A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
New Series Regional G.2
An Inquiry made by the Wartime Social Survey for the Ministry of Food
Interviewing was carried out during the period 9th-26th June, 1942. A general sample representative of all sections of the adult civilian population was interviewed.
The purposes of the inquiry were to find out what proportion of the public use British Restaurants, how often they used them and what they thought about them. Those who did not use them were asked why they did not.
21.7% had been to British Restaurants. 4.9% went regularly. Factory workers and clerks used them more than other groups. Of those who had been, 59.6% thought they were good, 21.1% fairly good, 15.4% bad. Most frequently mentioned reason for not going was “went at home”.
% | |
Yes, regularly * | 4.9 |
Yes, once or occasionally | 16.8 |
No | 78.3 |
Sample | 2030 |
There are no statistically significant differences as between answers received from men and women.
Breakdown by five regional groups show some differences.
It will be seen that a higher proportion use British Restaurants in the south than in the north. Scotland has the lowest figure, London the highest.
There is a tendency in the Midland region to visit British restaurants occasionally rather than regularly, the north of England having a regular attendance figure about the same as London and South, but fewer people in the region than in the Midlands have visited British restaurants once or do so occasionally.
There are differences in some occupational groups:-
In the case of most groups the sample figure are small, and the margin of error should be noted.
There is a tendency for clerical workers and outdoor workers to use British Restaurants relatively more than other groups. Distributive workers and housewives use them least of these groups.
Percentages for mining and agriculture are not given, as the sample figures are small. Conditions in these industries may be expected to differ considerably from those in other industries, and it would be misleading to include them with other groups.
Those who had at any time been to a British restaurants were asked “What did you think of it?”.
Result were classified as follows:-
The headings “Fairly good” and “Bad”, further analysed, give the following results:-
% | % | ||
Fairly good | 14.3 | Bad food | 7.2 |
Good in some ways, bad in others | 4.5 | Bad, dirty and smelly | 0.9 |
Good for the money | 2.3 | Not enough value for money | 4.1 |
Poor, unspecified | 3.2 | ||
Total | 21.1 | Total | 15.4 |
There are no statistically significant differences as between the attitudes of men and women.
The number having experience of British Restaurants in the various regional and occupational group are too small to give reliable result on the question.
Those who had never used a British Restaurant were asked why they have never done so.
Breakdown by sex gives the following results:-
Women tend slightly more than men to give the reason that they eat at home or have to be at home, and a rather higher proportion had never thought of going to a British Restaurant. A reason more frequently given by men is that it would be inconvenient and they have no time to.
There are some differences between different regions:-
London has a relatively high proportion giving the reason that they eat at home, and a low proportion saying that there is no British Restaurant in the neighbourhood.
Scotland and the Southern region have rather a high proportion answering that there is no British Restaurant near.
Inconvenience and lack of time is mentioned rather more in the Midlands and the North than in other regions.
However, these differences are slight when the smallness of the numbers and consequent margin of error is taken into account.
Breakdown by occupational groups shows little, as the number in each group is small. However, percentages may be given for housewives and. for all factory (including shipyard) workers.
Informants were asked “How long does it take you to get to the nearest British Restaurant?". Housewives were asked to give the time taken getting there from home, and workers from their place of work.
It must be remembered that the time it took the interviewee to get to a British Restaurant was a subjective estimate, and as will be seen from the figures given, many of the people giving such an estimate had not themselves been to a British Restaurant.
% | |
5 minutes or less | 17.1 |
More than 5 mins. To ¼ hr. | 25.8 |
More than ¼ hr. to ½ hr. | 11.0 |
More than ½ hour | 11.2 |
Don't know | 34.9 |
SAMPLE | 2030 |
If percentages are based on the number quoting a definite time, the following result is obtained:-
% | |
5 minutes or less | 26.3 |
More than 5 mins. To ¼ hr. | 39.7 |
More than ¼ hr. to ½ hr. | 16.8 |
More than ½ hour | 17.2 |
Sample | 1324 |
The sample thus obtained, however, is not strictly representative of the population as different proportion different groups answered “Don't know”.
These were as fallow:-
% answering “Don't know” | |
Housewives | 40.7 |
Light industries | 34.6 |
Heavy industries | 34.7 |
Clerical | 18.6 |
Distributive | 28.8 |
Managerial and Professional | 26.3 |
Other workers | 33.6 |
Retired and unoccupied | 46.7 |
The number giving information in individual occupational groups are too small to give reliable result, but housewives and factory workers may again be compared:-
It should seem that it is on the whole easier for factory workers to reach British Restaurants from their work than housewives from their home.