An exhibition recreating one of Greenwich’s long-lost attractions opens its doors at the Old Royal Naval College on Good Friday.
Chocolate House Greenwich has revived the Tosier Chocolate House, which played host to the movers and shakers of the 18th century when the town was a hub for astronomy, science and culture.
Visitors will be introduced to the architect behind the Old Royal Naval College, Sir Christopher Wren, the writer and diarist John Evelyn, the first astronomer royal John Flamsteed, and the playwright and architect Sir John Vanbrugh.
They will also be introduced to Grace Tosier, who ran the Chocolate House, and her husband Thomas, who was chocolate maker to King George I, meaning the business flourished with its royal connections.
Helen White, the senior interpretation manager, told The Greenwich Wire that the Tosier Chocolate House was roughly where West Grove is now, in a house facing Blackheath.
The exhibition depicts the house as it may have looked in 1705, but finding evidence was a challenge. “There’s much more evidence for coffee houses and what they looked like than there is of chocolate houses of that period,” White said. “At the beginning, coffee and chocolate houses were quite similar and they diverged a bit later on.
“We’ve really based it on a picture of Lloyd’s coffee house in London in the 1690s. But we’ve tried to make it more elegant, as befits a chocolate house, because it would’ve been for quite an elegant elite.”
The exhibition will also address the role of slavery in the chocolate industry of the time. Nearby Deptford dockyard was at the centre of the slave trade.
“We have addressed that in various places in the course of the exhibition,” White said.
“There was certainly enslaved labour that was used in the growing and harvesting of chocolate, and in sugar – once people developed a taste from hot drinks, this created a massive demand for sugar as well. So it certainly runs through the whole trade.”
There will also be a series of hands-on chocolate-themed and chocolate making workshops, an Easter trail for families, and a “choc-o-late” event in the summer.
Chocolate House Greenwich will run until November 3. Admission is included in the £3 cost of an adult ticket to the Discover Greenwich centre, while children go free. Visitors to the Painted Hall will also have admission included in their tickets.
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