coffee house

A contemporary picture of a coffee house from about 1700. Coffee, chocolate, and tea were all introduced to England in the mid-17th century, and coffee houses rapidly became popular meeting places for the discussion of business affairs and literature.

Alternative to ale-houses as social meeting place, largely for the professional classes, popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. Christopher Bowman opened the first Coffee House in London (later known as the ‘Pasqua Rosee’) in St Michael's Alley, Cornhill, in 1652 and others soon followed in both London and Oxford so that by 1708 London alone boasted 3,000 coffee houses. Their popularity stemmed from their reputations as centres for the dissemination of news and ideas, making them good places to meet others of a like mind and also to conduct business. For this reason, coffee houses were often associated with radical readings and an attempt was made to suppress them by royal proclamation in 1675 but the coffee houses were too popular and the attempt was abandoned within a matter of days. The coffee houses declined in popularity toward the end of the 18th century as coffee itself was largely superseded by the new fashion for tea.

Many coffee houses attracted a particular group or profession and built their reputations and clientele around a certain business. For example, London underwriters specializing in marine insurance began to meet regularly in Edwin Lloyd's coffee house from about 1688 and the place was so heavily associated with that business that it gave its name to the Lloyds insurance market.