This neighbourhood stretches along Cornhill from the Bank junction to the end of the street, meeting Bishopsgate to the north, Gracechurch Street to the south, and Leadenhall Street to the east. To the west Cornhill connects with Poultry. The Royal Exchange is a dominant landmark at the Bank junction, with most of the streetscape in neoclassical style. The “Cheesegrater” building can be seen towards the east end of Cornhill, just outside of the neighbourhood. Most of the area is characterised by office blocks, with chain stores on the ground floor – ranging from retail stores to supermarkets to eateries. Narrow lanes and alleyways branch out from the main street, mostly populated by more offices. Cornhill is home to a few old drinking fountains and water pumps, such as the La Maternite drinking fountain and the Cornhill Water Pump.

Cornhill was one of the first areas in London to be settled by the Romans, who established a Basilica and Forum in the area. The area would become a commercial hub for the City, with the district around the Royal Exchange prioritising finance, overseas commodities, and commercial information businesses. The area was largely obliterated in the Great Fire of London, after which it saw new improvements and better regulated building materials, producing the contrasting uses of stone for main buildings and brick along secondary routes, still observable today. Coffee houses and later private houses containing private banks were established, and they saw another significant renewal during the Victorian era. Bank station opened in 1900, becoming one of the capital’s busiest Underground interchanges.

The Royal Exchange was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, an English merchant and financier. Educated in Cambridge and trained as a lawyer, he was an agent of England in the Low Countries, smuggling war materials and bullion and engaging in espionage. Gresham also operated in the foreign-exchange market to control the fluctuations in the exchange rate between countries where England owed loans and reparations. His name is immortalised in economics for Gresham’s Law – the rule that bad money drives out good.

The Royal Exchange was officially opened in 1571 by Queen Elizabeth I, as a commercial marketplace based on the Antwerp Bourse. The building would be completely destroyed by the Great Fire of London and later rebuilt, with Charles II laying the first stone foundations. This building would succumb to fire again in 1838 before the present-day Royal Exchange building opened in 1844, with Queen Victoria present for the opening this time. The new design retained the four-sided building around a courtyard that was central to the original building. It also included designs inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, as well as other Italian Renaissance designs.

Even the alleyways branching out from Cornhill are often busy – the Bank junction is one of the most congested and polluted in London. Local offices, however, are largely removed from this congestion. Numerous venues, such as the Royal Exchange, offer people the opportunity to eat and relax away from the noise. Furthermore, the area is becoming increasingly pedestrianised, although the hustle and bustle tends to fade outside of office hours.

The City of London Corporation has recently limited traffic in the Bank junction, from April 2017 for a period of up to 18 months. Only buses and cyclists are able to use the junction from 7am to 7pm, in an effort to make the junction safer for road users. Recent improvements have also been made to Bank and Monument Station, including a new entrance on Cannon Street, and an expanded Northern Line platform with step free access via a new concourse. Above this new Cannon Street entrance will also sit a new office block. Taller than originally planned, planners recently gave permission for TFL to add an eighth floor to their plans, with work scheduled to start by the end of 2022.