Consultants working in a new cultural strategy for the City of London offer a refreshing take on what appeals to visitors, workers and residents. They emphasise that the Square Mile is a lot more than a home for renowned institutions and attractions like the Barbican Centre, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London Museum (re-opening 2026) and St Paul’s Cathedral.
In a report-back on a wide-ranging consultation process, Things Made Public say they heard that “People want to celebrate what’s already here”:
The Square Mile is full of cultural life, but often it’s hidden in plain sight. From grassroots groups and historic venues to lunchtime concerts and public art, there’s a lot to be proud of. People don’t just want new things – they want to value and elevate what’s already working.
Other key findings, listed below, have been circulated to those involved in the consultation process.
For the strategy development process the Audience Agency reviewed dozens of existing datasets and reports, and Things Made Public then ran 10 focus groups, carried out a wide range of interviews and secured 741 responses to a public survey.
- Full consultation report including the summary
- Full research and insight report.
- Report to Culture, Heritage and Libraries Committee in May
Overall it is an impressive piece of work – and I hope the conclusions are followed through. More below on that.
Live scribing from the focus group meetings
What the consultants heard
Main points from the summary report on consultation:
People want culture that feels relevant to them – not just impressive from afar: There’s no shortage of ambition in the City. But across every group, people spoke about the need for cultural experiences that feel personal, relatable, and connected to their lives. Big institutions are respected, but they can feel distant. People want to feel part of the story, not just observers of it.
People want to ‘do’: Creatives, makers, community organisers, students and parents all spoke of wanting more space, more visibility and more opportunities to shape the City’s cultural life. Culture isn’t just something you go and see – it’s something you do. And people want the chance to do it here.
The Corporation’s role is to enable, not control: Communities and creators want ownership. They’re asking for co-authorship, not consultation. People want permission to lead, and support that’s generous, not gatekept.
Make room for the bold, the messy and the new: Many felt the City can be overly cautious, polished and risk-averse, leaving little room for experimentation or failure. There’s a strong appetite for a cultural offer that’s brave enough to try, fail and try again.
Culture must feel safe, accessible and human: Whether it’s about affordability, physical access, inclusive environments or a sense of psychological safety, people want cultural spaces that are designed with care, not just creativity. Welcoming design matters as much as artistic ambition.
Reframe heritage for today: The Square Mile is full of extraordinary heritage. But people want stories that feel alive, not locked in the past, or told from a single perspective. From contested legacies and underrepresented voices to co-curated histories and bold reinterpretations of place, there’s huge potential to tell the City’s story in ways that are honest, relevant and resonant today.
People want to celebrate what’s already here: The Square Mile is full of cultural life, but often it’s hidden in plain sight. From grassroots groups and historic venues to lunchtime concerts and public art, there’s a lot to be proud of. People don’t just want new things – they want to value and elevate what’s already working.
Communication is still a major barrier: Whilst resources such as the City Information Centre were praised, again and again, we heard: “I just didn’t know that was happening.”. People want simpler ways to find out what’s on, and to feel like that information is for them. Better communication could unlock a huge untapped audience already walking through the City every day.
Culture should be visible in the everyday: Across different groups, people talked about wanting to stumble across culture, not seek it out. Street-level experiences, open-access events, and unexpected creative moments in public spaces were seen as key to making the City feel alive and culturally welcoming.
The rhythm of working life has changed, and culture needs to follow: Workers told us: “We don’t need big events. We need quick moments of magic.”. Pop-ups, lunchtime interventions, creative break spaces felt more relevant than formal, ticketed experiences.
The weekend gap is real: The City empties out after hours and at weekends, and it doesn’t have to. There’s a huge opportunity to rethink how public spaces are used across the full week, and to invite a more diverse audience into the City.
The City’s cultural identity feels unclear, even to those who love it: Despite being home to world-leading institutions, many said the City’s cultural offer feels fragmented or hard to define. But the potential is huge, and people want to see the City embrace its contradictions. Old and new, serious and playful.
Next phase
The report says:
The next phase is about turning insight into action. The Cultural Strategy will be co-created with a wide range of stakeholders – not just through consultation, but through genuine partnership and shared ownership. It will be shaped by those who use the City every day, and by those who have historically been excluded or underrepresented within it. This is how we build a strategy that is rooted, relevant and resilient.
Next Steps Include:
- Further one-to-one conversations to gain in-depth knowledge and build partnerships.
- An Out & About week in the City to get to know our ‘hidden gems’.
- Go & See events open to the general public, enabling people to experience some of the amazing places in the City, ask questions about the strategy and feed in their experiences and opinions.
- The formation of a 40+ strong Cultural Strategy Development Group to guide and shape the development of the strategy – consisting of major institutions to freelance creatives, businesses to community organisations, developers to charities.
- The formation of a Corporation Officer Development Group, bringing together different departments to shape the development of the strategy and ensure that the power of culture is harnessed across the board.
- The formation of Corporation Member Sessions, ensuring that the Corporation has oversight and collaboration on every step of the journey.
- Population Survey of City of London catchment areas to address gaps in understanding of audiences outside the City but within the City’s main catchment, including how the overall experience of place affects their choice of cultural destination.
- On street survey of City Workers to gain detailed understanding of the cultural preferences of different worker types and demographic groups.
I received the report from the consultants as one of the residents who attended a focus group – and appreciate getting a first sight of the conclusions. The summary report on consultation was accompanied by a summary of research findings, and a draft set of commitments and priorities.
I think that the package would benefit from an overall summary, and an explanation of the process in one document. The process was set out in a report to Culture, Heritage and Libraries committee in May. It would be useful to have the summary documents online for easy reference.
However, these are quibbles. I hope that Corporation does this excellent piece of work justice by issuing a news release summarising progress so far and flagging up the full consultation report, which is available online here. It is well worth reading both for the detailed observations and the graphic records of discussion. I’ve copied some of those above.
Perhaps the greatest overall benefit of the research is that it show how it may be possible to develop a vision for the future of the Square Mile that works for residents, workers, and visitors, based on making the most of what we have.