Jonathan's Coffee House was a significant meeting place in London in the 17th and 18th centuries, famous as the original site of the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. The coffee house was opened around 1680 by Jonathan Miles in Change (or Exchange) Alley, in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. In 1696, several patrons were implicated in a plot to assassinate William III, and it was thought to be associated with the Popish Plots. In 1698, it was used by John Castaing to post the prices of stocks and commodities, the first evidence of systematic exchange of securities in London. That year, dealers expelled from the Royal Exchange for rowdiness migrated to Jonathan's (as well as to Garraway's Coffee-House). It was the scene of a number of critical events in the history of share trading, including the

South Sea Bubble South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and the panic of 1745. It was destroyed by fire in 1748, and rebuilt. In 1761 a club of 150 brokers and jobbers was formed to trade stocks. The club built its own building in 1773 in Sweeting's Alley, which was dubbed the New Jonathan's, but was renamed the Stock Exchange (now officially called the London Stock Exchange). The original Jonathan's served as the home of a lottery office until it was destroyed by fire in 1748.

External links

Jonathan's, The Edwin C. Bolles Collection, Tufts University

Map: The Business World of London's Exchange Alley, c. 1746

Stringham, Edward Peter. 2002. “The Emergence of the London Stock Exchange as a Self-Policing Club.” Journal of Private Enterprise, 17(2) Spring: 1-19.
{{coord, 51.5129, -0.0870, type:landmark_region:GB-LND, display=title Coffeehouses and cafés in London Former buildings and structures in the City of London 17th-century establishments in England 17th century in London 18th century in London London Stock Exchange

See also

External links