LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
A CIVIC SENSE IN ENGLAND ?
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Since I see that, to the interest of your readers, you are seeking to increase the amenities of our provincial towns, might I call your attention to what might be a very real addition to those amenities ? It is, that there should be in every town places of refreshment on the lines of the French café, furnished with chairs and tables, where the working man, or any other man, could sit and eat and drink and read the newspaper—and if he chose, play draughts, or chess, or dominoes, or even, if the game were blamelessly conducted, cards. There should be glass doors, so that people outside could see in, and people inside could see out, and look at the passers-by. These doors should be so arranged that in suitable weather they could be open, so that the chairs and tables would be in the open air. And we should then have seemly public houses where the frequenters have something else to do besides standing about and drinking. This was very nearly accomplished some ten years ago in a big manufacturing town in Yorkshire. You will forgive me for telling the tale in the first person ; it is simpler than a transparent anonymity. I was in possession as a tenant of some premises which had originally been used as a shop, and were entirely suitable for an open-air café. There was a room on the ground floor, about 25 ft. wide by 18 ft. deep, the front abutting on the pavement of a wide and frequented street. I arranged to have glass doors, which could be closed in cold or bad weather and in fine warm weather could be folded back against the side walls, and we were ready to take other steps to complete the installation. The carrying-out of our scheme seemed within react,. A good deal of attention and interest was aroused locally, and also some disapproval. I was told that I was trying to import foreign ideas—ideas being appar- ently the most dangerous imports to pass through our Customs —and also that English people would never habitually sit out of doors to eat and drink. They obviously never will unless there are places provided for them to do so. (I may add that, goaded to action, and in order to prove our conten- tion, we installed in the park adjoining the town a bright little tea-house, open from May till September, outside which, every fine day, people sit and eat and drink. This enterprise pays its way.) The Chief Constable of the County was very warmly in favour of our public-house experiment. He, how- ever, has no authority in the borough : the decision rested with the Town Councillors on the Licensing Committee. These had nearly all appeared favourable to the scheme when asked beforehand to support it ; but they did not seem to like it so much on seeing it at close quarters, and nearly all voted against it. For that year, therefore, the project had to be abandoned. And then came War time, when Peace schemes were dropped. But this particular scheme ought not to be permanently dropped : it ought to be tried. I hope, Sir, that you will use your influence in favour of an experiment which I firmly believe would greatly increase the amenities— as well as the sobrieties—of the town.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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