Page 70 - Ian Marshall - London Coffe Houses - Standing Display January 2016

Lloyd's Coffee House
16 Lombard Street
(1691-1785)

New Lloyd's Coffee House
Royal Exchange
(1769-1844)

The story of the origins of this famous Coffee House are complex and a
book in themselves. Suffice it to give a brief resume of the evolution of
what is now the pre-eminent insurance market in the world.
Edward Lloyd (or Loyd) took a lease on a building in Lombard Street
which had previously been known as the "Puntack's Head" which, when
the houses were numbered in 1767, became 16 Lombard Street. He had
previously had premises in Tower Street and a 1688 Gazette reference
records "Edward Loyd's Coffee House" there. The earliest reference to
marine business is in 1692 when the inventories of 3 ships being sold at
"Bennet's Coffee House in Plimouth" can be seen at Lloyd's Coffee
House. In 1693 the Hudson's Bay Company paid Edward Lloyd £3 for
intelligence on the Company's ships. In 1696 a single sheet "Lloyd's
News" devoted to shipping intelligence first appeared. Lloyd died in 1713
and his son-in-law took over as Master ofthe Coffee House. In 1734
"Lloyd's List" first appeared and in 1760 a "Register of Shipping" was
established. Management of the establishment deteriorated gambling
permeated the place such that in 1769 things had reached such a state that
a waiter, Thomas Fielding, who was much liked by the clientele, set up
New Lloyd's Coffee House in Pope's Head Alley-just yards away.
Fielding successfully negotiated the transfer ship news with the Post
Office and the struggle for patrons and the monopoly of ship news and
intelligence was on. There would only be one winner and by 1785 the
original coffee house had closed. New Loyd's Coffee House moved from
Pope's Head Alley to the Royal Exchange in 1774 and continued to grow
in stature. In 1838 the Royal Exchange was destroyed by fire and the
business temporarily moved to the City of London Tavern at 17
Bishopsgate St and then South Sea House in Threadneedle St. In
December 1844 Lloyd's moved back to the newly re-built Royal
Exchange and formally ceased to be a coffee house. In 1928 Lloyd's
moved to a custom-built New Building at 12 Leadenhall Street where it
stayed until 1958 when it moved to new premises in Lime Street before
its existing premises were built in 1986 at 1 Lime Street on the site of the
old East India House.