Hostess Trolley

The LG Hawkins company introduced its “heated sideboard” in 1931, but it was 22 years before one of its designers, Eddy Maciejewski, thought of making it mobile.

The Hostess – a plug-in heated metal sideboard on wheels that resembled a hospital trolley but allowed plates and filled Pyrex dishes to be kept warm – was launched in 1953.

The hostess troley reached its height of popularity in the 1970s when entertaining and dinner parties became a defining status of suburban, middle-class achievement. It became popular, too, with large families and provided the opportunity to enjoy a hot breakfast or Sunday lunch.

For working-class women, owning a hostess trolley was a climb up the ladder towards Abigail’s Party-style lower-middle-class affluence.

The trollies fell out of favour for a while but never really went away. They are still popular today – although usually now in black and chrome, rather than peel-off mahogany finish. They sell for more than £1,500 at John Lewis.