Threadneedle Street is a street in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, England, between

Bishopsgate Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate gave its name to the Bishopsgate Ward of the City of London. The ward is traditionally divided into ''Bishopsgate Within'', inside the line wall, and ''Bisho ...

at its northeast end and Bank junction in the southwest. It is one of nine streets that converge at Bank. It lies in the ward of Cornhill.

History

The street is famous as the site of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

; the bank itself is sometimes known as 'the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street' and has been based at its current location since 1734. The

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

was also situated on Threadneedle Street until 2004, when it relocated to nearby

Paternoster Square Paternoster Square is an urban development, owned by the Mitsubishi Estate, next to St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. The area, which takes its name from Paternoster Row, once centre of the London publishing trade, was devastated b ...

. The

Baltic Exchange The Baltic Exchange (incorporated as The Baltic Exchange Limited) is a membership organisation for the maritime industry, and freight market information provider for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative contracts. It was locate ...

was founded in the on Threadneedle Street in 1744; it is now located on St Mary Axe.

Etymology

Some believe that the name originated as Three Needle Street (first attested in 1598), perhaps from a signboard portraying three needles, or from the three needles on the arms of needle-makers who had premises on the street. The threads and needles used by the members of the

Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors ] The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 110 Livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Company, originally known as the ''Guild and Fraternity of St John the Baptist in the City of London'', was founded prio ...

is another possibility, since the livery company's Merchant Taylors' Hall, London, hall has been located on Threadneedle Street since 1347. Before 1598, the road was part of Broad Street (now Old Broad Street).

Points of interest

In addition to the Bank of England, there are a number of shops, banks, restaurants and offices located on Threadneedle Street. The Merchant Taylors' Hall, home of the

, has occupied a site off Threadneedle Street since 1347. It is said that it is here that the God Save the Queen, British national anthem was sung, in private, in 1607 for the first time, conducted by

John Bull John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...

. The headquarters of the

South Sea Company The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...

was located on the street from 1711 to the 1850s. The London office of the world's oldest merchant bank,

Berenberg Bank Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, commonly known as Berenberg Bank and also branded as simply Berenberg, is a multinational full-service investment bank based in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded by the Flemish Berenberg family in 1590 () ...

, is located at No. 60. The nearest

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

station is

Bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

. London's first bus service ran between Threadneedle Street and

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

from 1829. Today, the street is served by bus routes 8, 11, 23, 26,

133 133 may refer to: *133 (number) *AD 133 *133 BC *133 (song) 133 may refer to: *133 (number) *AD 133 *133 BC __NOTOC__ Year 133 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scaevola ...

, 242, and 388. Over 5000 tonnes of gold bars are held by the Bank of England (both official reserves of the UK Treasury, and others) in a system of eight vaults over two floors under Threadneedle Street.

References

;General
''Threadneedle Street'', Old and New London: Volume 1 (1878), pp. 531-544

External links

* {{London landmarks Streets in the City of London