Conclusion

The coffeehouse became a cultural icon of the city of London, of the male sex, and of the intellectual. It allowed commoners to interact with elites and through this process, they gained a platform for their voices to be heard on political issues. Despite the freedom of speech in coffeehouses being so worrisome to the British government that it sought to banish them, the popularity and cultural significance of the coffeehouses meant they could not be stopped or silenced. They allowed news from newspapers to flourish and intellectual debate to thrive. Men of the same trade would often coalesce in coffeehouses to discuss their work. “Coffeehouses became associated with specific trades, acting as meeting places where actors, musicians, or sailors could go if they were looking for work” (Standage, 152). The coffeehouse as an institution complemented the Enlightenment and the scientific and cultural ideas and reforms associated with it. Compared to the taverns before them, the coffeehouses were smarter, more elegant and less violent. The coffeehouses were male-dominated and they allowed men from different social classes to come together, drink and debate important issues of the day. Perhaps its greatest flaw was the social rules it created which dictated that women should not be seen in them. “There was no need to formally exclude them because it was assumed that no woman who wished to be considered virtuous and proper would want to be seen in a coffee-house” (Ellis 2004, 66). Its male dominance led to men taking on feminine traits such as gossip and foppery. Yet its rise was an important step in the intellectual transformation of not just England but Europe as a whole, as the London coffeehouse became the exemplary model. The institution was a catalyst for social progress because it stimulated political and cultural thoughts and ideas in a way that alehouses never could.