For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

London’s first coffee house (11.01.13)

In 1971 three men sat down and decided to open a coffee supply company in Seattle which within 40 years would become the largest coffeehouse company in the world.

Their choice of name would be prophetic for they chose a fictional seafarer. Their first favoured name was Pequod named after a whaling boat from Moby Dick this was rejected in favour of Starbuck the ship’s chief mate.

The coffee shop we know today came about after Howard Schultz, who had joined the company the previous year; he travelled to Italy and saw the potential to develop a similar coffee house culture in Seattle.

Using a coffee house to relax, talk with friends, meet and conduct business might have been novel to Howard Schultz but in London 300 years ago this was precisely what Londoners did in coffee houses. Only the business conducted would have been marine insurance, for the type of boat featured in Moby Dick. According to Dr Matthew Green who conducts coffee house tours of London the Starbucks in Russell Street, Covent Garden occupies the same site that 300 years ago stood Button’s Coffee House. It was here that people gathered to discuss the issues of the day. Journalists would gather stories with poets and playwriters would meet to discuss and critique each other’s work.

Nailed to a wall where the Starbucks community board now resides was the marble head of a lion with open jaws in which Button’s customers were invited to pop stories for a weekly publication.

London’s coffee culture had started in 1652 by a Greek, Pasqua Roseé and it wasn’t long before he was selling 600 dishes of coffee a day. The beverage was seen as an antidote to drunkenness and the coffee houses’ popularity would give rise to London becoming the world’s insurance capital.

The coffee houses became the centre for free thought as well as business and by 1663 there were 82 coffee houses within the old Roman walls of the City. By the 28th century, London had over 550 coffee houses each with its own identity, unlike today’s homogenised Starbucks.

London’s coffee houses would transform Britain. The exchange of ideas would make it the centre for invention and the arts.

The first stocks and shares were traded in Jonathan’s close to the Royal Exchange.

Lloyd’s Coffee House on Lombard Street (now a Sainsbury’s) attracted merchants, ships captains and stockbrokers.

How did the beverage taste? The 18th-century palate found it comparable to ink or soot for it was a thick, gritty but addictive drink which gave a physical boost.

Starbucks might produce a more sophisticated brew but the convivial atmosphere where debate and communicating (with laptops) did not originate in Seattle but within London’s Roman walls by a Greek.

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

Cabbie entente cordiale (04.01.13)

Tourists it seems, still think of the traditional London cab as an iconic symbol of London. It was rather reassuring to me when I was contacted by Amandine late last year who was working for a French publisher of tourist guides wanting to include a London cabbie in this year’s French London guide.

My return to London after the New Year break was not to sit on a rank, at this the quietest time of the year, in the forlorn hope of getting a fare. No today I was to be interviewed and spend time being photographed beside my cab.

Amandine, I was relieved to discover spoke perfect English, just as well for I can just about order a coffee in French.

After meeting outside Leadenhall Market we drove to Westminster Abbey and parked in the forecourt outside the south entrance. The Abbey is too large a building to be photographed at such close quarters, but in winter with the trees stripped of their leaves, the Sanctuary, to give it its correct title, is perfectly positioned to photograph Big Ben in the distance.

It was not long before the photographer; Regis and his assistant Caroline were asked for a photography permit. We were informed that this land was owned by the Abbey.

For a place of worship needing £150,000 a day just to maintain the fabric of the building, one would think publicity would be embraced.

After a short period of discussion it transpired that while the Abbey is trying to forge stronger bonds with Rome, entente cordiale seems not one of their priorities.

With the cost of travel falling year-on-year, the tourism industry has found it much tougher to attract to London the much-needed Euro and Dollar, and yet no one seems prepared to support the very unique aspects of our Capital.

The old Routemaster bus was replaced by a German bendy bus seen in many towns in Europe. After much public debate, a token route is now maintained.

Drive around central London and every tourist wants to be photographed opening a red telephone box. With their demise with the advent of the mobile phone, we are left with a stock of dirty boxes advertising ‘adult services’. How much would it cost to clean them up?

Now we can see on the horizon the demise of the traditional London cab. Its predecessors the Fairway and FX Series are being withdrawn from service. Now deemed to pollute London’s atmosphere. While the manufacturer of the current model has been placed into administration as a buyer is sought, many in the trade feel that it is the end for the black cab.

The only current alternative is a converted van from a German manufacturer, the like of which could be seen around the world. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the highly successful 2012 Olympics have shown London in the best light for a generation, now is not the time to sit back and wait for the world to come to us.

We need red buses, red telephone boxes and yes, at this time we should have a colour prejudice – black cabs.