Part 45
The vending of tea and coffee, in the streets, was little if at all known twenty years ago, saloop being then the beverage supplied from stalls to the late and early wayfarers. Nor was it until after 1842 that the stalls approached to anything like their present number, which is said to be upwards of 300--the majority of the proprietors being women. Prior to 1824, coffee was in little demand, even among the smaller tradesmen or farmers, but in that year the duty having been reduced from 1_s._ to 6_d._ per lb., the consumption throughout the kingdom in the next seven years was nearly trebled, the increase being from 7,933,041 lbs., in 1824, to 22,745,627 lbs., in 1831. In 1842, the duty on coffee, was fixed at 4_d._, from British possessions, and from foreign countries at 6_d._
But it was not owing solely to the reduced price of coffee, that the street-vendors of it increased in the year or two subsequent to 1842, at least 100 per cent. The great facilities then offered for a cheap adulteration, by mixing ground chicory with the ground coffee, was an enhancement of the profits, and a greater temptation to embark in the business, as a smaller amount of capital would suffice. Within these two or three years, this cheapness has been still further promoted, by the medium of adulteration, the chicory itself being, in its turn, adulterated by the admixture of baked carrots, and the like saccharine roots, which, of course, are not subjected to any duty, while foreign chicory is charged 6_d._ per lb. English chicory is not chargeable with duty, and is now cultivated, I am assured, to the yield of between 4,000 and 5,000 tons yearly, and this nearly all used in the adulteration of coffee. Nor is there greater culpability in this trade among street-venders, than among “respectable” shopkeepers; for I was assured, by a leading grocer, that he could not mention twenty shops in the city, of which he could say: “You can go and buy a pound of ground coffee there, and it will not be adulterated.” The revelations recently made on this subject by the _Lancet_ are a still more convincing proof of the _general_ dishonesty of grocers.
The coffee-stall keepers generally stand at the corner of a street. In the fruit and meat markets there are usually two or three coffee-stalls, and one or two in the streets leading to them; in Covent-garden there are no less than four coffee-stalls. Indeed, the stalls abound in all the great thoroughfares, and the most in those not accounted “fashionable” and great “business” routes, but such as are frequented by working people, on their way to their day’s labour. The best “pitch” in London is supposed to be at the corner of Duke-street, Oxford-street. The proprietor of that stall is said to take full 30_s._ of a morning, in halfpence. One stall-keeper, I was informed, when “upon the drink” thinks nothing of spending his 10_l._ or 15_l._ in a week. A party assured me that once, when the stall-keeper above mentioned was away “on the spree,” he took up his stand there, and got from 4_s._ to 5_s._ in the course of ten minutes, at the busy time of the morning.
The coffee-stall usually consists of a spring-barrow, with two, and occasionally four, wheels. Some are made up of tables, and some have a tressel and board. On the top of this are placed two or three, and sometimes four, large tin cans, holding upon an average five gallons each. Beneath each of these cans is a small iron fire-pot, perforated like a rushlight shade, and here charcoal is continually burning, so as to keep the coffee or tea, with which the cans are filled, hot throughout the early part of the morning. The board of the stall has mostly a compartment for bread and butter, cake, and ham sandwiches, and another for the coffee mugs. There is generally a small tub under each of the stalls, in which the mugs and saucers are washed. The “grandest” stall in this line is the one before-mentioned, as standing at the corner of Duke-street, Oxford-street (of which an engraving is here given). It is a large truck on four wheels, and painted a bright green. The cans are four in number, and of bright polished tin, mounted with brass-plates. There are compartments for bread and butter, sandwiches, and cake. It is lighted by three large oil lamps, with bright brass mountings, and covered in with an oil-cloth roof. The coffee-stalls, generally, are lighted by candle-lamps. Some coffee-stalls are covered over with tarpaulin, like a tent, and others screened from the sharp night or morning air by a clothes-horse covered with blankets, and drawn half round the stall.
Some of the stall-keepers make their appearance at twelve at night, and some not till three or four in the morning. Those that come out at midnight, are for the accommodation of the “night-walkers”--“fast gentlemen” and loose girls; and those that come out in the morning, are for the accommodation of the working men.
It is, I may add, piteous enough to see a few young and good-looking girls, some without the indelible mark of habitual depravity on their countenances, clustering together for warmth round a coffee-stall, to which a penny expenditure, or the charity of the proprietor, has admitted them. The thieves do not resort to the coffee-stalls, which are so immediately under the eye of the policeman.
The coffee-stall keepers usually sell coffee and tea, and some of them cocoa. They keep hot milk in one of the large cans, and coffee, tea, or cocoa in the others. They supply bread and butter, or currant cake, in slices--ham sandwiches, water-cresses, and boiled eggs. The price is 1_d._ per mug, or 1/2_d._ per half-mug, for coffee, tea, or cocoa; and 1/2_d._ a slice the bread and butter or cake. The ham sandwiches are 2_d._ (or 1_d._) each, the boiled eggs 1_d._, and the water-cresses a halfpenny a bunch. The coffee, tea, cocoa, and sugar they generally purchase by the single pound, at a grocer’s. Those who do an extensive trade purchase in larger quantities. The coffee is usually bought in the berry, and ground by themselves. All purchase chicory to mix with it. For the coffee they pay about 1_s._; for the tea about 3_s._; for the cocoa 6_d._ per lb.; and for the sugar 3-1/2_d._ to 4_d._ For the chicory the price is 6_d._ (which is the amount of the duty alone on foreign chicory), and it is mixed with the coffee at the rate of 6 ozs. to the pound; many use as much as 9 and 12 ozs. The coffee is made of a dark colour by means of what are called “finings,” which consist of burnt sugar--such, as is used for browning soups. Coffee is the article mostly sold at the stalls; indeed, there is scarcely one stall in a hundred that is supplied with tea, and not more than a dozen in all London that furnish cocoa. The stall-keepers usually make the cake themselves. A 4 lb. cake generally consists of half a pound of currants, half a pound of sugar, six ounces of beef dripping, and a quartern of flour. The ham for sandwiches costs 5-1/2_d._ or 6_d._ per lb.; and when boiled produces in sandwiches about 2_s._ per lb. It is usually cut up in slices little thicker than paper. The bread is usually “second bread;” the butter, salt, at about 8_d._ the pound. Some borrow their barrows, and pay 1_s._ a week for the hire of them. Many borrow the capital upon which they trade, frequently of their landlord. Some get credit for their grocery--some for their bread. If they borrow, they pay about 20 per cent. per week for the loan. I was told of one man that makes a practice of lending money to the coffee-stall-keepers and other hucksters, at the rate of at least 20 per cent. a week. If the party wishing to borrow a pound or two is unknown to the money-lender, he requires security, and the interest to be paid him weekly. This money-lender, I am informed, has been transported once for receiving stolen property, and would now purchase any amount of plate that might be taken to him.
[Illustration: THE LONDON COFFEE-STALL.
[_From a Daguerreotype by_ BEARD.]]
The class of persons usually belonging to the business have been either cab-men, policemen, labourers, or artisans. Many have been bred to dealing in the streets, and brought up to no other employment, but many have taken to the business owing to the difficulty of obtaining work at their own trade. The generality of them are opposed to one another. I asked one in a small way of business what was the average amount of his profits, and his answer was,--
“I usually buy 10 ounces of coffee a night. That costs, when good, 1_s._ 0-1/2_d._ With this I should make five gallons of coffee, such as I sell in the street, which would require 3 quarts of milk, at 3_d._ per quart, and 1-1/2 lb. of sugar, at 3-1/2_d._ per lb., there is some at 3_d._ This would come to 2_s._ 2-3/4_d._; and, allowing 1-1/4_d._ for a quarter of a peck of charcoal to keep the coffee hot, it would give 2_s._ 4_d._ for the cost of five gallons of coffee. This I should sell out at about 1-1/2_d._ per pint; so that the five gallons would produce me 5_s._, or 2_s._ 8_d._ clear. I generally get rid of one quartern loaf and 6 oz. of butter with this quantity of coffee, and for this I pay 5_d._ the loaf and 3_d._ the butter, making 8_d._; and these I make into twenty-eight slices at 1/2_d._ per slice; so the whole brings me in 1_s._ 2_d._, or about 6_d._ clear. Added to this, I sell a 4 lb. cake, which costs me 3-1/2_d._ per lb. 1_s._ 2_d._ the entire cake; and this in twenty-eight slices, at 1_d._ per slice, would yield 2_s._ 4_d._, or 1_s._ 2_d._ clear; so that altogether my clear gains would be 4_s._ 4_d._ upon an expenditure of 2_s._ 2_d._--say 200 per cent.”
This is said to be about the usual profit of the trade. Sometimes they give credit. One person assured me he trusted as much as 9-1/2_d._ that morning, and out of that he was satisfied there was 4_d._, at least, he should never see. Most of the stalls are stationary, but some are locomotive. Some cans are carried about with yokes, like milk-cans, the mugs being kept in a basket. The best district for the night-trade is the City, and the approaches to the bridges. There are more men and women, I was told, walking along Cheapside, Aldersgate-street, Bishopsgate-street, and Fleet-street. In the latter place a good trade is frequently done between twelve at night and two in the morning. For the morning trade the best districts are the Strand, Oxford-street, City-road, New-road (from one end to the other), the markets, especially Covent Garden, Billingsgate, Newgate, and the Borough. There are no coffee-stalls in Smithfield. The reason is that the drovers, on arriving at the market, are generally tired and cold, and prefer sitting down to their coffee in a warm shop rather than drink it in the open street. The best days for coffee-stalls are market mornings, viz. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On these days the receipts are generally half as much again as those of the other mornings. The best time of the year for the business is the summer. This is, I am told, because the workpeople and costermongers have more money to spend. Some stall-keepers save sufficient to take a shop, but these are only such as have a “pitch” in the best thoroughfares. One who did a little business informed me that he usually cleared, including Sunday, 14_s._--last week his gains were 15_s._; the week before that he could not remember. He is very frequently out all night, and does not earn sixpence. This is on wet and cold nights, when there are few people about. His is generally the night-trade. The average weekly earnings of the trade, throughout the year, are said to be 1_l._ The trade, I am assured by all, is overstocked. They are half too many, they say. “Two of us,” to use their own words, “are eating one man’s bread.” “When coffee in the streets first came up, a man could go and earn,” I am told, “his 8_s._ a night at the very lowest; but now the same class of men cannot earn more than 3_s._” Some men may earn comparatively a large sum, as much as 38_s._ or 2_l._, but the generality of the trade cannot make more than 1_l._ per week, if so much. The following is the statement of one of the class:--
“I was a mason’s labourer, a smith’s labourer, a plasterer’s labourer, or a bricklayer’s labourer. I was, indeed, a labouring man. I could not get employment. I was for six months without any employment. I did not know which way to support my wife and child (I have only one child). Being so long out of employment, I saw no other means of getting a living but out of the streets. I was almost starving before I took to it--that I certainly was. I’m not ashamed of telling anybody that, because it’s true, and I sought for a livelihood wherever I could. Many said they wouldn’t do such a thing as keep a coffee-stall, but I said I’d do anything to get a bit of bread honestly. Years ago, when I was a boy, I used to go out selling water-cresses, and apples, oranges, and radishes, with a barrow, for my landlord; so I thought, when I was thrown out of employment, I would take to selling coffee in the streets. I went to a tinman, and paid him 10_s._ 6_d._ (the last of my savings, after I’d been four or five months out of work) for a can, I didn’t care how I got my living so long as I could turn an honest penny. Well; I went on, and knocked about, and couldn’t get a pitch anywhere; but at last I heard that an old man, who had been in the habit of standing for many years at the entrance of one of the markets, had fell ill; so, what did I do, but I goes and pops into his pitch, and there I’ve done better than ever I did afore. I get 20_s._ now where I got 10_s._ one time; and if I only had such a thing as 5_l._ or 10_l._, I might get a good living for life. I cannot do half as much as the man that was there before me. He used to make his coffee down there, and had a can for hot water as well; but I have but one can to keep coffee and all in; and I have to borrow my barrow, and pay 1_s._ a week for it. If I sell my can out, I can’t do any more. The struggle to get a living is so great, that, what with one and another in the coffee-trade, it’s only those as can get good ‘pitches’ that can get a crust at it.”
As it appears that each coffee-stall keeper on an average, clears 1_l._ a week, and his takings may be said to be at least double that sum, the yearly street expenditure for tea, coffee, &c., amounts to 31,200_l._ The quantity of coffee sold annually in the streets, appears to be about 550,000 gallons.
To commence as a coffee-stall keeper in a moderate manner requires about 5_l._ capital. The truck costs 2_l._, and the other utensils and materials 3_l._ The expense of the cans is near upon 16_s._ each. The stock-money is a few shillings.
OF THE STREET SALE OF GINGER-BEER, SHERBET, LEMONADE, &C.
The street-trade in ginger-beer--now a very considerable traffic--was not known to any extent until about thirty years ago. About that time (1822) a man, during a most sultry drought, sold extraordinary quantities of “cool ginger-beer” and of “soda-powders,” near the Royal Exchange, clearing, for the three or four weeks the heat continued, 30_s._ a day, or 9_l._ weekly. Soda-water he sold “in powders,” the acid and the alkali being mixed in the water of the glass held by the customer, and drunk whilst effervescing. His prices were 2_d._ and 3_d._ a glass for ginger-beer; and 3_d._ and 4_d._ for soda-water, “according to the quality;” though there was in reality no difference whatever in the quality--only in the price. From that time, the numbers pursuing this street avocation increased gradually; they have however fallen off of late years.
The street-sellers who “brew their own beer” generally prepare half a gross (six dozen) at a time. For a “good quality” or the “penny bottle” trade, the following are the ingredients and the mode of preparation:--3 gallons of water; 1 lb. of ginger, 6_d._; lemon-acid, 2_d._; essence of cloves, 2_d._; yeast, 2_d._; and 1 lb. of raw sugar, 7_d._ This admixture, the yeast being the last ingredient introduced, stands 24 hours, and is then ready for bottling. If the beverage be required in 12 hours, double the quantity of yeast is used. The bottles are filled only “to the ridge,” but the liquid and the froth more than fill a full-sized half-pint glass. “Only half froth,” I was told, “is reckoned very fair, and it’s just the same in the shops.” Thus, 72 bottles, each to be sold at 1_d._, cost--apart from any outlay in utensils, or any consideration of the value of labour--only 1_s._ 7_d._, and yield, at 1_d._ per bottle, 6_s._ For the cheaper beverage--called “playhouse ginger-beer” in the trade--instead of sugar, molasses from the “private distilleries” is made available. The “private” distilleries are the illicit ones: “‘Jiggers,’ we call them,” said one man; “and I could pass 100 in 10 minutes’ walk from where we’re talking.” Molasses, costing 3_d._ at a jigger’s, is sufficient for a half-gross of bottles of ginger-beer; and of the other ingredients only half the quantity is used, the cloves being altogether dispensed with, but the same amount of yeast is generally applied. This quality of “beer” is sold at 1/2_d._ the glass.
About five years ago “fountains” for the production of ginger-beer became common in the streets. The ginger-beer trade in the open air is only for a summer season, extending from four to seven months, according to the weather, the season last year having been over in about four months. There were then 200 fountains in the streets, all of which, excepting 20 or 30 of the best, were hired of the ginger-beer manufacturers, who drive a profitable trade in them. The average value of a street-fountain, with a handsome frame or stand, which is usually fixed on a wheeled and movable truck, so as one man’s strength may be sufficient to propel it, is 7_l._; and, for the rent of such a fountain, 6_s._ a week is paid when the season is brisk, and 4_s._ when it is slack; but last summer, I am told, 4_s._ 6_d._ was an average. The largest and handsomest ginger-beer fountain in London was--I speak of last summer--in use at the East-end, usually standing in Petticoat-lane, and is the property of a dancing-master. It is made of mahogany, and presents somewhat the form of an upright piano on wheels. It has two pumps, and the brass of the pump-handles and the glass receivers is always kept bright and clean, so that the whole glitters handsomely to the light. Two persons “serve” at this fountain; and on a fine Sunday morning, from six to one, that being the best trading time, they take 7_l._ or 8_l._ in halfpennies--for “the beer” is 1/2_d._ a glass--and 2_l._ each other day of the week. This machine, as it may be called, is drawn by two ponies, said to be worth 10_l._ a-piece; and the whole cost is pronounced--perhaps with a sufficient exaggeration--to have been 150_l._ There were, in the same neighbourhood, two more fountains on a similar scale, but commoner, each drawn by only one pony instead of the aristocratic “pair.”
The ingredients required to feed the “ginger-beer” fountains are of a very cheap description. To supply 10 gallons, 2 quarts of lime-juice (as it is called, but it is, in reality, lemon-juice), costing 3_s._ 6_d._, are placed in the recess, sometimes with the addition of a pound of sugar (4_d._); while some, I am assured, put in a smaller quantity of juice, and add two-pennyworth of oil of vitriol, which “brings out the sharpness of the lime-juice.” The rest is water. No process of brewing or fermentation is necessary, for the fixed air pumped into the liquid as it is drawn from the fountain, communicates a sufficient briskness or effervescence. “The harder you pumps,” said one man who had worked a fountain, “the frothier it comes; and though it seems to fill a big glass--and the glass an’t so big for holding as it looks--let it settle, and there’s only a quarter of a pint.” The hirer of a fountain is required to give security. This is not, as in some slop-trades, a deposit of money; but a householder must, by written agreement, make himself responsible for any damage the fountain may sustain, as well as for its return, or make good the loss: the street ginger-beer seller is alone responsible for the rent of the machine. It is however, only men that are known, who are trusted in this way. Of the fountains thus hired, 50 are usually to be found at the neighbouring fairs and races. As the ginger-beer men carry lime-juice, &c., with them, only water is required to complete the “brewing of the beer” and so conveyance is not difficult.
There is another kind of “ginger-beer,” or rather of “small acid tiff,” which is sold out of barrels at street-stalls at 1/2_d._ the glass. To make 2-1/2 gallons of this, there is used 1/2lb. tartaric, or other acid, 1_s._; 1/2 lb. alkali (soda), 10_d._; 1/2 lb. lump sugar, bruised fine, 4_d._; and yeast 1_d._ Of these “barrel-men” there are now about one hundred.
Another class of street-sellers obtain their stock of ginger-beer from the manufacturers. One of the largest manufacturers for the street-trade resides near Ratcliffe-highway, and another in the Commercial-road. The charge by the wholesale traders is 8_d._ the doz., while to a known man, or for ready money, 13 are given to the dozen. The beer, however, is often let out on credit--or in some cases security is given in the same way as for the fountains--and the empty bottles must be duly returned. It is not uncommon for two gross of beer to be let out in this way at a time. For the itinerant trade these are placed on a truck or barrow, fitted up with four shelves, on which are ranged the bottles. These barrows are hired in the same way as the costers’ barrows. Some sell their beer at stalls fitted up exclusively for the trade, a kind of tank being let into the centre of the board and filled with water, in which the glasses are rinsed or washed. Underneath the stall there is usually a reserve of the beer, and a keg containing water. Some of the best frequented stalls were in Whitechapel, Old-street-road, City-road, Tottenham-court-road, the New-cut, Elephant and Castle, the Commercial-road, Tower-hill, the Strand, and near Westminster-bridge.