On this day in 1664, according to the entry in his diary, Samuel Pepys “went to Mr Bland’s and there drank my morning’s draft in chocolate”. London’s first chocolate-house, in a Frenchman’s house in Queen’s Head Alley off Bishopsgate, had opened only shortly beforehand, in 1657. Chocolate was a considerable luxury in the mid 1600s, costing as much as 13s/lb (£50/lb in today’s terms, according to The National Archives invaluable “currency converter”). The chocolate- and coffee- houses of the time were places where rich and “respectable” types could meet, and also, importantly, transact business, without social stigma (unlike ale-houses). Thus it was that certain of the financial institutions of the City, for instance Lloyds of London, were initially founded.
You may be interested to know that there are walks by my colleague Matthew Green which actually include sampling of period-authentic wines, coffees and chocolate!
Mmmm! Might have to follow this walk next time! Perhaps there’s a chocolate house nearby!