Central London, and sandwich bars

I am not an expert economist, or sociologist, but as somebody who was born in West London, and who has lived in London all my life (apart from a year in Newcastle), these are my thoughts on where London is, and where it is heading, and where (I think) it should be heading.

First off, ‘London’. Let’s get the cliches out of the way. Yes London is one of the foremost financial centres in the world. Yes London is a massive economic piston for UK PLC/LTD/LLP/ORG. Yes London is, and will always be a very popular tourist destination. Yes London is a distinguished ‘world city’.

Also.. London is home to 5 of the 10 worst boroughs for child poverty in the whole of the UK, knife crime has increased year on year by 7.6% (2016/17), 14.0% (2017/18), 1.9% (2018/19) — also knife crime increased by 13.1% in the last year when London had a Conservative Mayor (I forget his name) — this is not a partisan piece.

Additionally, homelessness is an epidemic that is plaguing all of England, and has been year on year, however the reality is homelessness is as much a ‘London’ issue as it is an issue anywhere else — I’m highlighting that London is not all ‘money’, or some kind of ‘liberal’ Remain utopia. For me there are ‘5 Londons’, which have always existed since I was a child growing up in the 1980s:

1. The well off
2. Those in Zones 1–3 who are comfortable/relatively comfortable
3. Those in Zones 1–3 in poverty
4. Those in Zones 4–6 who are comfortable/relatively comfortable
5. Those in Zones 4–6 who are in poverty

The reason I’m making the distinction between ‘Zones’ is because generally Zones 1–3 are more socially liberal, and Zones 4–6 are more (small c) socially and economically conservative — with the exception of South West London which is often a happy hunting ground for the Lib Dems!

(2019 General Election result)

All 5 Londons are all equally key constituencies within the London ecosystem, politically, socially, and economically. It’s a melting pot, as many other cities and towns in the UK. How boring would life be if everybody voted the same way, and thought the same way.

There has been a lot of coverage about Prets closing (by the way it’s not just Pret — the independent sandwich bar near my office in Zone 1 has recently gone under). Some sneer “well it’s just Prets, sandwich bars”.. two things about this.. 1) like it or not, the hospitality industry accounts for almost 1 in 10 jobs in London and, yes that includes.. sandwich bars! So the burden on the state, and onto me and you of any unemployment should always be of utmost concern. So we should not dismiss sandwich bars. 2) Neither should we obsess only about sandwich bars (and other other hospitality jobs.. hotels etc). Remember the London constituency that is ‘Those in Zones 1–3 in poverty’. My concern is more poverty will befall those already in poverty. London needs to concern for the hundreds of thousands who will fall off of the economic cliff face from something of a perch, but also address the clear and present existing poverty faced by all Londoners.

So what could the future be for Central London? I think it would be a mistake to pine for ‘everything being exactly how it was in January’. That’s a unicorn. That’s just not going to happen. There was the pre-Pandemic Central London, and there will be the post-Pandemic Central London.

I think post-Pandemic Central London should be a Central London where much of the office space that will be vacated in the coming months and years is replaced by genuinely affordable housing, with the odd new park and pond. The Central London economy will inevitably mean far fewer commuters squishing like Flat Stanley into horrible, overcrowded tubes and trains to get into offices every day. This should not mean fewer jobs, I just think so many more jobs will move from ‘in person’ to ‘virtual’.

Of course if the above happened, Central London would be turned upside down — it would become so much more connected as regards family and community, but so less connected as regards work.

I think it would really help if the Mayor of London was an Independent. When Boris Johnson was London Mayor he could blame every shortcoming on Labour, as Sadiq Khan does on the incumbent Conservative Government. I think for so many Londoners (apart from political nerds) it’s most unhelpful that the position of Mayor of London is a partisan chess piece in the political game. It’s wearisome, and London needs less, not more weariness.

Build London Better.