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Some say the wealth of a city can be judged by the amount of construction going on. In the past year I’ve visited half a dozen major world metropolis’s and in total counted less than a dozen cranes (including the one that crashed on Park Ave NY last month). Whereas, from the roof of my W1 flat the record number of cranes I’ve counted in one go is 49, and over the past two years I’ve never counted less than 30. Sad I know, but everyone should have a hobby, and it does show London is booming! Or does it?
As a radio presenter, composer and big time London Daily News columnist, there’s no way out of the fact that, I am, a full blown “meejah tart”. That tragic admission accepted, I much prefer the company of builders to luvvies, and the word on the scaffolding is, all the big builds in town are slowing down due to the imminent recession.
Luckily for our Polish friends (and whatever you say, man do them eastern Europeans graft!) the central London studio flat conversion trend is doing roaring business! Such a shame so many of these desirably small properties are left empty for all but the occasional weekend by the contemporary crop of billionaires currently buying up the city. There’s one block near me, where the uniformed concierge let slip over a beer that of the 12 luxury flats in his charge, not one has been occupied for over a month, and there’s never more than two in at any one time. In fact four have been empty for years, save the twice weekly cleaner.
So is London Booming? If you go by the crowds on Oxford St (as a matter of interest, apart from Selfridges, why would anyone go to Oxford St to shop?) it’s tantamount to the big bang. A fact confirmed by our burgeoning cafe society (or latte index) that, things could hardly get better. Although if I see one more high street coffee chain open up I’ll start drinking tea again!
Big George hosts a phone in every weekday morning 2am to 6am on BBC London 94.9FM
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