Former Site of the London Tavern

The London Tavern was located on Bishopsgate Street at the former site of the White Lion Tavern (Timbs 274). Constructed in 1768 and demolished in 1873, the London Tavern now occupies the address of Nos. 1-3 Bishopsgate, Cornhill, Bishopsgate, London. Currently, this site is the location of a branch of the HSBC bank (“London Tavern”). During the 18th century, however, Bishopsgate Street and surrounding regions were popular areas for coaching inns where travelers could stop prior to the popularization of railroads. As Bishopsgate lies at one of the entry points into the old City of London, travelers frequently stopped there upon entering the city (McLachlan). The Tavern was the location of numerous important meetings and dinners during its reign, including the foundation of the Society of the Supporters of the Bill of Rights in 1769, the 1789 meeting of the Revolution Society after the fall of the Bastille, and different fundraisers and dinners presided over by Charles Dickens in the mid-1800s (Cash 249; Abstract of History 8; “London Tavern”).

 

Abstract of the History and Proceedings of the Revolution Society, in London. Revolution

Society, 1790, https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_an-abstract-of-the-histo_revolution-society-lond_1790/mode/2up. Pamphlet.

Cash, Arthur H. John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty. Yale University Press,

2007.

“The London Tavern.” The Worshipful Company of Bowyers,

https://www.bowyers.com/meetingPlaces_londonTavern.php. Accessed 17 Apr. 2023.

McLachlan, Sean. “Travel Through Time at England’s Coaching Inns.” British Heritage Travel,

10 Apr. 2023, https://britishheritage.com/travel/travel-englands-coaching-inns. Accessed 17 Apr. 2023.

Timbs, John. Club Life of London, Vol. II. Richard Bentley, 1866.