Tonight's the night for Greater Cressroads kids of old to remember how it was in Berni Brothers' days of gold

Ten bob, Lesley,

Equivalent, reminds the town hack, to a third of a trainee reporter or auto mechanic’s weekly wage but, game on, when it afforded taking a girl out for a Berni’s dinner for two with high expectations of discovering her exotic taste in seamed nylons and suspenders.

Way back when Bloggy was 15-years-old, and Berni Inn was the name of a chain of British restaurants founded by brothers Frank and Aldo Berni in the year Ruth Ellis, last woman to be executed in England, was hung at London’s Holloway Prison by Oldham publican Albert Pierrepoint.

Boomer days!

And the Berni brothers cashed in on the times by introducing young Brits to a chain of home-grown restaurants with false oak beams and white walls to want to promote a feeling of bygone Tudor excesses.

Greater Cressroads’ Dave Mason, who went from school to beginning today’s equivalent of a 360-pence-a-week apprenticeship as an auto-mechanic, remembers it well.

“Like many a dad, mine insisted a third of my pay packet was handed to my mother.

"Leaving a quid, worth 240-pence, to last me through the week. And not enough to spring for a date at a Berni Inn, unless - ‘don’t you ever let your father know about this’ - mum gave back the ten-bob note from her housekeeping pot.

“True, Karen. All so bloody true,” Dave impressed on the stunning young landlady of Easton’s inflation-proof Chestnut Horse.

“You’d not believe how tight it was. Or how your loins ached to afford your young lady of the night her melon boat with maraschino cherry; steak, chips and peas; and slice of Black Forest gateau to want to drain the last drop of her glass of Black Tower.”

A saucy but romantic 50s-through-60s formula that paid dividends for all concerned and saw the Berni brothers sell their chain of restaurants to Grand Metropolitan for £14.5m in 1970.

“So, Dave, howzabout Tuesday 16th November 2010 - or is it 1970 - for a first Berni Night with 60s’ music at the Chestnut Horse?”

“Karen, why not? Let’s go for it.”

And, Lesley, making it a night to remember how it once was for us Cressroads kids growing up in the not-so-bad old days.

Love, Mike xxx

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