London - City of London
It can be very confusing to hear of references to both London and the City of
London. The 'City of London' is quite a small and a distinct area in its own
right and is the part of London known as the 'Square Mile' or the Financial
District. Here you will find major financial institutions from all over the
world as well as the London Stock Exchange. It is the area with the postcodes
EC1, EC2, EC3 and EC4. It takes in the areas of Clerkenwell, St Paul's, Bank,
Bishopsgate and Moorgate and is to the East of London. In medieval times the
City of London was actually the true City of London itself, the full extent of
London and not as it is is now a small area with the capital city of London
itself. The square mile sees huge population fluctuations. As a working area of
London and not having much of a resident population during weekdays the City
swells to some 300,000 inhabitants of which just some 9,000 are officially
resident. This is reflected in the social amenities and you will find a thriving
weekday nightlife while at weekends the City becomes something of a ghost town
with many pubs not even bothering to open. The City of London has become notable
for its so called "Ring of Steel" boundary. This came about after the IRA
bombing of the City in the 90's. The City police reworked the traffic system so
that entry and exit from the city was reduced to a handful of routes. At these
entry points cameras and police patrols are setup so that everyone entering the
city is photographed and many are spot checked. The off-shoot of this has been a
large reduction in crime with the City of London. Policing within this area is
actually carried out by a police force separate to the rest of London. The City
of London police are separate body to the Metropolitan Police who are
responsible for the rest of London.
The high density and mobility of the Cities population and workforce led to the
development of the
City of London
Airport. Just 6 miles from the square mile it gives quick access to European
cities as compared to the longer routes out to Stansted and Heathrow. Its
even popular for making the trip the few miles to Heathrow for inter-continental
flights since on a busy Friday night travel from the City to Heathrow can be as
much as 2 hours.
These days many of the financial institutions are also to be found in the
Docklands area which is even further east but is not part of the 'City of
London'.
Canary Wharf
Recently with the development of the Canary Wharf and Docklands area there is
some confusion over which areas now comprise the City of London. However while
Canary Wharf is now a large financial sector in its own right its actually a
little way removed from the City of London and is in the E14 postcode.
RELATED SEARCHES: >>>
City
of London Hotels