London. It’s truly iconic. It’s also one of the most visited tourist spots in the world. Getting that perfect selfie with the Queen’s guard or snapping a panorama from the top of the London Eye has kept people flocking for years. What people don’t see from the top of the giant Ferris wheel however, is the whole multitude of different industries that exist in the English capital.
London isn’t just essential for business in the United Kingdom, but it is also one of the leading cities in the world with respect to finance and business. The economic wellbeing and financial stability of the whole United Kingdom rest entirely in the hands of London. No pressure!
This city is home to much more than just tourism and finance though, as we’ve explored throughout this article.
Tourism industry
Tourists sometimes see London with rose-tinted glasses. Instead of seeing pigeons in nearly every street corner, they see the streets pictured in Hollywood. Instead of grey streets, grey pavements, and grey buildings, they see colors galore.
Perhaps that was somewhat negative, but it is only when you get right into the heart of the city that things come alive! A big reason to visit London? Think Oxford Street – think retail therapy! More to the point, think shopping!
This is the main driver for tourism in London, as shoppers spend a staggering £15 million a year.
In the whole of Great Britain, London alone has 54% of all money that is spent from tourism, followed by the other parts of England (33%). Would you believe it? Only 10% visit Scotland and only 2% visit Wales. Tourism as well as the night-time economy is also essential to the economy of London, racking in £36 billion a year and providing 700,000 jobs for Londoners.
Gambling industry
It is vital to share a short insight into how the gambling industry blossomed into what it is today. The gambling scene transitioned from the city of Bath to London towards the end of the 18th Century. Exclusive clubs with gambling enjoyed within started popping up all over the capital, attracting mainly the most elite in society.
Fast Forward to the 19th century, young aristocrats with too much money and too much free time frequented these clubs regularly to waste vast amounts of money betting against each other. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century when casinos opened their doors to the masses, by which time both the working and upper classes were gambling with less of a divide.
Nowadays in London, Brits clearly still love a bit of gambling and have 24 casinos and 82 betting shops to choose from. Bingo continues to be popular and the city actually has more Bingo players than any other city in the whole world!
London’s gambling industry doesn’t discriminate, whether you’re suited and booted or merely a millennial out for a laugh, all are welcome. Around the world Britain has a high reputation when it comes to its role within the gaming industry. Several British betting operators, including Ladbrokes are found in the top 5 of the best bookmakers in Australia and several other countries and William Hill is of course a brand known all over the world.
Manufacturing industry
London was a significant manufacturing place in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Although significant expenses in operations have now prompted the termination of numerous enterprises over the years, London still holds a solid manufacturing presence.
Today, around 250,000 inhabitants of London find work in different manufacturing businesses. This figure is down from 1,500,000 individuals working in manufacturing firms in 1960 however, which shows the gradual decline of the industry.
On a more positive note, many flourishing industrial centers of the past have now experienced redevelopment. An example of this is Croydon’s once acclaimed car assembling and metalworking sectors, which have now given way for office blocks and shopping centers.
Once again, this shows that London based manufacturing might be dwindling, but it’s giving way for businesses that have more of a place in the 2020 economy.
Tech industry
Interest in Britain’s tech area skyrocketed to 44% to a record of £13.2 billion pounds in 2019, representing 33% of all European financing and surpassing the total of France and Germany combined. Organizations headquartered in London raised £9.7 billion of this figure, and the measure of money put into early-stage companies increased to £5.1 billion in 2019, up from £4 billion the previous year.
The tech scene, that is a piece of London’s economy isn’t just there to help the financial services industry however. It is a major player in its own right. No place represents London’s duty to the tech sector more than East London Tech City, which, since it is situated on the road and tube intersection at Old Street, is otherwise called Silicon Roundabout. Just toward the north of the City, Tech City is a bunch of technologically-advanced workplaces that are home to shrewd new companies and long-established, global web giants.
Conclusion
With all of this in mind, we now have a thorough insight into some of the industries that are alive and well in London. This is merely a snapshot of the countless other industries existing in the capital. If we covered all industries that exist there with such detail, you’d be reading for days.
For that reason, we thought we would save you some time and stick to the major players. It truly is breathtaking how much of an impact London itself has on the UK, and it’s undoubtedly one of the most booming business cities in the world.
