Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
300 years. The Twinings shop is narrow, but explore its depths—there's a tea-tasting room
in the back (help yourself to a sample of whichever tea you like, whether bagged or loose).
In the 1700s, London was in the grip of a coffee craze, and “coffee houses” were
everywhere. These were rather seedy places, where “gentlemen” went for coffee, tobacco,
and female companionship. Tea offered a refreshing change of pace, and the late-in-
the-day “cuppa” (as well as “afternoon tea”) soon became a national institution. These
days—as you'll see on this walk—coffee has made a comeback in London in the form of
modern Starbucks-style coffee shops.
Pass a Thai restaurant at #229, which used to be a pub called The Wig and Pen. There's
a small plaque on the front of the wood and stained-glass facade that commemorates the
old pub—the only building on the Strand to survive the Great Fire of 1666. Up ahead, in
the middle of the street, is a small statue of a winged creature.
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