1652 - Restaurants

Restaurants

London's first coffeehouse opens at the Sign of Pasqua Rosee's Head in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill. One Daniel Edwards has obtained several bags of coffee from Constantinople and set his servant, Pasqua Rosee, up in business. Rosee distributes handbills stating that his coffee is "a very good help to digestion, quickens the spirits, and is good against sore eyes, dropsy, gout, King's-evil, &c." Within 10 years there will be 3,000 coffeehouses in London and neighboring cities. (The Sign of Pasqua Rosee's Head will become the Jamaica Wine House.)