One of the secret pleasures of working in FRP's Cannon Street offices is the knowledge that we are literally sitting above one of London's major archaeological treasures. Historians will argue whether the vast palace underneath Cannon Street was a Governor's Palace, or as seems more likely, the centre of Londinium's civil service, during the late first or early second century AD. Perhaps we'll never know its exact purpose for sure, but we do know that this was a vast building sat over three floors and was over 100m long on each side.

At around the same time, Roman Britain was at the peak of its glory. The London Wall (one of the Roman's major architectural projects in the UK) was completed sometime between 190 AD and 225 AD, and Londinium boasted somewhere between 45,000 and 60,000 people (thanks Wikipedia!). It would have seemed to those proud inhabitants that this ultra-modern, thriving city would continue to inexorably grow ever greater. 

But of course, we know with hindsight, that this wasn't to be the case. By the middle of the 5th century, the Romans had left Britain, and Londoninium was ghost of its former self. It would take centuries for London to be reborn as the international powerhouse that we have become accustomed to.

Now, I'm not really saying that we're seeing history repeating, and I'm certainly not predicting an Anglo-Saxon invasion, but this is definitely a certain 'ghostly' feel in and around the Square Mile of late. As we've previously discussed, Omicron could not have hit the City at a worse possible time. Hospitality and Retail have been poleaxed and many businesses have announced office closures, temporary or permanent, with little sign that there will be a return to 'normal' this side of Easter. 

Restaurants are practically running on empty, in the hope that they can ride one last storm before diners return. Anecdotally, I sat this morning in a 100-cover restaurant and covertly counted only around 20 fellow diners. But with waiting and temporary labour cut back to the extreme, I still had to wait nearly an hour for my food (at least that's how I explained my tardy return to the office to the other Partners!).

Against this backdrop, the City of London Corporation has just announced its own Covid-19 Recovery Grand Scheme for SMEs in the Square Mile. At £10 million, this is being offered primarily to retail, hospitality, leisure and medical sector operators, as long as they have been in occupation continuously since the 1st April 2021. The Corporation estimates that some 1,100 businesses will qualify for the support and is already directly contacting those that might benefit. It follows on from the Corporation's previous 2021 Covid Business Recovery Fund, which was operational until last summer when the initial restrictions eased.

It's an admirable initiative, but sadly it really is only a drop in the ocean in the context of the continued pain these small businesses continue to endure. A maximum support grant of £12,000 will barely cover a handful of cancelled Christmas parties for these establishments. The real pressure will continue to hang over those city establishments until the offices are full - or at least mostly full - again.

And those pressures inevitably will mean more difficult conversations to come with the capital's landlords. As our Retail and Leisure Pulse survey reported in November, businesses were surprisingly reluctant to engage with professional advisors to help with these conversations at the time - despite every single one of our respondents telling us that they had deferred, or were planning to negotiate a deferral with their landlords, only 20% of our respondents had done so with advisors. I suspect many in the remaining 80% have now either already started, or are looking to start these conversations. 

London will, of course, re-emerge, just as it had before. But like the palace under Cannon Street, the tenants might look a little different.