Tea & Sympathy, a Greenwich Village staple for “anything British” has launched The Campaign for Little Britain in the Big Apple. Owner Nicky Perry has partnered from Virgin Atlantic Airlines, which transports nearly a half million passengers between New York and the mother country each year. The campaign, which plans to present a petition to Mayor “Bloomy” on May 2, argues that officially recognizing the vicinity of Greenwich Avenue and West 12th as Little Britain will increase tourism and benefit local businesses (like hers, of course). The block, which is also home to A Salt & Battery, a fish and chips restaurant where anglophiles brave all kinds of weather to eat fish and chips out of paper baskets, has, since the turn of the century (last century) had a reputation for a place where “young fellows with bristly brown mustaches” and visiting Britons hobnob over half and half and try to forget they are on “alien soil.”
The campaign’s website features the petition, and printable campaign posters with slogans such as “What’s One More Queen in Greenwich Village?" as well as a blog for displaced Brits. While the campaign admits to being in “tongue in cheek,” advocates believe their cause is just, since, hey, every other nationality seems to get a little piece of the city.
