England's first coffee house opened in Oxford around 1650. London's first followed in 1652, in St Michael's Alley, Cornhill. A cup cost a penny, so the coffee houses were nicknamed 'penny universities'.
Business grew out of them. Edward Lloyd's coffee house on Tower Street first appears in print in 1688. Ship owners and captains came for shipping news, and men selling insurance rented tables there. That market became Lloyd's of London. Jonathan's Coffee House, from 1698, is linked to the start of the London Stock Exchange.
Not everyone approved. On 23 December 1675 Charles II issued a proclamation to suppress coffee houses, fearing they bred revolt. The public reaction was so bad it was revoked on 8 January 1676.
What time is taking away
What the record says
- The first English coffeehouse opened in Oxford in 1650 or 1651, and London's earliest was established in 1652.1,2
- London's first coffeehouse opened in St Michael's Alley, Cornhill, run by Pasqua Rosée.1,3
- A cup of coffee cost a penny, which is why London coffeehouses were called 'penny universities'.1,3
- Edward Lloyd's coffee house on Tower Street was first mentioned in the London Gazette in 1688, and in 1691 it moved to 16 Lombard Street.4
- Lloyd's rented out tables, called boxes, to men who sold insurance to ship owners; the first official Lloyd's List was published in 1734.4
- In 1769 professional underwriters broke away to a New Lloyd's Coffee House in Pope's Head Alley, and in 1774 the subscribers moved to the Royal Exchange.4
- Jonathan's Coffee House, where from 1698 gentlemen met to set stock and commodity prices, is linked to the origins of the London Stock Exchange.3
- By 1739 London had over 550 coffeehouses.3
- Charles II issued a proclamation suppressing coffee houses on 23 December 1675; it was revoked on 8 January 1676 after a strongly negative public reaction.5
- Oxford's Queen's Lane Coffee House, operating since 1654, is usually cited as the oldest coffee house in continuous operation.6
Oxford's first coffee house date differs: 1650/1651 in encyclopedia sources, 1652 in Historic UK. The Lloyd's coffee house founding date is unknown; 1688 is its first printed mention. Historic UK is a popular history site. Women's exclusion and the 1674 petition are covered in the separate 'history-womens-coffee-petition' entry.
- Coffeehouse · Wikipedia in the bibliography
- History of coffee · Wikipedia in the bibliography
- English Coffeehouses, Penny Universities · Historic UK in the bibliography
- Coffee and commerce · Lloyd's of London in the bibliography
- Charles II (1630-1685) · Royal Museums Greenwich in the bibliography
- Café Procope · Wikipedia in the bibliography
