Cheapside

Other cities and towns in England that have a Cheapside include Ambleside, Ascot, Barnsley, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Derby, Halifax, Hanley, Knaresborough, Lancaster, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Manchester, Nottingham, Preston, Reading, Settle, Wakefield and Wolverhampton.

There is also a Cheapside in Bridgetown, Barbados; Lexington, Kentucky, US; Greenfield, Massachusetts, US; Saint Helier, Jersey; and London, Ontario, Canada.

During state occasions such as the first entry of Margaret of France (second wife of King Edward I), into London in September 1299, the conduits of Cheapside customarily flowed with wine.

The dangers were, however, not limited to the participants: a wooden stand built to accommodate Queen Philippa and her companions collapsed during a tournament to celebrate the birth of the Black Prince in 1330.

It is also the site of the 'Bow Bells', the church of St Mary-le-Bow, which has played a part in London's Cockney heritage and the tale of Dick Whittington.

A reference to it is also made in Henry VI, Part II, in a speech by the rebel Jack Cade: "all the realm shall be in common; and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass".

Thomas Middleton's play A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (1613) both satirises and celebrates the citizens of the neighbourhood during the Renaissance, when the street hosted the city's goldsmiths.

Jane Austen, in her 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice, characterises Cheapside as a London neighbourhood frowned upon by the landed elite:[6] "I think I have heard you say that their uncle is an attorney in Meryton."

Other localities have had their day, have risen, become fashionable, and have sunk into obscurity and neglect, but Cheapside has maintained its place, and may boast of being the busiest thoroughfare in the world, with the sole exception perhaps of London-bridge.

[7]Hugh Lofting's book Doctor Dolittle, published in 1951, names a quarrelsome London sparrow with a Cockney accent Cheapside.

In a more contemporary treatment, the Cheapside of the Middle Ages was referenced in a derogatory sense in the 2001 movie A Knight's Tale as being the poor, unhealthy and low-class birthplace and home of the unlikely hero.

[8] William Gibson's mystery novel The Peripheral depicts a 22nd-century Cheapside converted to a Victorian-era cosplay zone where only 19th century costume is allowed.