London walk · Optional B · Lunch or tea
Ole & Steen – a modern version of the Aërated Bread Company
A modern bakery break · Dracula, Chapter 20
Follow Jonathan’s example and stop for a cup of tea before continuing into Theatreland.
The Danish bakery Ole & Steen at 56 Haymarket opened its first UK shop here in 2016. It offers a present-day place for a bread-and-tea break while we follow Jonathan Harker’s London.
In Chapter 20, Jonathan has traced the Count’s Piccadilly house and questioned the estate agents Mitchell, Sons & Candy in Sackville Street. Darkness has fallen and he is tired and hungry: he takes a cup of tea at an Aërated Bread Company shop before catching the train back to Purfleet.
The Aërated Bread Company was incorporated in London in 1862. Despite the diaeresis – the two dots over the ë – its name was not Scandinavian. It described bread raised by forcing carbon dioxide into dough. ABC’s affordable tea shops became a familiar part of London life.
Look for
The Ole & Steen bakery at 56 Haymarket, on the Haymarket edge of St James’s Market.
Read
“It was now dark, and I was tired and hungry. I got a cup of tea at the Aërated Bread Company and came down to Purfleet by the next train.”
Evidence
Dracula names the Aërated Bread Company but does not identify the branch. This pin marks today’s Ole & Steen, opened in 2016: a modern refreshment stop, rather than an identified site of Jonathan’s fictional café.
Practical information
Optional and paid. The Estate receives no commission or payment. For a free rest, use a seat in the garden of St James’s Square, open to the public Monday to Friday until about 4.30 pm and closed at weekends.
Dracula, Chapter 20: Jonathan’s tea stop ↗
Find the St James’s bakery and current opening hours ↗
Ole & Steen’s Danish origins and Haymarket opening ↗
Aërated Bread Company: the London company records ↗
More about Jonathan’s ABC tea break ↗
Next: From the Library, follow St James’s Square to Charles II Street, use the marked crossings at Waterloo Place and continue through St James’s Market to 56 Haymarket. After your break, follow the pedestrian routes and crossings east towards Irving’s statue beside the National Portrait Gallery. This optional leg is about 0.9 km and 15–20 minutes’ walking, plus your stop.
↑ Return to map from optional stop B: Ole & Steen – a modern version of the Aërated Bread Company
