Cocoa rooms sprang up during the 1870s, largely sponsored by pillars of the temperance movement, and were intended to provide alternative places of refreshment to the numerous public houses. They were originally called 'British Workmen's Public Houses,' and in June 1875 a limited liability company of that name was formed in Liverpool under the Chairmanship of Robert Lockhart. He later set up his own company, which became the Starbucks of its day, opening Cocoa Rooms the length and breadth of the country. In 1890 Lockhart's was well established in the north-east, with 10 premises in Newcastle alone.