Penny University (thing)

insight into London's17h-century cafe culture

"Europe's coffeehouses functioned as information exchanges for scientists, businessmen, writers and politicians. Like modern web sites."
—Tom(?) Standage¹

The arrival of coffee in London traces back to the late 16th century, introduced via trade routes from the Middle East. The beverage quickly gained popularity among both the British elite and commoners. By 1652, London saw its first coffeehouse open its doors, marking a significant shift in the city's culture of social engagement and public discourse.

These new establishments quickly became hotspots for intellectuals, writers, and everyday citizens—offering an alternative to the rowdy atmosphere of the traditional tavern. Within the coffeehouse walls, vital social issues were debated, scientific theories discussed, and literary movements born. For the price of a single penny, one could sit among the great and influential, listening in on—or contributing to—discussions that shaped the era. Thus, they earned the nickname: *Penny Universities*.

Coffee had spread from the Arab world through Central Europe before arriving in England, and its influence extended beyond London. In Oxford, scholars gathered over their cups as eagerly as their London counterparts. One poet, a certain Anthony Wood, scholar and acedemic, lamenting this cultural shift, wrote:

Why doth solid and serious learning decline,
And few or none follow it now in the university?
Answer: because of coffee houses,
Where they spend all their time.

Yet this was not necessarily to the detriment of knowledge. In 1684, in one such coffeehouse, Sir Christopher Wren, Edmond Halley, and Robert Hooke debated the nature of gravity and planetary motion. Hooke asserted that an inverse-square law could explain elliptical orbits, and a wager was made. Though none present could prove it, Halley later brought the question to his friend Isaac Newton. Newton would go on to provide the proof—not in conversation, but in the now-legendary *Principia Mathematica*.

In my student days, it was in cafés—not lecture halls—that much of my learning happened. Through conversations about what others had been reading and exploring, ideas came alive. There was something about the atmosphere—unpressured, inquisitive, open—that made these places more conducive to discussion than anywhere else on campus.

¹The quotation is attributed to just "Standage" and I've not for sure found out which one. Tom Standage is Deputy Editor of The Economist and author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses, and I'd bet it's him.

$ xclip -o | wc -w
413