A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
X. CANTEENS
New Series Regional I.1
Interviewing was carried out during the period 5th to 19th August 1942
(i). Introduction
The purposes of this inquiry were to find out what proportion of workers had access to canteens at their place of work for taking their midday meal; the extent to which such canteens were used where they were available, and whether or not the workers were satisfied with them.
Where workers had no access to canteens or did not use them regularly, inquiry was made as to where they usually ate their midday meal.
Summary
48.7% had access to canteens.
Factory workers and miners more frequently had access to canteens than other groups.
21.2% of the whole sample used canteens regularly.
10.3% of the whole sample used them occasionally.
Of those who used canteens 79.5% were satisfied and 20.5% were dissatisfied with them.
Munitions workers were more frequently dissatisfied with their canteens than other groups.
35 5% of the whole sample usually went home to the midday meal.
29.4% of the whole sample brought packed meals to work.
A sample of 3,018 workers was interviewed. Representative numbers of men and women were selected from different broad occupational groups, and in different regions.
The groups covered included factory operatives in light and heavy industry, and workers in shipyards; miners; building and road workers; workers in transport and other public services; shop assistants and office workers.
Agricultural workers, those in the professions and those in managerial positions, and some smaller groups were excluded as being little affected by the problems considered.
Details of the sample are given at the end of this report. Interviewers were instructed to select factories and other establishments of a representative size in their regions.
The analysis of the size of factories visited is given below. The figures are compared with those given in the Summary Tables of the Census of Production made in 1935.
Factory Workers
| Working in factories employing: | Sample % of those interviewed | Census of Production (1935) % |
| Less than 100 | 18.7 | 25.6 |
| 100 - 499 | 37.0 | 39.1 |
| 500 - 999 | 14.9 | 13.9 |
| Over 1,000 | 29.4 | 21.4 |
| Sample | 1558 |
(ii) Facilities Provided
48.7% of the workers interviewed had access to canteens providing midday meals at their place of work. Canteens which provided only cups of tea, cakes, etc., were not included.
Facilities varied considerably as between the different occupational groups
| Manufacturing Industries | % having access to canteen | Sample |
| Heavy (inc. shipyards) | 78.9 | 347 |
| * Light (1) (Munitions etc.) | 75.2 | 610 |
| Light (2) (Others) | 44.0 | 601 |
| Others | ||
| Mining | 90.0 | 175 |
| Building & Roads | 10.1 | 177 |
| Transport & Public Services | 28.6 | 244 |
| Distributive | 20.2 | 430 |
| Clerical | 31.6 | 414 |
| Total | 48.7 | 3018 |
It will be seen that in mining, heavy manufacturing industry and munitions etc., the majority of workers had access to canteens. Rather less than half the workers in “light industry (2)” could use canteens, and only a relatively small proportion in the other occupational groups.
Breakdown by size of factory gives the following result. (Only manufacturing industries are included).
| Number employed | % having access to canteen | Sample |
| Less than 100 | 17.6 | 289 |
| 100 - 499 | 61.4 | 570 |
| 500 - 999 | 90.5 | 230 |
| 1,000 and more | 82.5 | 454 |
46.6% of the men and 52.3% of the women were able to use canteens. The slight difference is accounted for by the sex distribution within the different occupational groups. Although the two groups best provided for, mining and heavy industry consist almost entirely of men, so does the group least provided for, namely building and roads. Transport, consisting mainly of men also has a very low figure. There are rather more men than women in the distributive group, which is also low. Women predominate in “light industry (2)” which has a figure not much below average, and nearly half of those included in “light (l)”, which has a high figure, are women.
(iii) Use of Canteens
Workers who had access to canteens were asked whether and how often they used them, and whether they had ever used them if they did not now. “Regularly” was de fined as three times a week or more often; “sometimes” includes those who used canteens less than three times a week. Only the use of canteens for the midday meal is considered.
| % of those having access to canteens | % whole sample | |
| Regularly | 43.6 | 21.2 |
| Sometimes | 21.2 | 10.3 |
| Never have done | 25.6 | 12.5 |
| Used to but gave it up | 9.6 | 4.7 |
| No Canteen | - | 51.3 |
| Sample | 1459 | 3018 |
There are some differences in different occupational groups. Figures are not given for building or transport as the numbers having access to canteens in these groups are too small to give reliable results. Figures for the clerical and distributive groups are given together for the same reason.
% of those having access to canteens
The proportions using canteens regularly are subject to a rather wide margin of error, the numbers being more or less equally divided and the samples being small. However, it is clear that relatively less use is made of canteens in the “light (1)” group than in the other groups. Amongst the miners, canteens are relatively well used as a higher proportion make occasional use of them than is the case in other groups, and a very low proportion say that they have never used the canteen. The proportions making accasional use of canteens do not vary much in the other groups. “Light (1)” shows a relatively high proportion giving up the use of canteens after trying them.
These results are not significantly affected by the sex distribution within the groups, differences in the extent to which canteens are used by men and women being slight.
% of those having access to canteens
| Men | Women | Total | |
| Regularly | 41.8 ± 3.2 | 46.3 ± 4.2 | 43.6 |
| Sometimes | 23.2 | 18.1 | 21.2 |
| Never have | 26.1 | 24.9 | 25.6 |
| Used to | 8.9 | 10.7 | 9.6 |
| Sample: | 889 | 570 | 1459 |
Rather more men than women are occasional users of canteens, and there is a slight tendency for women to use them more regularly. The proportions not using canteens are very close in the two groups.
An analysis made by married men and single men, and by married women and single women showed no statistically significant differences.
(iv) Extent to which workers are satisfied and dissatisfied with canteens available
Those workers who used or had ever used their canteens were asked: “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the canteen?”
There is a marked difference between replies from men and women; the latter showing a higher proportion satisfied.
Breakdown by occupational group is as follows:-
The figures are of course affected by the sex composition of the samples. The group with the highest proportion dissatisfied, heavy industry, consists almost entirely of men. However, the mining group, which shows a high proportion satisfied, is composed entirely of men. Similarly in the case of clerical and distributive workers. This group has a high proportion satisfied and the numbers of men and women are about equal. In “light (2)” which has the highest proportion satisfied women predominate.
It is interesting to note that there is some connection between these figures and those showing the proportion having access to canteens in the different groups. In two of the groups in which canteens are most common, heavy industry and light industry (1), the proportion dissatisfied is rather above average. In the two groups in which canteens are less usual, light industry (2) and clerical and distributive, approval is high. Mining is an exception.
| Heavy | Light (1) | Light (2) | Clerical & Distributive | Mining | Total | |
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| % having access to canteens | 78.9 | 75.2 | 44.0 | 25.7 | 90.9 | 48.7 |
| % of canteen users who are satisfied | 68.8 | 73.7 | 94.6 | 89.2 | 83.5 | 79.5 |
There is no correlation between the proportions who had given up using canteens and the proportions dissatisfied.
There are no statistically significant differences in the replies received from married men and single men or married women and single women.
Those who were dissatisfied were asked why they were dissatisfied. Replies tended to be general rather than specific, many saying that they were “unsatisfactory” and that the food was bad.
| % of those dissatisfied | |
| Food tasteless, no variety, poor quality | 43.7 |
| Unsatisfactory; general and miscellaneous | 40.6 |
| Too little food | 9.7 |
| Not enough for the money | 6.0 |
| Sample: | 217 |
(v) Where the midday meal is “usually” eaten
Those workers who did not use a canteen regularly were asked: “Where do you usually have your midday meal?” “Usually” was defined as three times a week or more in cases where the place of eating was different from day to day.
Results given below show the proportions having meals at different places, and also the figures for those who used canteens regularly expressed as a percentage of the whole sample.
Where the midday meal is eaten
| % of Sample | |
| Canteen | 21.1 |
| At home | 35.5 |
| At work (packed meals) | 29.4 |
| Café | 8.3 |
| * British Restaurant | 2.8 |
| Elsewhere and unspecified | 2.9 |
| Sample: | 3018 |
* In a previous survey, covering all sections of the adult population, made by the Wartime Social Survey in June, it was found that 4.9% used British Restaurants once a week or more often. The 2.8% given above includes only those who use British Restaurants 3 or more times a week, and of course only the industrial section of the population is covered.
There are marked differences between different occupational groups.
The results of an inquiry carried out by the Wartime Social Survey (New Series 16 & 19) April to July 1942 show some differences in the case of some of the occupation groups.
In this inquiry certain occupation groups in certain regions were studied because the Ministry of Food was particularly interested in these groups, and no attempt was made to interview a nationally representative sample. Thus the distribution of the different occupation groups throughout the regions is not the same as in the present survey, which aimed at representing both regions and occupation groups within these regions in the proportion in which they exist in the whole industrial population. This in part accounts for the difference.
Also in the earlier inquiry a higher proportion of workers from large factories, shops, etc. were included, so that a higher proportion of workers in some groups had access to canteens.
In the two light industry groups and in the clerical and distributive groups a relatively high proportion eat their meals at home. Miners and workers in heavy industry show higher proportions using canteens. Packed meals at work are taken by the majority of building and road workers. Transport, heavy industry and mining, also show high proportions doing this.
Clerical workers show a higher proportion eating meals at cafes than do other groups. A relatively high proportion of distributive workers and transport workers also have their meal at cafes.
Breakdown by sex gives the following result:-
It has already been pointed out that a few more women than men took their midday meals regularly at canteens. A higher proportion of women than of men went home, and more men took packed meals to work with them.
Breakdown by married men and single men and by married women and single women shows no statistically significant differences.