The papers are full of doom and gloom. One headline reads: ghost town: london businesses bemoan olympic slump!
Westfield stratford city shopping center has been blamed as the bad woolf while the west end, london’s main shopping and entertainment area is eerily quiet. The other culprit is boris. He told everyone not to come so people stayed away. Hmmm, what to do? Who to blame?
Well, here’s what i think. I think you cannot please everyone. I think you cannot be greedy and inflate the prices of hotel accommodation and not get caught out. I also think that business in the last decade has changed dramatically and it’s down to the individual businesses to be innovative, to find new ways of creating revenue and attracting customers.
I also think that the olympics have created the best atmosphere in london, that team gb is totally rocking it with a total of 37 medals as i write this. One last point, yes, maybe things are a little quiet for some businesses over the olympics but according to the ‘wealth report attitudes survey 2011’ conducted by citi, london will feature as no.2 in the top global cities of 2020. Part of this is due to the olympics being held here.
So, out of sheer curiosity, i hopped on my scooter for a couple of hours over the weekend and went in search of how london is celebrating and, well, to look for everyone!
Some more people:)
Yes, there are some in there too.
And then i saw some crowds.
I looked and looked but couldn’t find anyone in here!!!!
Ah, now i was on the right track.
You’ll always find people where there’s food. And in potters field they erected a mini village with delicious food outlets. They were hand-picked and the site will be open throughout the olympics, take a break and re-open for the paralympics. I highly recommend it for viewing and eating some wonderful food!
While we’re on the subject of food, this is one industry that is innovating. Food sellers are taking their fate into their own hands and creating new ways of attracting customers. We have the wonderful street food movement that is expanding rapidly. Eat street at kings cross is only a few minutes away from me and this weekend saw the birth of the much bigger venture called feast over by guy’s hospital. I popped in and met up with friends. What fantastic food sellers. This surely is the way forward in eating. Do look out for their next event. You won’t be disappointed.
To conclude, london is vibrant but maybe not as expected and only in certain pockets of the city. Personally, i’m enjoying less traffic, less congestion and a peaceful atmosphere. The olympics is over half way through and very thrilling. London 2012 is everything it was designed to be. Whatever next?
I leave you with some people that just want to say: thank you for joining us in all our celebrations this year. We love having you!
