The Sutlers Supreme

Introduction

For generations of servicemen and service families, the name NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) has meant more than just a shop. It was a lifeline of familiarity and comfort, wherever in the world the Forces were posted.

My own relationship with NAAFI began in the second half of the last century. As part of a service family, its presence was woven into my earliest experiences of moving between garrisons and bases. On arrival, there were always three priorities: find the post office to send word home of safe arrival, seek out the library for essential information and, most importantly, locate the NAAFI families shop to stock up on essentials. 

As a young boy in Berlin in 1963, I remember riding the tram with my mother along Heerstrasse to Reichskanzlerplatz (now Theodor-Heuss-Platz) to visit the NAAFI families shop in Summit House. Later memories include sipping coke floats outside the NAAFI shop at Rasah Camp, Malaysia, and visiting the Sandycroft Leave Centre on Penang Island. In Hohne, Germany, our local NAAFI was housed in the imposing Roundhouse — a former Wehrmacht officers’ mess transformed into a food hall, gift shop, and clothing store. 

At eighteen, my relationship with NAAFI shifted from customer to employee. Staff fondly referred to it as “the Corporation,” and I spent three years at Joint Headquarters (JHQ) Rheindahlen before returning to London in 1980 to work at NAAFI Headquarters, Kennington, in the Export Branch. I remained there until 1984, and those years shaped my enduring affection for the organisation.

That connection sparked an interest in collecting ephemera, photographs, and memorabilia. Today, the collection numbers many items. Now retired, I asked myself what to do with both my time and these pieces of history. The answer is this blog: a space to share the story of NAAFI through the objects that carry its legacy.

Through war and peace, NAAFI has sought to live up to its motto — Servitor Servientium (“Serve the Services”). Like the camp followers of old, it brought services and comforts to wherever British Armed Forces personnel were stationed. In that tradition, NAAFI proved itself the Sutlers Supreme.

This blog is a way of remembering that tradition and sharing it with anyone who, like me, has a place in their heart for the NAAFI.