Interior and exterior views of the new coffee tavern in Bradford, inaugurated by W. E Forster, M.P in 1879. The Coffee Tavern movement was a Victorian effort to get people out of pubs. Proposed by the Bradford councillor, alderman and magistrate, Frederick Priestman, the tavern was opened at the junction of Westgate, Ivegate and Kirkgate and was an immediate commercial success serving food as well as coffee. Within a few years there were 28 branches in the Bradford district but with over 400 licensed beer sellers in the area, how much of a sobering effect they had on the local population is debatable.