ABSTRACT
This book is concerned with the transformation in the economic, social and physical structure of London which has taken place over the last 30-40 years. It examines in detail the nature of this transformation (or rather the set of linked transformations), its scale and extent, causes and consequences, and puts forward an explanation focused on the changing economy of London and its global role, which tries to account for it. There can be little doubt that London has changed dramatically over this period. If we start with a summary overview back to the early 1960s, London was still a city with a large manufacturing base and a large working-class population. The physical structure of Inner London was dominated by Victorian terraced houses and its housing market was still overwhelmingly privately rented with few council blocks and limited owner-occupation. The docks were a vital part of the economy of the East End, along with the furniture and printing industries, the City of London financial area was relatively small scale, Covent Garden was still London’s fruit and vegetable market, much of the riverside was run down and Canary Wharf did not exist. Ethnic minorities were small in scale and extent, and outside the traditional middle-class residential areas of South Kensington, St John’s Wood and Hampstead, most of Inner London was still the preserve of the traditional Labour voting working class, most of whom lived in poor-quality terraced rented housing. Notting Hill was a run-down residential area with a small West Indian population, and Aldgate and Whitechapel, immediately to the east of the City of London, still had a relatively large Jewish population. The ring of districts surrounding the CityClerkenwell, Shoreditch, Hoxton and Bethnal Green-were dominated by light industry and resolutely working class. Bermondsey, south of the river, was still a tough docklands community, as was the Isle of Dogs and much of Tower Hamlets. Islington, Camden Town and Kentish Town were run down inner-city districts, and upper Holloway had some of the worst housing conditions in London (see Figure 1.1). A little of the flavour of this rundown London is captured in the early 1980s film The Long Good Friday, with Bob Hoskins as the traditional, but completely out of his depth, East End gang boss trying to move into the new world of international finance and property development.
