THE FIRST TEA SHOP.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1624, 16 December 1912, Page 8

THE FIRST TEA SHOP.

ITS JUBILEE. The jubilee (on October 29) of that popular institution familiarly known as the A.B.C. may remind Londoners of the surprising changes that have taken place in. city habits during the last nuartor of a century, writes a contributor in. an English paper. Twenty-fivo years ago the A.B.C. girl had not yet appeared on her errand of mercy. City workers had either to .bring their own sandwiches or crowd into eat-ing-houses or hotel bars. Thero was very. little variety in. tho fare. You had to have a chop or a steak or a cut from the joint, and you .-were expected to drink beer. True, there was often a jug of water on the table, but it was rarely very clean, and was usually tackled only in desperation. The Eating House Pew, It was practically impossible to buy a glass of milk or a tolerable cup of coffee. Such things as poached eggs on toast were unheard of, and anyone who asked for a lemon 6quash would have been looked at in amazement. The hotel bars were crowded in the luncheon hour with city workers who preferred to make their meal of beer or whisky and biscuits and cheese rather than sit in a cramped position in an eating-house pew face to face with an alarming steak. It was almost impossible for a woman to have luncheon or tea in the city. The present state of things was brought about quite by chance. It had never been supposed by the A.B.C—then only a big baking concern—that there was any demand for light refreshments in the city. But one day the woman in charge of their London Bridge shop, where bread and scones were sold, was asked half-nlay- , fully by three men for a cup of tea. She said, of 'course, that she had no tea. They suggested that she should send out for some. She protested that she had no .teapot. They at once put down some money on the counter, and she laughingly sent out for tea, teapot, curis, and saucers. Soon the tea was made—and to that little gathering at London Bridge twenty-five years ago is traced the beginning of one of the most revolutionary changes that have happened in the city. The Moment of Success, It soon became known that tea could be had there, and the woman behind tho counter was astonished to find that sho was constantly being asked for it. Entirely on her own responsibility, without saying anything to the company, she laid in a stock of tea, bought more tcanots and cups; and soon found that her little shop was crowded between four and six in the afternoon. Then she wrote to the headquarters of tho company, said what had happened, and asked for their permission to make tea. An official of the company went to the little shop, and saw with his own eyes what was then the surprising phenomenon of business men asking for a cun of tea. He reported that there seemed to be an opening for light refreshment centres. Just as an experiment, the company put a few small tables in the shops scattered about the city, and no one was more astonished than they when numbers of people appeared in the luncheon hour to ask for such things as a 'buttered scone and a cup of coffee. There were no waitresses then. Customers had to go to the counter, buy what they wanted, and take it themselves to one of the little tables. The Eager Crowds. Gradually it was realised that there was a demand for a light and inexpensive meal in the middle' of the day. Bigger, shops were taken, more tables and chairs were put in, and waitresses appeared. At once tho shops were eagerly b3sieged by crowds of workers tired of semi-clean eating-houses and monotonous heavy fare. Letters poured into the offices of the company suggesting various dishes, and a number of these suggestions were at once adopted. From the first, the restaurants were teetotal. It was found that there was a great demand for milk, coffee, and even water. Soon it was realised that thousands of men and women working in tho city wanted tea in the afternoon. This, of course, was a revolution. Thirty years ago no one in the. city ever thought of haying, tea' till'ho -reached home'-'at about.-six" o'clock. The custom that is familiar now of making tea in an office at four o'clock was unknown then, and no ono ever, attempted to have tea outside the office. The Afternoon Tea, But the moment that the A.B.C. started afternoon tea it was found that the city man who had previously drunk nothing but beer or whisky during the day was very keen on having a cup_ of tea in the afternoon—quite as keen, in fact, n.s his wife at home. At first he went out for it, or sent the office boy to bring it to his room. Then he decided that it might as well he made in the office, and now, as everyone knows, one of the most important duties of the lady typist is to make tea. That the teashop has become one of the permanent features of London seems to be clear from_,the growth of the A.B.C, which has now 130 depots, and employs 3000 waitresses, and from the number of other concerns which have followed on similar lines. A surprising feature of the development is its teetotal ohnrnoter. Thousands of glasses of- milk- are sold every day—probably at least 10,000—and it is certain that twenty-five years ago at least 5000 would hare been glasses of beer. The Old Survivals. But there are still some men of the old school who refuse to yield to what they consider the effeminacy of the day. They are still faithful to the old city chop-houses, those mysterious places up narrow, winding stairs, where grey-haired men sit in cramped pews, and an English cook who has done nothing but grill chops and steaks for fifty years reigns as a king. No women ever adventure up the decrepit stairs, no waitress disturbs the gastronomic gravity, no strawberries and cream rival the supremacy of the chop, no glass of milk dare show itself in a place where the foaming tankard has reigned for centuries.

But.these old choi>-houses are no longer representative of tho lunclwon-hour life of London. The A.B.C. girl is the real queen of the city; and perhaps some day, when the old generation has gone, when the King of Steaks is dead, and John and James have retired sndly into the country, when the last defenders have left the ricketty stairs, she will run gaily up them with a poached egg. On her way she will scatter a number of protesting ghosts, .