In 1907 a young Swiss baker and confectioner, Fritz Bützer, left his native Alps to travel to England with a dream of establishing his own business.
He spent his first night in the waiting room of Bradford station – penniless, jobless and unable to speak a word of English. Yet, just over a decade later he’d married a Yorkshire lass, changed his name to Frederick Belmont and opened his first Bettys in the spa town of Harrogate.
Opening day was 17th July, 1919, and now came a time of ‘either or’, ‘sink or swim’
Frederick in a letter to his sister Ida
4th February 1921
Maybe I will stay a while…
Frederick in a letter to his sister Ida on his arrival in Yorkshire
12th September 1907