SisterGoldenBlog

The first recorded coffeehouse in England opened in Oxford in 1650, although the drink had long been discovered and written about by travelers to Turkey, Greece and other exotic locales. The first coffee house in London was opened in 1652 by Pasqua Rosse at St Michael’s Alley, Cornhill. Similar houses quickly sprang up across town.

These coffeehouses were rather like a club house and they soon became a social hub for sharing news and ideas. For just a penny, customers could visit to read the newspapers, socialize, debate and smoke tobacco as they sipped their dish of coffee. In fact, they became so popular a place for men to congregate and debate that Charles II declared them “seminaries of sedition” and shut all three thousand down. And turned right around and reopened them within days due to the public outcry.

So great a Universitie I think there ne’er was any In which you may a scholar be For spending of a Penny.

From News from the Coffee House, a broadside of 1677.

Coffeehouses began to develop a clientele based upon the patron’s who frequented them. Those by St Paul’s Cathedral were favored by the clergy. Will’s Coffee-house and Button’s Coffee-house, each located in Russell Street, Covent Garden, became the favored of literati who were passionate about literature.

Some of the political coffeehouses located near Westminster, like the St James (patronized by Whigs) and the Cocoa-Tree (patronized by Tories) eventually became private clubs, but when they started in the early 17^th century they were open to anyone who paid their penny at the bar.

Some coffeehouses, like Lloyd’s and Garraway’s located by the Royal Exchange, became favored places for businessmen. Auctions for ships and cargoes at Lloyds in the 1700’s led to underwriting for ships and cargoes, and in 1771 patron’s of Lloyd’s formed a society of underwriter’s which became known as Lloyd’s of London.

Not all coffeehouses were focused on politics, trade or intellectual pursuits. Some became the leisure haven of gentlemen looking for the diversion of cards and gaming tables. The famous White’s started out as just such a coffeehouse, called White’s Chocolate House at the time. The transformation occurred when a fire destroyed the building in 1773 and the coffeehouse rebuilt and reopened as White’s Club.

Other coffeehouses followed suit by closing their doors to all but select clientele and the traditional coffeehouse began a decline with only about 1,400 left by the turn of the 19^th century.

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Bibliography

Hale, Deborah. The London Coffeehouse: A Social Institution. http://www.rakehell.com/article.php?id=206

Pelzer, J. and Pelzer, L. The English Coffee Houses. http://waeshael.home.att.net/coffee.htm

Ukers, William H. All About Coffee. The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, 1922. New York.