Queen’s Lane Coffee House

Order a cappuccino where the concept of utilitarianism was invented. Fred Cherrygarden (Atlas Obscura User)

The Queen’s Lane Coffee House in Oxford, England, claims to be the oldest continuously run coffee house in Europe. It sure is old, having been established in 1654 by a Levantine Jew from Syria named Cirques Jobson, though it has only been located on the present site since (circa) 1970.

There is another claimant to the title in Oxford, the Grand Café on High Street, which was originally founded in 1650, a coffee house opened by a Jewish entrepreneur named Jacob. It is Europe’s oldest in that aspect, but technically speaking, it has not continually been a coffee house throughout its history unlike the Queen’s Lane Coffee House.

During the 18th century, when the Queen’s Lane Coffee House was named Harper’s Coffee-House, philosopher Jeremy Bentham founded the modern concept of utilitarianism here.