the rest of the factory. The offices and the Health department that had occupied part of the building when Madge was interviewed had now been moved to the newly built Cream Block on the other side of the road, and almost all of the Dining Block was now given over to feeding the army of Rowntree’s workers. There was a café and servery, and a 500-capacity men’s dining hall on the ground floor, a women’s dining hall seating 2,000 on the first floor, and an executive dining room with waitress service on the top floor, where the firm’s managers and directors could eat. Florence and her workmates would join the queue, and as they approached the servery, wooden railings at hip height funnelled them into single file. Having ordered their food, they then sat at long, thin wooden benches to eat their lunch, usually soup, meat and two veg and a steamed pudding, though on Fridays the main course was always fish. Whether served at midday or in the middle of the night, it cost less than a shilling, with meat and two veg for sevenpence halfpenny and fish and chips fourpence or sixpence.
