The Luddites were an English secret society, probably founded in Nottinghamshire, of textile workers whose heyday was in the early 19th Century. They (rightfully) thought that the growing use of machinery in the textile industry was rendering their skills redundant. Their solution? Sneak in, undetected, to textile mills at night and break the machines. In addition, they also wrote poems, songs, and threatening letters to factory owners. As mentioned in the pronunciation section, their name comes from the fact that they claimed to be followers of Ned (or General or Captain) Ludd, a somewhat mythological figure from the late 18th Century who was said to be the first worker to break the machinery in a factory at which he worked. The Luddites themselves became such a nuisance that, in 1812, the British Parliament passed the Frame-Breaking Act, which made it a capital felony (and thus punishable by death) to break the stocking frames in textile mills.

Those were the origins of the term, but today it is more loosely applied to anyone who is opposed to the introduction of new technology, which brings you to us: in the same vein, we want our store and bar to be a bulwark against the tidal wave that is the Information Age. Come in; grab a book; enjoy a glass of wine, and join the counter-revolution!