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A Gate Shut At Night, A Poet Born Beside It
Locksmith Moorgate: The Gate That Was Shut At Night
Moorgate began as a City gate with a wooden door shut every night, and its stone was sold off for £166 in the 1760s. John Keats was born just outside it. Call 020 8534 4949 for a locksmith who knows the street behind the name.
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Covering Moorgate from the Bank end to Finsbury Pavement. Open in Google Maps
Why Moorgate Is Different
A street named after a door that shut every night
Moorgate is now a broad City street running north from Bank towards Finsbury Pavement, lined with offices. Its name comes from a gate. At first, though, there was only a small postern in the wall here. It led out to Moorfields, a marsh where the River Walbrook flooded, so locals were said to use boats when the water rose.
In 1415, during Thomas Falconer's year as Mayor, the postern was replaced with a bigger gate. It came with a wooden door to be shut at night. The gate was enlarged in 1472 and 1511, and damaged in the Great Fire of 1666. In 1672 it was rebuilt in stone, mostly for show. Eventually the City demolished it in 1761 and sold the stone for £166 to the Corporation, which used it at London Bridge. A plaque at the corner of Moorgate and London Wall marks the spot.
A Poet Born Just Outside The Gate
Moorgate has a literary claim too. John Keats was born here on 31 October 1795. Tradition puts his birth at the Swan and Hoop, a livery stable and inn a little north of the gate. His grandfather, John Jennings, held the lease, while his father, Thomas, worked there as an ostler. A City of London plaque at 85 Moorgate records the birth, although nobody has proved the exact house.
The stables served travellers on what is now City Road. Keats was baptised nearby at St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, on the old Bishopsgate stretch of the wall, and the font he was baptised in is still in use there.
The gate's first job was to be shut at night. That's still what a good door is for, so we keep the ones on this street doing it.
Short on time? Lockout help handles a shut door. A tired lock can wait for a repair visit. After dark, the night line picks up.
What Moorgate Residents & Businesses Call About
Where Moorgate's doors tend to fail
Multi-Storey Office Blocks
Moorgate's towers and mid-rise slabs have busy desks and many tenants. So suite doors and cupboards fail as often as street doors, and commercial security covers all of them.
Book aheadStation-Side Shops & Cafés
Commuter flows past Moorgate station make ground-floor units some of the busiest in EC2, so a quick lock repair keeps them open.
Same-day priorityOlder Buildings Near Finsbury Pavement
Towards the northern end, some buildings still carry heavy period doors. Where a lock has failed, a careful replacement suits them better than a rush job.
Book aheadWeekend & Evening Lockouts
Moorgate empties fast once the commuter rush ends, so our lockout service is there for whoever is left outside.
Call nowBroken Or Snapped Keys
A key that shears off in a busy suite door stalls a whole team. The broken keys page explains how we get it out cleanly.
Call nowOvernight Staff & Cleaners
Cleaners, security staff and night workers keep these buildings running after dark. The night line exists for them.
Any hourOutside our remit: copying keys, and setting up building access systems. Your managing agent's own suppliers handle both.
Locked Out On Moorgate
When the commuter rush ends
Moorgate's rush hours are famous for crowds, and a door that jams then costs a team its morning start.
By contrast, late evenings and weekends leave the street strangely empty. Someone locked out then wants a quick answer and a calm engineer.
In every case we open before we break, and drilling comes last.
Key snapped, or gone missing? The broken keys and lost keys pages set out what each involves.
Along Moorgate
From the Bank end to Finsbury Pavement
The Bank end of the street, around Lothbury.
The northern stretch, by London Wall and Ropemaker Street.
Built on ground that was once part of Moorfields.
Leaves Moorgate at its southern end, heading west.
A short walk east, past Finsbury Circus.
Reached by following Finsbury Pavement into City Road.
What We Do
Services along Moorgate
Shut At Night
The end-of-day door, then and now
The gate's whole job was to be shut at night. A modern office door has the same job, yet it tends to fail at the same moment: the end of the day. Cleaners, late workers and last-out staff all touch the door, and each assumes somebody else checked it.
Three quick checks help. First, does the latch catch when the door swings shut? Second, is the deadlock thrown, not just the latch? Finally, does the last person out know who holds the keys?
The gate's own story is set out by The History of London. Keats's likely birthplace is covered on the Keats Locations site.
Wondering whether a door needs a new lock or just a service? Describe how it behaves, and we'll say which we suspect.
The Process
How a locksmith Moorgate callout works
- Ring or messageTell us the building, the floor and the fault.
- We confirm accessEntry is arranged with the desk, the agent or you.
- The engineer inspectsA price follows the inspection, not the phone call.
- We check outLatch, deadlock and door are tested before we leave.
Access & Traffic
Getting to you on a main north–south route
Moorgate is one of the City's main north–south routes, so it carries buses and heavy foot traffic at rush hour. However, restrictions apply at the Bank end, so we check the current rules for the route.
Moorgate station sits on the street, with Liverpool Street and Bank both a short walk away. So for a quick job, an engineer on foot or by Tube can beat a van.
Side lanes and courts off the street can be tight, and some office entrances face side streets, so we confirm which door you mean before setting off.
Why People Call Us
What Moorgate offices rely on us for
- We think like a night door. The end-of-day lock-up matters as much as the fault itself.
- We plan around the rush. Commuter peaks shape when and how we arrive.
- Every door in the building. Lift lobby to plant room, not just the front.
- Offices first, flats too. Commercial and residential jobs get the same care.
- Clear on what we skip. Copying keys and access systems aren't ours to do.
- Reachable at every hour. Cleaners and night staff get an answer too.
Nearby
Areas around Moorgate
Common Questions
The Moor Gate
Was Moorgate really a gate in the City wall?
Yes. It stood on the north side of the wall and led out to the marshy ground of Moorfields.
Did the gate really close at night?
Yes. The larger gate built in 1415 included a wooden door that was shut at night.
What happened to the gate's stone?
The gate was demolished in 1761. Its stone was sold for £166 to the City of London Corporation, which used it at London Bridge.
John Keats
Was John Keats really born on Moorgate?
He was born in Moorgate on 31 October 1795. The exact house isn't proven, but tradition points to the Swan and Hoop livery stables.
Who ran the Swan and Hoop?
His grandfather, John Jennings, held the lease. Keats's father, Thomas, worked there and later managed it.
Where was Keats baptised?
At St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, where the font used for his baptism is still in use.
Booking On Moorgate
Which stretch of Moorgate do you cover?
The whole street, from the Bank end up to Finsbury Pavement, plus the courts and lanes off it.
Can you reach me at rush hour?
Yes. We time arrivals around the commuter peaks, so an engineer may finish the journey on foot.
Do you help with end-of-day lock-ups?
Yes. On request we check latches, deadlocks and key holders as part of a visit.
What if the reception desk is closed?
We agree the entry route with you before setting off. That might be a key holder, a contact or the managing agent.
Do you work on ground-floor shops as well as offices?
Yes. Station-side shops and cafés are a regular part of our work here.
Do you carry on through bank holidays?
Yes. Our lines stay open every day of the year, bank holidays included.
Moorgate shut at night. Make sure your door does too.
Office, shop or flat on Moorgate — send us the address and the fault, and we'll take it from there.