London symbols are tumbling like dominoes. Beefeaters are being laid off, TechHub — the city’s answer to Silicon Valley — has gone bust and love-it-or-hate-it Cereal Killer Cafe has shut up shop. Even the Tower of London’s famed ravens, missing the usual tourist hustle and bustle, are fleeing.
The UK’s capital generates roughly a quarter of the country’s economic output and is home to about 13 per cent of its population. It is expected to bear much of the pandemic-induced economic pain. The Greater London Authority forecasts gross value added — a measure of contribution to gross domestic product — will fall 16.8 per cent this year.
Covid-19 has turned some of London’s strengths into weaknesses. Take density. As lobby group London First’s John Dickie notes, few global cities share its cheek-by-jowl nature. Tech start-ups in California drive to investors; in London they can walk. Wall Street bankers who want to bend politicians’ ears board a flight to Washington; in London you can be at the Houses of Parliament from the City within half an hour. Social distancing has scattered that ecosystem.