Bordering north of the Bank of England, Lothbury Street started to make its name through founders and merchants that casted and sold objects, such as candlesticks and spice mortars, that were made out of copper. Leading out of Lothbury, Tokenhouse Yard, built during the reign of Charles I, was once the office for delivering tokens (currency coins) by many London tradesmen. With many few exceptions, copper coinage that was distributed was illegal in England until 1672. According to Queen Elizabeth, copper coins were seen as “black money,” when copper coins were washed with silver, creating counterfeits that ended up in circulation.
In James Malcolm Rymer’s The String of Pearls, or, The Barber of Fleet Street: a Domestic Romance (1850), Lothbury Street is the location of the stockbroker Mr. Brown. He is in charge of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett’s joint account. Today, Lothbury is swarmed with commuters heading to the Bank, Moorgate, and Liverpool Street underground railway stations.