Covid-19 emptied the City of half a million workers and plunged the Square Mile, with its austere architecture, into a particularly sinister atmosphere. In the deserted streets, only construction workers, security guards and rare tourists create a little animation. At the foot of the Royal Exchange, a luxury shopping center, Tom Rossiter, a recently retired entrepreneur, contemplates the main crossroads of the incredulous City. "This calm is very worrying," he exclaims. Yesterday I struggled to find a place to have lunch in Covent Garden. Covent Garden! You realize? "
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The vast majority of the restaurants and cafes of the City of London Corporation - which has just 10,000 inhabitants and generates around 10% of Britain's GDP - have not reopened. Their customers continue to telecommute either because their company's headquarters are still closed or because they prefer to avoid very long journeys by public transport.
At lunch time,
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