Grub Street is the former name of the present day Milton Street, London, EC2. The name Grub Street in various forms dates back to 1217 and but was changed in 1830 in order to honour a local builder called Milton.

According to Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, the term was "originally the name of a street near Moorfields in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems, whence any mean production is called grubstreet".

In current usage the term is used in western literary and journalistic circles to characterize any hack writing, done quickly, for a fee, generally with minimal research.

See also

• New Grub Street - a novel by George Gissing

External links

• For the history of the street name
• To see a modern map
• Johnson's Dictionary entry