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On London’s Fleet Street, the Presses Have Stopped for Good On London’s Fleet Street, the Presses Have Stopped for Good
(about 17 hours later)
Just as Savile Row does for lovers of custom tailored men’s wear, Fleet Street in London stands for something in the popular imagination: the British press.Just as Savile Row does for lovers of custom tailored men’s wear, Fleet Street in London stands for something in the popular imagination: the British press.
So it was a notable moment in the life of Britain’s capital when two journalists packed up recently and left the London office of a Scottish newspaper, The Sunday Post. They happened to be the last of their kind actually working on Fleet Street.So it was a notable moment in the life of Britain’s capital when two journalists packed up recently and left the London office of a Scottish newspaper, The Sunday Post. They happened to be the last of their kind actually working on Fleet Street.
The thoroughfare was for generations the center of a thriving newspaper landscape, clustering the offices of the most famous publications together in a historic part of London, sandwiched between the city’s financial and political districts. Though Britain’s national papers were (and remain) fierce competitors, their employees tended to mix and congregate after hours in the same Fleet Street bars and pubs, which prospered from the industry’s ferocious drinking culture. The thoroughfare was for generations the center of a thriving newspaper landscape, clustering the offices of the most famous publications together in a historic part of London, sandwiched between the city’s financial and political districts. Though Britain’s national papers were (and remain) fierce competitors, their employees tended to mix and congregate after hours in the same Fleet Street bars and pubs.
“For a century, the street was a classless Illyria,” Andrew Marr, a BBC journalist and former newspaper editor, wrote in a book about British journalism. He called the street “a fantasy territory where eccentric Old Etonians, chippy Welsh grammar-school boys, Mancunian crime reporters, Eastern European Marxists and angry Australians on the make could rub shoulders, and where the conventions of middle-class London life were temporarily suspended.” “For a century, the street was a classless Illyria,” Andrew Marr wrote in a book about British journalism. He called the street “a fantasy territory where eccentric Old Etonians, chippy Welsh grammar-school boys, Mancunian crime reporters, Eastern European Marxists and angry Australians on the make could rub shoulders.”
Walking down Fleet Street now, you can still find some of those old drinking holes, but you are just as likely to find a Starbucks or one of its caffeinated rivals. The street around them has smartened up, and Goldman Sachs now occupies the grand former offices of The Daily Telegraph, whose top-floor executive dining room once overlooked a rooftop terrace, complete with a lawn. Walking down Fleet Street now, you can still find some of those drinking holes, but you are just as likely to find a Starbucks or one of its rivals. The street around them has smartened up, and Goldman Sachs now occupies the grand former offices of The Daily Telegraph.
The big newspapers have long since moved away. A critical moment came in 1986, when The Times of London, during a bitter labor dispute, abruptly relocated from Gray’s Inn Road (some distance north of Fleet Street, but still part of “Fleet Street”) out to Wapping in East London. Then The Daily Telegraph moved even farther east, to the Docklands, a newly redeveloped area that has rather less to do with shipping these days than with financial services.The big newspapers have long since moved away. A critical moment came in 1986, when The Times of London, during a bitter labor dispute, abruptly relocated from Gray’s Inn Road (some distance north of Fleet Street, but still part of “Fleet Street”) out to Wapping in East London. Then The Daily Telegraph moved even farther east, to the Docklands, a newly redeveloped area that has rather less to do with shipping these days than with financial services.
Still, such is the enduring power of the Fleet Street name that Rupert Murdoch, the owner of The Times and several other national papers, returned this year to be married at St. Bride’s, a church reconstructed in the 17th century by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London. Still, such is the enduring power of the Fleet Street name that Rupert Murdoch, the owner of The Times and other papers, returned this year to be married at St. Bride’s, a church reconstructed in the 17th century by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London.
Despite its changing surroundings, St. Bride’s still describes itself as “the Journalists’ Church, offering a spiritual home to all who work in the media.”Despite its changing surroundings, St. Bride’s still describes itself as “the Journalists’ Church, offering a spiritual home to all who work in the media.”