Milk Street, London

Cheap is a small ward in the City of London. It stretches west to east from King Edward Street, the border with Farringdon Within ward, to Old Jewry, which adjoins Walbrook; and north to south from Gresham Street, the border with Aldersgate and Bassishaw wards, to Cheapside, the boundary with Cordwainer and Bread Street wards. The name Cheap derives from the Old English word "chep" for "market".The following roads run north to south across the ward: St. Martin's Le Grand, Foster Lane, Gutter Lane, Wood Street, Milk Street, King Street, and Ironmonger Lane. Within its boundaries are two Anglican churches: St Vedast Foster Lane and St Lawrence Jewry; a third church, St Mildred, Poultry, was demolished in 1872. Several Livery Halls are located in Cheap, including those of the Mercers', Goldsmiths', Wax Chanders' and Saddlers' Companies. A small part of the Guildhall lies within the ward's boundaries: the main entrance and main hall itself; the remainder is in Bassishaw. Also within Cheap are the Lord Mayor's and City of London Court and the southern end of Basinghall Street.

30 Gresham Street is an office building in Gresham Street in the City of London of 386,000 sq ft developed by Land Securities in 2002-03 and occupied by Commerzbank and Investec. When built, it was described as "the biggest speculative office development in the capital". The building is bounded in the south by Russia Row and Trump Street, in the east by Lawrence Lane, and in the west by Milk Street. It is on the site of the former Blossom's Inn as well as a number of other small alleys and courts such as Robin Hood Court, Russia Court, Mumford Court and Castle Court. It replaced an earlier building of the same name which became known as the "Night Club in the City".

All Hallows, Honey Lane was a parish church in the City of London, England. Of medieval origin, it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and not rebuilt; the site became part of Honey Lane Market, which was in turn partially cleared to make way for the City of London School in the 19th century. Much of the area was destroyed during the bombing in World War II and has been redeveloped. The name Honey Lane is retained in a nearby walkway.

Russia Row is a street in the City of London that runs between Milk Street and Trump Street on the northern side of the former Honey Lane Market. Russia Court, formerly Robin Hood Court, the home of the Russia Company, was once located on the northern side of the street and the City of London School on the south side. The street is thought to have received its name around 1804, shortly before Russia decided to enter the Napoleonic Wars on the same side as Britain. It was damaged by German bombing during the Second World War and has since been completely rebuilt.

Gresham Street in the City of London is named after the English merchant and financier Thomas Gresham. It runs from the junction of Lothbury and Moorgate at its eastern end, to St. Martin's Le Grand in the west. Gresham Street was created in 1845 by widening and amalgamating Cateaton Street, Maiden Lane, St. Anne's Lane and Lad Lane.The nearest London Underground stations are St Paul's, which can be reached via St. Martin's Le Grand to the south from its western end, and Bank, via Princes Street, a short distance to the south from its eastern end.

The Wood Street Compter (or Wood Street Counter) was a small prison within the City of London in England. It was primarily a debtors' prison, and also held people accused of such misdemeanours as public drunkenness, although some wealthier prisoners were able to obtain alcohol through bribery. The prison was built and opened in 1555, replacing the earlier Bread Street Compter, from which many prisoners were transferred. Wood Street was closed and replaced by Giltspur Street Compter in 1791.The Compter was originally one of two prisons, the other, the Poultry Compter, located on the Poultry. Both were destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666, although the Poultry Compter was rebuilt, and another compter, Giltspur Street Compter was constructed in 1791. The Wood Street Compter was still active in 1727 when The London Gazette (6 July p4) listed 13 insolvent debtors awaiting court on 25 August. During the closure of the compters, debtors were held in prisons in Southwark, including the Marshalsea and King's Bench Prisons, Borough Compter and Horsemonger Lane Gaol. Some wine cellars on Mitre Court were marketed as a party venue under the name of "The City Compter" but these appear to date from the mid 18th century; no sign of the prison was found during archaeological investigations of the site of a new office block at One Wood Street.

Honey Lane Market was an historic market near Cheapside in the City of London.It was built at the south end of Milk Street on the site of the parish church of St Mary Magdalen and All Hallows Honey Lane after the areas destruction in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and the market took over the area. The market at one time had 105 butchers' stalls. Edward Hatton noted in 1708 that the market was known for its meat, fish, and poultry.By 1835, the City of London School was built on part of the market site facing Milk Street on the corner with Russia Row. It was paid for with money bequeathed for the purpose by John Carpenter, city clerk in the reign of King Henry V. The school grew rapidly and in 1883 it moved to larger quarters on the Victoria Embankment.It was noted in 1927 that the market "retains much of its original semi-enclosed plan". There were many food shops, "though wholesale premises are gradually encroaching on the space".Honey Lane was completely destroyed and the surrounding area seriously damaged by German bombing on 29 December 1940.In the postwar reconstruction the market fell within a parcel of land (along with Milk Street Buildings, Freeman's Court, Trump Street and Lawrence Lane) covering 53,434 square feet, referred to as No. 11. The cost of reconstruction of the parcel of land was estimated at £520,500 (in 1952) with costs to tax payers turned into a surplus by 2013.The current Honey Lane, a breezeway, is approximately 100 feet east of the old one and connects Cheapside and Trump Street.

The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the modern area named London has since grown far beyond the City of London boundary. The City is now only a small part of the metropolis of Greater London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, the City of London is not one of the Greater London boroughs, a status reserved for the other 32 districts (including Greater London's only other city, the City of Westminster). It is also a separate ceremonial county, being an enclave surrounded by Greater London, and is the smallest ceremonial county in the United Kingdom. The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City (differentiated from the phrase "the city of London" by capitalising City) and known as the Square Mile, as it is 1.12 sq mi (716.80 acres; 2.90 km2) in area. Both of these terms are also often used as metonyms for the United Kingdom's trading and financial services industries, which continue a notable history of being largely based in the City. The name London is now ordinarily used for a far wider area than just the city. London most often denotes the sprawling London metropolis, or the 32 Greater London boroughs, in addition to the City of London itself. This wider usage of London is documented as far back as 1888, when the County of London was created.The local authority for the City, namely the City of London Corporation, is unique in the UK and has some unusual responsibilities for a local council, such as being the police authority. It is also unusual in having responsibilities and ownerships beyond its boundaries. The corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London (an office separate from, and much older than, the Mayor of London). The Lord Mayor, as of November 2021, is Vincent Keaveny. The City is made up of 25 wards, with administration at the historic Guildhall. Other historic sites include St Paul's Cathedral, Royal Exchange, Mansion House, Old Bailey, and Smithfield Market. Although not within the City, the adjacent Tower of London is part of its old defensive perimeter. The City has responsibility for five bridges in its capacity as trustee of the Bridge House Estates: Blackfriars Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Southwark Bridge, London Bridge and Tower Bridge. The City is a major business and financial centre, and the Bank of England is headquartered in the city. Throughout the 19th century, the City was the world's primary business centre, and it continues to be a major meeting point for businesses. London came top in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, published in 2008. The insurance industry is located in the eastern side of the city, around Lloyd's building. A secondary financial district exists outside the city, at Canary Wharf, 2.5 miles (4 km) to the east. The City has a resident population of 9,401 (ONS estimate, mid-2016) but over 500,000 are employed there, and some estimates put the number of workers in the City to be over 1 million. About three-quarters of the jobs in the City of London are in the financial, professional, and associated business services sectors. The legal profession forms a major component of the northern and western sides of the city, especially in the Temple and Chancery Lane areas where the Inns of Court are located, of which two—Inner Temple and Middle Temple—fall within the City of London boundary.

The Swan with Two Necks was a coaching inn in the City of London that, until the arrival of the railways, was one of the principal departure points for travel to the north of England from London. Its site was given over in the early 1860s to a goods and parcels depot for a firm of railway agents and carriers.

Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, where it becomes Poultry, is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and Bank station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St Paul's tube station and square. In the Middle Ages, it was known as Westcheap, as opposed to Eastcheap, another street in the City, near London Bridge. The boundaries of the wards of Cheap, Cordwainer and Bread Street run along Cheapside and Poultry; prior to boundary changes in 2003 the road was divided amongst Farringdon Within and Cripplegate wards in addition to the current three. The contemporary Cheapside is widely known as the location of a range of retail and food outlets and offices, as well as the City's only major shopping centre, One New Change.

Blossom's Inn was a tavern which stood in Lawrence Lane in the City of London from the 14th century until 1855. It became a substantial coaching inn and was used as a staging post by carriers of goods. In the 19th century, the lease was bought and it became the parcel depot of the Great Eastern Railway. Its name was used for a major property development at the end of the 20th century and the site is now part of the large complex of 30 Gresham Street.

Lawrence Lane is a street in the City of London that runs from Trump Street in the south to Gresham Street in the north. Its final section in the north is pedestrianised. An alley also joins it to King Street in the north. It once ran south to join Cheapside but that end was blocked following post-Second World War rebuilding. It was known as St Lawrence Lane from the 13th to the 18th centuries due to its proximity to the church of St Lawrence Jewry and until King Street was built was the main route from Cheapside to the London Guildhall.During the London Pageant of 1621 an artificial mountain was built on the lane as the seat of Phoebus Apollo and the zodiac, to celebrate the inauguration of Edward Barkham as Lord Mayor of London.A tavern known as Blossom's Inn once stood on the western side of the street on a large site on the corner with Trump Street from the fourteenth century until 1855. In the 1750s it became the London base for James Pickford, founder of the Pickfords removal firm. Archaeological excavations on the site in 2001 recovered Roman remains. The site became a parcels depot for the Great Eastern Railway in the nineteenth century before being renamed Blossom's Inn again in the twentieth century.