CityView June 2013

The magazine of the City of London Corporation

13 July 20

cityview

The youth offer Making it work

1 City support and promotion 1 Local and policing services 1 Services for London and the nation

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Contents

Issue 75 July 2013

cityview cityview is the magazine of the City of London Corporation, a uniquely diverse organisation that promotes and supports the City and provides a wide range of services for the City, for London and for the nation as a whole.

About the City

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In line with online Business

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The Interview About the City

Unless otherwise stated in individual

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features, more information on both

Food for thought

the magazine and online articles is

Things to do

available from the Public Relations

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Office address below. We

Pest control

welcome, and value, feedback

Business

but regret that correspondence

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cannot be individually

The youth offer – making it work

acknowledged.

About the City

10

The magazine is published

Voter registration – what’s in it for you?

twice a year and is also

Things to do

available to download from

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www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/cityview

Get to know your City Things to do

If you would like a summary of

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this publication in your language

Free festival for all

or in an alternative format

Things to do

please contact us at

14 The Public Relations Office

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City of London

020 7332 3099

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mail e by e ib r c s b Su

cityviewonline

Beyond borders Things to do

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River relationship About the City

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News in brief

online Follow www.cityoflondon.gov.uk www.facebook.com/cityoflondoncorp www.twitter.com/cityoflondon

The magazine is supplemented by cityviewonline – a web-based

www.pinterest.com/cityoflondon

magazine normally published in March and September and also

www.flickr.com/cityoflondon

available to download from www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/cityview

www.youtube.com/cityoflondonvideos

If you would like to subscribe to an email alert telling you when it is available send your email details (they will not be used for any other purpose) to col@response-service.co.uk

cityview About the City

In line with online Regular cityview readers will notice a few changes to the design for this issue.

It’s been more than 10 years since the magazine’s last design change which meant it was long overdue for a refresh. But another reason for the changes is to tweak its appearance to bring it more in line with our ‘new’ website which is celebrating its first birthday this July.

This is not just to make a stronger visual connection between cityview and the site, but also to encourage readers to use the latter to find out more on any particular subject. |It reflects a shift by the City Corporation generally to providing more information across digital

channels rather than just print (not least of which there are only so many articles a single edition of cityview or any other printed publication can include).

The top elements on each page or spread tell you which of the four ‘clusters’ on the website will feature more information on the type of work described in the article – About the City, Services, Business or Things to do. This cluster format is a key element of the new site. Before work started on the website a lot of research was carried out with users to determine how they used the old site, what was good and bad and what they wanted from any new site. Apart from making the new site far more attractive and dynamic, the

major shift was a central focus on users and their ‘journeys’.

Where previously information was grouped under department and section headings, research showed that what users wanted was quicker and easier access to the information they wanted. This led to the idea of clustering common or related information irrespective of which City Corporation departments provided them.

As a result the site received an Official Honoree distinction from the Webby Awards run by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences for the category of 'Government'. The City of London was the only site short-listed in

this category from the UK and only the top 15% of all work entered was awarded the distinction of Official Honoree.

Another design change to cityview is the more extensive

‘More information’ details boxes.

This is because there is whole range of other information options now open to readers than the website alone. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube are also being used by the organisation to get its messages across. These are particularly useful for individual departments or services areas to reach regular users and are already in use for consultations, meeting invitations, fault reporting and general feedback.

At the foot of the cityview pages you will also notice a brief reference to other services we provide along similar lines – very similar to what you find on many websites: ‘if you like X you might also like Y’.

As the website continues to develop, cityview will be mirroring any future changes and don’t forget you can also subscribe to cityviewonline which goes live in September and March to keep you updated between the print editions (see more details on page two). 1

MORE INFORMATION

Social network icons

f www.facebook.com t www.twitter.com & www.pinterest.com x www.youtube.com

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cityview The Interview Philip Stephens of the Financial Times talks to Tim Hames, Director General of the British Venture Capital Association

Challenging an industry’s caricature

Tim Hames first took a close interest in private equity back in 2007. The industry was under siege. In Germany, private equity bosses had been labelled locusts

by Angela Merkel’s government.

In Britain they were being hauled before the Treasury committee of MPs, accused by some politicians of dodgy financial engineering, asset-stripping and tax avoidance.

The buyout of Alliance Boots by Stefano Pessina and KKR had pushed the controversy on to the front pages.

It was simply “naive to think you could employ thousands of people in companies with a degree of public prominence... and not have people ask questions about you”.

Hames, then the chief leader writer of the Times newspaper, was struck by the reluctance of the big firms to fight back: “The Times seemed more enthusiastic about the private equity model than the industry itself was, at least publicly”, he reflects. Their activity, industry leaders seemed to be saying, was called “private”for a reason: the whole point was to operate beyond the glare of scrutiny faced by publicly-quoted companies.

So “why”, they seemed to ask, “are you all being so beastly to us?”.

learned something. And Hames has moved on. As recently-appointed director general of the British Venture Capital Association he is now private equity’s principal spokesman in the UK - putting the case for the industry that it might have done well to make itself amid the storm that accompanied the global financial crash.

Six years on, the industry has

Sitting in the BVCA’s offices on the edge of Covent Garden, Hames is candid as to why the image of private equity took such a beating.

For one thing it was simply “naive to

think you could employ thousands of people in companies with a degree of public prominence.....and not have people ask questions about you”. For many in Britain - and across European countries such as Germany accustomed to a more traditional structure of capitalism private equity was “a strange American export coming to a shore near you”.

There was also, he admits, something else. The global glut of easy credit in the years immediately preceding 2007 did make it possible for some firms to make a quick financial turn from the companies they had taken private. “I don’t think anyone would deny that there was a period of time when if you were very clever you could be in and out of deals within a two-year time frame. When you have a holding period that short it is unlikely, unless you are absolutely brilliant, that you can explain your success by operational improvement.”

Hames left journalism to become the BVCA’s head of communications and public affairs.

Then came a spell as political adviser to John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons, before his return to the top job of the BVCA. A lot has changed, largely for the better. If private equity has yet to win a public reputation as one of the cuddlier elements of the capitalist system, it is no longer routinely demonised.

Hames speaks for the venture capital industry as well as private equity. The long name of the organisation is the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. What this means is that he heads a body representing firms that span a wide range of private investment vehicles. There are the decidedly small venture capitalists, regionally based and injecting perhaps a million pounds or less into small start-ups, alongside the global behemoths such as KKR, Carlyle and Blackstone.

The popular caricature has had it that venture capital is good (backing entrepreneurs who are building businesses) and private equity is at best questionable (injecting large

cityview

amounts of debt into businesses it has taken private before selling them off at a profit.).

It is a caricature that irritates Hames. Where it might once have been possible to make a quick turn, private equity, he says, now flourishes or falls on its capacity to increase the value of the businesses it buys. More often than not, that means more rather than fewer jobs.

He draws a parallel with his spell as as adviser to the Speaker – a period which he says saw a radical shake-up in the way the House of Commons operates. Select committees have been given serious heft and ministers held to account much more often at the despatch box. That meant taking on tradition: “Effecting change in institutions that really don’t like change is not a million miles from what private equity firms do. If you want two words to describe what private equity is about, it is about change management”.

He insists that those who accuse private equity of asset stripping miss the point. The investment operations that style themselves heirs to the notorious Slater Walker are not the sort of firms wanted at the BVCA. Private equity is about “asset strapping”- expanding businesses before they are sold on rather than asset stripping.

Private equity is about “asset strapping” – expanding businesses before they are sold on – rather than asset stripping.

There are plenty of other poster boys for private equity on the high street, among them Pizza Express and Jimmy Choo. But Hames also points to Merlin Entertainment, the family run international entertainment enterprise that it now second only to Disney.

Merlin, he points out, has relied on a succession of private equity deals as it has expanded rapidly over the past decade.

If trade unions will never be natural allies, Hames says they have begun to recognise that private equity is about building businesses. He hopes that the new European-wide regulator for the industry will take a similarly benign view as it develops a regulatory strategy for everything from hedge funds to private equity to parts of the real estate industry.

The regulator, Hames says, “will have to work in the real world, recognising national and sectoral differences... but it has been asking really intelligent questions”. And, though based in Paris the regulator’s leadership is “wonderfully multinational”.

Closer to home there are tax issues that will always rumble on. One of

the most heated has been whether the profits of private equity deals are treated as income or, as now, capital gains. Hames thinks this particular argument misses the point. The real debate is not about the line between the two taxes but at what rate capital gains should be taxed. That rate has swung between 40 and 10 per cent in the last decade or so.

There is also still a task ahead in what Hames calls “normalising” private equity as just another part of the market economy. The industry has travelled a long way since being seen as something that had arrived in a Doctor Who episode but “You don’t go from being seen as aliens to being seen as normal in the space as short as 5 years”.

So if there was one big thing he could do? “If I could do one thing I would call it something else. As a name it manages to be both incomprehensible and faintly menacing”.

So what, Hames suggests, about “independent capital”instead of private equity? It is an intriguing thought. But, Hames may have to wait a while. Alas, “I have not yet been given authority to change the name of an entire global industry”. 1

Philip Stephens is Associate Editor of the Financial Times

Firms have an investment horizon of five years and more and, not untypically, eight or nine years. They want something to sell that is inherently more valuable than at the time of acquisition. They can do that only if they improve and, usually, expand the companies they buy.

Alliance Boots, Hames notes with some satisfaction, employs about 6,000 more people now than when it was taken private.

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cityview About the City

Sir Thomas Gresham, pictured, son of Sir Richard Gresham (Lord Mayor in 1537-38), who came up with the idea of building an Exchange modeled on the Antwerp Bourse. This was brought to

Food for thought

fruition by Sir Thomas on land provided by the City of London Corporation.

in the City of London to engage in intellectual debate on those subjects in which the City has a proper concern, and to provide a window on the City for learned societies, both national and international.’

For over 400 years Gresham Professors have given free public lectures in the City. The College is named after Sir Thomas Gresham, son of Sir Richard Gresham (Lord Mayor in 1537-38), who came up with the idea of building an Exchange modeled on the Antwerp Bourse.

The College is an independent institution, with the Lord Mayor of London as its President. Sir Thomas left his estate and control of his benefaction to the City of London Corporation and the Mercers’ Company.

The best lectures are often those which pose a contentious question to the audience. As cityview was going to press Alderman Roger Gifford was doing just that in the Lord Mayor’s Annual Gresham Lecture titled Why Give?

Gresham College. In the last two months alone the topics covered have ranged from Sorting out Transport in London to Armageddon in Cyberspace and from The City of London in Literature to Sir Keith Joseph and the Market Economy.

This seems a particularly appropriate subject at a time when people’s finances might be stretched more than usual and giving money to worthy causes might not be a priority. But the Lord Mayor was exploring the social history of philanthropy and also the connection between business and the community in the present day. One of the elements of

This very wide subject matter is also key to meeting one of the objectives of the lectures. This is to ‘challenge those who live and work

The City Corporation supports Gresham College as part of its wider contribution to the cultural life of London and the nation, including the promotion of learning and development. 1

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

this is growing social investment in the arts and creative industries as a way of meeting today’s needs.

Our Tower Bridge, Monument and the City Information Centre opposite St Paul’s Cathedral.

You can find more information at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

MORE INFORMATION

www.gresham.ac.uk/

The Lord Mayor’s talk is only one of a year-long programme of lectures provided free through

(which includes film and audio of this and previous lectures)

f/greshamcollege t@greshamcollege

cityview Things to do

Pest control Other initiatives include London’s trees are increasingly under threat from new and emerging pests and diseases according to a special interest paper commissioned by the City of London Corporation.

Tree Diseases in London outlines the social and environmental benefits that trees bring to London, looks at the key challenges facing them (including the threats from ash dieback, oak processionary moth ‘OPM’ and massaria) and suggests a number of ways in which these can be addressed.

It emphasises that greater strategic planning and proactive management of London’s tree stock is needed to increase resilience.

Almost 40% of London is green space, making it one of the greenest cities of its size in the world, but the tree stock is dominated by a small number of species. The City has 220

varieties but 45% is contained in just five species – planes, limes, maples, cherries and hornbeams.

This increases the risk that new diseases and pests could have a catastrophic effect on the overall tree population.

The dramatic increase in threats facing London’s trees in recent years is due, in part, to the global trade in plants, timber products and other packaged commodities, with the demand for instant new landscapes for example, seeing plants drawn from far and wide. Climate change is another factor as it alters the natural relationship between pests, diseases and tree host.

To date, plant health legislation has not been effective at stopping the entry of pests and diseases into the UK. The paper makes the argument that the UK tree population needs to be proactively managed to ensure

that it is resilient to these threats when they arrive.

n taking action to reduce the impact of massaria on

The City Corporation is acutely aware of these issues as the custodian of almost 11,000 acres of open space for public use, a sizeable part of which is made up of forest and woodland. It has already been taking steps to help manage these and other threats. In January it hosted a conference,‘Tackling the threats to London’s trees’. More recently, it has been working alongside the Forestry Commission and others as part of the London OPM Advisory Group to help tackle the impact in London, and in May successfully secured £2m in additional government funding.

large limbs of London’s plane trees on all its sites and in particular the City Gardens, Hampstead Heath and southern parts of Epping Forest, including Wanstead Park and Flats

n coordinating with the Greater London Authority and the Forestry Commission in managing tree disease in

London

n commissioning research into the impact of powdery mildew on young oak growth, which appears to be having a significant impact on oak regeneration

You can download the full report from www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/ treediseases

n training and supporting volunteers to help with the inspections and checks needed to look after the City of London’s trees.

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

Other research publications the City of London produces.

Go to www.cityoflondon.gov.uk MORE INFORMATION

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/greenspaces There is a range of green space Twitter feeds from www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/social

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cityview Business

The Youth Offer – making it work Back in December cityview reported on the City Corporation’s £3.28m initiative to help tackle London’s youth employment problem.

Since the scheme was announced all 32 London boroughs have responded with submissions for grants of £100,000 each over two years to address this issue in their own areas.

The scheme, Get Young People Working – the Youth Offer, was well received by the boroughs because of its relatively ‘light touch’ administration and because it allowed for local solutions to local needs, rather than trying to establish a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

The overall aim is to help 1,000 young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs) across London into employment or apprenticeships.

The grants go toward the cost of a voluntary sector partner in each borough working with the most disadvantaged young people. These included young offenders, young people with learning difficulties, single parents and care leavers.

A lot of the submissions were building on existing projects.

Among the submissions, several boroughs proposed unusual voluntary sector partners such as football club foundations, because of their attractiveness to young people. One was looking to new technology to keep in touch with, and publicise opportunities to, NEETs.

The submissions showed that most boroughs already had good information and precise figures on young people falling into the NEET category and where gaps in provision could be filled by the grants. However, there were certain boroughs that were concentrating on ‘not knowns’ – young people whose position wasn’t clear and who weren’t easy to trace.

The Youth Offer is being funded from the Bridge House Estates (set up to pay for the upkeep of the City bridges) and awards were made through the City Corporation’s charity – the City Bridge Trust. As with all the Trust’s grants, these awards will be evaluated to ensure value for money. Just as important, and a key part of its ethos, the Trust will ensure that learning from the different approaches taken is shared amongst the boroughs.

City Corporation Policy Chairman Mark Boleat said: “It’s very gratifying that our Youth Offer has been so warmly welcomed. It’s clear recognition of the desperate need to make inroads into this problem.

We’ve got a long history of working across London, and in particular with our neighbouring boroughs, for the benefit of the wider community and this scheme is an extension of that work.”

Since the Youth Offer was launched, the City Corporation has announced an additional £2m for the development of an Employability Pilot initiative (paid for from the same fund). This will focus on the central London boroughs – Lambeth, Southwark,

Since the Youth Offer was launched, the City Corporation has announced an additional £2m for the development of an Employability Pilot initiative

Westminster, Camden, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Tower Hamlets and Hackney.

The programme will be made up of three main elements: pre-employment training that reflects the needs of specific employers; an employability ‘passport’ for young people in their last two years of school; and employability-focused mentoring.

This could help around 2,000 people into jobs and another 1,200 helped

cityview

Case Studies, The Youth Offer through skills training and mentoring support. The City Corporation also hopes that the initiative may unlock other monies that can feed into it and make even more of an impact on central London’s employment needs. The outputs will also be delivered by the voluntary sector.

Also in the last year the City Corporation signed up to the Evening Standard’s Ladder for London campaign, taking on an extra 10 apprentices and the City Bridge Trust launched its Growing Localities programme.

CAMDEN

In January this year Camden had 890 18-24 year olds claiming Job Seekers Allowance. It also had almost 400 16-19 year olds classed as NEETs. Camden’s grant will go toward the cost of getting 30 people into apprenticeships and work with another 30 wanting to start their own businesses. It will also be used to address the high rate of dismissals from apprenticeships in the borough by establishing a mentoring element to help improve an understanding of the workplace by young people.

HACKNEY

Hackney will be using its funding to build on existing work through The Princes Trust and SkyWay. The main focus will be on SkyWay’s Growing programme which offers five hours of practical and five hours tutorial work per week. Subjects covered include creating menus and cooking; developing carpentry; gardening and food production; marketing and sales promotion; community engagement; and financial

This £2m scheme was to mark the occasion of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by promoting better use of London’s green spaces while encouraging community involvement, ownership and volunteering. One of its key aims was to support accredited horticultural training for young NEETS and those with special needs, (see images below). 1

planning and money skills.

LAMBETH

Lambeth has around 640 people classed as NEETs. It proposes to use the funding across three activities for 16-24 year olds: create a Lambeth Apprenticeship Fund to support and sustain them in apprenticeships; set up a ‘Ready for Work’ programme; and establishing a ‘Let’s do business’ pilot programme for three schools to improve motivation and awareness of the world of work.

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

The work of our City Bridge Trust, regeneration work MORE INFORMATION

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/supportinglocalcommunities

t @CityRegen t @CityApprentice

across London and our apprenticeship scheme. Got to www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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cityview About the City

Voter registration – what’s in it for you?

This August, businesses and other organisations across the Square Mile will be receiving letters asking them to nominate staff to vote as the City Corporation begins its annual electoral registration push.

For some recipients this will be the first time they have been encouraged to do so, for others it will be a reminder that ‘it’s that time of year again’. But the question that many will ask is ‘why bother’?

City residents will understand the importance of registering as the City Corporation is in effect their local council and, as in any other area of the UK, this is their democratic right and a way of holding their elected representatives to account.

For businesses however, it is often less clear why they should register and what they get out of it. After all, registration can appear a timeconsuming process and with the next City-wide elections four years away there may not seem an

immediate opportunity to exercise their vote.

The City is unique in being able to offer voting rights to those who work here in recognition of its compact area and the disparity between the number of residents and workers: around 9,000 and more than a third of a million respectively. To protect the position of residents, and to ensure their ‘voice’ has just as much weight, four wards are dominated by the resident population.

The remaining 21 wards are business-centric. Each of the wards has an Alderman (the senior member of the ward) and two or more Common Councilmen who are elected by voters in that ward.

They are your representatives in the City of London Corporation, its committees and the Court of Common Council, its main

The City is unique in being able to offer voting rights to those who work here in recognition of its compact area and the disparity between the number of residents and workers: around 9,000 and more than a third of a million respectively.

elections for membership of each of the City Corporation’s many committees that oversee the whole work of the organisation. There have also been new Deputies elected to assist the Chairman of Policy and Resources in his work setting the strategic direction of the organisation and a new Chief Commoner elected (the main representative of the elected Members and the person who upholds the discipline and integrity of the Court).

decision-making body. This doesn’t affect your voting entitlement at home but does give you influence in the place where you may spend more of your time!

All this gives renewed impetus to the work of the City Corporation and a desire by Members to show their voters how they are working on your behalf. While the next Citywide elections are four years away there may still be by-elections and Aldermanic elections in any year (there have been several Aldermanic elections this year) in which you may be able to vote.

But more than that, Members are your elected representatives and are answerable to you. Like councillors they can hold regular surgeries, meet with representatives at their place of work, send you regular

The City’s recent elections saw a significant intake of new Common Councilmen representing your interests - 25 in a total of 100. Since then there have been internal

THERE ARE NO ELECTIONS THIS YEAR

WHY SHOULD I REGISTER? I’M TOO BUSY

WHO ARE MY REPRESENTATIVES?

cityview

newsletters and take up issues on your behalf within the City Corporation.

This year we have also had a fresh look at our registration forms to try and make them clearer, easier to understand and quicker to complete. We want to make the whole process as ‘pain-free’ as possible but at the same time reinforce why it is so important for the City as a whole that firms register voters and that, wherever possible, they use their full entitlement (the number of voters your firm can register is in proportion to the size of the firm itself).

You may choose to vote or contact your elected members for reasons that relate to you personally. You may be concerned about cycling issues, shopping facilities, local transport, a safe environment, cultural opportunities or green spaces. But you might also do so for reasons that could benefit your firm such as security and contingency planning, new building stock, the City’s transport infrastructure, promoting the City itself and representing industry at the highest levels.

To find out how this fits into the City Corporation’s overall democratic process, our website covers the whole work of the organisation. It also lists all the Members for each ward, their contact details and the committees on which they sit. Agenda and minutes for meetings are downloadable and committee meeting are open to the public as are the monthly meetings of the entire Court, in the grand surroundings of Guildhall’s Great Hall. The Court meetings often have visitors seated at the back who want to enjoy the splendour of the Hall and to see the City Corporation’s democratic workings first-hand.

Being on the electoral register can also open up people’s eyes as to how much the City Corporation does and what the City itself has to offer.

How organisations appoint voters is at their own discretion. If you are a small business then the candidates may be obvious. For larger firms, there may be different ways to approach the issue. You may have an employee council, a notice board, internal newsletter or intranet on which you can publicise the offer to all your staff. It’s also important that the people who are registered to vote reflect the makeup of your organisation. This is not about the most senior people having the vote (although obviously some can be registered) but those at all levels – including your contractors. This helps ensure that the work and policies of the City

YOU’RE NOT MY LOCAL AUTHORITY

HOW DOES MY REGISTERING AFFECT THINGS?

Corporation reflect the desires of all those in the Square Mile.

Being on the Ward List ( the electoral register in the City) can also open up people’s eyes as to how much the City Corporation does and what the City itself has to offer. This issue of cityview gives a snapshot of what’s going on this summer but there’s much more to find out and explore.

So when the official letters and forms arrive on your desk this August, don’t think of them as yet another tick-box exercise but a chance for you and your company to get more involved in your City. 1

MORE INFORMATION

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/voting

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cityview Things to do

Get to know your City can visit attractions under common headings – Law and literature; London stories, London people; Culture vultures; and Skyscrapers and sculpture (there also unusual shopping and eating tips included).

So you can spend your lunch hour, a few hours after work or a whole day getting to know your City better.

No matter how long you live or work in an area there are always new facts, places and activities to discover.

One of the things that emerged from the City Corporation’s work to encourage City organisations to register and turn out to vote was their staff’s keen interest in finding out more about the City’s heritage and culture. With this in mind, a publication is now available that links dozens of the City’s attractions along specially-themed walking routes.

The City of London Visitor Trail is a fold-out map that provides great opportunities to explore beyond the beaten track and, along with the more recognised landmarks, discover the Square Mile’s hidden gems. Given the huge range of attractions marked on the map, there’s no surprise the Trail is headed ‘One trail: hundreds of stories’.

Copies of the Trail are available from the City Information Centre and Guildhall reception. There are related web pages on the City Corporation website.You can also download the free App from the The Trail’s main route starts at the City Information Centre at St Paul’s and finishes at Tower Bridge. But you can also break off and investigate other areas in easy distance on marked ‘side tracks’. This means if you have a particular interest you

Apple or Google Play stores. It includes a mobile audio guide on featured attractions that give more personal insights from the people who know them best.

Many of the attractions listed in the Trail are owned and run by the City Corporation. These include the Barbican Centre, Tower Bridge, the Monument, Guildhall Art Gallery and the City Information Centre.

These are all part of the organisation’s unique services that are provided for the benefit of wider London and the nation as a whole. 1 YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

Guildhall Library, London Metropolitan Archives and City Information Centre. Go to www.cityoflondon.gov.uk MORE INFORMATION

www.visitthecity.co.uk

t @visitthecity f&f /visitthecity

cityview

cityview

Things to do

Free festival for all

There will also be a chance to watch some of Ireland’s finest performers, take part in Irish Roots Family Day on Hampstead Heath or experience a special Ceili in Guildhall Yard.

These celtic events are to help share and promote Derry-Londonderry’s role as the UK first City of Culture this year.

The weather may have disappointed so far this year but the City of London Festival is injecting some brightness into the Square Mile and beyond the summer with music, dance, circus, street arts and much more.

The Festival promises something for everyone with the added bonus that many of the events are free. From the finest jazz to vintage swing dances, gentle folk melodies to aerial theatrics, and a new Tree Trail to a Honey Feast. These latter activities reflect the environmental theme which the festival has had for many years with the focus this time on trees.

One of the Festival’s highlights is a Mobile Orchard which offers audiences an escape from the hectic pace of City life, the chance to nestle in its branches, enjoy live performances and even munch on a freshly picked apple. The Orchard will be travelling across the City during the festival, starting in Paternoster Square and taking in Devonshire Square, The Gherkin, New Street Square and Finsbury Avenue Square.

Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest and West Ham Park will be offering opportunities to enjoy activities in leafy surroundings on Summer Sundays throughout the Festival.

Another City Corporation connection will be the emerging professional talent on display courtesy of its Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Singers, instrumentalists and ensembles from the school will be enlivening lunchtimes in churches across the Square Mile putting the spotlights on future stars of the entertainment world.

All these just scratch the surface of a packed programme, with dozens of events spread over more than 30 of the City’s venues. In addition, the Festival has over 40 ticketed concerts, walks and tours which can be found on its website. So whatever the weather, make it a memorable summer with the City of London Festival.

The City Corporation sponsors the Festival annually as part of its contribution to London’s culture and heritage. 1

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

Our open spaces and the Lord Mayor’s Show.

For more information go to www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

MORE INFORMATION

The green theme continues with performances in City Corporation open spaces outside the Square Mile.

www.colf.org

f cityoflondonfestival t @CoLFestival x /cityoflondonfestival

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cityview Things to do

Beyond borders The City Corporation has a long

storytelling and arts and crafts

history of community involvement

workshops. As if this wasn’t

beyond its boundaries and its

enough there will be

Barbican Centre has created a

performances from Theatre Royal

programme of arts events this

Stratford East, promenade

summer that stretch across

musical performances, family

east London.

trails, picnics along the riverbanks and much more.

Beyond Barbican will feature pop-up performances,

Also in July, Gillett Square in

commissions and collaborations

Dalston will be host to Dance

that offer a cross section of the

Nations Dalston – a packed day

Barbican’s work, introducing

of live music and dance

Create London will be launching

these to a wider audience than

workshops. This is aimed at all

Open School East. This will be

usual that may inspire them to

ages and abilities and uses some

a new artistic, social and

continue to look for new artistic

of east London’s finest talent to

educational initiative in Hackney

experiences in future.

creative a carnival spirit. Dalston

of which we are a main sponsor, or our regeneration work in neighbouring boroughs.

is also the venue for artist Leandro

in which knowledge and skills

A centrepiece of the summer’s

Erlich’s Dalston House – a public,

can be shared and will offer

events will be the Open East

off-site installation. The work

collaborative opportunities to

Festival (27-28 July) in the Queen

resembles a movie set, featuring

residents and neighbourhood

Elizabeth Olympic Park. The

the façade of a late 19th century

organisations. 1

accent will be very much on

Victorian terraced house. This lies

celebration as the festival marks

on the ground with mirrors

the first anniversary of the

overhead so that when visitors sit,

opening ceremony of the

stand or lie on the horizontal

London 2012 Games. The

surface their reflections create

weekend-long event will feature

the illusion they are standing on,

live international music, the

suspended from or scaling the

Real Food Festival and a

building vertically.

Mini-Travelling Art Circus. There

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

The London Symphony Orchestra,

Find out more at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

MORE INFORMATION

www.barbican.org.uk

will also be an arts and fashion

Looking further ahead to the

market, interactive family

autumn, the Barbican and

ft /BarbicanCentre x /barbicanlondon

cityview Things to do places and features stunning

River relationship

photography taken from the top of the Shard with a group of helicopters entering the fame from left and buzzing around the Docklands area like flies. This has been aptly titled Swarm.

Also featured is the last work by Michael Andrews before his death who used mixed ash to dilute paint and create a sense of water ebbing and flowing over sand. And there are some wonderful landscape paintings

by Jock McFadyen which give a real feeling for the scope of the Estuary but also its relation with the modern world.

A birthday is always a good

One of the major attractions of

sea. At the time of writing the

Reflecting on the Museum’s first

reason to celebrate and the

the exhibition is a new film by

exhibition is screening the first

10 years, Director Sharon Ament is

Museum of London Docklands is

Nikolaj Bendix Skyum Larsen. His

chapter (the other two will follow

“enthused by the way we

marking its 10th anniversary in

Portrait of a River is split across

and replace it in the coming

continue to tell the story of trade,

style with a free, new exhibition

three chapters as he proceeds

months) which begins in the City

migration and commerce in the

exploring London’s relationship

from central London down to the

itself. The focus is on people and

world’s greatest city, and the

with the Thames Estuary.

people who contribute to it. It is

The estuary is the outer reaches

commercial past and Estuary

surviving testament to London’s of the Thames, where the river

provides the perfect focal point

meets the sea, and has come

to our celebratory year.”

under renewed interest in recent years over a possible new airport

Estuary is now on at the Museum

siting there.

of London Docklands. 1

The exhibition, Estuary, brings together existing and newly

This Museum is a branch of the

commissioned works across paint,

main Museum of London which is

film, photography and

part-funded by the City of

printmaking. Each artist brings

London Corporation. It is just one

their own perspective to the

example of the organisation’s

subject and the different

contribution to the culture and

elements they choose to focus on

heritage of the City, wider

are sure to be eye-openers for

London and the nation.

those whose only experience of the Thames is in central London.

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

Our Tower Bridge, Monument and the City Information Centre opposite St Paul’s Cathedral.

You can find more information at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk MORE INFORMATION

www.museumoflondon.org.uk/estuary www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Explore-online/mobile-apps/

fx& /museumoflondon t @museumoflondon

15

16

cityview And finally

East and west improvements

Handy way to report issues

minimal disruption. To reduce the length of the works, contractors will be working evenings, weekends and extended working hours where possible. Noisy works will be restricted to times when they will cause minimal inconvenience.

You can keep up to date by emailing holborncircus@ cityoflondon.gov.uk to receive Two major highway and transport

regular e-bulletins.

schemes are in the pipeline at opposite ends of the City.

The City Corporation is also

Love the Square Mile is the free

looking to carry out major

smartphone app from the City of

A major improvement scheme

alterations to the Aldgate

at Holborn, above, is already

gyratory (below). This will

underway to simplify the overall

encourage regeneration and

layout of the junction and make

improve both the immediate

it safer for all road users.

environment and safety for the

London which enables you to easily report any issue with the street environment (graffiti,

local community.

fly tipping or

Work will include an upgrade to pavements, an increase in

Proposed changes include

pedestrian space and new

converting the existing gyratory

pedestrian crossings with signals.

to a two-way traffic system and

There will also be dedicated

creating a new public space

space for cyclists and Hatton

between Sir John Cass’s

Garden will become one-way,

Foundation Primary School

northbound at its junction with

and St Botolph Without Aldgate

Holborn Circus, with contraflow

Church.

cycling. A new public space will

damaged street furniture) and receive an update once the problem is resolved.

All reports and progress can be viewed on the website where you MORE INFORMATION

can also make a report and find

To find out more go to

links and details to download the app from all the main app stores.

be created in front of St Andrew’s

Workshops have been held with

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/

Church and The Grade 2 Listed

local residents and occupiers to

aldgatearea

Prince Albert Statue will be

help develop the designs for the

For information on all

new public spaces. The next

City streetworks, road

in any local authority nationally

stage is to find out what the local

closures, events or highway

by using GPS to automatically

relocated.

It also allows you to report issues

Construction is due to last until

community thinks of the plans

matters follow

send your report to the correct

next Spring and the City

during a consultation period that

t @squarehighways

council through the Love Clean

Corporation will be ensuring

started at the end of June. 1

Streets network. 1

MORE INFORMATION

lovethesquaremile. cityoflondon.gov.uk

cityview

The youth offer Making it work

p8