Launched in May 2022, Destination City is ‘a package of measures designed to boost the vibrancy of the Square Mile, drive forward its recovery from the pandemic and increase its attractiveness to talent.’
Key features of the Destination City programme:
from the City of London website
- A £2.5 million annual investment to boost the Square Mile’s leisure offer, building on recent cross-London campaigns and creating a leading City destination for workers, residents and UK and international visitors to enjoy.
- Through partnerships with brands, City Business Improvement Districts, and landowners, Destination City will deliver an exciting all-year-round events programme.
- Major events and new and exciting seasonal arts and culture activity will enliven the City’s streets and venues, encouraging audiences to experience this part of London in a new way.
- We are delivering a new visitor and tourist brand for the City of London, boosting the Square Mile’s position as a global leisure destination. This is providing a powerful new voice for the Square Mile’s businesses and cultural attractions, and new tourism, travel, media, and commercial partnerships are helping promote the City to London, UK, and global audiences. This includes a major new City of London destination brand and website.
- We are making radical changes to the Square Mile’s streets to support Destination City, with wider pavements, al-fresco dining, and first-class infrastructure for our pedestrians and cyclists.
- City roof gardens, terraces, and viewing galleries are already a magnet for visitors with the Sky Garden, on top of 20 Fenchurch Street, welcoming over 10 million visitors. And we are using our planning powers to create new inclusive public spaces and cultural experiences.
- Destination City builds on a long track record of culture investment in the Square Mile. The City Corporation is already the fourth largest funder of heritage and cultural activities in the UK and invests over £130m every year.
- We are working with all our attractions, from the Barbican Centre and Guildhall Art Gallery to Tower Bridge and The Monument, to draw in UK and international visitors, workers, and residents.
city of london citizen forum
The Forums are personally organised and where necessary funded by Brendan Barns, the Resident Representative on the City Envoy Network and Common Councilman for Farringdon Within. Here’s an excerpt from the invitation to come along to the inaugural event in January 2024 which will give you some idea of what Cllr Barns hopes to achieve:
Let’s talk about the City of London’s flagship policy, Destination City! We want to hear your views and embrace your insights and expertise.
Join us for the inaugural City of London Citizens Forum. These informal monthly Citizen Forums are open to all residents of the City of London and will always be free to attend [now bi-monthly]. They have a clear purpose to explore the City of London Corporation’s flagship policy – Destination City. The policy is designed to celebrate, promote, and support the Square Mile’s unrivalled history and heritage, its world-class arts and culture, restaurants and bars to UK and global visitors and all Londoners. It is intended to set out a vision for the Square Mile to become a world-leading leisure destination for visitors, workers, and residents to enjoy.
No-one knows and loves the square mile more than the residents who have to chosen to live here. With this in mind these informal forums, held on the third Monday of every month in venues around the City, will seek to explore the views of residents and harness the skills and knowledge of residents as we plan how best to use Destination City to create a vibrant and fabulous City in which to work, visit and live in.
In exploring different venues across the City we’ll discover some of the hidden treasures within the City and discovering some of the extraordinary opportunities available to workers, visitors and residents.
Cllr Brendan Barnes
Follow Brendan on Eventbrite or check the events calendar.
Some of the venues so far:
May 2024 | The Amicable Society of Lazy Ballerinas 
March 2024 | NLA The London Centre 
February 2024 | City Wall at Vine Street 
January 2024 | University of Chicago School of Business
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