COFFEE HOUSES are once again a familiar sight in our high streets, usually part of a chain, laid out and decorated in a predictable manner, the latest manifestation of an institution which began in the 17th century.
From the Restoration London was awash with coffee houses, which became places for leisure and business, news and conversation, medical treatments and auctions. So important were they in the fabric of London's society, so influential in radical politics, that the authorities were at times keen to suppress them.
In the 19th century, as the Temperance movement held sway, coffee taverns were established in opposition to the gin palaces that offered cheap alcohol.
In the 1950s numerous coffee bars were opened in crowded premises, where customers could enjoy the new music of the day - skiffle and rock'n'roll. Many musical legends had their first public performances in these venues.
Antony Clayton's history of London's coffee houses is a thorough and entertaining survey, placing this long-lived institution in its social framework.
'This is an excellent, well researched and well illustrated account of a part of our daily lives which usually flashes by all too quickly. Clayton's brew is well stirred but never too frothy. London Topographical Society Newsletter
245 x 185mm (hardback with 58 illustrations) 192 pages
Published 2003
