It is indeed a long way to Tipperary, even longer if you take one of those dodgy rickshaws that proliferate the London’s West End. Which is precisely where I found myself on Friday night, slightly the worse for wear and staggering to the train station after watching The Small Fakers, a cracking Faces tribute band, at the 100 Club.
But as I was walking through Leicester Square on my way home I noticed a deserted street that once used to be buzzing. I took a picture of it, stuck it on Twitter with a message lamenting the demise of a place I have known for 30 years and thought no more about it.
Now, for those who already follow my account @LondonMoneyFS will know, I don’t take anything too seriously. Twitter is a fantastic platform (most of the time) and I call it a good day if at some point I’ve rinsed Mike, annoyed Seb or forced Adam to stomp around in his loft shouting to his parents “Martin’s been mean to me again!”
I was a reluctant adopter of the account after the person who started it left. But after a while I soon got to grips with it. Since then it has become an invaluable asset that has generated over £150k of new business. We even started a network off the back of it.
You could paraphrase it as a thankless task becomes a thankful one in 280 characters or less.
Back to that Friday night tweet:
Leicester Square , 11pm on a Friday night
24 hour City ?
I’ve lived and breathed central London for 30 years and this breaks my heart
☹️ #London pic.twitter.com/8oyOfUMspp
— London Money (@LondonMoneyFS) October 24, 2025
It went viral. Over 1.6m views, 8000 likes and 2000 comments – some sensible, some distasteful.
The tweet’s original point was to question why London wasn’t a vibrant 24/7 place similar to Paris or New York? Obviously it is still a lively and culturally significant city but it does seem to have lost a lot of its joie de vivre and many people were keen to give me their reasons – Sadiq Khan, poor infrastructure, lockdowns, whinging residents, a drop in tourism, safety concerns, cost of living, economic decline and, interestingly, a change in peoples habits.
The tweet was also hijacked by some of those who like to paint roundabouts and shout at hotels. A few responders even suggested the weather; fair enough, it’s not Dubai but it’s not exactly Alaska either!
The popularity of that tweet led me to draw two conclusions.
Firstly, that social media is unlikely to ever change. It will forever be a mix of the sublime and the ridiculous, the brilliant and the bonkers, the sarcastic and the sinister, the good and the bad. It is a microcosm of society but not necessarily representative of it. That said, it is here to stay whether we like it or not and we should embrace it for how it suits us best and filter out the things that aren’t necessarily good for our mental wellbeing.
Secondly, and it goes back to the point above, people’s habits are changing.
The drinks industry is very concerned by this as they see the younger generations turning toward a healthier life while many others turn their backs on premium brands due to cost.
The lockdowns changed everything. They showed us how we can eat, exercise, work and shop without ever leaving the sofa. The flexible working week that followed now makes planning staff rotas and inventory difficult. Is it now a three-day work week or a four-day weekend? Or vice versa?
The cost of living and rampant inflation ( 3.8% my ****!) is a major contributory factor to 60% of restaurants closing in their first year. I was talking to a commercial lender this week and they said they are happy to lend to chain restaurants but avoid small independents. That is a crying shame for all concerned and leads us ever closer to High Street domination by mega brands.
On top of all this let’s throw on the incendiary accelerant of rules, red tape, regulation and political interference.
I’ll link this back to my previous article where I talked about the need to be wary that when things are going well, it often means trouble is ahead. The UK economy is anaemic at best, on life support at worst. The economy is no longer the juggernaut of an industrious nation all moving forward together. Today it is fragmented, disjointed and travelling at different speeds in many different directions.
Good luck to Rachel Reeves and anyone else trying to get ahead of this. If anyone does they will make a lot of money.
Speaking of which, I’m off to but a coffee with my £4.17 Twitter royalties. And to think some people said I’d never amount to anything.
