Fleet Street

Street in London, England (named after the subterranean River Fleet). It runs from Temple Bar eastwards to Ludgate Circus. Traditionally the centre of British journalism, it contained (with adjoining streets) the offices and printing works of many leading British newspapers until the mid-1980s, when most moved to sites farther from the centre of London.

The earliest extant reference to the street is in about 1188. Up to the mid-15th century it was, apart from Thames Street, the only paved street in the city and its immediate vicinity. It became celebrated for its taverns, and later became the centre of London's newspaper industry. The Daily Courant, Britain's first daily paper, started here in 1702, as did Punch magazine, devised in 1841.