London Labour and the London Poor, Volume 1
Mayhew, Henry
1861
Of Muffin and Crumpet-Selling in the Streets.
THE street-sellers of muffins and crumpets rank among the old street-tradesmen. It is difficult to estimate their numbers, but they were computed for me at , during the winter months. They are for the most part boys, young men, or old men, and some of them infirm. There are a few girls in the trade, but very few women. | |
The ringing of the muffin-man's bell—attached to which the pleasant associations are not a few—was prohibited by a recent Act of Parliament, but the prohibition has been as inoperative as that which forbad the use of a drum to the costermonger, for the muffin bell still tinkles along the streets, and is rung vigorously in the suburbs. The sellers of muffins and crumpets are a mixed class, but I am told that more of them are the children of bakers, or worn-out bakers, than can be said of any other calling. The best sale is in the suburbs. "As far as I know, sir," said a muffin-seller, "it's the best Hackney way, and Stoke , and Dalston, and Balls Pond, and ; where the gents that's in banks—the steady coves of them—goes home to their teas, and the missuses has muffins to welcome them; that's my opinion." | |
I did not hear of any street-seller who made the muffins or crumpets he vended. Indeed, he could not make the small quantity required, so as to be remunerative. The muffins are bought of the bakers, and at prices to leave a profit of in Some bakers give to the dozen to the street-sellers whom they know. The muffin-man carries his delicacies in a basket, wherein they are well swathed in flannel, to retain the heat: "People likes them warm, sir," an old man told me, "to satisfy them they're fresh, and they almost always fresh; but it can't matter so much about their being warm, as they have to be toasted again. I only wish good butter was a sight cheaper, and that would make the muffins go. Butter's half the battle." The basket and flannels cost the muffin-man or His bell stands him in from to , "according as the metal is." The regular price of goodsized muffins from the street-sellers is a halfpenny each; the crumpets are a penny. Some are sold cheaper, but these are generally smaller, or made of inferior flour. Most of the street-sellers give , and some even to the dozen, especially if the purchase be made early in the day, as the muffin-man can then, if he deem it prudent, obtain a further supply. | |
A sharp London lad of , whose father had been a journeyman baker, and whose mother (a widow) kept a small chandler's shop, gave me the following account:— | |
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Calculating muffin-sellers, each clearing a week, we find a week expended on the metropolitan street sale of muffins; or, in the course of weeks, , with the price of a basket, &c., which is about more, is the capital required for a start. | |