Description
The Grocers' Company, which had grown out of the Guild of Pepperers recorded in 1180, purchased the house of Lord Fitzwalter in 1427, at that time a much larger site. The Company's first Hall dated from 1428-33 and was rebuilt over the years; it was let to the Bank of England from 1690-1734. The present Hall was built in 1970 after its late C19th predecessor was destroyed in a fire. There was a garden in Victorian times, although it was reduced in size when the Bank was extended and Prince's Street realigned in 1798-1805, and encroached further when the Midland Bank was extended in the 1920s. What remains of the garden is a triangular courtyard with a small amount of planting along one side; a statue of St Anthony of Vienne is by the main entrance, formerly in the Hall of 1889.
Practical Information
| Site location | Grocers' Hall Court, off Prince's Street |
|---|---|
| Postcode | EC2R 8AD |
| What3Words | ///moved.giant.simply |
| Type of Site | Private Garden |
| Borough | City of London |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | private but publicly accessible Monday-Friday 8.30am-5.30pm |
| Public Transport | Tube: Bank (Central, DLR, Northern, Waterloo & City) / Monument (Circle, District) |
| Research Updated | 1 December 2002 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
The Grocers' Company, which had grown out of the Guild of Pepperers recorded in 1180, purchased the house of Lord Fitzwalter in 1427, at that time a much larger site; the Company's first hall here dated from 1428-33. The Guild of Pepperers had formed as a religious and social fraternity of merchants and moneyers trading in spices, gold and other luxury goods from Byzantium and the Mediterranean; the expression 'peppercorn rent' derives from the occasional practice of using pepper as currency. The Hall was damaged in the Great Fire of 1666, and it was rebuilt and enlarged in 1680-82. From 1690 to 1734 the building was let to the Bank of England. In 1798-1802 a new Grocers' Hall was built, designed by Thomas Leverton, later altered in 1838 but demolished in 1888. In 1889-93 the Company's Surveyor, H. Cowell Boyes, designed a new hall, facing east, as well as offices situated between the hall and Prince's Street.
The present Grocers Hall was built in 1970 on the site of Boyes' hall which was destroyed in a fire in 1965. The Hall had a garden in Victorian times, but a large proportion of the garden to the east had been lost when the Bank was extended and Prince's Street realigned in 1798-1805. The site was also encroached when the Midland Bank was extended in the 1920s, and what remains of the garden is a triangular courtyard with a small amount of planting along one side, but the courtyard is largely used largely for parking. By the main entrance of Grocers' Hall is a statue of St Anthony of Vienne, taken from the earlier hall of 1889.
The present Grocers Hall was built in 1970 on the site of Boyes' hall which was destroyed in a fire in 1965. The Hall had a garden in Victorian times, but a large proportion of the garden to the east had been lost when the Bank was extended and Prince's Street realigned in 1798-1805. The site was also encroached when the Midland Bank was extended in the 1920s, and what remains of the garden is a triangular courtyard with a small amount of planting along one side, but the courtyard is largely used largely for parking. By the main entrance of Grocers' Hall is a statue of St Anthony of Vienne, taken from the earlier hall of 1889.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ326812 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | The Grocers' Company |
| Site Management | The Grocers' Company |
| Dates | 1889-93; 1970s |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | City of London |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | Bank |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
Gallery
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
St Olave's House is the tower of the church of St Olave Jewry, its former churchyard now a secluded railed garden. Among those buried here were Thomas Morsted, surgeon to Henry IV, V and VI and one-time Sheriff of London, and Giles Dewes, clerk of the libraries of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Following the Great Fire of 1666, the medieval church was replaced by a Wren church, itself demolished in 1892 apart from the tower, which was converted for the rectory for St Margaret Lothbury. The garden has been open to the public since the 1890s and St Olave's House is leased as offices to solicitors.
The Bank of England dates from 1694 but did not have its own building until 1724; it has had a Garden Court since 1781 when, the Bank's premises needing enlargement, the Church of St Christopher-le-Stocks was demolished and its churchyard incorporated as a garden. As the Bank's business increased in the late C18th onwards, Sir John Soane was commissioned to further expand the buildings which he reconstructed between 1788 and 1827, his banking halls particularly famous. From 1916 the Bank underwent further rebuilding largely under Sir Herbert Baker, completed in 1939, during which the original position of the garden courtyard had changed to the present site. A War Memorial with a bronze statue of St Christopher by Richard R Goulden, 1921, stands in the current garden, which has lawns, trees and flower beds.
Lothbury is first recorded in connection with St Margaret's Church in the late C12th and probably derives from a family called Lotha. The medieval church was rebuilt in 1440, destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666 and the present church by Christopher Wren dates from 1683-9. St Margaret's is now sandwiched between two commercial buildings, the Overseas Bankers' Club of 1866 to the east, and the former Royal Bank of Canada of 1932 to the west. To the north what remains of the churchyard is a small secluded garden.
