The East End’s tech, media and creative sector is set to overtake the City in terms of economic growth over the next five years according to forecasters. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has found that the industries based around Shoreditch, Hoxton and Bethnal Green are growing at twice the rate of the financial sector in the Square Mile.
Old Street roundabout, dubbed ‘silicon roundabout’
The area is home to a range of businesses including Last FM and Tweetdeck. Only last year Google took out a ten year lease on a seven storey office building close to the ‘silicon roundabout’ in Shoreditch. In addition to outperforming the city by 2016, CEBR predicts there will be a 31 per cent rise in employment in the area by 2031 compared to just 9 per cent in the rest of London.
Charles Davis of CEBR says the findings suggest that the capital is adjusting from its over-reliance on the financial sector with new industries beginning to take prominence. This is encouraging because further research from CEBR forecasts that London will lose its position as the world’s leading financial centre to Hong Kong by 2015.
Katherine Norman, a recruitment coordinator from Bethnal Green, says there are a lot of start-ups in the area and there has been an influx of IT talent from overseas. Sadly, she says, it’s a very male dominated sector.
“It would be good to see more girls,” she adds.
But software tester Ruth Lynas is sceptical about the ability of the area to overtake the City and Docklands.
“Where are all these offices that are allegedly providing a new source of employment?” she asks.
“I can’t see this embryonic ‘silicon roundabout’ as ever being what the City has had.”
Do you work in the East End’s tech city? Do you feel that the digital and creative sector could overtake the financial services sector in the coming years? Share your thoughts with us below.
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