Inns and Taverns of Old London

The author surveys historic London hostelries, coffee-houses, clubs, and pleasure gardens, tracing their development from medieval inns through the rise of coffee-houses and exclusive clubs to popular public entertainments. Organized by district and by type, the work provides descriptive accounts of notable establishments, their literary and social associations, and anecdotes drawn from records and period engravings. Chapters treat Southwark inns, taverns around Cheapside and Fleet Street, coffee-houses by the Exchange and near St Paul’s, literary and gaming clubs, and celebrated gardens such as Vauxhall and Ranelagh, using documentary detail to evoke changing urban social life across the centuries.