A chain of British restaurants, loved for their unforgettable prawn cocktails, steaks and cheesecakes, was a familiar fixture across Greater Manchester and beyond.
Decades before eating out and socialising was what we know it to be today, families across Greater Manchester would venture to their local Berni Inn to enjoy a meal and even celebrate a special occasion. The brand itself started life in Bristol before brothers and founders Aldo and Frank Berni expanding their empire to London, Birmingham, Liverpool - and Manchester, Bolton, Rochdale and more.
The Berni brothers first moved from Italy to Wales to join their father who had his own business there, before relocating to the West Country. And while their brother Marco, who also moved to England, pursued an independent career as a restaurateur, Frank and Aldo invested a £300 inheritance from their mother in a café in Exeter, The Guardian reported.
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A 1970s Berni Inn menu from their Chester branch, The Criterion, also shows customers could get a soup of the day for 55p, prime rump steak for £6.25, and fillet of plaice for £2.99. On the dessert section, lemon and sultana cheesecake cost 75p and the Berni Meringue Fountain was 90p.
In Manchester - which shared the same prices - many will remember Berni Inns such as Café Royal, Hole in the Wall and The Kingsway. Elsewhere in Greater Manchester, you could also visits the likes of Golden Lion in Bolton, Café Monico in Oldham, The Wellington in Rochdale and The Minorca in Wigan.
The brothers later opened restaurants in Plymouth and Bristol that were later damaged during the Second World War. In 1943, the team had to start over and bought Hort's Restaurant in Bristol - and the rest is history.
The Berni Inn chain itself started in 1955 when Aldo and Frank Berni opened the first Berni Steakhouse, Rummers, in Bristol, alongside business partner Paul Rosse, after being inspired by a chain of restaurants they had seen in America. Berni Inn introduced post-war Britain to the likes of steak and chips and Black Forrest gateau, arguably paving the way for the pub-restaurant chains we know so well today.
From 1961 to 1966, they are said to have opened an average of one new Berni Inn a month, owning nearly 100 restaurants in the late sixties. At a time when eating out was becoming more fashionable and popular, Berni Inns started to appear in many towns and cities across the country.
On August 21, 1973, the Daily Mirror printed an advertisement for the chain, including all of the branches across England at the time - and there were many. It reads: "Come again value! Many have tried to imitate the Berni experience. Somehow they’ve never quite succeeded.
"So look for the Berni sign - the-value-for-money sign. Then come inside and relax in anticipation of the good things to come. Be sure it’s a Berni Inn."
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Diners would enjoy a choice of steak, gammon or plaice with chips and peas or indulge in a Black Forest gateau and ice cream, polished off with its new speciality liqueur coffees.
Many will remember visiting a number of the Greater Manchester Berni Inns to celebrate a special occasion or enjoy some of their staple menu items. Below, you can see The Didsbury, Wilmslow Road, Manchester with the well known logo for the Berni Inn attached to the building.
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But over the decades, the Berni Inns became a chapter of the past. The brothers sold the chain to Grand Metropolitan for £14.5 million in 1970 and the mid 1990s, the chain was sold to Whitbread who later converted the outlets into their own Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants.
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Aldo Berni died in 1997 at the age of 88 and Frank died in 2000 at the age of 96. As for Marco, the legacy of his popular Italian restaurant in Bristol continues.
It may have changed its name along the way, but there has been a restaurant on the steps between Baldwin Street and St Nicholas Market since 1951, which makes it the longest-running in Bristol, Bristol Live previously reported. It was originally called Marco’s - a reference to owner Marco Berni of the legendary Bristol restaurateur family.
But the name above the door now refers to Giuseppe Calcagno, a former Marco’s waiter who bought the business in 1994 and changed the name 22 years ago. With its dark wood panelling and deep red furnishings, Giuseppe’s On the Steps has a timeless look not dissimilar to those Berni Inns of the 1980s.
The Berni Inn brand is still remembered today and has paved the way for next generation of restaurants. In 2017, the Huffington Post reported how Tom Kerridge’ Michelin-starred pub is inspired by the retro restaurant chain.
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The Huffington Post, at the time, said: "Tom, 44, has fond memories of his childhood trips to his local Berni Inn. He reflects with Paul Ainsworth, who owns the Michelin-starred ‘Paul Ainsworth at Number 6’ in Padstow, about when his mum, who was a single parent, used to take him there and he’d have half a roast chicken with peas.
"They would only visit around twice a year, but these meals clearly left an impression on Tom, who insists that his award-winning pub is a “modern day, more refined” version of Berni Inn."
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