It’s a funny thing, but during the years I worked in Edinburgh from 1971-84, the first office I was in, young trainees like me made the coffees for the partners/senior employees. One or two chose tea, but normally coffee. It was a quaint “Bob Crotchet” type of office in Edinburgh’s regency period Queen Street (The New Town). When I went to my next firm, in George Street, they had coffee machines and we all took turns to get the coffee round in. (Some of the machine coffee left a lot to be desired).

But when I went to London to work in 1984, in the regency period Bloomsbury area (Bedford Square), I was amazed by the contrast. For as start, they had uniformed commissionaires at reception (usually in their 50’s) and acting as messengers. But when it came to coffee-time, they didn’t have coffee – it was tea !! Not only that, but tea-ladies came round with trays or trolleys (trolleys on the ground floor, trays where stairs were involved) and gave us all tea in the morning but a choice of tea or coffee in the afternoon. Senior partners always drank tea, usually with lemon, out of good china service. That process continued throughout my years there, though since the “old-school” partners retired around the millennium, coffee machines became de rigeur.

I will never forget our tea ladies though, especially our very own Maggie Wolfenden (God Bless her – she’s serving afternoon tea in Heaven nowadays). Maggie was central London born and bred and lived with her husband Nobby in the Regents park area. She used language which would make a welder blush ! She took a liking to me, even though I was a Sweaty (Sweaty Sock = Jock = Scotsman). She came on like a hard woman and she was always complaining, but she had a heart of gold and disguised her good deeds and compassion by making it sound like she was complaining. She’d buy chocolate digestives out of her own money, give me some with my coffee and then complain “I don’t know why I keep doin’ this you know, I’m bleeding barmy, me !”. When my wife was ill one time, Maggie said “I ‘ope she’s awright, poor cow !” She was a great source of office gossip and was not scared of the partners either. In one legendary occasion which has gone down in office history and was corroborated by the senior partner’s personal secretary (who witnessed the event), Maggie brought tea to the most senior partner once (best china, lemon slices, little tea-pot etc) and as she poured at the paler than usual brew, she lamented to the partner “Sorry if it looks like rats’ piss but you can’t get it right all the time”. The Eton-educated partner was not at all offended and later used the story to great effect in his social circle !

If Maggie had been American, then she would have been a feisty Noo Yawkah !

Having said that, in my experience I found that tea was more popular than coffee with Londoners, even young East Enders liked their “cuppa”, whereas urban Scots seemed to prefer coffee.