City of London

The City of London is the principal financial district of the United Kingdom, and is one of the most important in the world. It is governed by the Corporation of London, an ancient body headed by the Lord Mayor of London. The City also has its own police force, the City of London police. Once dominated by the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, London is home to modern skyscrapers, including Tower 42 (formerly, and popularly still, known as the NatWest Tower) and 30 St Mary Axe (popularly known as the “Gherkin”, built in 2003).

The skyline is set to change further over the next few years as more high-profile skyscrapers are being built in the City of London to satisfy the need for additional office space. The City has a resident population of about 7,000 people, but a daytime working population of more than 300,000. Its primacy as the chief financial district has been directly challenged in recent years by Canary Wharf in East London.

The City of London is a small area in Greater London. The modern conurbation of London developed from the City of London and the nearby City of Westminster, which was the centre of the royal government. The City of London is now London’s main financial district. It is often referred to as just the City or as the Square Mile, as it is approximately one square mile (2.6 square kilometres) in area; note that these terms are also often used as synonyms for the UK financial services industry, which is principally based there.

In the medieval period the City was the full extent of London (as distinct from the nearby but then-separate City of Westminster), but the term London now refers to a much larger conurbation containing both ‘cities’. The City of London is still part of London’s city centre, but apart from financial services, most of London’s metropolitan functions are centred on the West End. The City of London has a resident population of under 9,000 but a daily working population of around 300,000.

The City itself has two independent enclaves within it - Inner Temple and Middle Temple. These two areas form part of the City and Ceremonial county, but are not governed by the Corporation of London. The Corporation governs the rest of the City and also owns various open spaces (parks, forests and commons) in and around London. Its Latin motto is “Domine dirige nos” which means “Lord, direct us”.

Extent

The size of the City was originally constrained by a defensive perimeter wall, known as ‘London Wall’, which was built by the Romans to protect their strategic port city. However, the boundaries of the City of London are no longer the old City Wall as the city expanded its jurisdiction to the so-called City Bars - such as Temple Bar. The boundary froze in the medieval period, thus the City did not and does not control the whole of London.

The walls have long since disappeared although several sections remain visible above ground. A section near the Museum of London was revealed after the devastation of an air-raid on 29 December 1940 at the height of the Blitz. Other visible sections are at St Alphage, London Wall, and there are two sections near the Tower of London.

The City of London borders the City of Westminster to the west - the border cutting through Victoria Embankment, passing to the west of Middle Temple, going east along Strand and Fleet Street, north up Chancery Lane, where it becomes instead the border with the London Borough of Camden. It continues north to Holborn, turns east, continues, and then goes northeast to Charterhouse Lane. As it crosses Farringdon Road it becomes the border with the London Borough of Islington. It continues to Aldersgate, goes north, and turns into some back streets soon after it becomes Goswell Road. It ends up on Ropemakers Lane, which as it continues east past Moorgate becomes South Place.

It goes north, becomes the border with the London Borough of Hackney, then east, north, east on backstreets, meeting Norton Folgate at the border with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It continues south into Bishopsgate, and takes some backstreets to Middlesex Street where it continues south-east then south. It makes a divergence to the west at the end of Middlesex Street to allow the Tower of London to be in Tower Hamlets, and then reaches the river. The boundaries of the City are marked by black bollards bearing the City’s emblem. (boundary map).

In some places the financial district extends slightly beyond the political boundaries of the City to the north and east, into the boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Islington, and informally these locations are seen as part of the “Square Mile”. Since the 1990s the eastern fringe of the City, extending into Hackney and Tower Hamlets, has increasingly been a focus for large office developments due to the relatively easy availability of large sites there compared to within the City itself.

Since 1991 Canary Wharf a few miles east of the City Boundary within Tower Hamlets has become a second centre for London’s financial services industry and now houses a number of banks and other institutions formerly located in the Square Mile. However, fears that the City would be damaged by this development appear to have been unfounded with growth predicted in both locations. Indeed Canary Wharf may have been of great service to the Square Mile by providing large floorplate office buildings at a time when this was difficult within the City boundary, and therefore preventing strategically important companies such as HSBC from relocating abroad.

The City of London is England’s smallest ceremonial county by both population and area covered and is the second smallest British city in both population and size, after St David’s in Wales.

At its maximum extent the City included areas now not part of it, including Southwark (as the ‘ward of bridge without’). The City today controls the full spans of London Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge, but only half of the river underneath them.

The City of London also owns and looks after a number of open spaces well outside its own boundaries. These are: Ashtead Common, Burnham Beeches, Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath (including Parliament Hill), Highgate Wood, Queen’s Park, West Ham Park, and West Wickham and Coulsdon Common.

Local government

The City of London has a unique political status, a legacy of its uninterrupted integrity as a corporate city since the Anglo Saxon period and its singular relationship with the crown. Historically its system government was not unusual, but it was not reformed by the Municipal Reform Act 1835.

It is administered by the Corporation of London, headed by the Lord Mayor of London (not the same post as the more recent London Mayor, who presides over Greater London). The City is a ceremonial county too, although instead of having its own Lord-Lieutenant, the City of London has a Commission, headed by the Lord Mayor, exercising this function.

Elections

The City has a unique electoral system, which does not follow the usual rules of democracy, allowing businessmen a vote and arranging voters in wards with very unequal number of voters. This is sometimes a cause of controversy. The business vote had been abolished in other local elections in 1969, but retained in the City.

The City of London (Ward Elections) Act 2002 (2002 Chapter vi) which reformed the voting system for electing Members to the Corporation of London, received the Royal Assent on 7 November 2002.

Under the new system, the business vote increased by 16,000 to 32,000. Previously disenfranchised firms will be entitled to nominate voters, in addition to those already included in the business vote, and will be required to choose these voters in a representative fashion. The Bill will also remove other anomalies that have developed over time within the current system, which has been unchanged since the 1850s.

This system is usually seen as undemocratic, but adopting a more conventional system would place the 7,000 residents of the City in charge of local planning for a major financial capital. Proposals to annex the City to one of the neighbouring London boroughs, possibly the City of Westminster, have never been taken seriously.

Other functions

The City has its own independent police force, the City of London Police. The rest of Greater London is policed by the Metropolitan Police Service, based at New Scotland Yard.

The City of London controls three independent schools - City of London School (all male), City of London School for Girls (all female) and City of London Freemen’s School (co-educational).

The City is a major patron of the arts. It oversees the Barbican Centre and subsidizes several important performing arts companies. It also takes an interest in open spaces outside its boundaries: see Corporation of London open spaces.

Security

The City’s position as the United Kingdom’s financial centre and a critical part of the country’s economy, contributing about one sixth of the UK’s gross national product, has resulted in it becoming a terrorist target. The Provisional IRA exploded several bombs in the City in the early 1990s.

The area is also spoken of as a possible target for al-Qaeda. For instance, when in May 2004 the BBC’s Panorama programme examined the preparedness of Britain’s emergency services for a terrorist attack on the scale of September 11, 2001 attacks, they simulated a chemical explosion on Bishopsgate in the east of the City.

See also City of London’s “Ring of Steel” for measures that have been taken against these threats.

Sights
Bank of England
Barbican Arts Centre
Barbican Estate
Churches and cathedrals
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
St Paul’s Cathedral
City of London School
City of London School for Girls
Guildhall
Inns of Court
Inner Temple
Middle Temple
Lloyd’s Building
London Stone
London Wall
The Monument
Museum of London
Newgate Prison
Old Bailey
Pool of London
Royal Exchange
Smithfield
St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Swiss Re Tower (popularly known as the “Gherkin”)
Temple Bar
Temple of Mithras, London
Tower of London
Tower 42 (formerly known as the NatWest Tower)