNING STRIKES IN GREAT RESTAURANTS. LONDON'S WORRIES. ] ' i l.ondon, March 17. • Dining out in the Mcst End has become something of an adventure. The series of week-end strikes lasting from ton minxes to an hour at several West End hotels and restaurants, caused grave aniiety and morbid anticipation to hosts who liad arranged dinner or luncheon P Much depended ?n tiicse lightning strikes on conclaves between the hotel management and representatives of tho Amalgamated Union of Hp' 6 ' Z ~ and the: London Cooks' Union who were hurried to the spot to enter into lnimediaiCh"estst at l, t°ho Savoy Hotel on Saturday evenimr had ail anxious moment. I ables were alt laid and hosts were shaking hands and chatting.with guests. Epic"'" were studying the menu. Then camei tho ultimatum: "There will te no dinner tonight unless tho demands of the staft aro C The l mnager acted uuiekly. A hasty inciting was arranged, and for W minutes the fate of the expectant dmeis hung in the balance. Then the armj oi waiters advanced quickly to the dining- ■ hall.

MOBILISED CHAMBERMAIDS. Dinner also! trembled in the >n}iillOO for ton minutes at a restaurant in St. Street, where also an eleventh-hour strike vr= declared. Hero again prompt action on the part of the management saved the stuation A "down dishes" ultimatum-, 'nt-' Railev's Hotel, in Gloucester Road, s W did not result eo amicably, and imiei'ifon guests had to watch the kitchen stiff and What thev thought their last hope" march off in a body. But a hurried mobilisation of the female s aff,includin" the chambermaids. permitted the seivn" of the meal, which was in readiness. At the Smlli Kensington Hotel, Q«ce»jj r'nfft flVrrnc? S.W., representatives of tho two tilad unions «re nnaWe to enter the h<tel to call a strike... Finally they established rommunication through a man who entered mi another errand. They were ttipn. admitted to. the kitchen, where tho stiff on their instructions, stopped work ' The trouble there and at Bailey * Hntei was settled at niiclit, and also declared at the Criterion Eonta. rant, where a strike was declare. /'"'P-Dininc-out, however, is likely .to bo a. .till gi'ater adventure fW weeks Yesterday an otlical of "J® men's union stated that strikes are likely to b« declared at three London lrWthp men's demands aro granted. Thoso •w that the Shops Act. trhich. provides Hint all hotel servants shall bfr entitled a .'mv's holiday each week, and a si*£ live hours' week, must - recognised by the employers.— Daily Mail.