Smell the Coffee

 

Walking in the streets of London, admiring the beauty of the old architecture and history written on every street and statue since early morning, I began to feel exhausted. So I decided to take a little rest and sip some coffee and munch a sandwich. I entered a shop that was decorated tastefully with antique tables, chairs and lights that gave an impression of it being there for centuries. Since the place seemed quite popular, all the seats had been taken. I found myself seated on a table with another man whose dishevelled look and clothes went quite well with the place, archaic and completely out of place. I ordered for my coffee and ham sandwich and waited to be served. The man on the other side spoke up….

No, no. This is not the place I was looking for. It was different and the people who came in were not like this. The coffee smelt strong and different too.

Since he kept on repeating, I had little option but to ask… What place are you looking for?

Looking for my coffee shop and this is not it.

So you own a coffee shop in London and you’re looking for the same.

Yes, yes.

Although I am not from London, maybe Google here on my mobile and this map of the city might help you find your place.

It is a coffee shop on Thames. It is one frequented by ship owners, seafarers and merchants.

Are you referring to Edward Lloyd’s Coffee House in Tower Street where shipowners and captains on return from overseas voyages discussed their future expeditions?

Yes, of course, that was my coffee house. I am Edward Lloyd.

I was taken aback. How can Edward Lloyd of 1680s return today in 2023? Must be a mad man, living in the past. Since I wanted to have some fun in King Charles’ era, I decided to play along with the hallucinating man.

Sir, your Coffee House IS no longer there at Tower Street but has moved to Lime Street.

What…When…Can you take me there?

I can take you there but you can’t enter. You need proper passes there, plus you need to be in perfectly fitted suit and tie. They are very particular about the attire.

Please take me there. I want to see the new coffee house. I can give you some gold shillings if you take me there.

Nothing attracts us Indians more than gold so I agreed to take the madman to 1, Lime Street. We boarded the famous London taxi and reached the place in no time and as we got off, showed the funny steel structure which resembled more like a huge piece of steel art work to the madman.

This is not my coffee house.  

Yes Sir, couldn’t agree more, for this looks more like a coffee percolator than a coffee house. This building on 1, Lime Street is the current home of Lloyd’s, the world’s leading insurance and reinsurance market place. This stainless steel and glass building was designed by the architect Richard Rogers. The building is often referred to as the Oil Rig of Lime Street for its looks. But this is not how it was yesterday and how it will be tomorrow for they keep changing with times and needs. There is a library inside with a nice umbrella shaped background and a closer look under the shade reveals three dates painted… 1688, 1928 and 1986. The current building was built in 1986. Prior to this, the Lloyd’s building was built in 1928 at 12 Leadenhall Street. And 1688 is where it all began at the coffee house started by you Mr. Edward Lloyd.

Let us go in. No one will ever stop me.

No Sir, I will not go inside this building for last time that I visited this place way back in the summer of 2005, tragedy struck my family back home in India. I almost lost them in the Mumbai Floods of 26^th July.

Tell me more about it.

It was midnight and I was sleeping in the hotel in London when a call from my aunt in India woke me up to find out about my family. Till then I had no clue about the happenings in Mumbai. There had been a huge cloud burst and a thousand millimetres of rain had fallen in a span of a few hours and the City of Dreams had turned into the City of Despair. I tried calling my wife but there was no response from the other end. Next, I tried the home land line number and that too was dead… completely dead. Made attempts at reaching out to other colleagues at Mumbai but all in vain. All this while the television channels kept on showing the gory details about people getting washed away, homes getting totally destroyed, people on the streets trying to find their way back home….

After a while, I got a call from the home number. It was my wife on the other side…What a relief knowing all were fine now. She was on board a train returning home from work when the train stopped near Mahim and from there she started walking through knee deep water. After walking for almost five hours, she was stopped from proceeding any further on the flooded and dark road as a little way ahead the snapped overhead electric wires had been the cause of electrocution. The firemen asked all the walkers to stop and take refuge in a nearby school where they were given Parle-G biscuits and hot tea by the people living in the vicinity. Next morning at day break, she took courage and made it home. The kid and my mother were at home waiting anxiously along with the maid and her family who had also come over as their house had been completely inundated. I heaved a sigh of relief and thanked the Almighty.

The fear that something bad may again befall my family back home remains. You may go in and I shall wait outside for your return.

Nothing will happen, son. Come with me….and I followed. I knew we would be turned back immediately but the man spoke to the guard standing outside and handed him a round wooden tablet. The look on the guard’s face was one of awe and amazement. He stepped aside, gave a smart salute to the madman and opened the door with full respect and honour. We walked in holding our hands.

Our sight immediately fell on the picture of Lord Nelson and Edward asked, “What is he doing here in this building.”

Having read some books about the Lloyd’s Building, I started behaving like a tour guide for the man.

Sir, by the 18^th century, Lloyd’s was at the forefront of global shipping industry and developed close links with the British Navy and Lord Nelson for the protection of sea-borne trade. After each of his naval victories including the Battle of Nile, Lloyd’s organised charitable subscriptions to help the wounded and bereaved. Some of the objects associated with Nelson have been exhibited on the floor.

Now Edward’s eyes fell on a pamphlet on the Titanic. And my commentary continued…

Sir, this is copy of the insurance slip of the famous ship Titanic which along with its sistership Olympic had been insured for twelve months for a sum insured of Pound Sterling 1 million each. The broker involved was Willis Faber and Co. and the slip was ‘underwritten’ by about 12 companies and 50 syndicates at Lloyd’s ranging from 75,000 PS to as little as 2000 PS. It has been recorded that Lloyd’s paid for all the Titanic losses within 30 days of the misfortune.

Edward nodded his head and said, “I remember the terms like underwriter and risk. Let me explain this old term ‘underwriter’ that was coined at Lloyd’s Coffee House where each risk undertaker wrote their names under the total amount of risk they were willing to accept at a specified premium.

Sir, do you know who was the underwriter for Mumbai during the great deluge?

No, it was definitely not insured at Lloyd’s.

Sir, the fate of about 19 million people aboard vessel MV Mumbai as it lay marooned in mid-sea had been underwritten by GIC of India…God Insurance Company for God alone could help the helpless people at such juncture. And as far as premium is concerned, surely each of these millions of Indian citizens pay it unknowingly at the temples and homes during pujas.

Edward smiled and we walked on as we saw a diary encased beautifully.

Sir, if you think God is the sole saviour at all times then let me introduce you to Cuthbert Heath. At 5.13am on 18^th April, 1906, a massive earthquake measuring 8.25 on the Richter Scale shook San Francisco. Several thousand people died and the city’s population was rendered homeless. As one of Lloyd’s leading underwriters, it was Cuthbert Heath who instructed his office at SF to “pay all our policyholders in full, irrespective of the terms of their policies. With the government of that time incapable of providing any assistance in such times, was this act any less than that of a saviour? That well preserved diary is Cuthbert Heath’s insurance book where he charged 15 shillings for concrete and steel buildings and 20 shillings for the other risks.

We continued our tour and he spoke again, “I know this place. It must be the underwriting room.”

You are right Edward. “Not a breeze can blow in any latitude, not a storm can burst, not a flag can rise, in any part of the world, without recording its history here.” This is how a journalist described the Underwriting Room at Lloyd’s in 1859.  The Underwriting Room is where all the real action happens and space here is possibly the most expensive of commercial rental anywhere in the world. The syndicates have rented out the place as per their needs. Two Indian companies have their desks- GIC and New India.  A vast majority of insurance risks of all classes including traditional lines of Fire, Marine, Aviation and the more exotic and new age variety definitely comes into this room from all across the globe and anything agreed and accepted here has the highest level of credibility in the insurance world. On any day, The Room sees more than 100 million pounds in premium and more than 82 million pounds are paid out in claims.

Ah…the tables and chairs look funny, son. They do not seem to be uniform.

Sir, these are the boxes where business gets transacted daily. The brokers who come to the underwriting room are made to sit on seats that do not look very comfortable and their seats are at a lower level as compared to the underwriters who command and demand respect. This is quite different from the way we treat our brokers in India. There they are always placed at a much higher pedestal, both literally and physically…the underwriters often kowtow before the broking fraternity here in India.

What is that bell doing here? It should be outside at the entrance for the happy customers to ring it.

That is the Lutine Bell, Sir, and it was placed in the Underwriting Room. In 1799, Hamburg’s economy was in shambles due to Napoleonic Wars. The City of London merchants collected pounds one million in gold and silver bullion to be loaned to Hamburg and was to be delivered by HMS Lutine. The vessel unfortunately met with a gale and ran aground on the Dutch coast and the treasure was all lost. Lloyd’s paid for the claims in full and in 1859 the bell on board the ill-fated ship was recovered and now hangs in the Underwriting Room on the Rostrum which is a mahogany structure designed by Sir Edwin Cooper for the Lloyd’s Building in 1928. Earlier the bell was rung whenever the news came of a ship sinking anywhere in the world. Now, it is only done on ceremonial days. However, next to the bell is the Loss Book which records details of all vessels lost in sea. Everyday someone will write the details of casualties in the book with fine handwriting using a quill pen.

I am happy that they have preserved history well here in this building which otherwise is very modern. They have also decorated the place with some nice paintings. There is something strange about some of the paintings, son. Can you help me decipher them?

Sir, there was an artist called Terence Cuneo (1907-1996) who has some of his famous paintings adorning the walls of Lloyd’s. Each of these paintings is a master class in itself but in each of his artwork he left a distinct mark of his own which later had to be painted out. The story goes that Cuneo had been working on a formal painting on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II when his Burmese cat came into his studio, toting a field mouse. The artist thought that the tiny fellow would make a good ‘still life’ and found its way into the coronation ceremony. When he showed the still life painting and explained the still life at the Royal Watercolour Society, the attendees loved it and cried for more. That’s when Cuneo decided to sneak a mouse into his finished works and the viewers would search for the same like a puzzle. So this rodent became a trademark of his paintings and many of his paintings at Lloyd’s had his trademark but have later been painted white and removed.

Funny and interesting at the same time. This seems to be a nice big meeting room. Hopefully there is no history about it. Let us take some rest here.

This is the Adam Room, Sir. The representatives of Lloyd’s travelled to an auction in Wiltshire in 1956, where they had intended to purchase a marble fire place for the Chairman’s office at the new Lime Street premises. When they left, they had acquired the entire room surrounding it. Weighing more than 30 tonnes, it had to be cut into 1500 pieces before being relocated to London.

I am impressed with your knowledge, son. It is amazing that someone from a far off country knows so much about my shop here in London. How do you know so much about this place?

I am a Marine Underwriter from India but have now become an Under-rater and soon shall become the Undertaker of the carcass of this beautiful line of business.

Let me take a break and go to the Men’s Room…

He walked away and I waited for his return, sipping a wonderful cuppa of genuine Columbian coffee specially made for us. I kept waiting and waiting but the man never returned. After a while, I went down to exit the building and found the ground floor completely dark and the gate shut. I was stuck in the building at 1, Lime Street and now my prayers to GIC of India was my only option of escaping to safety.

For those who believe that I was sleeping and dreaming up this story, here’s a picture of me standing in the Lloyd’s Library that has no books but bits of Nelson’s ship HMS Victory decorating the walls. This was taken by none other than Ed who refused to be photographed.

SS