Button's Coffee House

[1] The coffee house was known for a white marble letterbox in the form of a lion's head, thought to have been designed by the artist William Hogarth.

An inscription read "Cervantur magnis isti cervicibus ungues: Non nisi delictâ pasciture ille ferâ."

Customers at the coffee house included Joseph Addison, Ambrose Philips, Alexander Pope,[6] and Thomas Tickell – involved with The Guardian newspaper – as well as John Arbuthnot, Martin Folkes, and Jonathan Swift.

[1] The lion's head was moved to the Shakespeare Tavern and then various other several establishments before the Duke of Bedford acquired it for his country house, Woburn Abbey.

The location is now a Starbucks coffee shop at 10 Russell Street, to the east of the Covent Garden Market and south of the Royal Opera House.

Location of Button's Coffee House in Covent Garden (top right, marked with a coffee cup)
The lion's head letterbox at Button's Coffee House
View in Russell Street, including the Starbucks coffee shop on the left where Button's Coffee House was located