It is Thursday afternoon in the City of London and there is only one suit to be seen.
Europe’s financial centre, in coronavirus lockdown, is almost deserted. The bankers have disappeared and new tribes with different uniforms have taken over: builders in black trousers with reinforced knees and dusty boots; security guards in high-vis jackets pacing outside empty lobbies; and trim young men and women in Lycra running or cycling through the empty streets.
The one suit — double-breasted, with tie — is Nilesh Nagar, a reinsurance broker, who has popped out of his office near the Lloyd’s Building to post a letter. “It’s spooky,” he says, from a safe distance. “It’s good for coming in,” he adds, although he would prefer fewer builders on his train. “But that’s not really the point.”