COFFEEHOUSES

In 1652 London's first coffee house was opened in Newman's Court, Cornhill, by Pasqua Rose, an Armenian from Smyrna, who had worked as a servant for Daniel Edwards, a merchant who was active in the Levantine trade.

The Cosmo

The Cosmo coffee house opened in Hampstead in 1937 to serve the influx of migrants. In 1998 it closed

Location: 4-6 Northways Parade, Finchley Road, NW3 5EN

The Jamaica Coffee House

Until the middle of the 19^thC The Jamaica Coffee House was a centre for the trade that was conducted with the island of Jamaica. In 1869 The Jamaica Wine House was opened upon the site. The pub has a plaque that commemorates London's first coffee house, which stood at the sign of the Pasqua Rose'ss Head.

Location: St Michael's Alley, EC3V 9DS (red, brown)

See Also: PUBS; TRADING COMPANIES

Jonathan's Coffee House

In the late 1760s a number of Change Alley brokers formed a subscription club that was headquartered in Jonathan's Coffee House. This development led to the establishment of the Stock Exchange in Threadneedle Street in 1773.

Location: Change Alley, EC3V 9AZ (blue, turquoise)

The Literary Impact of Caffeine

There is a theory that the literary essay came into being in the early 18^thC as a child of London coffeehouse culture.

Lloyd's Coffee House

At some time during the 1680s Edward Lloyd opened a coffee house in Tower Street in the City. He sought to foster his business by turning its premises into the daily meeting place for those people who were interested in the nascent trade of insuring ships and their cargoes. Two successive wars against the French - the Nine Years War (1688-1697) and then the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713) - increased the demand for insurance and so helped Lloyd establish his coffee house as the principal forum for underwriters. After his death his business was carried on by others.¹

The Bubble Act of 1720 gave the firms the Royal Exchange and the London Assurance the exclusive right to conduct marine insurance as corporations. However, the Act also allowed individual underwriters the right to trade freely. Individuals proved to be more flexible in their approach to business than did the companies.²

As the 18^thC progressed, there grew to be considerable friction within Lloyd's over the question of gambling insurance. In 1745 an Act of Parliament forbade such insurance to be taken out upon cargoes and ships. However, it remained legal for underwriters to issue such policies upon lives and specific events. Those underwriters who disapproved of the practice broke away in 1769 and established a new coffee house before moving into premises in the Royal Exchange in 1773. (The old Lloyd's went out of business and gambling insurance was banned by legislation in 1774.)

Lloyd s porters wear waiters livery in commemoration of the market's coffee house origins.

Location: 15 Lombard Street, EC4N 7BJ (orange, yellow)

See Also: INSURANCE Lloyd's of London

¹. Edward Lloyd was buried in St Mary Woolnoth, which is on the corner of Lombard Street and King William Street.

². In 1824 the Act was repealed by another Act. This was sponsored by William Huskisson M.P., a former manager of The Sun Fire Office. The M.P. is best remembered for having been fatally run down by a train during the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway.

Pall Mall

From the 1690s onwards there were coffee and chocolate houses in the district of St James s. Some of these establishments were the de facto forerunners of the district's clubs. The coffee houses acted as venues where the aristocracy and the intelligentsia of 18^thC London met.

Location: Pall Mall, SW1Y 5ER

See Also: CLUBLAND

St John's Gate Coffee House

In the early 18^thC Richard Hogarth¹ ran a coffee shop in St John's Gate where the customers spoke Latin. The business failed.

¹. Hogarth was the father of the artist William Hogarth.

Location: St John s Lane, EC1M 4DA (blue, purple)

The Salopian

Thomas Telford was so fond of The Salopian coffee house on Charing Cross that he came to be regarded as being one of the establishment's principal assets. He is reputed to have been listed as part of the fixtures whenever a new lease was signed. Upon one occasion it was sold and he decided to buy his own house. The new owner, upon hearing this, exclaimed to him What! Leave the house! Why, sir, I have just paid 750 for you.

Location: 16-18 Whitehall SW1A 2DY. (Formerly 41-42 Charing Cross.) (blue, purple)

Tips

It has been claimed that tea and coffee house patrons who desired good service would, before taking their places, insert some coins in the Tip box. Tip was an acronym for to insure promptness .

David Backhouse 2024