The City and Canary Wharf. Where the day is measured in meetings, not miles.

The City is small, medieval in plan and progressively closed to private traffic. The central restriction is Bank junction: between 7am and 7pm on weekdays, general traffic and private hire vehicles cannot cross it. Buses and cycles can, and licensed taxis have been running east to west between Poultry and Cornhill under a trial. Alongside it, Queen Victoria Street is closed to all motor vehicles at its junction with Mansion House Street, and Threadneedle Street is closed between Bank junction and Bartholomew Lane.

The practical effect is that the six streets that used to meet at Bank no longer join up, and a driver who does not know that will take you the long way round three times in a morning. It also means a meeting on Threadneedle Street, Cornhill or Poultry is a short walk from wherever the car can legitimately stop, and we will tell you which corner before you set off rather than after.

These rules are reviewed regularly, and a consultation on the taxi arrangement ran through the first half of 2026 with a decision expected later in the year. We track them because they change how a day is built.

Canary Wharf is not public highway. The roads on the estate are privately owned and access is controlled by manned security barriers, with CCTV throughout and vehicle checks at the operator's discretion. A car can get to the doors of One Canada Square, Churchill Place, Bank Street, Cabot Square and the Wood Wharf buildings, but not by drifting in and hoping. Our chauffeurs know which barrier to approach for which tower, how long they can stand, and where to hold between meetings so they are ninety seconds away rather than fifteen minutes.

West of the estate, the approach from the City runs through Limehouse and the A1203, and from the south through the Rotherhithe or Blackwall tunnels. All three can add half an hour without notice. On a roadshow day we plan the sequence around that, not around the map.