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i and Son, he said. After that year it became known as Dickens and Son. "People called it a tea room but actually it was a restaurant with three rows that could seat about 110 people at a time. We served breakfast and lunch there. The bakery goods were sold at the counter at the front section of the floor while the actual bakery was at the rear," said Dickens. "My father rented out this store next door to us. Behind us we sublet the front part and at the rear he built the tea room. It was all oak furniture and fireplace. I think that's what people remember most. I think it was built in the late J20s." The baked goods sold at the Dickens and Son bakery were homemade, said Dickens. He took over his grandfather's catering service in the mid-'30s. "I used to cater at the Officers Mess at the Belleville Armouries. I used to take our waitresses over there on New Year's eve and cater the midnight dinner." His artistic gift for cake decoration drew many a client's attention and his talent for it simply came from his high school interest in painting. "My high school teacher wanted me to go to Ontario College of Art but my father said he couldn't afford to send me there at the time so I stayed with the business. So I guess I just transferred that skill to decorating wedding cakes." The "tea room" which sat about 50 people, went with the building when it was was sold. Also known as The English Room, it was separate from the main area of the business, said Dickens. "Actually we could hold private meetings there. That's where the Belleville Theatre Guild had its first conception meeting long time ago," he added. Reflecting on those days of running the family business, Dickens concluded: "The restaurant business is a tough business. It involved very long hours and for me, it got to be 12 to 14 hours a The interior of the Dickens and Son during the middle of the day, seven days a week. We last century. had a young daughter at the time and sometimes I'd go a week goes back to the later part of the 19th cen- ly. That was hard."without seeing my famitury. In 1953, fire, the third to assault the "I was the fourth generation in the busi- business over the years, started on the ness. It was in Belleville for a long time. It second floor and did heavy damage to the opened around 1887. It started out as a restaurant and his father, who had just bakery and a candy manufacturing shop," retired at the time, decided against selling explained Dickens, who began helping his it and closed it down. father, Ernest and grandfather, Ed, run the business in the '30s. Contact Benzie Sangma at: Until 1944 when his grandfather died, bsangma@cogeco. ca the business was known as Ed F. Dickens