Creating a Stir

Over the next few weeks we'll be sharing some excerpts from Creating a Stir, a wonderful new book published by the Bell family. Published in 2012, it chronicles the 125 year history of S.D. Bell's tea and coffee, a rich Belfast tradition since 1887.

This book is simply amazing, full of photos, personal anecdotes and a historical account of both the growth of S.D. Bell and the city of Belfast.

From the foreword:

We felt that we should mark 125 years of trading [tea] not just by producing a historical account of our association with Belfast and with tea and coffee, but also by paying respect to those who in former years guided the company through economic depression, World Wars and local civil unrest.

It is our hope that you will find enjoyment in these pages; you may even learn some new facts about tea and coffee along with the history of our family firm. We found the research and writing quite a tough challenge as a huge quantity of used books, invoices and brochures were given up as a salvage during the Second World War in order to help the war effort. However, it was not paper that kept this firm trading successfully for 125 years, but the determination of a great many to provide our customers with the very best possible blended tea and roasted coffee.