Business Inside Out by Martin Towers: Why it is no wonder entrepreneurs and City types don't get on

The City is a lifestyle choice and is not for everybody. For some it is the only place to be. The UK does not churn out engineers, businessmen and entrepreneurs in anything like the right number.

But it does churn out City bankers, lawyers and accountants especially from the top universities.

Once there it is hard work, very long hours, for you are out to impress. The aspirational will set out on a City career with one view, of getting to the top and the big bucks. The early consolation is the pay and rations are generous and high certainly by other standards, but so is the rent. But if you do not make it and are successful at doing ‘Something in The City’, get out, as the quality of life is better elsewhere.

The City is a bubble. The inhabitants will often have little idea of what exists north of Watford and presume a passport is necessary to stray that far into the provinces.

Nowhere quite like The City provokes a them and us attitude amongst the business fraternity. The City is populated by advisers. The business world is populated by the doers, the wealth creators, the risk takers, the people at the sharp end, the tough decision-makers.

The City is full of parasites feeding on unsuspecting companies bleeding them dry with huge fees on a scale rarely matched by any other service. Business leaders are more likely made up of bright grammar school lads and lasses not public school toffs. It is a wonder they get on at all, and often they don’t. But The City has power so be careful what you say.

These are the stereotypes but there is much truth in them.

Yet The City is a world class and sizeable institution owing its origins and scale having been the centre of Empire. Those days are long gone. The City has had to re-invent itself and again with Brexit as European opportunities dwindle, The City and the London financial press being staunch Remainers.

So if you have to deal with The City you are visiting them, not vice-versa. The best brains in the country can be found there so if you are a major corporate seeking serious corporate advice, particularly across a range of complex and technical topics, you are City bound. The specialist subject is fund raising and banking primarily in the public markets for private equity will typically be found hiding away in Mayfair and The West End.

In the old days, the lament is, that the contact between company and adviser was long term relationship based. Nowadays it is more likely transaction based and we have the US banks in The City to primarily thank for that. They have typically swallowed up UK banks and changed the culture to be more aggressive in chasing down business.

The City is both a unique and valuable asset to the UK and also controversial with a perception problem with business people, politicians and the general public alike.

Martin Towers is the former finance director of Kelda Group, which was the parent company of Yorkshire Water, and former CEO of Spice PLC. He is now an early-stage business investor.