ABSTRACT
The drift of new manufacturing plants to the South was, essentially, a drift to Greater London. With the exception of a few centres with locations intermediate between London and the Midlands, such as Luton and Oxford, Greater London and its hinterland encompassed all the major areas of new industrial development in the South East. London's pattern of new plant formation was in stark contrast to Britain's provincial regions. Analysis of industrial clustering within London demonstrates the various spatial levels over which different kinds of locational externalities can operate. Furniture had been the most strongly clustered of London's major nineteenth century industries, largely due to the fact that its raw material and semi-manufactured inputs were both expensive and difficult to transport. During the interwar period Greater London constituted the main centre for new consumer-goods manufacturers, with even the West Midlands losing ground to London's new industrial suburbs and satellite communities.
