London - it’s easy to recognise…
but look closely at a map
In the very centre there’s a one square mile cut out
This is The City of London which lives in a city named London
The City has its own mayor, laws, and police force. In fact it behaves more like a separate
country within the United Kingdom
This is because The City’s been around for much longer than than the UK
It was built by the Romans.
And has remained semi-autonomous even since
To embody its fiery independence, the city’s emblem is a dragon… not a bad choice
You’ll spot these statues - they guard the boundary of the Square Mile
Nowadays The City is arguably the financial capital of the world
And London is the world's biggest foreign exchange market
But The City has a tiny residential population
Every weekday workers flood into the banks, law firms and offices which fill the Square Mile
But it’s not all work. This is 1pm
You might say no surprise here, City work’s having a drink, but attitudes are changing
The legendary long lunch at the pub is now seen as a bit of a macho relic
In 2017 Lloyd's of London, the legendary insurance market, told it’s employees the party was over
No more drink during office hours
But, as you can see, not everyone got the memo
Because here’s the rub of it, The City had a reputation… when the after work crowd
go home, the place becomes a ghost town
But that is changing and leading are some high flying dining spots
Sitting on top the Heron Tower is the duck and waffle
it offers 24/7 service with a hell of a view
This is about as refined as a 24 hour waffle house gets
But the most talked about new guest, who’s reinventing The City’s reputation, is call The Ned
Over 500 million pounds has been spent turning this old bank into a private members club
and hotel
With 8 restaurants in the lobby and a bar that stay open till 4am - The Ned has injected
some late night atmosphere into The City
This is after all the oldest part of London. And following an injection of fun and flavour
it’s throwing down a challenge to the rest of the city and shaking
off its stuffy reputation