Toby Carvery

The first was in Brentwood - Mr T's Carving Room in around 1978 or 1979. By 1982, there were around Essex and North London. Decor was described as 'mock-Tudor'. In the early 1980s it was known as 'Mr T's C' or 'Mr T's Carving Room'. Michael Sabin was the catering director. The company was known as Toby Inns.^[2] Toby Carvery as a brand was founded as part of Bass Charrington in 1985.

In 1991, the main carvery was £7.99. Vegetarians had Cheesy Leek and Potato Bake, and Savoury Broccoli and Brie, with approval from the Vegetarian Society.^[3] By 1996, a carvery was £6.95; by the mid-1990s there were many more pub-restaurants to directly compete with ^[4] Not all Toby Restaurants had a self-serve Toby Carvery section - the Forest Gate (named after Charnwood Forest) in Loughborough added a carvery in November 1996, at a cost of £200,000. The company headquarters was Hagley House in the west of Birmingham.^[5][6]

The new (and current) decor and livery was introduced around July 1997, with one of the first being the Walsgrave in Coventry. The (current) decor and livery would become more widely adopted during the course of 1998, but many sites retained the former livery and insignia until each site was revamped, sometimes at great cost (£500,000 at 1998 prices). Many sites would be requiring a revamp, by the late 1990s, regardless of any new insignia. By the end of 1998, the new corporate insignia was now well-established on company documentation and literature.^[7] The new revamps in the late 1990s were not always welcomed by local council planning committees. The interiors would be salmon-pink; but local councils had no oversight of the interior decor. The less-sedate bright new ostentatious colour scheme was found to be slightly gaudy for some council planning departments, who reached for the smelling salts.^[8]

After the revamps, the previous name of the pub was dropped. Some local residents were far from convinced about the garish look of the colour scheme, who described one, which opened at 5pm on 8 March 1999 on Church Road in Formby, as looking like 'a tacky cafe like something from Blackpool's Golden Mile', 'something like the Moulin Rouge gone wrong',^[9] or 'a toy town eyesore, in the worst Disney tradition'^[10] or 'a plastic Barbie land'.^[11]

By the late 1990s, the pub restaurant scene in the UK was beginning a renaissance, if not starting to boom; the era of pub restaurants across the UK began to pick up haste. By late 1998, the price of the main carvery meal was now lowered to £5.95. Puddings came with the Toby Bottomless Custard Jug. By 1999 the company was run by Bass Leisure Retail.

The parent company subsequently rebranded as Six Continents plc, before the former Bass pub estate was spun off into Mitchells & Butlers.^[12] The chain was previously known as "Toby Pub and Carvery", but it was rebranded, removing the pub part of the name.

As well as carvery meat, the chain offers vegetarian and vegan food^[13] and fish main courses. A breakfast menu is available at some sites.^[14]

• Official website
•   Media related to Toby Carvery at Wikimedia Commons