Following on the recent debate about Harris and Hoole:-
- Do we actually want/need another coffee shop?
- Should it be allowed to sell alcohol between 11.00am and 10.00pm?…
…I decided to step out and count the number of coffee outlets we have in St Margarets. I started my census at the little “Expresso” kiosk down by the roundabout - “one” - but by the time I reached the coffee shop on St Margarets Station - “five” - and faced with the prospect of at least seven more to come I gave up… so much coffee, so little time.
The recent spread of coffee shops is not a new phenomenon. Something very similar happened in London in 1652 after the first coffee shop was opened by a Turkish merchant in St Michaels Alley. Coffee drinking became very popular indeed and within a few years similar establishments had opened up all over town. In 1719 French writer and traveller Henri Misson was inspired to recommend a couple of his favourites…
“You have all Manner of News there: You have a good Fire, which you may sit by as long as you please: you have a Dish of Coffee; you meet your Friends for the Transaction of Business, and all for a Penny, if you don’t care to spend more.”
Other visitors were far less happy with the British “coffee experience”. In 1782 German writer C.P Moritz cautioned fellow travellers…
“I would always advise those who wish to drink coffee in England to mention beforehand how many cups are to be made with half an ounce, or else the people will probably bring them a prodigious quantity of brown fluid.”
It wasn’t just coffee that 17th century café society was drinking. One coffee house in Queen’s Head Alley is credited with the introduction of an ‘excellent West Indian drink called chocolate’ and although it was more expensive than coffee by 1685 it was regarded as nutritious, beneficial to health and ‘a Diet and Phisick with the Gentry.’
Reacting to the growing popularity of coffee the Dutch East India Company started to import Chinese tea into London at the staggering price of £3/10 shillings a pound, (equivalent to about £400 a pound in today’s money. Although within ten years the price of tea had dropped to about £2 a pound (about £275 in today’s money) it didn’t become cheap enough for general consumption for another 100 years.
Tea was served in the Chinese fashion, without milk. In fact it seems that very little milk was drunk at the time - whereas ‘whey’, the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled, was popular and considered more wholesome than milk. Samuel Pepys, whose diary you may remember provided the names ‘Harris’ and ‘Hoole’, often patronised ‘whey-houses’ drinking ‘ a great deal of whey.’ Stomach churning I would say.
By the 1750’s tea had fallen dramatically in price. As a result it had become far more popular than both coffee and chocolate which were still expensive. Towards the end of the century many of London’s once famous coffee houses had disappeared. There was a brief revival in the 1950’s with the introduction of “frothy coffee” and rock ‘n’ roll …but now coffee consciousness is back with a vengeance.
Is there a lesson here? If we change our collective taste and go for ‘a nice cup of tea’ rather than a “caffe lungo”, “expresso granita” or “moccaccino” (I had to look these up!) would we have fewer coffee shops and more places that might sell a gallon of paraffin, a box of chisels and a bucket of whitewash? Ask me in 100 years time.
As for the debate, Harris and Hoole seem to have quietly settled in and appear busy. They have abandoned their application to sell alcohol between 11.00am and 10.00pm.
– from Martyn Day
Comments
Ah, Martyn Day once again given opportunity to write about the chip on his shoulder. The ridiculous notion that a business selling paraffin and chisels would open, never mind survive - the high street has changed, get used to it, get over it. As for the number of coffee shops let market forces dictate, the best will prosper, the worst will fail. Harris & Hoole are busy, likely to prosper so what is your gripe? Some hidden agenda? The people of St Margarets are savvy and discerning shoppers and will vote with their wallets. In the meantime Mr Day how about moving on?
Dave on 2013-09-27 08:49:05 +0000Ah, Martyn Day once again given opportunity to write about the chip on his shoulder. The ridiculous notion that a business selling paraffin and chisels would open, never mind survive - the high street has changed, get used to it, get over it. As for the number of coffee shops let market forces dictate, the best will prosper, the worst will fail. Harris & Hoole are busy, likely to prosper so what is your gripe? Some hidden agenda? The people of St Margarets are savvy and discerning shoppers and will vote with their wallets. In the meantime Mr Day how about moving on?
Dave on 2013-09-27 09:00:10 +0000H&H may be busy, but has anyone else noticed that all the customers in there look like smug clones of each other and I don't recognise a single one of them. Are they shipped in from somewhere else to get the place off the ground (no pun intended)?
Rob on 2013-09-27 11:13:18 +0000Interesting that in the same bulletin that Simon Chapman gets recognised for his unflagging service to the St.Margarets community, that Martyn Day gets a bashing for some oblique comments about a Tesco financed coffee chain. What service or roots does Tesco provide or have in the St.Margarets community? As for H & H's customer base, I don't recognise them either. Meanwhile I was relieved for the police objection that forced the withdrawal of their licence application.
Ian on 2013-09-27 13:54:57 +0000Please don't move on Martyn. We love you and we love these pieces.
Ben Driver on 2013-09-27 14:37:28 +0000Exactly Ben, my thoughts too re Martyn, 'We love you and we love these pieces'. You make the effort more than most and we appreciate it.
Dave you may have some personal thoughts re 'a chip on the shoulder' and if that is so they should stay 'personal' and not berate someone on our 'community' website.
Christabella on 2013-09-27 15:56:44 +0000Dave (the mean one) do you really want St Margarets to become more like... let's say Richmond, officially the least unique high-street in the country with practically no independant shops - only chains? I certainly do not. I think Martyn and Simon both have worked hard to keep St Margarets shop's vibrant, well balanced and largely independent. And key to that working is people to support it.
Peter @ stmgrts.org.uk on 2013-09-27 16:08:46 +0000Dave, Cutters on Crown Road sell chisels and paraffin and they're doing fine.
Adam on 2013-09-29 00:09:27 +0000