Address
27 Brook StreetEdlesborough
Dunstable
Beds
LU6 2JG
Telephone Number
07507 237218Email Address
secretary@bacfi.org
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//Past Events 2026
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[2019] [2018] [2017] [2016] [2015] [2014]
[2013] [2012] [2011] [2010] [2009] [2008]
Legal Coffeehouses
International Women's Day (10 March)
Motor Commissions Webinar (18 February)
The Legal Coffeehouses of London Walking Tour
26th March 2026
Led by Dr Matthew Green, we began in Cornhill at the site of the first shack which was set up in 1652. It proved to be so popular at the time that people queued for 2 hours or more to sample the bitter black substance. More coffeehouses sprang up and were a meeting place for men to discuss news, politics, law and philosphy amongst other things, bringing forth many brilliant ideas that shaped the world that we live in today. Women were not allowed! At one point there were more than 300 coffeehouses in London. Everyone was expected to join the conversations after paying their penny to get in and could stay there all day with unlimited coffee. We found out about the literary coffeehouses by St Paul’s and into Fleet Street and finished at Middle Temple where we heard about law student, Dudley Ryder, who kept a secret diary outlining his experiences at the coffeehouses which he frequented and how the coffeehouses impacted his life. He went on to become Lord Chief Justice in the 1740s. The coffeehouses stayed around until the 1860s when communications improved and there was no longer a need for news to be transmitted through the coffeehouse conversations.
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