Remembering London City Lunches
I did my stage in Amsterdam but I did work in London after NYC and Venezuela and did experience the “London City lunches”…
My favourite was at Simpsons in the City where you sit on long benches at long tables next to whomever… at the end of lunch the waitress comes round with an entire Stilton cheese and dishes it out like ice cream. ‘You simply must have a glass or 3 of port with the Stilton or be considered a Philistine…’ and this is after your 1-2 pints of you favourite Bitter…..
— Jack My stage also found me in London… With Bank of America in the heart of the financial district, it was great fun spending the lunch hour in wine bars.
— Tesa
I was working for Wells Fargo Bank in London… in true British fashion, they seemed most concerned that I learn about starting lunch at a pub and not being too productive later in the day!
— Lisa
I worked in London for Kitcat & Aitken, a market maker or “jobber” on the London Stock Exchange. There I was witness to long liquid lunches; no one seemed to do any ‘work’ but they spent as much time as possible with their clients and a drink in between them…
There are certain days that you remember so clearly for your entire life and my first day on the job at the BBC will always be one of those days–along with the day that John introduced me to my wife, Betsy, and the birth of my girls.
My first day at the BBC was a series of one on one meetings with all of the key people at the radio station. The morning meetings went well and then I was invited to lunch at the corner pub with a few folks from the office. The lunch went on perhaps for about two hours although I did lose track of time… Although Nyenrode had been an excellent training ground for the stage work awaiting us in the real world, the education fell short in preparing me for British work requirements.
After lunch my next meeting was with the BBC General Manager.
I don’t know what his impression was of me or the content of the meeting, but I do recall that I spent the meeting really concentrating on trying to focus my eyes due to the constantly moving office walls. All in all, like my time with all of you on campus, my BBC stage continues to be one of the highlights of my life.
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