During the First World War their coffee bar relocated to the railway station and provided an alternative non-alcoholic drink to servicemen travelling through the station, as well as a place for companionship and conversation. Patrons of the coffee shop were invited to sign their name in a visitors’ book, two of which survive.
As Peterborough is on the East Coast Mainline which serves the east of England, the north east and Scotland, the visitors’ books record sailors and soldiers who were travelling to and from the front from all over the UK. The books, held by Peterborough Archives, are an extraordinary record of a wide variety of servicemen.
