Exchange Alley, or Change Alley, is a narrow alleyway connecting shops and coffeehouses in an old neighbourhood of the City of London. It is bounded by Lombard Street, Cornhill and Birchin Lane. It served as a convenient shortcut from the Royal Exchange to the Post Office. Shops included ship chandlers, makers of instruments for navigation such as telescopes, and goldsmiths from Lombardy in Italy.
The coffeehouses of Exchange Alley, especially Jonathan's and Garraway's, became an early venue for the lively trading of shares and commodities. These activities were the progenitor of the modern London Stock Exchange. Similarly, Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse, at No. 16 Lombard Street but originally on Tower Street, was the forerunner of Lloyd's of London, the Lloyd's Register and Lloyd's List.
The nearest London Underground station is Bank (Central, Northern and Waterloo & City lines, and the Docklands Light Railway) and the closest mainline railway station is Cannon Street.
Read more about Exchange Alley: History
Famous quotes containing the words exchange and/or alley:
“If mass communications blend together harmoniously, and often unnoticeably, art, politics, religion, and philosophy with commercials, they bring these realms of culture to their common denominator—the commodity form. The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exchange value, not truth value, counts.”
—Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)
“Holly: Oh, Brad, I’d do my act in clown alley or the horse stop for you. I’d do anything if it was just for you.
Brad: Pigeon, look. Out under the sky you know how I feel about you. But under the Big Top one performer’s just like another to me.”
—Fredric M. Frank (1911–1977)