The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-17

cates of temperance. at any rate, might have been expected to celebrate their ju- bilee since statistics prove pretty posi- lively that the extraordinary growth of the business which the Aerated Bread company practically invented has been accompanied by corresponding shrink age of the profits of the public houses, ,' or saloons of the metropolis. Meanwhile a score or more big rival companies have sprung up to contest the "A B. c's" su- premacy. and as result probably no city in the world can boast of so many eating houses of the cheaper variety. Probably the Lyons depots. which have been situated. as far as possible, next door to the A. B. e. shops, have proved the most Formidable rivals of the latter, being smarter and perhaps better man aged, and besides these there are the es- tablishments of the British Tea Table Company" which is known to the public as the sB. T. T." the Slater restaurants, the so-called Cabins" the cheap res taurants of Pearee and Plenty and Lock- harts, the Express Dairy Company's shops, and hosts of others. None of them strike one as equal to a similar class of places in the United States They are more obviously cheap TablecIoths are unknown in the great majority of them; napkins can be obtained, after a struggle but you are charged cents extra for the use Of one. There is no water of any description on the tables, ice water being quite out of the question. Bread Is 2 cents, butter more. The service, so far as swiftness is concerned, is far below the American standard. But the tea Is be- yond reproach.
 Sold Great at First
 When the first Aerated Bread shop opened in 1862, it actually was for the sale or bread and nothing else. The "aeratedr variety of the staff of life seems to have been frost with the British public, how ever, so the company went boldly into the tea business, which was an inspira- ton. At this time. though today it seems incredible, a cup of tea was practically unobtainable in the metropolis. There was duty on tea amounting to nearly 50 cents a pound. Public houses" sup piled the cup that cheers grudingly, being concerned chiefly with the cup that also inebriates. and in the old coffee houses" with their peHF like seats, a demand for ''tea" brought an unspeakable and all most undrinkable decoction served in the thickest of cups.
 Luck was with the Aerated Bread Con- pany from the moment 1t took up the tea business. Gladstone was then chancellor of the excheqaer, and, soon after the "A. B. C." came into existence he reduced the tea-duty from shillings and two pence to 1 shilling. The public soon dis covered the new shops and they boomed Parnell, Labouchere, the late Archbishop of Canterbury, pr. Temple, and the late Marquis of Salisbury were among their customers, who also are said to have included members of the royal family
 Formed Tea Habit
 The Aerated Bread company. in fact, practically taught Londoners to drink tea, and accordingly has much to an- swer for, the "tea habit'' here being one of the wonders of the metropolis. The afternoon cup of tea. especially, has be- come a fetish. Omnibuses stop running while the conductor and driver imbibe their cups of tea, lifts pause between floors while the lift man has his tea; even office boys sneak out between and to refresh themselves with tea, generally at an "A. B. e. shop. The Corner House. of Lyons. Limited, in Coventry street. on Saturday afternoon, with three i'm mense floors crammed with tea-drinkers, and a couple of hundred more would-be ones waiting to get in is a sight to make an American gasp with amazement.
 Many of the details given above were supplied by the general manager of the Aerated Bread company. who declined to reveal the exact number of cups of tea supplied by the company in a year. but said that 1t represented many millions" Giving evidence in a legal case recently. the same official admitted that the profit on cup of tea represents over POO per cent, including the cost of service statement that becomes even more strik- ing when you consider that the price of a cup of tea in an "A. B. C." shop is i cents, while pot of tea, from which two, if not three, cups. usually can be ob- tained. is supplied for cents.