Sitting inside number 110 Shoreditch High Street, I watch passers-by as they peer inside confused and intrigued, most too reserved to enter the quirky one of a kind tea house nestled in the middle of East London. (The Prisma memoirs)
Sofia Ahmad
To me their bemusement is entirely understandable.
As you walk past, soulful jazzy tunes from a by-gone era sound out and allure one to stop short in their tracks and contemplate the purpose of this green building.
The front door complete with a golden handle gives the impression that this is someone’s home and they simply forgot to close the door. Those brave enough to step inside will feel like they have been transported back 60 years and stumbled into someone’s house from the 1940’s. Several cute deep oak like tables fill the space, where customers can sit.
Knick knacks, antiques and forties mementos occupy the nooks and crannies of the room. Stand out objects include a grand piano in the corner, a juke box in the middle, vinyl records, an old motorbike heaped in the corner amongst other gadgets from the time.
Once inside, it is still not obviously a tea house if the customers have not turned up yet, as the service area is hidden around the corner, much like a kitchen out of sight.
I arrive at Time for Tea at 1pm, an hour before its doors open. The owner Graham Hilleard warmly greets me.
He is dressed head to foot in 1940s attire, sporting an appropriate moustache and haircut to match.
He blends in perfectly with his surroundings and it is I with straightened hair and a Zara dress that feels incongruent amongst my surroundings.
After speaking with Graham it is immediately apparent that Time for Tea is not a tacky commercially driven gimmick but in fact it represents a serious life style choice and philosophy that the owners hold dear.
Time for Tea is a protest against the fast paced throw- away consumer society that we live in today. I’m intrigued and want to know what makes the 40s and 50s such a special period. Gram tells me for him the 1940s and 50s “was an era of glamour and a time period where people could take their time and leisurely socialise. There was a respectful attitude to life and things. Now everyone is caught up, eating a sandwich at their desk.
There is no time for living life. We live in such a consumerist throw -away society.
Nothing is meant to last, products are made with a limited life span, so we can update and buy the next version after a while. It is a constant throw away cycle. In that time period things were made to last and you could use them for years.”
As he explains his abhorrence to our throw- away society, I think of the laptops and mobile phones I have owned that most certainly have had a shelf life.
His words ring true, and one only needs to look around the tea house to see the wealth of evidence that points in his favour. There is the juke box from the 1950s that still functions, or the solid albeit worn and heavy 40’s suitcase in the corner.
Throughout our conversation he stresses that Time for Tea is about “de-modernising” and providing a source of “escapism” from the “crazy outside world” and to revive a “British institution that counter acts the fast paced modern world”. He is also on his own mission to resist the conventions of modern life. His everyday wardrobe consists of vintage outfits from decades back. He abhors the pressure to conform and goes on to explains his view point in greater detail; “I have had people on buses and in the street challenge the way I dress and the way I look as if they have a right to be annoyed.
It is so typical of society today, no-one is their own person, people are obsessed with pigeon holing themselves into a certain number of categories, they are trapped by convention.
Look at Shoreditch it’s rammed on a Friday and Saturday night with people trying so hard to be different but they are all the same, dressed in check shirts and skinny jeans. People are not free. I try not to be caught up and sucked in by the world. I seek escapism in life, I don’t own a TV and I try not to follow the news intensely”.
Time for Tea is set in a beautiful period house that had been derelict since 1941 until the owners bought it eleven years ago.
I am given a tour of the house, and as I am led up the winding staircase, it is apparent every room has been de-modernised and transported back to an era 60 years ago.
The other rooms in the house have been utilised in a number of ways.
Most recently a Brazilian band rented out the space above the tea house to live in for six months while they toured the UK.
Previously the BBC hired the area for filming, while stars including Duffy and Florence and the Machine have shot their videos in this home. While the tea house room was hired just the day before I arrived for a baby shower. As I return downstairs I take my seat in the corner and wait for the customers to appear. I am curious as to who frequents this 1940s’s retreat, especially as the average passer-by appears intrigued but too uncertain to enter.
However after 50 minutes of opening the tea house is packed, people are queuing for a table and Graham and his son are fully occupied serving a full house.
I learn that there is no aggressive advertising or to be honest any commercial advertising at all. It is known by word of mouth and in Gram’s words “a kind of underground place”.
This is the way he likes it. He tells me they have their regulars that come most Sundays and it attracts Londoners and tourists alike. It is particular popular with French and Italian tourists looking for a traditional British experience.
Although the rooms can be rented out any day of the week, for now the tea house is only open from 2pm until 6pm on a Sunday.
However for those few hours on a Sunday afternoon customers can choose from an array of exotic tea ranging from Dajeeling, Ooolong.
Russian Caravan, Lapsang Souchong, Earl Grey to black tea with rose petals while indulging in home-made cake or scones.
This unique retreat in Shoreditch is not a commercial venture, rather it is a niche project grown from a passion for a by-gone era and a resistance to the modern world. It resists convention and it is a space that has no boundaries; enjoy tea and scones, rent a room to live in, shoot a music video or have a party here. Escape from the hectic twenty-first century and give yourself a little time for tea on Sunday.
(Photos: Pixabay)
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