No, London’s economy hasn’t lost its lustre. Here’s why
The FT has once again remembered to write about London, the city in which the paper was founded and where the lion’s share of its staff, and its readership, is based.
Though it turns out the pink’un hasn’t many nice things to say. London’s economy has lost its lustre, the paper writes. Among the evidence it cites is a respondent to an anonymous survey, who says: “Ten years ago London was a destination. Now it is a compromise.” Lovely stuff.
So to counteract the doom and gloom, here are 10 reasons why London is still the best city in the world.
- The startup funding king: So far this year, the UK’s share of European venture capital has risen to an all-time high, claiming almost half of the entire continent’s funding with a combined $13.9bn raised, according to Dealroom data, of which the overwhelming majority went to London.
- The AI crown: London is undoubtedly the best destination outside Silicon Valley for AI, the future of the global economy (or all that will be left of it, if the edgier evangelists are to be believed). Deepmind is headquartered here, and the likes of Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft and more are all building their biggest non-US hubs in the King’s Cross vicinity. Europe doesn’t get a look-in. A Brexit benefit? Quite possibly.
- The centre of fintech: London is now the world’s largest financial technology hub, eclipsing New York and San Francisco, according to a March Reuters report.
- A vibrant bond market: London is the centre of international finance, with $1.2 trillion raised in 2025, the highest since 2008, according to LSEG.
- FX: Still the biggest in the world, with more than a third of global trades.
- Special FX: The creative industries are thriving. Just look at the massive new investment by Sky to expand its Elstree studios, or the huge new state of the art studios being built in Isleworth.
- The truth: In an era of abundant disinformation and declining literacy rates, do not underestimate the value of being in a city where you can walk into a supermarket, a train station or an airport and find dozens of current affairs titles to buy. Few capital cities have as many journalists or as many news outlets. The FT, when it isn’t being eeyoreish, is world class. Morning Wire, a relative minnow on Fleet Street, still has a bigger circulation than the LA Times.
- And nothing but the truth: Our legal and professional services sectors continue to be world-leading, with around two-fifths of all business contracts governed by English law.
- Great connections: The Elizabeth line, which opened just under four years ago, has been a massive success, outperforming expectations. Heathrow, Europe’s busiest and best-connected airport, will soon get even bigger. Gatwick, Luton and Stansted are expanding too. Eurostar destinations from London are poised to grow, and HS2, when it one day arrives, will be great. And we’ll be first in Europe for driverless cars.
- London is red: Arsenal are the new champions of the Premier League, the most-watched sports league in the world. Yes I am mainly including this as a lifelong gunners fan, but the economic benefits of having six world-class football teams (sorry Tottenham) in one capital city – more than any other – are enormous.