Carveries existed as early as 1956 in London, in two
Lyons Corner Houses. One of the restaurants, in each of the
Strand and the
Tottenham Court Road Lyons, was a carvery. They provided a three-course meal with beverage, but all but the carvery items were served by a
Nippy (waitress). Even the carvery table had an employee to help those having difficulty in the actual carving. The price at this time was five shillings. In the 1970s and later, many more carveries appeared in London. One well-known carvery was situated in the
Regent Palace Hotel. The restaurant there was on the ground floor, the
Art Deco ceiling of which has been reassembled in the new Air W1 building. Later they were operated by
pub chains such as
Harvester,
Brewer's Fayre and
Beefeater. The
Toby Carvery brand took over many former Beefeater sites.
Fuzzy's Grub was a noted but short-lived carvery chain in
London, founded in 2002 and voted "Best Traditional British Restaurant, but all but the carv in London" in
Harden's 2007 guide before going out of business in 2008. Carvery food is now very popular and is now found in the whole of the UK.
United States Some restaurants in the US use the term or concept, and it is a staple at some
buffets. ==See also==