This busy scene on 384 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton shows crowds queuing outside a store advertising ’Horse Flesh for Human Consumption’ while a lorry unloads more meat.
The photo was taken on January 11th 1947 when post-war food rationing was still in full effect, and according to Budgie Byrne, the meat was on sale in Brixton for many years:
Used to be able to buy Horse Meat in Brixton Market in the 50′s and 60′s. I remember my grandmother buying chunks of it and cooking it up for her dog. Was a staple in some areas during the war. Have had Horse meat steaks in France, rather nice.
Horse meat is of course still widely available in many UK supermarkets, although these days they like to call it ‘beef’ :)
Here’s the scene today, courtesy of a slightly wonky Google Maps image.
Discuss this topic on the urban75 boards.
Also: Horse Meat found in Tesco Beefburgers
[Credits: Archive photo from TopFoto/The Image Works, ETPM 0013957, and thanks to Siren Of Brixton for finding the story]
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I wonder if there were any complaints at all in those days. Of course horses were still being used for labour back then, so people’s attitude to them may have been different.
There’s a 1922 film called A Couple of Down and Outs in which an ex-horse trooper saves his old horse by stealing it from a line of ex-Army horses being shipped to Belgium for meat…..there’s an unspoken disgust about eating horsemeat even then.
…..but the conditions of home-front life meant that people obviously put those feelings aside temporarily
its not the fact it is horse.. its the deceipt of it being put in to food without consumers being aware and who says the horse used was fit for human consumption…. THAT is the concern
Agreed, Stuart. If horse is getting through, what else is?
I think it’s best to avoid ready-meals and processed takeaways altogether. Horse-meat is the least of my concerns when it comes to what’s put into processed food.
Far healthier and tastier to cook real food for yourself!