14 Facts About Fleet Street

Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London.

Fleet Street has been an important through route since Roman times.

The term Fleet Street remains a metonym for the British national press, and pubs on the street once frequented by journalists remain popular.

Fleet Street has a significant number of monuments and statues along its length, including the dragon at Temple Bar and memorials to a number of figures from the British press, such as Samuel Pepys and Lord Northcliffe.

Fleet Street is named after the River Fleet, which runs from Hampstead to the River Thames at the western edge of the City of London.

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Fleet Street was established as a thoroughfare in Roman London and there is evidence that a route led west from Ludgate by 200 AD.

Tanning of animal hides became established on Fleet Street owing to the nearby river, though this increased pollution leading to a ban on dumping rubbish by the mid-14th century.

Many taverns and brothels were established along Fleet Street and have been documented as early as the 14th century.

An important landmark in Fleet Street during the late Middle Ages was a conduit that was the main water supply for the area.

The resulting Wapping dispute featured violent protests at Fleet Street and Wapping that lasted over a year, but ultimately other publishers followed suit and moved out of Fleet Street towards Canary Wharf or Southwark.

The Associated Press has an office in Fleet Street as did The Jewish Chronicle until 2013 when it moved to Golders Green.

Since the post-Wapping migration, Fleet Street is more associated with the investment banking, legal and accountancy professions.

Fleet Street is a square on the British Monopoly board, in a group with the Strand and Trafalgar Square.

One of the Chance cards in the game, "You Have Won A Crossword Competition, collect £100" was inspired by rival competitions and promotions between Fleet Street-based newspapers in 1930s, particularly the Daily Mail and Daily Express.