On the 11th March 1702, Britain’s first newspaper – the Daily Courant – began publishing from rooms above the White Hart pub in Fleet Street. It was more like a leaflet than a newspaper as it was just a single page with two collumns.

Fleet Street

Publishing started in Fleet Street around 1500 when William Caxton's apprentice, Wynkyn de Worde, set up a printing shop near Shoe Lane.

Fleet Street was the home of the British press until the 1980s. Most of the major national papers were located here. Since the digital printing revolution, most have moved, and only Reuters remains. The Times and The Sun moved to Wapping. The Guardian went to the Isle of Dogs, and the rest went to London’s Docklands.

Fleet Street is named after the Fleet River, one of the many rivers that now flow beneath London's streets to the Thames.

Who was WilliamCaxton?

William Caxton was the first English person to work as a printer and the first person to introduce a printing press into England.

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River Thames - London's most famous river