The London Stock Exchange formally opened in 1801. Its creation marked the point when London’s increasingly organized securities market became a regulated exchange with formal membership and trading rules.
Stock trading in London had developed earlier around coffee houses. In the late 17th century, brokers gathered at Jonathan’s Coffee-House, where John Castaing published lists of share and commodity prices. In 1773, brokers established a more formal Stock Exchange in Sweeting’s Alley.
The 1801 Subscription Room introduced tighter control over access: brokers paid to use the room, helping distinguish the exchange from the less regulated street and coffee-house trading culture that preceded it. The exchange moved to Capel Court in 1802 and later became a major center of global finance.
A common mix-up is treating 1801 as the beginning of all London stock trading. The year refers to the formal establishment of the exchange, not the first appearance of securities dealing in London.