In-depth interpretation | the rise and fall of cafes in the UK

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In 1876, after 20 years of migratory life between Europe and the United States, the American novelist Henry James settled in London and began to write English time, recording his sojourn experience and commenting on the scenery and human feelings of the island he was fascinated by. When writing about the impression of London, he was surprised to find that there was no coffee shop in this cosmopolitan city that was common in Paris and on the streets of European cities for intellectuals and artists to rest and socialize. In fact, visitors to Britain today will notice that although there are places to drink coffee, the market is basically monopolized by Italian cafes (such as Costa) or American cafes (such as Starbucks), all of which are fashionable products of the 20th century with foreign roots. Brands that reflect British local tastes and historical and cultural customs are hard to find.

However, more than 200 years ago, Britain had a history dominated by coffee and cafe culture, witnessing the most spectacular social scene of cafes in the world.

Combing the English literature, the essayist Francis Bacon's History of Life and death (1623) provides an earlier account of coffee: "the Turks use an herb called coffee, which is dried, ground into powder and washed with hot water. They are convinced that coffee can greatly enhance their courage and intelligence. " The tone of overseas anecdotes spread here, indicating that Bacon has only heard of it and has not had coffee yet. In 1755, Dr. Johnson's English dictionary was compiled, with a series of English words such as coffee, cafes and coffee waiters on the list, which proves that coffee drinking has been integrated into the life of British citizens, and cafes have become a common leisure place in London. By the 19th century, cafes declined so rapidly that Macaulay's History of England published in 1848 must remind readers of the importance of coffee shop culture to the era he described (1685-1702): "Cafe must not be casually mentioned." In fact, at that time, it was reasonable for cafes to be called an extremely important political institution. It is the main channel of self-expression of urban public opinion. "

The rise and fall of British cafe culture is a history worth sinking, because drinking coffee and making cafes have been much more than just a pastime for more than a hundred years. British celebrities and literati are all regular customers of cafes, and the cafe culture they participated in had a far-reaching impact on British political life, literary creation and social style at that time and later. In addition, Macaulay's assessment of the history of British cafes is not alone. In his book the structural Transformation of the Public Domain, the contemporary German philosopher Habermas regards the cafe as "a model for the development of the British public domain", which echoes with Macaulay and is also worthy of our taste.

Coffee comes to England

There is a great deal of controversy among cultural historians about when and where Britain's first cafe opened. American scholar William H. Ukes and Canadian scholar Brian Cowan believe in the memories of Anthony Wood, an expert on 17th-century antiquities, arguing that British cafe culture originated in Oxford in 1650. They believe that coffee, as a grotesque drink popular in the Arab world in the 16th century, was first experienced and favored by well-informed British travelers and multinational businessmen. coffee consumption has a minority and obscure high-end color at the beginning of its landing in the UK. In Oxford, caf é s are mainly patronized by university teachers, students and the intellectual elite of the Royal Society. Like-minded university talents are here to gather, read and discuss academics freely, forming a new space for expanding scientific knowledge. The space is different from the disciplined and rigid university classroom and complements it, plus a penny for a cup of coffee to spend the whole day, so the Oxford cafe gets the nickname "Penny University". Kovan believes that in the early days when the cafe was introduced into London from Oxford, it still had an air of coterie and elegant culture; it was only after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 that the cafe was citizenized and commercialized and transformed into an open public place.

However, the British scholar Mark Mann Ellis disagrees with the above view. According to his research, Britain's first coffee shop was born in London in 1652 and is located near Cornhill, the commercial center of London. from the very beginning, business has aimed at the prospect of the coffee market: coffee has the effect of refreshing and relieving tiredness. merchants of the nearby Royal Exchange, ship captains, stationery stores and bookstore owners, notaries and lawyers are all likely to become coffee lovers. When they devote themselves to coffee consumption, the public social atmosphere is formed, and the coffee shop naturally becomes a place for people to talk, chat and trade.

It is difficult to distinguish between the two theories of the origin of cafes, the theory of minority consumption and the theory of mass consumption. However, there is no doubt that coffee entered the British market in the 1750s. It quickly took root, indicating that there is demand in the market and that coffee comes at the right time. In 1649, King Charles I of England was executed, and England entered the Puritan period. The Puritan authorities regarded drinking and entertainment as evils of depravity and destruction, and strictly controlled them. Businessmen returning from overseas know that coffee is a healthy drink that does not get people drunk, and that since it is suitable for prohibition in Islamic society, it is also suitable for Puritan Christians.

Of course, selling coffee is a new business, which inevitably conflicts with the old local environment and customs, such as the competition for interests between cafes and traditional pubs and breweries, and cafes arouse Christians' worries about the invasion of Islamic civilization. in addition, because the cafe was an exclusive place for men at that time, the sales strategy of free refills for one penny attracted countless men to evade family responsibilities. It also stirred up anger among housewives in London, waging a struggle against coffee and defending family life. However, the consumer revolution brought about by cafes is unstoppable. Also a place of entertainment, cafes differ from traditional pubs in that coffee drinkers are always clear-headed and cheerful, so in order to attract tourists, caf é s gradually incorporate a variety of customer service and recreational activities: negotiations, newspaper reading, political debates, exhibitions of rare collections, auctions of books and works of art, etc. Business, politics, art, street talk, all levels of society and all aspects of social life gathered in the cafe, and finally made it a very influential public institution.

From Rota Club to Literary Forum

As a public institution, the cafe was shaped by the turbulent political situation in Britain after Cromwell's death in 1658. After Cromwell's death, his son Richard Cromwell could not get the support of the army and could not continue the military dictatorship of the patriarch and was forced to abdicate in 1659. As a result, the remnants of the Civil War purge and the army began to fight for power, and the British republic established in 1649 was shaken. At this time, there are two ways in front of Britain: melee or the restoration of monarchy. At the turning point of the national movement, political critics and those who care about state affairs all regard the cafe as an ideological home, where they preach their ideas, discuss current affairs, and think about the future. Among them, the most noteworthy are the Republican theorist James Harrington and his Rota Club.

James Harrington was once a personal courtier of Charles I, but his sympathy and loyalty to the king never affected his Republican political tendencies. In 1656, he published the political fable novel Oceania, which linked the classic system of government with the distribution of national land to explain the history of the British Civil War and the premise of the republic. and on this basis, he puts forward an ideal theory of Republican government. In order to promote his political ideas, Harrington and his followers founded the Rotta Club at the Miles Cafe in 1659. He summarized the views of Oceania and met with club members every night in a cafe to discuss an issue or clause. The habit lasted until March 1660, and the overall situation of the restoration of the monarchy was decided.

The Rota Club strictly follows specific norms of speech, form of debate and way of voting to discuss issues, which establishes a communication model for cafes characterized by elegance, equality and inclusiveness. Harrington's Republican ideal was dashed when Charles II came to power and he was arrested and imprisoned. However, the coffee shop debate model he pioneered has a long influence. Over the next few hundred years, the rules of debate derived from this model have been seen to play a role in the British public political space. The reform of the British parliamentary system in the 19th century and the expansion of the scope of voting rights can be said to be based on this culture of political debate.

During the restoration of the Stuart dynasty, the political discussion on the issue of the Republic was classified as a crime against the monarch, but news consumption and political discussion did not disappear from the cafe. On the contrary, it became a collection and distribution center for all kinds of intrigue and gossip. In order to control the spread of satire, slander, political disagreement and rebellious ideas, Charles II once considered banning cafes and was persuaded by courtiers to cancel the motion. However, the change in the political atmosphere eventually had an impact, and the cultural theme of the cafe gradually shifted to the direction of literary research, and literati who cared about the world formed a literary circle in the cafe. It is their duty to comment on the state of the world, advocate morality and the new style of literature and art.

The first to rise to fame was the talent circle of will Cafe, which was formed in the 1660s. The table at will Cafe is always covered with unpublished manuscripts and published articles and poems, and Dryden, a famous playwright, acts as a judge in literary discussions. The discussion and arbitration in the cafe established the literary reputation of many playwrights and poets at that time.

In 1712, Joseph Addison opened the Patton Cafe. He and Richardson Steele took advantage of the influence of the gossip newspaper and the bystander to gather another writer circle here to build another "literary legislative council" to discuss the value and taste of literature.

The last glory of cafe literature belongs to the Bedford Cafe, which opened in 1751. As the cafe is close to the theatre, drama reviews have become the hottest topic here. The artistic creators and critics with the new generation of novelist Henry Fielding, the painter William Hogarth and the playwright Goldsmith as the core incarnate into the British "drama thermometer", which greatly promotes the social criticism function of literary criticism.

The demise of cafe culture

British cafes showed signs of decline in the 1880s and were on the verge of extinction in the early 19th century.

Historians have put forward a variety of inferences about the decline of cafe culture. The first reason is the British Industrial Revolution, which began in the 1860s. The industrial revolution promoted the accumulation of social wealth and the differentiation between the rich and the poor, prompting the mixed spirit of egalitarianism in cafes to give way to a new type of social stratification and isolation: politicians and cultural elites who had the right to speak were gradually hidden in closed clubs with a membership system, and the working masses returned to the shabby and noisy bars with indifference to reality. In addition, the development of the postal industry has enabled newspapers and news and current events to enter every household, and people no longer need to go to the public space to ask for news. With the standardization of the service industry and the introduction of business negotiations into dedicated offices that pay more attention to customer privacy, the business function of cafes fades.

In addition, thanks to the colonization and trade development of the British East India Company in the 18th century, the import of oriental tea, which was originally extravagant and expensive, increased rapidly. Drinking coffee at home requires a variety of aids, the procedures are cumbersome, but it is very simple to make tea, and a pot of tea is suitable for many people to enjoy at the same time, so the afternoon tea custom based on the family has quietly sprung up and become the mainstream fashion in the 19th century where family values are paramount.

British cafes have disappeared in the dust of history. However, we have to admit that it is precisely because it was born in a short period with revolutionary spirit and brought people together in a common space that it inspired new ideas, new technologies and new discoveries, and gave birth to scientific leaps and knowledge innovations in later generations. The spirit of attaching equal importance to freedom and order embodied in modern British political life and the passion of English literature for caring for reality can be seen everywhere in this radical era which has stepped out of the furthest class separation. The "social alchemy" lit by the cafe will always be engraved in the history of the modernization of British society.