The City of London has pledged £2.5m annually to revitalize the Square Mile and attract tourists. Photo: Jason Hawkes/Getty Images Europe
The vault in the basement of 27 Poultry used to store the valuables of Midlands Bank clients. Today, a 20-ton safe door leads to a member-only cocktail bar, The Ned.
The conversion of this historic building into a five-star hotel has provided insight into how to reinvent the Square Mile in a post-pandemic era.
The City of London Corporation, which runs the area, wants to convert empty offices into hotels as part of plans to turn the financial district into a “global vacation spot” that could attract vacationers and pleasure seekers along with bankers in suits.
Up to 20% of old office buildings can be turned into hotels, officials say.
“The City Hospitality Fund will play an important role in realizing the Destination City vision,” said Shravan Joshi, Chairman of the London Corporation's Planning and Transport Committee.
The Destination City plan was developed by the City of London in 2022 as the Square Mile was experiencing the effects of pandemic restrictions.
With workers stuck at home, the area's economy collapsed and there was doubt that the offices would ever fill up again. Realizing that the area must change, the City of London has pledged to spend £2.5 million annually to revitalize the area and attract tourists.
The transformation of the Midlands bank vault into a cocktail bar for visitors to The Ned encourages others to follow suit. Photo: Simon Brown/Simon Brown Photography
Spending examples include an event dubbed “The Golden Key” last October, which featured musicians, theater and circus performers at 17 locations in the city, including the Old Bailey, the Mansion and City Hall.
“Major events and exciting new seasonal arts and culture events will bring the city’s streets and spaces to life,” says Joshi.
City doesn't just want people to go to work to make art and have fun: they want them to stay too.
“As we work to turn Square Mile into a 7-day-a-week vacation destination, hotels will help accommodate a wide variety of visitors that are expected to grow substantially,” says Joshi.
According to Avison Young, the number of hotels in the area nearly doubled from 24 to 42 between 2013 and 2022.
New builds include the Canopy by Hilton, a four-star hotel in Mainoris, and four -star hotel Westin London City, located near St. Paul's Cathedral.
The number of hotels is growing by 1507
The success of The Ned on Poultry, located just around the corner from the Bank of England, shows why more operators are connecting to it.
Launched in 2017 by The Ned on Poultry. Soho House Group, most nights the hotel is full. It has 10 restaurants and 17 bars, as well as 250 hotel rooms, a gym and a spa.
Joshie says: “Population and job growth is projected to rise significantly in the coming years, with the London Plan requiring an additional 58,000 serviced housing units in the capital between 2017 and 2041.”
The push to attract new visitors to the city is that public transport travel in the area remains 25% below pre-pandemic levels, according to the Greater London Authority.
Although the worst fears about empty offices did not materialize, according to McKinsey, attendance has stabilized at about three days a week. The opening of many new hotels also gives the city an elegant solution to another problem: what to do with old offices that no one wants.
Not only is the office sector struggling as companies lay off staff in the wake of the pandemic, but landlords are also facing huge extra costs to bring buildings up to clean zero standards.
New laws passed earlier this year prohibit landlords from renting out offices with an energy efficiency rating of E or lower. By 2027, this floor will rise to a rating of C, and by 2030 – B.
Many landlords now face the unattractive prospect of spending large sums on building renovations as rents and demand fall.
0104 Unletable London
The City of London Corporation believes that at least 20% of these old offices could be turned into hotels, breathing new life into them and bringing them up to environmental standards.
James Walker, Head of London Office Leasing at Avison Young, said: “It's clear from a sustainability and policy standpoint that reuse is preferable to demolition where possible.”
“Old buildings with broken structural issues ( for example, low floor-to-ceiling height) that do not meet today's standards will be considered first for reuse.”
The City of London is considering introducing a 'fast track retrofit' process that would put existing building renovation projects at the forefront of the planning approval process. This could encourage more developers to convert the area's historic buildings into hotels.
Joshi says, “In our city plan, we are taking a modernizing approach that will be a strategic foundation for the city's development in the coming years.”
However, in the rush to attract new businesses and visitors, the city will not forget office workers.
Although Bank Subway Station is no longer as busy as it was before the pandemic, commuters are still key to the Square Mile. HSBC recently announced it was moving its headquarters from Canary Wharf to the City as a sign of continued corporate interest.
In addition to leisure visitors, the needs of business visitors need to be taken into account, including the provision of suitable meeting, conference and exhibition space, Joshi emphasizes.
It seems that in the city of the future, pleasure seekers will associate with stockbrokers – at least if you take the example of 27 Poultry.
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