Cafes today are made for lingering – over endless cups of cappuccinos or matchas, working on your laptop, networking with colleagues or indulging in conversations with friends. However, back in the 1940s, there weren’t many places in the capital where one could do that. There were roadside chai shops, sure, but no organised coffee houses as such, until the United Coffee House (UCH) came up in the heart of the city in 1942. Connaught Place, at that time, was known more for its drapery and equestrian shops, and bakeries and it was up to Lala Hans Raj Kalra to see the potential for a coffee house where people could linger over cups of the hot beverage and spend hours discussing everything from politics to art.
“That is also perhaps the reason it was not named something like a ‘Lazeez Khana’ because we were never about food. We were always about coffee, culture and conversations. It was named United Coffee House because we were unified by thoughts and cultures,” says Akash Kalra, managing director, United Group, who grew up listening to how his grandfather founded the restaurant which is now in its 84th year.
Gatekeeper at the seventy-year-old United Coffee House at Connaught Place in New Delhi on May 02, 2011. | Photo Credit: Shanker Chakravarty
