1-191-575 - © London Museum/Heritage-Images

'A Coffee Stall' 1881. Street scene; a baker's boy with the City of London badge sits in a wheelbarrow blowing his coffee in a saucer. The ragged girl with a broom is probably a crossing sweeper. Next to her a woman carries a basket on her head possibly containing fresh herbs for sale. On the right is a more well-to-do woman with a hatbox. The proprietress washes the cups; the bucket is visible under the table. Coffee stalls were a common feature in Victorian London though there were almost unknown in the Regency period. Their appearance was facilitated by the reduction of tax on coffee in 1824 and the rapid increase in the use of cheap adulteration (notably chicory).