I have just spent a fantastic early Valentines weekend with my girlfriend down in London! Its has been a few years since I was there last to stay over, and so much has changed in and around the centre, for the better. But after seeing how much money is being spent in London, it does make me wonder; is the rest of the country going to waste?
London is the financial capital of Britain and the rest of the world. Just look at the districts were the Gherkin and Canary Wharf towers are – just about dripping with money. Then there is the £2bn redevelopment of Southwark which includes over half a dozen brand spanking new glass covered financial and business buildings which Wall street would be jealous of, with The Shard the crown jewel of the whole project. The City has worked hard to get to the top financial spot in the world, but after coming back up to the North of the country, I couldn’t help feel that the rest of England has been left out of the finance party. Any financial centres up beyond the Midlands are on such a small scale. Leeds and Manchester probably being the biggest. It’s unnerving that the whole of the UK depends on London’s financial clout to bring in so much business.
It’s mainly the financial aspect of London that emphasizes the massive focus on the capital and nowhere else. I know that the Government has announced new regeneration centres in 14 sites all over the country. But I feel that these won’t make as bigger impact due to tough economical conditions – especially here in the North of the country. Let me make one thing clear. There is absolutely no recession in London whatsoever! Nothing! According to the London Underground adverts, £62bn was spent in the capital last year, making it the most spent in city in the world!
To help the spread of wealth and jobs in the country, an idea could to to pump investment money and focus more international developers towards more Northern cities, to help breed new jobs and create better financial health around the North of England. Leeds or Manchester already have the space and infrastructure to do it. Both have international airports, with Leeds/Bradford Airport getting development money and Manchester already being a very large established international airport, with room to expand. The North has all the same tools to make it a success as the South and London has done, so why not explore those possibilities?
I’m not on a London bashing mission here. I think the job London has done to make Britain such a great place to invest financially is brilliant! But London is there now, it’s established and comfortably holds first place. All I’m saying is that it’s time to look further North and tap into the potential there too now.
Most of our customers and enquiries come from London. Mainly due to the High cost of items etc out there. Life in London is very different from most other places in the UK I for one am glad I do not live there.
btw great blog
UPVC Windows – I couldn’t live there. I could probably work there, but I wouldn’t have a car. I just couldn’t fathom driving in that city! I would just use the tubes and walk!
Thanks for your kind comments!
As someone that lives and works in London it is in recession you only have to look at the high streets, shopping centres to see that let alone speaking to my customers who are struggling to get business in as we all have massive mortgages to pay etc. You should do a check on where the lowest levels of povity are in the UK (yes they are in London) This country has for many years spent millions propping up the labour heartlands of the North and look what good its done, the reason the South is bucking some of the… Read more »
Can’t see the cost of living in the north being the same as London? I was in Gloucester this weekend and petrol is £1.32 there as to £1.37 here..Also a lot of companies I know of have had to either down size or move to premises to outside of London to compete with the northern market.
Unfortunately now it seems there’s a big trend of customers buying a companies product from the other end of the country and then asking local smaller companies or just registered fitters to install them. Leaving the local competitive markets to suffer.
Manufacturing in the Greater London Area is expensive for reasons already stated , extremely high property values and rents, not to mention a wage structure that has to relate to other wages being paid.Maybe the new proposed rail scheme ,HS2, will make a difference ,but that is some way ahead.Ordinary people in London certainly are not better off than elsewhere in UK.
Let’s face it, it’s tough everywhere. Friends of mine in London and Birmingham alike have lost big time in recent years (in different industries) but have found ways to bounce back. When it comes to “work ethic” it’s hard to make sweeping generalisations. Most of my extended family are north of Manchester and they are without doubt the hardest working bunch of people I know. All I know is how hard I work and how hard most small business owners work to build their businesses and keep their staff employed through difficult times. My only gripe with London is the… Read more »
It’s out of order to suggest that everyone in the north has a “woe is me” outlook and poor work ethic. While the whole country has been affected badly by the current recession (London included), the south wasn’t ravaged by the pit closures and collapse of manufacturing and industry that happened in the 80s (caused by Thatcher or greedy unions depending on your political outlook – not something I want to get into here, but the result is the same). So the north has already experienced a massive contraction in the job market while the south remained relatively untouched.