After the Fire:
Insurance, Finance
and a rebuilt City
A new IM exhibition opening at the Bank of England Museum
5th October – 27th November 2026
Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm (last entry 4.30pm)
Open late every third Thursday of the month, until 8pm (last entry 7.30pm).
Closed Bank Holidays and weekends.
Free admission.
After the Fire: Insurance, Finance and a rebuilt City
Thirty-six years after the Great Fire of London, the City was looking a very different place to the old medieval timber-framed built place it was. New brick buildings were constructed in a contemporary style, with large doorways and square windows. A magnificent Royal Exchange had been rebuilt, and a large marketplace where much of London’s trade was conducted. English trade had expanded across the world, including the Americas, and goods were arriving in London, being stocked in warehouses and traded.
Large coffee houses around the Royal Exchange were packed with people, meeting one another, catching up on gossip, conducting business deals, and networking. Coffee was a new drink in England, and was very popular. It raised the spirits, kept you on your toes, and was good for business deals.
HANDY LLOYD
CAPTAIN THOMAS BOWREY
The Bank of England had been established a few years earlier, in 1694, was found in Grocer’s Hall. All sorts of people were investing in the bank, from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to servants. It was a hive of activity.
The streets were busy with merchants, investors, insurers, stock-jobbers, and even everyday people looking to make a quick profit. They would be found going from place to place to carry out their business, between the coffee houses, the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange, all out to make money.
After the Fire, is a new major exhibition from the Insurance Museum. It looks at the year 1702, when the early fire insurance companies were booming, Edward Lloyd’s Coffee House was packed full of marine insurers and brokers, and everyday people who were looking to invest their money.
The Insurance Museum is proud to be working with exhibition designers mr.creative studio and acclaimed illustrator and printmaker Alice Pattullo, whose distinctive style will create a dramatic visual world that will house the exhibition’s immersive design. The exhibition will include a large-scale street scene depicting London around 1700 and a richly detailed interior reconstruction of Edward Lloyd’s Coffee House, the birthplace of the global marine insurance market.
It will evoke the texture, colour and atmosphere of the early financial city, inviting visitors to step directly into the world of merchants, underwriters and investors who shaped modern commerce.
Public Engagement & Education
A wide-ranging programme will extend the exhibition’s reach, including:
Workshops for primary and secondary schools.
Based on the exhibition themes and the national curriculum, our education specialist will deliver a variety of workshops, looking at the history of insurance, how insurance works, personal finance and careers.
Please contact the Insurance Museum Education Manager on education@insurancemuseum.uk
Family activities during October half term and the Lord Mayor’s Show.
More details available in September.
A family trail based around the exhibition and the Bank of England Museum, based on the fire marks of the early fire insurance companies. Ask at the front desk for a trail.
A range of lunchtime talks, tours and a Museum Late.
Details will be available in September.
Insurance sector focused events, including tailored walking tours from City’s Insurance District to the Bank of England Museum and an evening reception.
Please contact us for more details:
director@insurancemuseum.uk or info@insurancemuseum.uk
These activities position the exhibition as both a cultural and educational asset, strengthening public understanding of risk, resilience and financial literacy.
With thanks to our partners for supporting the exhibition
Registered Charity address:
C/o Chartered Insurance Institute
1st Floor, 30 Old Broad Street
London. EC2N 1HT
Charity No. 1188138
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