Today I went to the City of London, my old stomping ground where I worked for twenty years as a futures and options broker. I decided to do a small tour in the Square Mile and even visit the Museum at the Bank of England. I started my tour around Cornhill and some of the alleys around that area. I first stopped by the Jamaica Wine House which is the original place of the first Coffee House in the City of London. The Coffee Houses were the precursors for the stock exchanges or bourses where merchants and the public started dealing in stocks.
Here is also the plaque that shows where the first coffee house in London stood. In the first photo above you will notice that the end of the alley leads to Cornhill which is where the old London stock exchange, the Royal Exchange, is presently located and now acts as a luxury shopping centre!
The Royal Exchange, "Home of Luxury Shopping"! Nowadays all the trading on the London Stock Exchange is done electronically!
Along the road down Cornhill I turned left into Change Alley. Change Alley became famous back in 1720 when the South Sea Bubble was raging and speculation was rampant. The public traded the South Sea Company stock outside in Change Alley.
Today as I visited the City this is what Change Alley looked like! Not much activity as you can see as traders and investors now sit at their computers in office buidings!
After visiting Change Alley I came out of the Alley onto Cornhill and walked down the road towards the Bank of England and Threadneedle Street.
After a very short walk I came to the end of the Royal Exchange building and there emerged the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street aka the Bank of England.
A bit further down Cornhill a statue of Wellington, the man who defeated Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo, and the Bank of England in the background appears just before I cross Threadneedle Street to walk down Princes street and the side entrance to the Bank of England.
The Threadneedle street crossing.
Half way down Prices street and the bank wall there is this side gate which used to be used in the past to transport gold bullion into the bank.
Once on Princes street I walked down a few hundred yards down and as you can see even the Bank of England has a very high wall all the way down towards its back wall at Lothbury.[BoEPrincesStreet.jpg(
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Prior to turning right at the end of Princes street one walks through this open archway or arcade built by the Bank of England for the public in 1936. Notice that "big brother's" CCTV camera is watching you!
Interestingly too there is the symbol of the owl watching you as you walk though this archway onto the back of the back towards Lothbury.
After walking down the back of the bank at Lothbury I turned right onto the other side of the Bank of England onto Bartholomew Lane towards the entrance of the Museum.
Once in the Bank of England Museum with my iPhone, they allow you to take pictures as long as there is no flash, I came upon some very interesting facts. The one that surprised me the most was that George and Martha Washington were stock holders of the bank back in the 18th century. Here is the proof:
More details about the Washingtons:
The other enlightening fact is that the Bank of England had many stock holders as this document from 1721 shows. Unfortunately the whole list of stock holders was not provided. Notice that some stock holders, probably the "whales" of that time had more rights and votes than some of the minions!
I also noticed that the Bank of England admits, in plain sight if you bother to look, that printing money without gold backing (QE or Quantitative Easing) leads to the debasement of the paper currency and inflation! Interesting that we are also told by the same institution that nowadays this phenomenon does not apply! What has changed?
Even though we are supposed to believe gold does not matter anymore the Bank of England still holds thousands of tonnes of the yellow metal in its vaults. Unfortunately for the U.K. the bank only holds around 300 tonnes. What was nice about the museum was that I was able to touch a 400 troy ounce bar which is worth around $500'000 in paper at today's much manipulated gold price. Unfortunately the bar was very well guarded and protected!
Another interesting gold bar at the museum was a N.M. Rothschild & Sons gold bar given to the Bank of England commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Rothschild bank. You can use your imagination as to why the Rothschilds would donate a gold bar to the Governor of the Bank of England!
Whatever one thinks about the institution of central banking I highly recommend a visit to the Bank of England Museum. Everything is hidden in plain sight which many think is the best way to hide things. Oh I forgot to say as well that the entrance to the museum is free! I guess that at least the the public has gotten a little back from all the national debt created out of thin air by the Bank of England and the bankers who control the institution!
Awesome, love London so much!!!!
money is one of them power of life and you visited london city and bank england.banking prosess very important for every people money for carefull keeping and gives alots of benefit.i am really appreciating your post.hopefully you giving banking system post in your blog next post.i am waiting this information.every photo just impressive.i support your good thought work.. thanks to sharing for your good idea with us. very well done..take care yourself andbest of luck of your great work.may god bless you. sir @maneco64
Thanks.
welcome sir for your support..sir @maneco64
Psy would really love to see more steemit posts from @maneco64 like this
Very interesting never been will have to check it out next time i'm in the big smog!
They say the truth is always hidden in plain sight 💯🐒
Hey Mario, you should do a meet and greet combined with a guided tour in the city. Would be great for your followers.
London is an awesome place,,The dream city!!!
Thanks for sharingHave a Nice travel!!!!!@maneco64
Awersome visit place.
Great bank this is.
Thanks for sharing.
Travel give a fresh mind,,I also like travelling..London is a magical city,,I wanted to visit this city on my childhood..but i have no chance,,I hope i will go there ,,Thanks a lot for remind my memories,,
Great quality photos @maneco64