Long Acre

Drury Lane (WC2) This, in the reign of Henry VIII, was an open field, called The Elms, from a row of those trees that grew upon it. The next name it acquired was The Seven Acres, which, in the reign of Charles I, when it was first laid out into streets, was changed into The Long Acre. Taylor, the" Water Poet," as he was called, kept a public-house in it. Long Acre enjoys the pre-eminence of having possessed the first mug-house in London. The Tory Riots led to the Mughouse Clubs in the days of the first George. (Reference: Smith's Streets of London, p. 173)