The Front Room

The average family in the UK in the 50s and 60s was not very well off compared to today and that was one of the reasons why the front room developed and was kept 'for best'. Suites and sofas in the front room were for show and not for sitting on regularly; on Sundays and special occasions, people would go into the front room and sit neatly upright on the settees and armchairs – they would not lounge about! Special 'important' visitors would be shown into the front room. Many front rooms had upright pianos in them and there was almost always someone in the family who could play the piano quite well. Soft leather sofas with reclining actions? Not in those rooms in fact, seldom anywhere at all.