Alpha City: How London Was Captured by the Super-Rich

by Rowland Atkinson

How London was bought and sold by the Super-Rich, and what it means for the rest of us

Who owns London? In recent decades, it has fallen into the hands of the super-rich. It is today the essential “World City” for High-Net-Worth Individuals and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals. Compared to New York or Tokyo, the two cities that bear the closest comparison, it has the largest number of wealthy people per head of population. Taken as a whole, London is the epicentre of the world’s finance markets, an elite cultural hub, and a place to hide one’s wealth.

Rowland Atkinson presents a history of the property boom economy, going back to the end of Empire. It tells the story of eager developers, sovereign wealth and grasping politicians, all paving the way for the wealthy colonisation of the cityscape. The consequences of this transformation of the capital for capital is the brutal expulsion of the urban poor, austerity, cuts, demolitions, and a catalogue of social injustices. This Faustian pact has resulted in the sale and destruction of public assets, while the rich turn a blind eye toward criminal money laundering to feather their own nests.

Alpha City moves from gated communities and the mega-houses of the super-rich to the disturbing rise of evictions and displacements from the city. It shows how the consequences of widening inequality have an impact on the urban landscape.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, British Literature, Urban Studies

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2020

Reviews

[Leif · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's fine. Just fine. Rowland Atkinson clearly knows their subject well, but the problem comes in conveying that subject with compelling interest. There's a lot of fulmination but, oddly, not a lot of memorable deals save the grandiose sums and guarded riches driving the transformation of what Atkinson repeatedly calls "alpha" this and "alpha" that. The picture is always partial though - rare are comparisons in meaningfully "rich" portraits of what's "alpha" and what isn't, so it all just blurs together. There's also not a lot of real "how" and more assertions about "the extent to which" London was "captured" by the super-rich. I feel like it was kind of akin to a real smart person buttonholing you at a social event, and even though you do like what they're saying, it's both unrelenting and a little monopolistic. Thanks Verso - next?

[Liz Philipson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A devastating book. If you thought you knew how corrupt the system had become and how ownership of houses has distorted our city and provided a channel for money laundering, think again. This book exposes how all the proposals for improving housing and protecting the less wealthy would barely make the Uber rich blink. It is so much worse than we thought

[Philipp · Rating 2 out of 5]

London's capital attracts the rich and the lack of affordable housing leads to a social divide. while the book's topic is interesting, this book offers little insight into the actual machinations. Instead, it is overly repetitive and reveals only little more than the above insight.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A timely book with some thought-provoking points illustrating how London's voracious greed for capital, however acquired, is short-sighted and harms not only the city's working classes but also its traditional elites. However, it was poorly written, repetitive, and could have put its case forth more cogently. Atkinson got a bit too creative with his use of 'big words' to the detriment of his arguments! Do I still think it's an important read for today's city-dwellers despite this? Yes.

[Tamara]

Oddly attenuated.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the surface (and in substance), a tale of the ‘capture’ of London by a wealthy and transient elite, with consequent losses socially and financially for the ‘everyday’ Londoner, up to and including the simply rich rather than super-rich.

Below the surface, Alpha City is a story of London property. Atkinson goes to great lengths to demonstrate how bricks and mortar are central to the phenomenon of the capture. It is a story that rings incredibly true, particularly since I have seen so much of it first hand, from the inside. While the protagonists are the global billionaires, the supporting cast is made up of the wide range of ‘enablers’ as Atkinson calls them - mostly characters directly involved in financial, property and political spheres but also working its way down to architects and interior designers with whom I am so familiar.

Alpha City recounts and highlights rather than proposes solutions, although a few ideas are touched upon. As such, it goes a great job of stirring us up but ultimately leaves us hanging.

The lesson that we are left with is that the values of the property economy have so infused London life that the city is now not so much ‘captured’ as willingly and submissively playing along.

Not an ending with us living happily ever after.

[Tom M (London) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an often anecdotal, not very well-written account of how the filthy rich have taken over the economy of London, mainly via the property market. The most interesting pages are those that describe the "butler class" that makes it all possible: armies of professional advisers, accountants, estate agents, and solicitors, interior designers, architects, shopping assistants, maids and manservants, drivers, cleaners, and in general what we used to call flunkeys. On the architectural and visual evidence, it seems that the more money these people spend on what they believe is the Beautiful, the uglier London becomes. This book simply exposes the horrors and rubs our noses in them without suggesting what, if anything, is to be done - other than moaning.

If you want a really incisive, much better-written book about the filthy rich in London, I strongly recommend "Serious Money" by Caroline Knowles.

[Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informed if somewhat depressing insight in to how London was "stolen" by big money. Depressing as there is no will to change as we are currently seeing, the gap between the extreme wealth and poverty is growing.

[angus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a good book to read when in, near or in any way connected to London. Sake.

[Joaquin A.]

From Knightsbridge to Mayfair, you’ll meet the likes of Andrey Guryev, Lakshmi Mittal, and Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken.

[Hans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of history and anecdotes of how London became city-to-the-wealthy. Like only 3 out of 66 houses on Bishops Avenue being occupied year round.

[maitreya · Rating 1 out of 5]

A really good demonstration of how not to write.

[Matthew Williamson · Rating 2 out of 5]

5/10

Relatively interesting but could be more concise

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Atkinson's novel details a plethora of examples of how power and money are unequally distributed in the city. However, sometimes the narrative became over-repetitive and over-generalised, lacking analysis of how exactly this came about. Some more background about the Right to Buy scheme and Rent Gap Theory would have been helpful here.
Some interesting facts/take-aways from the novel:
- The 26 richest people in the world have as much money as the poorest half of humanity
-The majority of London's wealth belongs to the top 1%
-96 of the most expensive properties in London have more value than in Ireland, Wales and Scotland combined
-High rent prices in the city are partly due to overseas investors buying multiple properties (sometimes with criminally sourced money) as an increasing source of capital. This results in a lot of empty luxury apartments in London, contrasting with the lack of social housing being built
-A lot of money going into real estate is laundered, which diverts money from taxes providing for public services
-Increasing privatization of public space controlled by security staff
-The vulnerable suffered from austerity cuts in 2008 whereas the super-rich are unaffected