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Brand Exchange

Birchin Lane

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History

The site on which Brand Exchange stands has a rich and varied history. There have been buildings on our site since at least the Roman period. In fact we are just yards from the original site of the Roman Forum. In the Middle Ages there was a market on Birchin Lane and as London built its status as a trading and financial hub over the centuries, Birchin Lane was at its heart.
It was the site of many of the earliest coffee houses, which would grow to become the earliest stock exchanges, fuelling both booms and busts such as the South Sea bubble. Read on to find out more about Brand Exchange’s fascinating history that inspired the creation of the club.

3 BIRCHIN LANE: A BRIEF HISTORY

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100AD

The high ground of Birchin lane, on the banks of the Walbrook river valley, was one of the first settlement areas in Roman London. The Romans established their first basilica and Forum in its vicinity, alongside modern-day Gracechurch Street. The earliest building was replaced in c.100 AD by a larger aisled basilica and forum located between Fenchurch Street and Cornhill, and built a crossing over the Walbrook River in the area of Poultry and Walbrook.

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14TH AND 15TH CENTURY

Birchin Lane has been a thoroughfare running off Cornhill since the medieval era and its name is first documented in 1473. John Lydgate, a monk who lived between c.1370-1451 mentioned
a market located around Birchin Lane as early as the 14th century. According to documentary sources the name of the road could be derived from an old English word meaning ‘lane of barbers’.

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16TH & 17TH CENTURY

The road was known for men’s ready-made clothes shops. In 1573 Isabella Whitney, describes where to shop for different goods in 16th century London, suggesting Birchin Lane for women’s footwear, as “artisans sold boots and shoes and pantables or overshoes for walking in the dirty streets of London”.

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LATE 17TH CENTURY

Cornhill was one of the busiest thoroughfares in the City when during the 17th century three new and exotic beverages appeared in Europe: tea, coffee, and chocolate. The first establishment dates back to 1650 but 50 years later this type of institution was widespread. Coffee houses were places where, at least initially, higher class men could conduct business and exchange information and opinions. A penny would normally give admission to any man, without regard to rank or privilege, hence the reason why London’s coffee houses became known as “Penny Universities”.

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1748

The Cornhill Fire – From Exchange Alley a fire broke out, from the shop of wig maker Eldridge, the fire was the most dramatic since the Great Fire of 1666. Several houses and commercial premises were destroyed around the Birchin Lane area. The Garraway, the Jerusalem and Johnathan’s coffee houses, the Swan Tavern, and the rest of the houses in Change Alley were destroyed. The area was rebuilt after the fire and largely retained its layout which survived until Victorian times.

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1909

Edinburgh Assurance Company’s directors purchase the site at 3 Birchin Lane. The building on the site was built by Messrs Dunn and W Watson.

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1953

Although possibly slightly damaged by the war the building was acquired by Commercial Union Assurance Co.

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2013

3 Birchin Lane purchased by Brand Finance in November.

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2015

After a comprehensive refurbishment Brand Exchange is launched in January.

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BRAND EXCHANGE
3 Birchin Lane
London
EC3V 9BW

+44 (0)207 389 9410
enquiries@brandexchange.com

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© 2023 BRAND EXCHANGE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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For more information on membership contact enquiries@brandexchange.com

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  • Here at Brand Exchange we take your privacy seriously and will only user your personal information to administer your account and to provide the products and services you have requested from us. However, from time to time we would like to contact you with details of other offers, information, services, events or competitions we provide. If you consent to us contacting you for this purpose please tick to say how you would like us to contact you.
  • We would also like to pass your details onto companies who act as our data processors, Roxhill and Dotmailer so that they can contact you by post with details of offers, information, services, events or competitions that they provide. If you consent to us passing on your details for that purpose please tick to confirm.

A MEMBER OF OUR TEAM WILL CONTACT YOU WITHIN 48 HOURS TO CONFIRM YOUR BOOKING AND DISCUSS ANY SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.