London, once proud of its club life, is sadly in decline. Low customer spending, rising costs and a general malaise have taken their toll on a once optimistic industry.
But the biggest problem, according to Jack Henry, who runs one of the UK's biggest clubs, E1 in East London, is red tape and hostility from the authorities.
“Most of the time we struggle to stay open,” he says.
Police Licensing Officer checks in weekly. Noise complaints, antisocial behavior, and police inquiries about cases of customer disturbance on the train home add to the never-ending stack of paperwork.
"90% of the times we didn't do anything wrong" He says. When problems arise, «instead of working with the venue, they tend to try to put more conditions on the license.»
In other major European cities and even in some smaller cities in the UK. Henry says «they welcome the industry» and the money it brings.
“It seems that in London we are a kind of dirty underground club that no one wants.”
Perhaps it is not surprising that London has lost a quarter of its nightclubs. since 2019.
Henry's experience is just one example of the bureaucracy and bureaucracy that is choking the capital — from the Square Mile financial center to the bars and restaurants that make it a place for world-class living.
As new data shows the city is losing ground in financial services compared to its longtime rival New York, and dissatisfaction is mounting over London Mayor Sadiq Khan's controversial plans to expand green spaces for high-tax driving, even some of his biggest supporters questioning whether London has peaked ?
Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at the Center for Cities think tank, accuses the UK of being «extremely discretionary»; a regulatory system that allows businesses to feel like politicians make decisions when they make decisions.
He adds that outdated laws that have been in place for almost a century, including a rule requiring Londoners to have a direct view of St. Paul's Cathedral from about a dozen locations scattered across the capital, prevent the spread of information. done.
2303 TFL commuting
"There are all sorts of quirks in our regulatory system that mean you can't do things, and you can't always say yes you can, if only in this there is nothing wrong,” he says.
“And that means, more broadly, we didn’t build enough commercial space back then because of this rule that we have to have a line of sight to St Paul’s Cathedral from certain parts of London, which stops potential building into central London. We have limits on how many houses we want to build in and around London, which then pushes prices up and is indicative of a wider problem in the system.”
Tensions Between officials and business have even squabbled over a modest sausage. Greggs and Westminster City Council are currently arguing over a demand by a large street bakery to sell groceries in a store in Leicester Square, central London, all night.
Oxford Street has lost its lustre. Photo: Mike Kemp
Greggs has been turned down by the council' app, arguing that selling potato slices and BBQ chicken pieces all night could increase crime and unrest in the area. Greggs says the decision is unfair because other fast food chains like McDonald's are allowed to keep their doors open after business hours.
Khan exacerbated some of the growth problems. It has already faced business backlash ahead of the August expansion of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), while pursuing what critics see as vanity projects, including a £4m Transport for London project to explore renaming six Overground lines. /p>
A new report warns that the city's status as a global financial center is under threat from other capitals as companies continue to shun it as a stock market venue.
The CityUK and law firm Freshfields say the massive ecosystem of 200 foreign banks and foreign law firms based in London is «under severe challenge». The report warns that in financial services and technology, «it has lost ground to New York, with hubs like Singapore in the Indo-Pacific growing rapidly.»
UN trade data show direct investment flows to the UK in 2021 were $28bn (£22.5bn), one of the lowest on record, according to the report.
The CityUk wants regulation to be more streamlined and competition built into the regulators.” transmits. This is a move that Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has so far resisted.
The lobby group adds that urgent work needs to be done to stop more companies avoiding the London Stock Exchange in favor of a listing. in USA. He supports Jeremy Hunt's decision to look into changes to pension fund rules that will encourage them to invest more money in stocks.
The consequences of London's loss of luster have already been exposed. Bureaucracy and years of underinvestment are being blamed for a disappointingly small increase in annual productivity, which grew by an average of 0.2 percent between 2007 and 2019.
This compares to an average annual growth of 1.4 percent in New York. and 0.9% in Paris, with London's inefficiency costing the UK economy £54bn in 2019 alone, according to the Center for Cities.
Mr Sweeney, underinvestment also means companies forced to spend more money on building repairs than actually investing in something that will improve living standards.
"As a result, there has been less investment in research and development, data or new ideas that drive business growth" he adds.
0703 london Influx Housing
It has also led to a huge housing shortage, making it impossible for many to live in the same city they work in. At the same time, wages have stagnated and living standards have lagged behind. According to the Office for National Statistics, the average salary in the British capital is currently £41,860. In New York it is £50,483. These drastic differences are common in many elite professions.
According to Indeed, the pay for a surgeon is around £220,700 in the US compared to £82,600 in the UK.
& #34 ;London has been the growth engine of the UK economy in terms of providing a long-term standard of living" says Mr. Sweeney.
"And it has stopped in the last 15 years. And we should be concerned."
Mr Sweeney says the solution lies in streamlining the rules and building more houses.
Mr Henry's only hope of success at the moment is that the authorities have probably exhausted the amount of bureaucratic red tape with which they could punish him.
"Fortunately, we are now at a point where our condition is very complete. You cannot add more to our license to change it" He says.
This can hardly be a rallying cry for those who mourn the death of London's dynamism.
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