{"id":318,"date":"2007-01-28T12:41:43","date_gmt":"2007-01-28T11:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/wordpress\/?p=318"},"modified":"2007-01-28T12:41:43","modified_gmt":"2007-01-28T11:41:43","slug":"the-rise-and-rise-of-the-cafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rogerdarlington.me.uk\/nighthawk\/?p=318","title":{"rendered":"The rise and rise of the cafe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of my friends joke because, wherever I am in central London, I have a favourite cafe. Although Starbucks<\/a> apparently has 166 branches within five miles of Regent Street [check out the store locator here<\/a>], none of my favourite cafes is a Starbucks, although I’m not averse to calling into one, if I want a cappuccino and none of my favourites is nearby. However, other factors influence my choice of favourites, such as friendly staff who know me, the ability to sit around reading for a while, and (very important) the choice of cakes.
\nThis article<\/a> explains that Starbucks now has 530 branches in the UK and some 12,500 worldwide with plans to expand to 40,000. I’m not wild about the domination by one brand, but I welcome the growth of cafe culture. The same article summarizes the historical development of places selling coffee.<\/p>\n

1554<\/b> Constantinople’s citizens become the first to patronise houses selling coffee.\n

1652<\/b> Refined arabica coffee arrives in Britain. It was drunk black and without sugar, and the first shop was reputedly opened in Oxford.\n

1660s<\/b> Coffee houses in Britain become a social phenomenon and are dubbed ‘penny universities’. A single penny bought you a coffee and time to scan the latest newsletters posted on the walls.\n

1665<\/b> Samuel Pepys recorded nearly 100 visits he made to coffee houses.\n

1688-98<\/b> Some houses became a hub for commerce where information was exchanged. Jonathan’s Coffee House in Change Alley brimmed with stockbrokers – and eventually became the London Stock Exchange.\n

1700s<\/b> Coffee houses begin to fall out of favour.\n

1930s-40s<\/b> Two world wars and a social revolution revive cafe society in the UK. A migrant influx still nostalgic for coffee houses sets up cafes such as The Cosmo in Hampstead, London.\n

1971<\/b> Starbucks opens its first outlet in Seattle. The name derives from a character in Moby Dick\n

1998<\/b> King’s Road in Chelsea becomes the first location for Starbucks in the UK, selling cappuccino or mocha latte at \u00a32.\n

2000<\/b> The UK coffee shop market rockets with daily sales of 4.4m cups. Coffee-selling becomes a billion-pound industry, with UK-owned chains such as Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee offering stiff competition.\n