Brighton Beach - Bolla & Biucchi
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Bolla & Biucchi and the Fortune of War
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[ABOVE] A coloured picture postcard of Brighton's seafront, showing the Kings Road Arches on the Lower Esplanade, as seen looking west from the top of the Shelter Hall (c1910).In the foreground is Bolla & Biucchi's Restaurant at 149 King's Road Arches. The West Pier is in the distance on the left . The Metropole Hotel and the Grand Hotel dominate the parade of buildings on the Upper Promenade of King's Road. Richard Cartwright's seafront studio can be seen with the blue and white striped awning, immediately to the left of Bolla & Biucchi's Restaurant . |
Swiss-Italian Restaurateurs and Confectioners from Ticino, Switzerland
Many of the cafes and
restaurants that sprang up in Brighton in the second half of the nineteenth
century are associated with the Swiss-Italian immigrants who arrived in
Britain after 1847. The majority of these Swiss-Italian restaurateurs and
confectioners originated from Ticino, an Italian speaking region of
Switzerland. The families with Italian sounding names such as Bolla, Biucchi and Pagani, which are well represented in the lists of cafe and restaurant proprietors operating in Brighton between 1875 and 1910, were originally from the Ticino canton of Switzerland, an area north of Locarno, which bordered Italy and was only about 60 miles from Milan. Hundreds of Swiss-Italians emigrated from Ticino to London in the second half of the nineteenth century. Ticino had a growing population but only a small amount of good farming land. Unemployment was high and during the series of poor harvests between 1847 and 1854, a large number of Ticinesi left their native Switzerland for other European countries and North America. The local council in Ticino actively encouraged emigration paying a lump sum, equivalent to six months' wages, to any working man who was prepared to leave Ticino. The prospect of finding paid work in the Swiss-Italian cafes and restaurants which were springing up in London and other capital cities, encouraged a further exodus of emigrants from Ticino in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Carlo Gatti (1817-1878) was one of the first Swiss-Italians to arrive in England. Carlo Gatti settled in London in 1847 and with Battista Bolla (1819-1891), another Swiss from Ticino, he established refreshment stalls and cafes in the Holborn and Charing Cross districts of London. Gatti and Bolla popularised Italian style confectionary and brought continental pastries, drinking chocolate and ice cream to ordinary working people. In the 1850s and 1860s Carlo Gatti and his business partners established cafes and restaurants in Holborn and on Westminster Bridge Road. Carlo Gatti and Battista Bolla invited their relatives and other Swiss-Italians to join their thriving catering businesses in London. In 1871, Carlo Gatti returned to Switzerland leaving his businesses in the hands of family members. The story of how Carlo Gatti made a fortune in England by selling chocolate, ice cream, coffee and continental pastries, probably encouraged other Swiss-Italians to make the long journey to London. Hundreds of Swiss-Italians from Ticino emigrated to London in the second half of the nineteenth century. By the late 1870s and early 1880s, the Swiss-Italians who had previously found work as waiters, barmen, pastry cooks and confectioners in London, migrated southwards to the expanding seaside towns on the South Coast, such as Brighton. |
[ABOVE] A map of Northern Italy showing the proximity of the Swiss canton of Ticino (marked in red). The southernmost canton of Switzerland, Ticino was an Italian speaking region close to the Italian Lakes and only 60 miles from the Italian city of Milan. In the 19th century, the Ticino region of Switzerland experienced poor harvests and high unemployment, encouraging large-scale emigration to London and other capital cities.
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Carlo Gatti and the Italian Ice Cream Trade in 19th Century London |
Carlo Gatti is credited with being one of the first to offer ice cream for sale in the streets of London. Carlo Gatti employed his fellow countrymen to take his ice cream around London streets in insulated barrows. They offered small sample of the ice cream wrapped in waxed paper by calling out "Ecco un poco", which roughly means "Try a little". The Italian phrase "ecco un poco" sounded something like "hokey pokey" to London ears and the ice cream vendors became known as "Hokey Pokey" men. The ice cream itself gained the nickname "Hokey Pokey". A photograph taken near the Free Shelter Hall on Brighton's seafront around 1910 shows a woman holding a child and offering ice cream from a barrow. On the sides of the barrow are painted the words "Pure Ices" and "Hokey Pokey" ice cream. Before the introduction of edible cones in the late 1880s, ice cream was served from the barrow in a small glass cup called a "penny lick". The purchaser of the ice cream would lick the ice cream from the glass and return it to the vendor. The glass would be wiped clean with a piece of cloth and then filled with ice cream for the next customer. Customers who did not want to eat the ice cream standing at the barrow could take the ice cream away after having it wrapped in waxed paper.
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Carlo Gatti
and Battista Bolla invited their relatives and other
Swiss-Italians to join their thriving catering businesses in London. Hundreds
of Swiss-Italians emigrated from Ticino to London in the
second half of the nineteenth century. Ticino had a growing
population but only a small amount of good farming land. Unemployment was
high and during the series of poor harvests between 1847 and 1854, a large
number of Ticinesi left their native Switzerland for other European
countries and North America. [The local council in Ticino actually
paid a lump sum (equal to six months' wages) to working men in order to
encourage them to leave Ticino]. The prospect of finding paid work in
the Swiss-Italian cafes an restaurants that were springing up in London,
encouraged a further exodus of emigrants from Ticino in the latter
half of the nineteenth century. By the late 1870s and early 1880s,
Swiss-Italians who had found work as waiters, barmen, pastry cooks and
confectioners in London migrated to expanding seaside towns such as
Brighton.
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A photograph taken on Brighton's seafront near the Free Shelter Hall around 1910 showing a woman holding a child and offering "pure ices" and ice cream from a barrow. On the sides of the barrow are painted the words "Pure Ices" and "Hokey Pokey" ice cream. |
A photograph taken on Brighton's seafront around 1910 showing stall holders near the Free Shelter Hall. The female ice cream vendor on the right is holding a child and offering "pure ices" and ice cream to the holidaymakers promenading on the lower esplanade. On the sides of her barrow are painted the words "Pure Ices" and "Hokey Pokey" ice cream. Further along at 149 King's Road Arches was Bolla & Biucchi's Restaurant and Tea Room. |
Swiss-Italian Families and the Fortune of War Inn |
[ABOVE] Brighton seafront, a coloured picture postcard produced around 1908, showing the business premises in the parade leading to the Middle Street gap, including Alfred Clarke's Sporting and Military Rifle Range at No. 155 Kings Road Arches and Mrs Bolla's Fortune of War public house at No.157 Kings Road Arches. Just before the ramp leading to the Kings Road promenade above was the Welcome Brothers, a beer-house run by Captain Frederick Collins, the well-known pleasure boat proprietor. |
Three Swiss-Italian names -
Pagani, Bolla and Biucchi - were prominent in the
restaurants, cafes and refreshment rooms on Brighton's seafront between 1878
and 1910. Louis Pagani (born c.1847 Switzerland), Peter Pagani (born c.1849 Switzerland) and Isidoro Pagani (born c.1851 Switzerland) who were probably brothers or cousins, arrived in Brighton around 1877. By 1878, Louis Pagani was selling beer on Brighton's Lower Esplanade, then known as The Beach, Kings Road. The 1881 Census shows that 34 year old Louis Pagani later ran a restaurant at 64 West Street, Brighton, where he employed five other Swiss-Italians, including a 25 year old cook named Innocente Biucchi. Peter Pagani, a pastry cook by trade, had a confectioner's shop at 28 West Street, Brighton, at the time of the 1881 Census. In 1876, Peter Pagani had married 18 year old Antonietta Macchi, another Swiss-Italian from Ticino, and their young son Enrico Pagani was born in Brighton around 1878. Isidoro Pagani (also known as Joseph Pagani) married a local woman, Harriet Hoad (born c.1858, Brighton) in 1881. In the 1881 Census, Isidoro Pagani gave his occupation as "Restaurant Keeper". The refreshment bar on the Lower Esplanade, where Louis Pagani sold beer to holidaymakers in 1878, became the "Fortune of War" beer house and refreshment rooms. At the time of the 1881 Census, the "Fortune of War" beer house was being managed by 27 year old Abramo Biucchi. In 1883, Peter Pagani is listed as the proprietor of the Fortune of War refreshment rooms at 64 Kings Road Arches. By 1887, Peter Pagani had returned to London to run a restaurant in Soho and Isodoro Pagani had taken his place at the Fortune of War. Isidoro Pagani died in 1889 at the age of 38. His widow, Harriet Pagani, managed the "Fortune of War" beer house until she remarried in 1890. |
The Fortune of War Public House on Brighton's Seafront |
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The Fortune of War - the site of a beer-house since 1878 or earlier
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Restaurants, Dining Rooms, Tea Rooms and Public Houses run by the Pagani, Bolla and Biucchi Families on Brighton's Seafront |
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Bolla & Biucchi's Restaurant and Refreshment Rooms
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Bolla & Biucchi's Restaurant and Refreshment Rooms |
The Bolla and Biucchi
Families in Brighton Domenico Bolla (born c.1852 Switzerland) who had previously worked as a waiter in a London restaurant, was selling beer and other refreshments on Brighton's seafront, on that part of the Lower Esplanade known as The Beach in 1882. During this period, Abramo Biucchi (born c.1854 Switzerland), former beer house keeper at the "Fortune of War", was making a living in Brighton as a confectioner and Innocente Biucchi (born c1855 Switzerland) was working as a cook in Louis Pagani's restaurant at 64 West Street, Brighton. Around 1882, Bolla and Biucchi joined forces to sell confectionary on Brighton's seafront. By 1888 the partnership of Bolla & Biucchi were operating a restaurant and dining room at 109 & 110 Kings Road Arches and less than a hundred yards away, at No.119, the partners were offering tea, coffee and other refreshments next door to Isidoro Pagani's "Fortune of War" beer house. After Isidoro Pagani died in 1889 and his widow, Harriet, remarried in 1890, Bolla & Biucchi took over the "Fortune of War" inn. By 1893, Bolla & Biucchi owned the tea and coffee rooms in the King's Road Arches at 109 and 110 (renumbered 149 and 150 the following year), the "Fortune of War" Inn at 117 (renumbered 157 in 1894) and the Bolla & Biucchi Restaurant next door at 118 (158). Domenico Bolla died aged 43 in 1895 and Mrs Maddalena Bolla (born c1857 Switzerland), Domenico's widow, took over the running of the "Fortune of War" inn. Abramo Biucchi had died in Brighton in 1893 at the age of 39 and Innocente Biucchi passed away in Eastbourne in 1895. In the 1901 census, Mrs Maddalena Bolla is recorded as forty-four year old "Restaurant Keeper" in Brighton. Mrs Maddalena Bolla was still running Bolla & Biucchi's Restaurant and Dining Rooms and the "Fortune of War" Inn on Brighton's Lower Esplanade in 1910.
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Swiss Immigrants in London and Sussex Seaside Towns during the 19th Century |
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[ABOVE] A description of a meal enjoyed at the Epitaux' Restaurant in London's Haymarket, written in 1899 by Lieut.-Col. Newnham-Davis. The Epitaux' Restaurant was co-owned by Lucian Anton Rizzi (1854-1914), a Swiss immigrant.
[ABOVE] One of the continental pastry shops owned by the Semadeni family. This photograph shows the Semadeni pastry shop at No. 5 Montague Street, Worthing. Guilio Semadeni (born c1851, Switzerland) owned pastry shops in Brighton, Hastings and Worthing. In the 1881 census, thirty year old Guilio Semadeni is recorded as "Swiss Confectioner" at 8 George Street, Hastings. Another member of the Semadeni family, Hans Semadeni is listed as a confectioner at 48 Preston Street, Brighton. The Semadeni shop in Montague Street, Worthing, was mentioned in local newspapers in 1886 when twenty-five year old Swiss pastry cook Giacomo Semadeni, died from injuries sustained during the Anti- Salvation Army Riots in Worthing. |
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