Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

STREET INDUSTRIES OF LONDON. 375 keep to the “ pitch ” on which he begins. With a view to giving all the same chance, the superintendent shifts him every three or four days. Some boys derive lasting benefit from the society. It is not uncommon for a lad’s 4‘ bank ” to amount to £20 or ^30. Numbers of the youths, too, pass into the Army and the Navy, while others go to the Colonies or obtain permanent and remunerative em- ployment at home. If, indeed, a boy does not profit by the society’s efforts, he alone is to blame. Coffee-stall keeping is a business rather than an in- dustry ; but, whatever it may be called, it is of considerable magnitude in London. There are hundreds of such “ hotels of the poor ” scat- tered over the city every night, and sur- prising quanti- ties of food are sold at them, much of it good and wholesome. One man in particular has an ■enviable reputation for the quality of his wares—a repu- tation he has earned by not only making his own pastry, but even roasting his own coffee. Some caterers own eight or nine stalls ; and the extent of the piles of edibles ■and the oceans of coffee disposed of at the best of such conveniences may be gauged from the fact that the takings range from £4 to £8 per night. With a turnover of only £4 nightly, the profit is at least £12 per week. Of late years many coffee stalls have changed hands for considerable sums, due in part to the value of the goodwill and in part to the extreme difficulty of making a 41 pitch at the present time. In bygone •days a man could take up a stand nearly anywhere ; but now the police keep a sharp look out for squatters, and move them on long before they can acquire any vested STREET FLOWER-SELLERS. interests, and thus the value of old “ pitches ” is enhanced. Next to keeping a coffee stall, there is no more profitable street industry than news- paper selling, always provided that a good connection has been formed. Some of the well-known “pitches” in London streets must bring in their fortunate owners from £10 to £20 per week, and in a few ex- ceptional cases even more. But there is, it must be conceded, another side to the shield. Most of the men who sell some par- ticular penny evening journal do not make eighteenpence per day, including the shilling that they re- ceive as a sort of retaining fee. Given a bad “ pitch,” a ven- dor may not sell li a 1 f-a- dozen of such sheets in a clay. The great drawback to the trade is the number of “butterflies” who embark in it. During the school holi- days fewarms of youngsters take to newsvending for brief spell, sometimes merely for pocket-money, at others to “ help mother,” but always to the detriment of the regular street agents. Flower hawking, an industry peculiar in some respects to London, is carried on solely by girls and women. Like many other occupations, its form varies according to locality. At Islington, funeral wreaths are mainly sold ; at Oxford Circus, big baskets of loose flowers are always on show ; in Cheapside, buttonholes are obviously the mainstay of business ; and so on at other recognised “ pitches.” Of course, the earnings vary accordingly. The most profitable branch of the trade is selling buttonholes, which enable a girl to make as much as 7s. or 8s. a clay. I he best customers are City men ; the worst, ladies—they frequently demand so much for their money.