Top 5 Financial Districts to Live and Work - London

This is part 2 of a 5-part series where we take a close look at the major financial centres around Europe. This time, it’s London. You can find more information on relocating in our Guide to Relocation and Country Information here.

“You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford”.

Samuel Johnson.

London needs no introduction: it’s the home of Shakespeare and Dickens; it’s a global financial behemoth; an inspirational cultural brand unto itself, stacked full of museums, theatres and fabulous cityscapes; it’s one of the most visited cities in the world (pre-pandemic) and it’s huge draw of business, people, tourism, money, and talent from around the world.

London is the beating heart of the UK and a global cultural barometer for everything from sport to music and film. London is almost a city of two halves – although not as historically prescient as Rome, its weaving, jumped streets are littered with the remnants of thousands of years of history, while also being a city of both incredible fiscal and business importance in Europe: it is famously regarded as the world’s financial capital.

Despite a year of closed West End shows, empty sports stadiums, and minus the throngs of shoppers on Oxford Street, London remains an incredibly inspiring place to visit and work, and a very desirable place to live.

Geography and Travel

  • London is not shy of a major travel terminal and is home to British Airways. The airports of Heathrow and Gatwick are just 2 out of 6 major terminals serving the wider London region. In 2019, London Heathrow was the busiest airport in Europe, and the 2nd busiest airport in the world by international travel numbers. London is also home to the Eurostar, the sub-channel train line connecting it with mainline Europe, with tickets to Brussels or Paris starting at approx. £50.
  • Ferry services to mainland Europe are accessible from Dover, in the Southeast, and Portsmouth in the South.

Culture

  • London is a vibrant kaleidoscope of cultural diversity and prides itself on being one of the most accessible, safe, and inclusive cities in the world
  • Most famously, London’s West End is a cultural magnet: its proximity to Chinatown and Soho makes it a melting pot of music, theatre, food, and hospitality. London also plays host to the famous Notting Hill Street Carnival, and smaller weekly events like the Columbia Road Flower market and Borough Market add a sense of intimacy amid the grand spectacle of the city’s huge event scene
  • London is also home to some of the world’s oldest and most revered museums: the British Museum, the V&A, the Imperial War Museum and the Natural History Museum are 4 of 170 museums in the city
  • Sport plays a large part in the cultural capital of the city (Wimbledon, The Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race, Wembley Stadium, Lords Cricket Ground) and many stadiums play host to everything from football games to touring bands and boxing matches
  • London is also incredibly multicultural. Over 200 languages are spoken in the city of London, and 1/3rd of Londoners are foreign born

Education

  • London is home to globally renowned universities such as UCL, SOAS, University of London, and King’s College London and many more, and tens of thousands of students from all over the world call London home for their formative higher education needs
  • The city itself plays home to some of the country’s highest achieving schools, such as Westminster School and St Paul’s Girls School. The home counties and wider metropolitan area surrounding London is also home to many established, and famous, schools such as Harrow and Eton.

Property prices and Living

  • London is famously expensive to live in when compared with almost every other European city. The average house price (as of May 2021) is £678,273, which is double the price of Paris, and the median monthly rent for properties in London is £725.

Business Sector and Financial Cityscape

  • The main areas of traditional business in London – the City (or the Square Mile), and Canary Wharf (pre-pandemic working numbers of 120,000 people working there every day) have recently been usurped by the rising popularity of East London to tech companies (the Silicon Roundabout), and the more favourable prices (and cultural diversity) of spaces south of the river in places like Battersea, Oval and Brixton.

There are many resources you can read to find out more about London, including visitlondon.com

Similar posts:

Relocating for a Job Post-pandemic – Is It worth It?, Relocation And Country Information

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

09-06-2021

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