The London Tea Auction was a
candle auction
A candle auction, or auction by the candle, is a variation on the typical English auction. It consists of bidding for as long as one or two candles are lit. Bidding ceases as soon as the candles have burned out.
England
Candle auction became ...
held on a regular basis for over 300 years, from 1679 until 29 June 1998. The auction in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
turned the city into an international hub for the tea industry. The
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
held the first auction in
Leadenhall Street
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Leadenhall Street () is a street in the City of London. It is about and links Cornhill, London, Cornhill in the west to Aldgate in the east. It was formerly the start of the A11 road (England), A11 road from London to Norwich, but th ...
. In 1834, after the East India Company went out of business, the auction was held on
Mincing Lane
Mincing Lane is a short one-way street in the City of London linking Fenchurch Street to Great Tower Street. In the late 19th century it was the world's leading centre for tea and spice trading.
Etymology
Its name is a corruption of Mynchen ...
.
External links
eBook: Denys Forrest, Tea for the British(London, 1973).
*
ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/120842.stm Business: The Economy - Storm in a teacup
London tea auction abandoned - The candle that was lit in 1750 will be extinguished in June 1998Britain's great tea ceremony ends after 300 yearsAudio: Tea Auction 1936'By the Candle'
1679 establishments in England
Tea auctions
Tea in the United Kingdom
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