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Former coffee house in London, England From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nando's was a coffee house in Fleet Street in London. It was known to exist in 1696, being the subject of a conveyance, and was popular in the 18th century, especially with the legal profession in the nearby courts and chambers.
The name Nando is thought to be a short form of Ferdinando,[1] and its exact address is given variously as somewhere between 15 and 17 Fleet Street.[1][2] David Hughson wrote in 1807 that Nando's occupied the building at 15 Fleet Street[1] which was previously the Rainbow Coffee House.[3] However, property deeds in the Middle Temple Archive place the location of the coffee house at 14 Fleet Street.[4]
The venue was a favourite haunt of Edward Thurlow, who became Lord Chancellor, and he was satirised as being enamoured of the landlady's attractive daughter.[5]
Charles Lamb refers to Nando's in his essay "Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading", writing, "Newspapers always excite curiosity. No one ever lays one down without a feeling of disappointment. What an eternal time that gentleman in black, at Nando's, keeps the paper! I am sick of hearing the waiter bawling out incessantly, 'The Chronicle is in hand, Sir.'"[6]