Lloyds building

Known as Lloyds, it is an insurance market, not a company. Lloyds insures whist Lloyds Register assesses.

It began in Lloyds Coffee House on Tower Street in 1688 by Edward Lloyd. 

It has had several relocations during its life: Lombard Street, the Royal Exchange in Cornhill (where many of its records were destroyed by fire in 1838) and Lime Street.

In the late 1980s to mid 1990s a series of catastrophes including Lockerbie, Piper Alpha and asbestos claims (insurers hadn't properly realised the nature of future risks and did not reserve money for it) meant that Lloysds syndicates lost nearly £8 billion. 

Today, Lloyds can insure anything: fleets of ships and aircraft, factories, oil rigs, art, a hole in one, Keith Richards fingers, Egon Ronays taste buds! 

One in six cars is insured through Lloyds.

The present building was designed by Richard Rogers and completed in 1986 - an inside outbuilding..the exoskeletal design was to maximise space. 

In the Underwriting Room stands the Lutine Bell*, now only rung for ceremonial purposes, deaths of monarchs or statesmen, or anniversaries of major world events.

*Tours can be arranged