Today on our pages the boss of Canary Wharf, Shobi Khan, speaks for the first time about the future of the Docklands district since HSBC said it was upping sticks and returning to The City.
The decision was seen as a hugely symbolic hammer blow for Canary Wharf with other high-profile occupiers likely to follow suit as hybrid working reduces the demand for the vast glass and steel edifices that are its architectural trademark.
Khan argues otherwise — but then he would. He concedes that while the HSBC move generated “gloomy” headlines, Canary Wharf is more than just one company and is in any case rapidly diversifying away from the financial and professional services that were its raison d’être in the early years.
Build-to-rent towers are now filling the area with thousands of residents and the new generation of occupiers are more likely to be in life sciences than the Magic Circle.
As our story on Shaftesbury shows today, the West End is in remarkably rude health all things considered and the same applies to most of the rest of central London.
Demand for new office and retail space remains strong and its global appeal largely undiminished, although its financial markets remain subdued.
Canary Wharf has had its ups and downs but retail occupancy is currently a healthy 97%.
The departure of HSBC was an undoubted blow but Canary Wharf is big and established enough to ride it out.
The citadel that rose from the ruins of Docklands is not going anywhere.
And London needs it.
