London's Coffeehouses

In the second half of the seventeenth century, coffeehouses spread rapidly across London. By 1700 there were hundreds of them, and for the price of a single cup of coffee, a customer could stay for hours. Coffee was a new drink in England, but the popularity of these establishments had as much to do with conversation as with the beverage itself.

[A] Coffeehouses were among the few public places where people of different social classes could sit at the same table. [B] Many houses kept newspapers and pamphlets, which customers read aloud and debated. [C] Because news traveled so quickly in these rooms, some people called them “penny universities”: a penny could buy a cup of coffee and access to a world of ideas. [D]

Coffeehouses also shaped the development of business. Ship owners and traders, for example, met at Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse to share news about ships and cargo, and those gatherings eventually grew into one of the world's best-known insurance markets. The government, however, viewed coffeehouses with suspicion. In 1675, the king ordered them closed, claiming that they spread false rumors. Public protest was so strong that the order was withdrawn within days.