Viva Las London! The new American boom

The all-time low of the pound against the dollar has triggered a flood of US investment in the capital. Samuel Fishwick reports on a new star-spangled takeover of businesses and neighbourhoods

- Samuel Fishwick

WITH money in the bank and dollars to burn, it's a good time to be an American in London. The US's W chief gripe about the capital used to be that the pricey pound made everything here so expensive. But last year the post-Covid pound tumbled, hitting an all-time low against the dollar in the aftermath of Liz Truss's "mini-Budget" and providing hefty discounts. America is bouncing, and it's making itself at home.

First came Middle Eastern oil money, then the Russians to keep London afloat. Now, it's Americans, riding in from the West. Restaurants and theatres are stuffed with American visitors, London's real estate market is turning red, white and blue, and US investors are chasing UK businesses like they're going out of fashion.

"I feel like during the pandemic older Americans were thinking: we've got to travel, we have the money and we need to travel together because we have the money and who knows what could happen in the future," says Stuart Procter, chief operating officer at The Stafford hotel in St James's, which has enjoyed a surge in American visitors. "What are we going to do, be the richest people in the graveyard or have some fun?" In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, London grad has bitten the dust - all hail London land, America's 51st state.

"In case we ever forget it, London is a leading global city," says Jonathan Goldstein, the British developer who bought Chelsea Football Club with US billionaire Todd Boehly for £4.25 billion in May last year. "It has every entertainment, cultural, spectacular attraction that one would want to have in a leading city, and a strong foundation in its rule of law and a common language that remains the most spoken in the world.