Bygone Times - Knickerbocker Glory

When I was a 14 year old teenager in 1974, there was nothing quite as magical as those day outings to exotic destinations and for me that mainly consisted of a trip to Brighton.

If it wasn’t a family relative taking me there, it was my Sunday school teacher at All Souls Church, a portly, kindly Mr. Arthur Spackman. Mr. Spackman who was a dentist, treated us with miscellaneous technological gadgets and the weekly concoction of educational magazines and a Milk Tray chocolate bar. Every summer he would take the Sunday School class on a magical trip to the popular resort.

Our trip to the city was usually finished off in Debenhams’s restaurant where we were treated to a Knickerbocker Glory and for any 14 year old boy this was a treat worth waiting for.

Ice Cream, cream, fruit, meringue. Layers of different sweet tastes alternated and jammed into the tallest glass topped with whipped cream, syrup and a cherry.

It even had its own special very long spoon so to could reach right down into the bottom of the glass and get every last tiny bit of delight.

Even today the mere mention of one takes me back to the restaurant overlooking the tiny park in Brighton.  There is nothing quite like the pleasure of diving into this world of glorious sweetness.