Elephants, big cats, monkeys and everything in between all packed into a first-floor petting zoo. What could go wrong? Lots, it turned out, but not before Exeter Change became one of Georgian London’s most famous attractions introducing thousands of people to exotic beasts from around the world for the very first time.

Before The National Gallery, a gigantic Georgian stable complex stood here, tending to the needs of over 200 royal horses and housing dozens of workers. The King’s Mews was at the heart of one of the biggest urban horse populations in the world and an equestrian craze that gripped an entire nation.

Too often overlooked as an industrial pilgrimage site, it was here that muscle power, horse and human, combined with steam to propel beer into the modern age.

This viewpoint explores the role of the Freemasons’ Tavern in the foundation of the Football Association and the so-called ‘birth’ of association football.