The Tea Tavern

8/9/2019 The Tea Tavern

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The Tea Tavern

This booklet is printed for distribution to owners of roadside cafs

and Tea Taverns in the British Isles and is published by the HovisOrganization in association with the Tea Bureau

Because we have a professional interest in roadside cafs we learn

quite a lot about many hundreds of these places up and down the

country. They provide us with much food for thought and quite

often we pass the information gained in this way to people who

write asking for advice or assistance.

The diary which is presented in this booklet embodies so many of

our own ideas on the subject that we felt we should pass it on to

owners of roadside cafs all over the country. The story shows

how the present owner, Mr. Peter Macrae, took over in 1938 and

opened it in the spring of 1939. In September of that year the place

shut down like many others in the country and it was not re-

opened until Mr. Macrae returned from the Services in the spring

of 1946. We are given a very clear picture of his thoughts andmethods. We quote from the letter we received in answer to our

request for the story of The Tea Tavern.

He said:

'It is always fascinating to discover why and how other people

succeed in a task in which you've failed yourself. I thought it would

be interesting to find out, if I could, why other people have failed

in a Tea Tavern where, from my own experience, it was notdifficult to make it a success. By degrees I pieced together a

mental picture of the previous owner and these impressions figure

in parts of my diary which, in itself, is a brief record of my own

thoughts, plans and work. The whole thing is rather haphazard,

but I send it to you as it is and hope you can make sense of it. The

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relevant items I have marked for you to see. I also enclose some

original drawings of The Tea Tavern made by a friend of mine. No

doubt they will describe the place more clearly than my diary can

hope to do.'

Having read Mr. Macrae's extracts and seen the illustrations, wedecided to print them as they stand and pass them on to you. Mr.

Macrae's comments make good sense and we hope they will help

in some small way to bring English 'Tea-taverners' closer together

and make them realize the great work they are doing in adding

comfort and a sense of home and hospitality to the beauties of the

English countryside.

Extracts from the personal diary of Mr. Peter Macrae

1939

Early in 1939, Peter Macrae moved into the house which was to

become The Tea Tavern. With him he brought Peggy, his wife, and

a tremendous enthusiasm. Nearly everybody was optimistic during

that spring and summer of 1939, and Macrae was no exception. By

July, his diary shows, he was too deeply engrossed in the affairs ofThe Tea Tavern to worry very much about the international

situation . . .

July 13th, 1939I've located the Fullers at last. They've changed their address three

or four times since leaving The Tea Tavern in 1936. At present Bill

Fuller works as an employed hand in a market garden. When I

arrived at their cottage I didn't know how to explain my visit (Icouldn't say I wanted to know why they had failed to run The Tea

Tavern at a profit). Having told them where I came from, I

explained that we had found a large and interesting oriental idol,

which, I imagined, had been left by mistake. To my surprise Fuller

said that he had left it on purpose and recommended me to throw it

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away because it was quite certainly unlucky. After this

introduction it was quite easy to continue a conversation about The

Tea Tavern and I left, two hours later, feeling I'd learnt a great deal

about them. Fuller, his little red-headed wife and their five children

are to come and visit us one Sunday soon. They seem to be a veryhappy family and I like them.

July 14thI've been thinking over the things which Fuller and his wife and I

discussed yesterday. It seems we all have much the same sort of

problems in managing a tea-house. We can both explain in detail

how NOT to do it! But there's a very real difference between Fuller

and myself . . . a difference in outlook which, perhaps, is due moreto the attitude of our wives rather than ourselves. Mrs. Fuller is

quite sure now that you can't make money out of the business

unless you have a great deal of money to start with, whereas Peggy

has always been convinced that it can be done with small capital. I

think so too. The result is that Peggy and I are full of hope and

enthusiasm (anyway, to start with). Mrs. Fuller, however,

confessed she was never very hopeful from the beginning. So far

our confidence seems to be justified and, after five months ofpreparation and ten weeks of actual working, the success of a tea

tavern seems to us to depend on the following things:

1. How attractive the Tavern looks from the outside -- this

includes making it look easy to park cars and bicycles.

(Incidentally, neverhave an empty car park.)

2. How well you display your notices outside -- giving full

details of the extent of services you offer.

3. How efficient you are as hosts.

4. How quickly and cheerfully you serve people.

5. How good and interesting you make the range of food and

drink.

6. How much opportunity there is for people to be comfortable

in the place. This rule includes a discreetly signposted lavatory.

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7. How much you make people feel you'd be glad to see them

back.

I wonder if we shall think the same rules are right in a year's time ?

July 18thI met Fuller by chance in the village this morning. He seemed very

interested in progress at The Tea Tavern and promised to come

over on Sunday week -- bringing his wife and family. This means I

must get more fully acquainted with the facts and figures about

work in the kitchen so that I can explain how we're organizing

baking and supplies and tea-making at the moment. Perhaps it

would be better to make a list of the difficulties we're up against

and try do decide on a clear course of action to overcome them. Imust talk to Peggy tomorrow and make out the list as soon as I

can.

July 19thWe must overhaul our working methods in the kitchen as well as

our supply arrangements. Peggy thinks our present system with the

local baker and grocer is unsatisfactory and, from the financial

angle, things aren't as good as they might be. We could make moreprofit if we didn't waste so much. On the whole the place looks

quite attractive now . . . from the outside . . . but we aren't

organized to deal with any volume of business if the place

becomes popular.

July 20thSomehow we didn't get down to the job of planning a better system

in the kitchen. We're beginning to get holiday couples in quiteregularly during the week and one family with three young

children came to tea for the second time. They thought the sand-pit

ideal for the children.

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July 21stA rainy day. We had our first talk about the kitchen snags. The

main point about supplies is a simple one. The shops are half a

mile away . . . deliveries are unreliable when we want buns or

scones in a hurry and the cakes they make locally aren't very good.They lookanythingbut home-made. The fact that we can get no

supplies on a Sunday makes it unworkable.

Peggy says she'll confine the things we give people for tea just to

Scots pancakes and scones . . . simple little jam tarts and home-

made cut cake. We cut out the idea of spice bread or sweet currant

bread . . . white bread and Hovis are ample for general needs.

This change in plan will make Peggy's work so much harder that I

shall have to make all the other kitchen work as easy as I can. I've

asked Mrs. Patton if she'll come and help tomorrow and Sunday,

and she has agreed. We shall discuss payment when she comes.

Meanwhile, of course, I now become kitchen-boy with a

vengeance.

July 23rdYesterday Mrs. P. was very helpful. Peggy was baking almost all

day and I did the tea-making and bread and butter. We had a fair

day for business. I think Mrs. P. likes us. She gets real pleasure

from looking after people and making them feel at home. She's that

rare type of country woman who keeps serene on the hottest

afternoon.

Today, being Sunday and a fine day, we expected a lot of work but

instead things were much the same as yesterday. Perhaps it's the

rumour of war which makes me feel so gloomy . . . as things are I

shouldn't be discontented. We paid Mrs. P. 1s. 6d. an hour from

2.30 p.m. till 7 p.m. The added expense in wages swallows a lot of

the profit on scones and cakes. But if we'd been buying these

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things from the local shops we'd have been another 6s. out of

pocket. I must be content, while business is small, to make people

satisfied enough to come back again and recommend us to others.

July 24thBecause I can always rely on Peggy to be as economical as

possible, I was surprised to hear her suggest another pair of hands

to help with the serving on Saturdays and Sundays when the

weather's fine. I must think about it but I don't like the prospect.

It's a matter I'd sooner postpone until we know how much we're

making on an average now we are doing the baking ourselves. If

it's really necessary to have extra help . . . then I think either of the

Pavey girls would be suitable. They're both neat, pleasant-mannered and cheerful, and they get on well with Mrs. P.

July 26thIf the Fullers come on Sunday I shall have lots of interesting

figures for them to see. Peggy has worked out the rates of

production on Scots pancakes and scones. Even though we've had

only one weekend's experience it's quite obvious that people like

the pancakes. Incidentally, they call them 'drop scones' in this partof the world. When they're freshly made and moist people eat them

either with butter or else with jam. Mrs. P. noticed this over the

week-end and told us about it with the air of a conspirator.

Note. The pancakes are made from sour milk, flour and eggs. One

hen's egg will make enough batter for twelve or thirteen pancakes .

. . but a seven-ounce goose egg will make thirty-six. Peggy

encourages me now to keep and rear Chinese geese. The two old

Chinese geese we've got have produced 106 eggs between them

since January. We used always to make pancakes on girdles at

home but Peggy has found they come out just as well in frying

pans. She reckons to make a hundred in an hour, using one pan on

the paraffin cooker and two other pans over primus stoves. She

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can't use all three burners on the cooker because two of them are

needed to heat the oven for scones. There's a snag about batter. It

has to be prepared several hours before it's used . . . so that it can

stand. If we make enough on Friday night for a hundred pancakes

then we can use what's left over for Sunday trade, but we ought tohave a refrigerator to keep it in. (I suppose I must find out how

much paraffin refrigerators cost.) One interesting point cropped up

in discussion this evening. The pancake batter we don't use can be

thinned down to make either Yorkshire pudding or else those large

pancakes people eat on Shrove Tuesdays.

July 27th

It seems we shall be able to make about seventy scones an hour ifthe rush of business ever needs it. If only we had something better

that the paraffin cooker and the smallish oven. We could use the

small kitchen range but it would be very wasteful on coal and

difficult to regulate for temperature. Peggy is against it because the

oven's too small to justify the misery of an open coal fire in the

middle of the summer.

I'm wondering if we can provide more room for tables and chairs.At present we've got one large and one small room set out with

tables. We've purposely not set them too closely together because

it puts people off to rub elbows with their neighbours. The only

rooms left on the ground floor are this room (the living room) and

the old stone-floored scullery. Could we convert one of the

bedrooms or would it be best to use the living room and transfer

our personal home to the scullery?

July 28thWe had twenty-five cyclists in today and, as result, we know just

how inefficient we are. They wanted single cups of tea. This

problem had always worried us but somehow we managed to side-

step it by giving them tea in pots and saying nothing. These

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cyclists, however, very definitely didn't want tea in pots. The way

we did it today was both wasteful and laborious. By the time the

last man had his 'cuppa' the whole bunch were getting very

restless. We must try keeping large kettles full of tea ready made.

That'll be my job so I may as well start tomorrow.

July 29thNot a bad day. The best Saturday we've had so far. At 4.30 p.m.

the two rooms were full and Mrs. P. proved to be anything but the

serene countrywoman I'd imagined. Peggy had to help out with

service and a lot of pancakes were burnt and the others were too

well done to be the moist bungey things they should be. It was silly

of me not to have arranged for Gladys Pavey to come today. Peggysaid nothing about it but her furious rushing about and her rather

forced cheerfulness made me far more ashamed than if she'd

complained.

Mrs. P. and Peggy both had an impression during the busy time

that there were all sorts of people putting their noses in the door

and then going away. I had advised against the garden tables

because the day was overcast altho' it didn't rain, and I still think Iwas right, but my decision was unpopular when we had the daily

post mortem. I argued that empty tables set for tea do not look

inviting when they're all unoccupied. It gives an unsuccessful look.

If we had enough staff to persuade the late comers to take a table

outside . . . then it could be laid immediately it was wanted . . . but

when we're busy no one has the time to do this. The lesson of

today was learnt, however; we must have one or even both of the

Pavey girls for just two hours in the week-end afternoons.

July 30thToday was just as hectic for everyone in spite of the fact that

Gladys Pavey came. The Fullers arrived as they'd promised and, of

course, just at the busiest time of the day. I had to leave the kitchen

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and walk round with Bill . . . but Mrs. Fuller took off her Sunday

hat and did my work in spite of those rather half-hearted protests

which everyone puts up on these occasions. From now on she'll be

easily our most popular visitor.

Bill and I spent about an hour walking about and talking while the

children were content to watch the ducks or play in the sand pit.

When we went to look at the place from the road he went through

the motions of a man deeply impressed altho' I realized he'd seen it

all before when he first arrived. He pushed his cap on to the back

of his head and said: 'You must have spent a mint of money'.

The remark was a clever mixture of flattery, disapproval and aquestion mark. I had the impression he thought I'd been cheating

by paying so much attention to mere externals. Instead of resenting

this I found myself suddenly wondering if it were true. After all, it

might have been better if I'd spent more of my time thinking about

a well-organized kitchen. A month's carpentering there would have

made our lives easier and I could have left the ornamental pond till

next year. Of course, there isn't really an answer to theoretical

questions. I shall never know just how much the pond persuadespeople to come in.

Fuller was politely interested in the kitchen statistics . . . but I think

that he was heartily glad to be working in a market garden. We

discovered that my experiment at making tea and keeping it hot in

a kettle was a failure. Bill Fuller and I tried to drink some when it

had been made about three hours. It was the worst tea I've ever

tasted. Bill is . . . or was . . . quite sure that this business is the

purest gamble but I showed him the till just before he left at 6.30.

I think I detected just a flicker of doubt and even, possibly, envy

when he saw the day's takings. If I'd been a little more honest I'd

have told him it was the best day we'd had.

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July 31stPeggy has a bee in her bonnet now about tea. I wonder if she drank

some of my kettle brew? She's quite determined that people in this

country are so conscious of the difference between a good and a

bad cup of tea that they'll avoid a place where the quality of the teaisn't up to scratch. She's asked me to go up to London and find the

professional opinion about these things. She also wants me to buy

in some higher grade Indian and Ceylon teas. At the same time, I

must find out how to organize the single-cup-of-tea-at-a-moment's-

notice. If I have to spend much more money I shall need to talk

kindly to my bank manager about an overdraft

It will be nice to hear Mrs. P. asking the customers whether theywant . . . 'Indian or Ceylon'. It sounds quite impressive.

August 2ndWe'd agreed that the stone-flagged scullery would make a good

darts room for the locals and cyclists. The alterations must wait,

however -- we can't afford the furniture yet. Anyway, while there's

so much rumour of war, I shall go cannily with expenditure. Peggy

has agreed to wait for kitchen improvements until things look morecheerful. Of course, war's quite unthinkable but I've joined the

local Territorials just in case.

I think I'll make a short inventory of the improvements we've made

here. It should be useful if I have to talk to the bank. Tom Stocker

called in on his way back from market today and, after talking

about the weather and the crops and prices generally, he asked me

how much I'd spent on The Tea Tavern since I'd arrived. He found

it difficult to believe it was only about 120. I'll do the inventory

tomorrow.

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August 4thThursday is not usually a busy day but we had quite a large party

in at 7 p.m. They thought we were a sort of road-house and asked

for bacon and eggs. Cooking for eight people in this way was quite

a new experience. In the end they had bacon and sausages, eggsand fried bread. They were certainly hungry . . . and so am I.

There's nothing left for our own supper. We're beginning to

wonder if it was such a good idea to put that sign outside. We

wanted to keep the wording short while giving the idea of 'Big

Business'. In the end, we agreed to say 'Light meals provided at

any time between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.' Of course, today's case may

not occur again for a month . . . but, even if it does, it's quite

profitable in spite of the inconvenience.

August 5thI have made out a description of work completed since 4

September 1938:

1. The first and the biggest job was re-thatching the roof which

we started two weeks after our arrival. It was done by one of the

local schoolmasters who used the roof as an object lesson to teachhis boys the principles of thatching. The children did most of the

work in the end. I paid old Jimmie Reeves for his professional

advice but he refused to take more than a pound or two because his

contribution was largely limited to demonstration. He got me my

thatching straw far cheaper than I could have got it myself. We

were lucky to have fine weather.

2. While they were doing the roof I started to dig a pond and

make a rock garden. It was hard work and occupied all my spare

moments for over a month. The pond was a failure because it

wouldn't hold water for more than a few days. I had to get the local

builder to fix it in the end and so it cost more than I'd reckoned for.

3. In November I grubbed out the hedge which formed part of

our boundary along the lane and replanted it some twenty feet

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nearer the cottage. This made a rectangle open to the road. I found

later that I'd transplanted the hedge at the wrong time of the year

but, by some quirk of fate, it didn't die. Having made enough room

for a sort of car park, I got three young fellows from the village to

help me one week-end and we covered the car park and the pathleading to the cottage with medium grade gravel. I ordered one

lorry load and we had to make this do. The gravel and the men's

labour cost 15. I had a sign painted -- 'FREE CAR PARK' -- and

put it up by the road so that it could be read from both directions.

4. The local blacksmith made me some rather decorative

wrought-iron gates for the entrance to the garden. These and the

bricks and second-hand stone balls cost 11 10s. 0d.

5. One of the alterations which has since become so popularwas the sand-pit. Peggy and I both saw the possibilities of an out-

door play-room which would be under cover. I bought a large

second-hand garden shed and knocked out the whole of one side.

This made a good summer-house with a centre-supporting post

added. Then I painted the wooden boarding both inside and out

with alternate bright red and white stripes. It looked rather

Continental. By the time I'd put a layer of sand about a foot deep,

both inside the shed and all round the open front, we'd got a verypleasant spot for the children to play in. The old shed cost four

pounds and the sand . . . fine white stuff . . . was fifty shillings a

load.

6. When we arrived there were five big garden tables which had

grown grey and lichenous with exposure. I was able to buy six

derelict garden brollies and Peggy and I re-covered them with sail

cloth I bought in a ship-yard. We dyed some cloth red and some

yellow and made up alternate sections in these colours. On the

whole, they look quite impressive still and well worth the threeweeks we took stiching away with sail-cloth needles. It saved us

about 20.

7. I asked Jack Horniblow to limewash the whole of the outside

walls of the cottage. This was quite a simple and inexpensive job

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really but the difference it made to the place as a whole was most

striking.

Peggy met the local estate agent today and he told her we'd get

300 more for the place than we'd paid for it. That certainly made

the 120 capital outlay seem solidly worth while.

August 6thMrs. Fuller came over to see Peggy again today. I've an idea she

may yet lead Bill into starting another caf.

August 17thI have been thinking of making the scullery into a sort of Tea-Bar

room for the locals and cyclists, with a dart board for the locals andmaybe table-tennis for the youngsters. Then a man could take his

son of fourteen out for a drink of tea and a game of darts. It would

be a good thing to put large-scale maps of the area on the walls for

the benefit of touring clubs and hikers. It's an idea worth thinking

about for next year.

Entries after August 17th were very brief . . . Macrae's time grew

more occupied with Territorial Army activities . . . eventually, on3rd September, 1939, he wrote . . .

'Well -- it's come. We're at war. Thank heavens for a capable wife.

Peggy can look after things here well enough and with poultry and

the two goats and a decent garden, she shouldn't lack for eggs,

milk and vegetables. I've arranged for Betty and wee David to

come here from Scotland as soon as Donald goes overseas. That'll

save their rent and give Peggy some companionship. I'm away next

week -- posted to a Training Battalion'

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1946

At the beginning of 1946, Peter Macrae returned to The Tea

Tavern, still enthusiastic, still optimistic. Realizing that mistakeswould be more costly in 1946 than those he made before the war,

he laid his plans with care. In March he began serious work . . .

The Diary started again on February 14th, 1946, but earlier

entries were mainly personal. First reference to The Tea Tavern

was made in the middle of March.

March 18th, 1946I've got two months before the spring season starts. It should be

enough to get things in good shape. We're going to have a little

conference tomorrow to add up generally and decide what is to be

done about The Tea Tavern. I thought we'd written out a list of

plans in 1939 but my papers have been stuffed away in the oddest

corners. I can't find a thing.

March 24thPeggy seems so certain that Betty will fit in here that I hardly dareto be pessimistic about it. Donald's been dead now since May,

1944, and yet she shows no sign of interest in anything but this Tea

Tavern of ours. Perhaps the work and the people will cheer her up.

Now that we've decided what to do, I shall make a point, this time,

of recording things in detail in the diary.

March 25thPeggy suggested today that we should contact the Tea Bureau, who

launched many quick-service tea innovations during the war. She

had met some of their people while serving in canteens.

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March 30thThings to be bought as soon as possible:

1. A good goat in full milk. British Sanaan recommended.

2. Six hens. For hatching out our own chicks later. Onecockerel.

3. Six pullets.

4. One drake and five ducks (Khaki Campbells).

5. Now that it's so late in the year I shall have to buy a complete

set of adult Chinese geese.

April 1st

Things to be investigated and discussed later:

1. Has Ebenezer still got my bee-hives? Apply for sugar ration

for the bees.

2. Bring our soft fruit plantings up to strength. See Mr. Norris

and the Corbetts for cuttings.

3. Order tomato plants for May.

4. Get permit or licence for running The Tea Tavern.

5. Take out an Insurance against any claims which customersmay make against me . . . if they fall down stairs or eat something

which upsets them. (Note. I believe Hovis put me on to this thing

before the war, as part of their service. Perhaps they'll arrange it

again.)

April 7thThere are lots of things which need painting, creosoting and

distempering. It might be advisable to send out the rumour thatthere's plenty of spare-time work to be done up here.

April 9thI must think out some way to get the local children to use this place

as a club. We might show 16 mm. films for them on Saturdays. I

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must see the Vicar and the highlights of the Rovers and Scouts and

Girl Guides and suggest they use the place when they want to,

anyway up till May and afterwards in the week-days if they want

to. There's also the Young Farmers' Club. I could learn a lot myself

if they had some lectures up here.

April 14thWe're very short of pleasant ornaments, wall plates, old prints and

things for the interior. I saw old Smith, the antique man, and

suggested he sent things up here on a business basis. He could put

little well-mannered notices in the rooms saying these things were

for sale and are exhibited by O. P. Smith of the High Street. I think

he'll agree but he asked time to think it over. If it's worth his whilefor the smaller things he might put a few pleasant pieces of heavy

furniture here too -- on the same basis -- but furniture's so

expensive and so much in demand no doubt he'll not want to yet.

May 1stI ought to make inquiries again about the pubs and cafs and places

of interest within twenty miles of this place. I want to make the old

scullery into a map room and cover the walls with the largestpossible big-scale maps of the district. It should be useful to hikers

and cyclists and motorists if I can give them details of all the

public footpaths across farmland and plan the best walks and rides

between this place and other 'places of refreshment'. I shall have to

give them an idea of the times of the journeys involved, of

course . . . and the walkers will need to know where all the bus

stops are on the routes back to the 'metropolis'. Cyclists will need

to know distances to railway stations . . . late train times and the

cost of bicycle tickets on the railway.

What a ghastly amount of work that's going to entail. Surely

someone round here knows all this already. Would the geography

master at the school do it for me as part of the children's local

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knowledge lessons? If they did the map-mounting up here they'd

feel the place was something of their own and the local Scouts

could help by trying out all the best walks and timing them for us.

They could also pin-point the high spots which give the best views.

May 5thWent to London today. It was certainly worth it. Saw the Tea

Bureau which now has an exhibition and show-rooms in Lower

Regent Street.

Came back with screeds of informations and lists of gadgets which

aren't as expensive as I'd expected. The Planning Department of

the Tea Bureau will let me have suggested model lay-outs, both forthe kitchen, the tea rooms and the Tea Bar, which we plan to have

in service next year. Their Equipment Department advised me on

the best type of equipment for every kind of service we have to

deal with. While I was talking with them I realized how important

it is to keep strict control over all the material we use for tea

making. There's no doubt about it that tea served either by pot or

by the cup is a wonderfully consistent money-maker. I hadn't

realized until I saw the figures how very quickly profits can beeaten up through extravagance either with tea, milk or sugar.

Peggy was dead right about insisting on quality and from now on

I'm going to insist on economy . . . andstricteconomy.

There's not much time left now before we open, so decisions must

be quick.

I liked the automatic measurer -- it costs only a few shillings.

May 6thI started a list of DO's and DON'Ts for Betty. Today I gave her the

facts on tea-making which, under Peggy's strict ruling, is to be the

central point of our efficiency as a Tea Tavern.

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Tea Making:

1. The first rule we proved for ourselves before the war. We

bought some trial high quality blends and they do make far better

tea and give more cups or more pots to the pound. We shall do thesame again and from our allowance buy Indian and Ceylon teas

and give customers the choice, just as we ask if people want Hovis

or white or both.

2. Use freshly drawn and freshly boiled water. This is difficult

for us but it's not impossible if you turn down the heat before the

water actually boils and then turn it on full when you're going to

need it. Over-boiled or merely hot water makes flat and insipid

tea . . . so catch your water when it's just started to bubble fiercely.3. Warm the pot . . . that's because boiling water poured into a

cold pot lowers its heat and doesn't infuse tea properly.

4. Apparently it's so important that water actually reaches the

tea-leaves boiling that you should take the tea-pot to the kettle and

put the kettle sprout as close into the tea-pot as you can before

pouring. This seems a bit much but Peggy swears it makes a

difference so you'd better do it . . . or else.

5. Allow four or five minutes for tea to infuse. We're lucky herebecause our water's really very soft and that makes infusion easier.

We make tea straight away and take it as soon as we can to the

tables but ask people to leave tea-pots to brew just a couple of

minutes before they drink it. This should impress people with our

professional keenness!

May 11thThe Tea Bureau offer a free service which we might be able to use

one day . . . they will give us a design for the most economical and

workable arrangement of the interior of this place. (As we are

rather short of space in spite of all our amateurish efforts to arrange

things perfectly . . . it's obviously necessary to give the

professionals a chance to do their bit.) I shall write and ask them to

do this for us.

18


19/22

August 24thThe weather's been bad this summer but, in spite of it, people come

out in their cars and nothing seems to deter the cyclists. I begin to

wonder if bad weather doesn't drive people into our place. When

the weather's like this we find that once people are in they tend tostay. They play darts in the newly organized map and darts room,

which was the old scullery, and stare out of the window

occasionally and say . . . 'It'll clear up in a few minutes' . . . and

they order another tea and a lemon curd pancake and go on reading

or playing darts or listening to the radio. A proper Tea-Bar would

be a great success.

August 28thSo far, our profits this season have balanced the money I've spent

on poultry and livestock, hedging and ditching, painting and

decorating and, wonder of wonders, the new equipment for the

kitchen may be squared off before the season's over. There's

enough left over, to date, to pay this month's bills and leave us just

enough to live on very quietly if I earn a pound or two a week

writing or working at the market garden with Bill Fuller and his

mushrooms. When I think that we started this season with hardlyanything we needed. Our bills will never again be half as heavy as

they were this year.

September 1stThe weather's been impossible . . . and it just goes on raining . . . if

this is the end of our season then I shall have to work hard this

winter to save some money. There's a lot left to do to make The

Tea Tavern perfect and it's work which must be done this winter.

I've had a talk with the bank and they're prepared to give me an

overdraft to cover the cost of alterations and additions. I think the

banks are a bit easier about lending money these days.

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20/22

We had only about twenty pounds of honey from our hives. The

worst year I've ever known.

September 18thWe had some tea today which tasted of soap. Peggy was entirely ata loss to explain it but later this evening discovered the packet had

been stored next to her washing soap reserve. I must keep an eye

open for a good box to keep our tea stores in.

September 24thThe 'Teas with Hovis' Advisory representative called today with a

baking chart we'd asked for. He says there is little hope of getting

any more of their nice decorated crockery until the 'export only'situation eases. That applies to table linen and things too.

October 18thThe Tea Bar is now installed and looks fine. It means we'll have to

employ someone to serve there next year if business warrants it.

Three of the workmen from the local brick-yard called in for their

usual packet of Woodbines this evening and stayed for a game of

darts. To my delight and surprise they ordered tea and a pancakeeach and stayed on at the darts and the tea until nearly 6.30 p.m.

The locals are beginning to adopt this room and often come in for

darts or to borrow a book or play table-tennis.

December 1st (Sunday)We've just finished erecting a porch over the front door and tea

room.

The Tea-Bar room is still doing business every day. Yesterday I

bought a new dart board for the match we're having next week.

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1947

February 18th, 1947

The kitchen's now looking as much like the Tea Bureau designs asI can manage. My carpenting could be a lot better but Peggy seems

pleased.

Now that all the major alterations have been made I can take stock

of expenditure. We're well equipped and we know something

about our trade . . . but my gratuity's gone and I've got an overdraft

. . . all in a year. If we have a wet summer again things won't be

easy, but if we have one fine season then we should be set to make

clear profits for a good many years.

February 19thThe children are doing well in this really severe weather. They

have goat's milk and a goose egg each every day so a country life

has its advantages.

May 5thWe opened The Tea Tavern officially today . . . being my birthday.

I discovered today that improvements never cease. We could

replace our old kitchen range with an Esse or an Aga Cooker and

maybe dispense with the old oil cooker and oven. If we have a

good season I'll get one of these largish anthracite cookers on the

'never-never'.

August 18th

Even if we don't take another penny this year we'll be out of debt.Kitchen and service -- equipment -- Tea Bar -- new porch --

furniture and everything paid for and enough left over for that

anthracite cooker Peggy wants so much. In addition I've been able

to afford a fair salary for Betty. Dolly Graham, who serves at the

Tea Bar in the evenings has been getting 2s. 3d. an hour. To cap it

21


22/22

all we've got a bumper apple crop and Peggy has bottled over 150

lbs. of soft fruits. The four hives left gave over 25 lbs. of honey

each which isn't bad and one of the goats had twin nanny kids. I

think we're very lucky to own The Tea Tavern.

------------------------------------------------------------------------One Shilling Net. Printed in England at the Curwen Press,

Plaistow, E.13.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Translated into html by Kai Birger Nielsen.

I haven't been able to contact either The Hovis Organization, nor

The Tea Bureau to obtain permission to publish this. Please contact

me if you know the present copyright holder.

------------------------------------------------------------------------February 28, 2001. Birger Nielsen,[email protected], drinker

oftea.

This document: http://hjem.get2net.dk/bnielsen/teattt.html

The Tea Tavern

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