Lombard Street, London

Lombard Street is a street in the City of London. It runs north-west from the corner of the Bank of England, where it meets a major intersection including Poultry, King William Street, and Threadneedle Street, and runs south-east to Gracechurch Street. It was a piece of land granted by King Edward I to goldsmiths from the Lombardy region, Italy. It is the site of the church of St Mary Woolnoth, and number 54 was the long-standing headquarters of Barclays Bank before they moved to One Churchill Place in Canary Wharf. Until the 1980s most UK based banks had their head offices on Lombard Street and historically it has been the London home for money lenders. The church of St Edmund the King and Martyr stands on the north side close to Gracechurch Street. Destroyed during the Great Fire of London during 1666, the church was rebuilt during the 1670’s by Sir Christopher Wren. It is no longer open for regular worship and now performs service as the London Centre for Spirituality. A garden at the rear of the church in nearby George Yard, if albeit of modest proportion, appears alas, not to be open to the public. Lloyd's Coffeehouse, which eventually became Lloyd's of London, moved to Lombard Street near the General Post Office from Tower Street in 1691. Lloyd's is now located on Lime Street, where its new headquarters building was completed in 1984. Lombard Street is also now home to stock market small cap investment specialists Lombard Asset Management. The closest tube stations are Bank and Monument. Gregory De Rokesley, eight times Lord Mayor of London between 1274-1281 and 1285, lived in a building on the site of what is now number 72 Lombard Street and Pope's Head Alley. Alexander Pope, poet, was born at number 32 Lombard Street in 1688.

Trivia

'Lombard street to a China orange' is a phrase which means very badly stacked odds. (Lombard Street signifying wealth of the Italian Lombard merchants in London and China orange poverty and want)

See also

• Lombards