Page 16 - Ian Marshall - London Coffe Houses - Standing Display January 2016

Bank Coffee House

Threadneedle Street/ Bank Buildings, Bank Street

(1739 - 1838)

Although it is recorded at a variety of addresses in directories, the press
and contemporary accounts it seems probable that Bank Coffee House
moved only once during its 100 years in existence in the immediate
vicinity of the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange. Proprietors
include: Richard Taylor (1763); Mrs. Roberts (1798); William Dawson
(1809); and finally W. Grubb (1822- 38). In 1755 the Coffee House is
listed as the business address of various traders described as merchants, a
jeweller, a Scarlet Dyer of Old Ford; and Ephraim-Rinhold Seehl,
Chymyst and Copper merchant. In 1760 the freehold of the site was
bought by the Bank for £10,650 for the purpose of extending its premises
but the move didn't immediately interfere with the running ofthe Coffee-
house but in 1763 the Bank gave notice to vacate and the directories of
1765 omit mention of the Bank Coffee House. In the ensuing
development Bank Street was made and new buildings erected along its
length. The Coffee House moved into premises in Bank Buildings on the
east side of the Threadneedle end of the street. From the 1770s to the
1790s the house is listed as the business address of a wide variety of
traders but in 1793 a reference says that the house is devoted to diamond 1
and gem merchants. At the turn of the Century the house is said to be
"frequented in general by the stock brokers and bank clerks". In 1838fire
destroyed the Royal Exchange and the subsequent cleamce for its re-
building marks the end of Castle Alley, Bank Buildings and Bank Street
and of the Bank Coffee House.

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A part letter written in Bewdley, Worcestershire on 28th September 1819
by Robert Pardue addressed to George Laing Esq at the Bank Coffee
House in Cornhill where it arrived on 2°ct October. The letter refers to
Laing's son being brought into the Estate with Pardue's blessing. A
BEWDLEY mileage mark (W053)