Pall Mall

Main road in London, England, running from the southern end of St James's Street to the southern end of Haymarket. It is a centre of social clubs, including the Athenaeum, the Reform, the Travellers, and the Royal Automobile Club. The street derives its name from the French game of paille maille (from which croquet is believed to have developed), played here at least as early as 1635, when Pall Mall was part of St James's Park. The game was discontinued during the rule of Oliver Cromwell, and there was a considerable increase of building in the area.

The original name of Pall Mall was ‘The Mall’. Pall Mall was the first London street lit by gas, in 1807.

Former inhabitants of Pall Mall include the actor (and mistress of Charles II) Nell Gwyn, the 1st Duke of Marlborough, the historian Edward Gibbon, and the painter Thomas Gainsborough.