The Times today reported that my favourite ever tea shop, Tea & Sympathy, may be forced to close. This has jolted me out of my blogging apathy for the first time in about a year.
Yes, that’s right. It’s been a year. A year of thinking, ‘Oh no, yet another month without posting any new content. My SEO must be rubbish’, yet failing to write anything. Well, not today.
I was literally making myself some tea and flicking through the paper when I saw the headline, ‘New York’s Little Britain Under Siege‘, and I recognised the shop in the photo. Loyal readers may remember that this tea shop quickly became an essential survival tool for my time in NYC. I still associate it with comfort and familiarity on days when expat parenting felt a little overwhelming. I’m pretty sure it was the first place I reviewed for this blog, here. With a fish & chip shop two doors down (marvellously called A Salt and Battery) and a tea room that stocked mince pies and Hula Hoops, it’s heaven to visit.
And now, according to The Times, ‘New York’s Little Britain is under threat. [The owner]… is fighting to keep her shops alive in the face of rising rents and a demand for back taxes from a new landlord.’
If any of you are in New York right now, are feeling a little cold, a little hungry, perhaps you could pop round to Tea & Sympathy for a cup of tea and a slice of cake? You’ll find it on Greenwich Avenue between Horatio Street and Jane Street. Thanks guys.