Exchange Alley
/ɪksˌtʃeɪn(d)ʒ ˈali/ /ɛksˌtʃeɪn(d)ʒ ˈali/historical after 18th cent
noun
By metonymy: a market for the buying and selling of public securities, located in and around the coffee houses of Exchange Alley, London, in the early 18th cent. Hence: the body of people associated with this activity.
- A fire in 1748 destroyed most of the coffee houses in Exchange Alley. Although many were subsequently rebuilt, the stockjobbers and stockbrokers soon after formed a formal association, acquiring premises in nearby Sweeting's Alley, which later became known as the Stock Exchange..
Origin
Early 18th century. From Exchange Alley, the name of a narrow London street in which the trading of shares and commodities took place in the early 18th cent., especially in and around the alley's many coffee shops.