At five storeys tall and only ten feet wide, it might be easy to wander past No. 16 Fleet and miss what is now known as 1 Inner Temple Lane. On the approach down London’s Chancery Lane, the building’s apparent narrowness seems to suggest that it was dropped into place to fill a gap between the Temple Archway and the other historic buildings to the West. But 1 Inner Temple Lane was no afterthought and holds a rich history dating back to the reign of Henry VII. The Templars were a religious order of Knights founded in the 1120s to protect the pilgrims and to defend pilgrim routes. The Knights Templar were the first inhabitants of the area we now know as The Temple. The Temple was land reverted to the Crown and - following the reign of Edward II in the 14th century - land eventually conveyed to the Knights of St John in 1338. It is from around this time that we learn of a building lying to the West of the Inner Temple gate, which still serves as the gated entrance to the Inner Temple Church. Following the Reformation in the 1540s, all property previously belonging to the Knights of St John was confiscated by the Crown. Throughout the reign of both the Tudor and Stewart monarchs the freehold of 1 Inner Temple Lane passed through various different hands before it was eventually bequeathed to Christ’s Hospital. At that point the neighbouring property – No. 15 Fleet Street – became the site for the ‘Rainbow Tavern’, the second coffee house in London. In consequence, 1 Inner Temple Lane was soon dominated by such neighbouring activity. The ground floor on either side of the entrance bears testimony to this. The ever-growing popularity of social coffee drinking gave rise to what became continuing disputes between nearby booksellers. These merchants were concerned about the sparks flying from the chimneys of the coffee houses, and no doubt the sparks of those who would drink within them as well. Other coffee houses were established in the surrounding buildings. These included ‘Nando’s’, which was situated on or near the present site of 1 Inner Temple Lane. Various prominent lawyers would frequently settle themselves in for an afternoon at such early-day cafeterias. These included Edward Thurlow (1731 – 1806), the late Lord Chancellor, who – it is said – fathered two children by the barmaid at ‘Nando’s’. 1 Inner Temple Lane was used consistently as a popular meeting place for barristers, pupils and clerks. This popular tradition of coffee mornings continued up until the last century when 1 Inner Temple Lane was damaged in the blitz. After the Second World War 1 Inner Temple was happily and successfully restored, meaning that the building remains one of the oldest in the Temple to have survived the Great Fire of London. The ground floor now houses a legal bookshop whilst the remainder of 1 Inner Temple Lane now accommodates the Chambers of Marion Smullen.