Recliner wrote:
From
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/02/05/london-no-longer-calling-population-shock-takes-hold/

Even when the last Covid restrictions are lifted from London, there may be
a little less bustle on its streets and elbow-jostling at its drinking
dens.

One startling estimate that has caught the eye of economists warned the
capital’s population may have plunged by 700,000 during the pandemic. That
would equate to an 8pc drop and be the first slump in London’s population
in more than 30 years.

The capital has been the victim of decades-long migration trends suddenly
reversing. But will that spell trouble for its economy?


A sustained decline would dent demand for services in the city but could
also ease pressure on transport and housing.

“The real long-term shift is fewer people will be looking to work in
London, there'll be less demand for their services so one would expect
fewer to come back in the future,� says O’Connor.

That could lead to “some sort of downward spiral� as fewer office workers
feed through to lower demand for the sandwich shops and pubs, he warns.
Swinney adds property prices could "at least moderate if not fall, if you
see population declines� but better affordability could in turn persuade
more to move to the capital.

Even once the pandemic has ended for the capital, London's population bust
may be one of the longest lasting legacies from the crisis.


As you reside there would this improve it by being a little less frenetic ?
London *can be an interesting place to be though personally I prefer to
visit as and when though
if my father hadn’t died young it is possible we would never have moved
away.
However in recent times the few relatives who still live there have said
at times it got too busy,
Ironically one of the missus two brothers lived there for years and moved
out 4 years ago
and chose Bristol thinking it would be an interesting place to live but not
as busy.
He absolutely hated it and though slowed down by Covid affecting things has
purchased a place
in the Crouch End area and will be moving back as soon as some building
work gets completed.
I do wonder if he may regret that and find it has actually changed more
than he realised,
as Al Stuart wrote “Still you never see the change from day to day
And no-one notices the customs slip away�.
At 76 he won’t really want to move away again.

* London of course is a bit simplistic, We and a relative still does lived
in a part of Chiswick within 5min walking of the District and Piccadilly
lines and equidistant from the well equipped high road and numerous bus
routes that made access inward easy and not far from the roads to the west
that made getting out by car straight forward. Not all areas are like
that.

GH