Berni Inn
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Founded in 1955, Berni Inn was the name of a chain of British restaurants established by brothers Frank and Aldo Berni. The first Berni Inn was at the The Rummer, a historic public house in central Bristol.[1]
The restaurants introduced the post-war British public to its own home-grown restaurant chain, which came with its own pre-stylised restaurants with Tudor-looking false oak beams and white wall. A typical menu was of the form:[2]
- Starters: melon boat with maraschino cherry, or prawn cocktail
- Main course: steak, Gammon Steak or plaice with chips, and peas
- Dessert: Black Forest gateau, plus Irish coffee and After Eight mints
The chain quickly expanded, first throughout Bristol and then the rest of the country. Unlike other restaurants, they did not do their own butchery but brought in steaks already chopped. The chain was sold to Grand Metropolitan for £14.5m in 1970 and then sold to Whitbread in 1995[3]. Aldo Berni died in 1997 at the age of 88, Frank died 10 July 2000.[citation needed]
British tastes had changed due to foreign travel, and by the late 1990s the chain started losing money. Whitbread announced the closure of the chain, by converting many of the former premises into other Whitbread owned brands, including the steak-orientated Beefeater or more generalised pub-oriented Brewers Fayre.[citation needed]
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