In his 20 years as food court manager Howard was in charge of no fewer than 45 staff in a department which encompassed the area where Waterstones, Caffe Nero, and the luggage section of House of Fraser lies now.
He said: “
I didn’t actually know much about food but was asked to go there to look after the staff and become involved in buying all the stuff in the food hall.
“We would have everything and I mean it – we would grind our own coffee, own our own chocolate, we had 130 different whiskies.
“We had a counter for cooked meats, a counter for diabetic food –
the only thing we didn’t stock was dog food or washing powder.”