25
Without needlessly interfering with the management, it is very desirable that regular supervision should be exercised over all the details, for unless the house be well managed success cannot reasonably be looked for. The natural tendency of a properly conducted business of this kind is to increase. If, on the contrary, it declines, unless from exceptional causes plainly apparent, no pains should be spared to ascertain where the defect lies. The provisions should be tasted, to ensure their being of the proper quality, and the whole of the arrangements inspected from time to time. A few words with some of the former frequenters of the house may reveal in what respects it has failed to meet the wants of the working people, for whose benefit it was established.
The Coffee Publichouse Association will be happy, on application, to advise local committees and others having the control of Coffee Publichouses, as to methods of keeping and checking accounts.
HOURS OF BUSINESS.
If the Coffee Publichouse is to fulfil its proper functions, it should be open during the same hours as the neighbouring publichouses. In London and some other great towns these hours will usually be from 5 a.m. till midnight. The legal hour of closing is the same as that of the licensed publichouses in the neighbourhood. This is a matter of police regulation in each district. The Coffee Publichouse may, however, open earlier in the morning than the publichouses, an advantage which should not be lost sight of. 'The early morning cup is found of immense advantage. The Liverpool houses open at 5 a.m., and the workmen call on their way to work. Many have by this means been saved entirely from the use of stimulants.'[1] Wherever the house is open after 10 p.m. a
- ↑ Paper presented by the Directors of the Liverpool British Workman Publichouse Company (Limited) to the Conference at Grosvenor House.
