View of the City of London
by Adrian Pingstone (public domain)
Paternoster Square, from St Paul's Cathedral
by Benjamin D. Esham (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 US)
Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, London
by Adrian Pingstone (public domain)
The City of London, a borough within Greater London, is regarded as the historic core of London. It is a very small area covering only about one square mile. For that reason, it is often called The Square Mile, especially within the UK financial service industry. In medieval times, the City of London was all there was of London. It was distinct from the nearby village of Westminster. Today the village of Westminster has developed to become the City of Westminster. Together, they form two of the thirty-two boroughs of Greater London.
During Roman time, the Romans built a wall around the City of London. That wall has long since disappeared, with only several sections remaining visible today. Sections visible are at St Alphage, London Wall and two sections near the Tower of London. The City of London has been administered as a separate entity since 886, when Alfred the Great appointed his son-in-law to be Governor of London. It was burned nearly to the ground twice, the first time in 1212, and again in the Great Fire of London, in 1666. The massive air raid mounted on London on the night of 29/30 December destroyed an even greater area than the Great Fire of London of 1666, and was called the Second Great Fire of London.
The City of London is the the major business and commercial heart of the country. To make way for office buildings, many houses were pulled down. As a result, the population of the City of London fell rapidly from the 19th century through most of the 20th century, as people moved out to the suburban areas. Today the City of London is the second smallest British city in terms of population and size, after St David's in Wales. It is however a global financial centre. Although less than 10,000 live there, it supports a professional workforce of over 300,000 that commutes into it every day.
The first skyscraper arrived in UK in the 1970s with the construction of the 42-storey, 600-ft tall Natwest Tower within the City of London. Since then, a number of additional skyscrapers have been planned, as the financial services industry continues to grow. These include the 63-storey Bishopsgate Tower, 48-storey Leadenhall Building and 46-storey Heron Tower.
The London Stock Exchange, Lloyds of London and the Bank of England are all located within the City of London. To provide more space for the financial services industry, the Docklands were developed in the 1980's. Canary Wharf is a few miles to the east of the boundary of the City of London. Although there had been some fear that its development may do some damage to the Square Mile, Canary Wharf may have instead helped the City in ensuring that the giant corporations such as HSBC have the space they wanted, or otherwise they might have relocated abroad.
In terms of tourist attractions, there are not that many within the City of London, if compared to the City of Westminster. Quite simply, the City of London is a place where people go to work and make money. They go to the West End to play.
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London Travel Tips is researched and written by Timothy Tye, universally known as Tim. The information provided is in goodwill and is believed to be correct and up-to-date at time of writing. We disclaim responsible for its usage, and encourage users to recheck the information before their trip. Some photos are provided by Panoramio. Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners. They may only be used under the terms & conditions specified by Panoramio. Photos by third-party owners are captioned and attributed. Photographs that belong to Tim are copyrighted and may not be reused unless you first obtain permission. All of Tim's photographs are available for commercial use under the following licensing terms. Tim is a Christian. Click here to know more about his beliefs.
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