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| During the 18th century a new active culture evolved. Coffee Houses sprang up all over London and attracted a variety of patrons. The crowd at coffee houses included doctors, merchants, writers, and politicians. Besides taverns, coffee houses were the first place for people to meet and talk about different issues. Runners were sent from coffee house to coffee house in order to relay information on major events of the day. They became a hub of news and inevitably a place where new ideas were formed. To learn more about how the coffee houses influenced the culture of London in the 18th century please follow the links below. |
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Coffee Houses: | This page includes information on the most famous coffee houses of the time. It also has information on the type of clientele each attracted and a description of the characteristics of each. |
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Creativity: | This page includes information on how the coffee house culture centered around literature and how this affected several literary works and writers of this time. . |
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Creations: | This page includes different pieces of art work both visual and musical that were created around the coffee house. It includes several images of work and information on the inspiration of the pieces and what the pieces aimed to tell about the coffee houses |
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College: | This page includes information on the Penny University a nickname that coffee houses received. Why this name came about and further information on these penny universities is also included on this page. |
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Compelling Facts: | This page includes compelling facts about the coffee houses of the 18th century. |
| After some time, in order to control the clientele and raise the status that the coffee house offered, many coffe ehouse owners began only allowing people who obtained a membership to enter. This conversion of coffee houses into clubs came at the same time as coffee consumption began to decline due to import duties on coffee increased significantly. Also the British East India Company began importing tea. These two factors contributed to the decline and disappearacne of the coffee house culture in London. At the end of the 19th century there were an estimated 1,400 coffee houses in London, but the essence of coffee house life that had once been a large part of London's society was lost. (Pelzer) |