Aligarh, Café de Laila, one of the oldest and most storied tea-joints at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), has been abandoned to make way for a new swimming pool, marking the end of a cultural landmark that dates back to 1933. According to legend, renowned poet Majaz Lucknowi had originally named the café Alif Laila at the time of its establishment, before a British professor rechristened it Café de Laila. The café changed hands in 1991 when Farat Hussain purchased it from Abdul Hafeez. Hussain recalls that Hafeez’s son chose to sell the establishment because he “understood the business of tea, but not its taste.” Once one of the city’s two oldest tea-joints and a hub of intellectual and student life, Café de Laila now exists only in memory. Hussain currently runs a separate tea establishment at Shamshad Market.
Café de Laila: End of an Era for AMU’s Historic Tea Joint
