One of the world’s oldest stock exchanges, the London Stock Exchange can trace its history back more than 300 years to a time when most business took place in London’s coffee-houses. The earliest evidence of organized market trading comes from a list of stock and commodity prices that were posted in 1698 at Jonathan’s Coffee-house in Change Alley. In 1773, a number of brokers formed an association and erected their own building in Sweeting’s Alley, with a dealing room on the ground floor and a coffee-room above. This new building was soon named ‘The Stock Exchange’, and on 3 March 1801, the first regulated exchange came into existence in London. The Exchange received its own Coat of Arms in 1923, with the motto “Dictum Meum Pactum” (My Word is My Bond), and in 1972, Her Majesty the Queen opened the Exchange’s new purpose-built office block located at 125 Old Broad Street. In 2004, the London Stock Exchange moved its headquarters to Paternoster Square and merged with Borsa Italiana in 2007 creating the London Stock Exchange Group.
- London Stock Exchange
- 10 Paternoster Square, London EC4M 7LS
- www.londonstockexchange.com