[A page from the new book on Sydney Gardens – showing the supper boxes.]
Eating out comes second nature to us – that’s if you can afford to do it on a regular basis.
For Bath’s Georgian residents – both permanent and spa visitors – the idea of being seen eating in public was something new.
The newly-opened Sydney Pleasure Gardens quickly became the place to be on full public view – and that went for dining too.
Say hello to Supper Boxes.
A line of them spread out from either side of what is now the Holburne Museum. Most buildings are containers dividing outside from in but these new table-filled venues were open at the front so you could see and be seen.
Nothing changes.
This was – for the wealthy – a place to show off where you were, who you were and what you were able to eat. Like the gardens surrounding them, this was all about displaying wealth and social status.
The ruins of one of those supper boxes have been identified and there are those who would like to rebuild it as a more unusual relic from the days of Georgian society.
There’s more about this in a new book which provides an easy-to-read catalogue of many of the park’s oddities and attractions.
It’s hoped funds from its sale might further the restoration efforts and help the funds of the Friends of Sydney Gardens.
Two of them – Wendy Powney and Gill Gazzard – were authors of this new book and l went to meet them at the site of that supper box ruin.
More information via www.friendsofsydneygardens.org
