OLDEST - Twinings Shop - Strand, London, UK
N 51° 30.798 W 000° 06.771
30U E 700327 N 5710860
In depicted house, located at London's Strand, You can find amazing Twinings' shop and museum of tea. It holds several interesting records: OLDEST commercial logo worldwide, OLDEST shop in Westminster, LONGEST London's standing rate-payer...
Waymark Code: WMQBHD
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/29/2016
Views: 6
In depicted house, located at London's Strand, You can find amazing Twinings' shop and museum of tea.
The Twinings shop today is the oldest in the City of Westminster while the company’s logo, which dates back to 1787, is the oldest commercial logo in continuous use worldwide. Twinnings shop is also London's longest-standing rate-payer, having occupied the same premises on the Strand since 1706.
The Twinings Tea Shop and Museum boasts a large selection of tea with many flavours not found in regular supermarkets. There are teas for everyday drinking and flavoured loose teas if you’re planning a proper tea party. In the back of the shop You will find the most interesting part of local small "Twinings kingdom" - a small museum room charting the history of the Twinings family, along with some examples of tea caddies and more unusual items from the world of tea...
History of TWININGS
Twining, a tea merchant from Painswick, Gloucestershire in England, started selling tea from what had been a coffee house – Tom’s Coffee House – in an effort to tap into tea’s growing popularity. It had apparently been introduced to England by Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese wife of King Charles II, soon after the Restoration. Amid resistance from other coffee house owners and despite high taxes on tea, Twining’s venture succeeded, attracting a wealthy clientele which apparently included Jane Austen, thanks at least in part to its location on the border between the City of Westminster and the City of London.
By 1717, Twining had purchased three houses adjacent to his coffee house and converted them into a shop which still stands today at number 216 Strand. He was soon selling more dry tea than wet at the sign of the “Golden Lyon”. Following Thomas’ death in 1741, Twining’s son Daniel took over the business and by the mid-1700s, was exporting to America where he counted the Governor of Boston among his clients.
It was Daniel’s son, Richard Twining, who was successful in lobbying for the lowering of tea taxes and so paving the way for tea to become the commonly consumed drink it is today. It was also Richard who built the shop’s current entrance portal in 1787 incorporating the golden lion.
[excerpted from Wiki, Twinings info leaflets etc.]