| "We're from the south of Italy:
30 miles north of Naples. We came over on the visas in the 50s.
Italy was in a terrible state after the war, financially ruined.
Took years to recover. People wanted a better future for their
children. But our parents weren't ambitious in life, never bought
a house in England, they were very plain. I wanted to expand
and make a bit more. I wanted to be my own boss and give it a
go. When I was a kid I used to work in the Regent Milk Bar (my brother Giovanni
used to work there too). Basil Albert was the owner of the Regent.
Italian Brazilian he was. I was the Sunday tea boy; Sunday washer
up. This was in 1976. £3.00 a day, cleaning up the tables.
I was about ten..." |
: Snack Bar, Brooks Mews W1 #2
