In the City of London’s 1980s heyday most well-behaved investment bankers paid little heed to King’s Cross, then a seedy, drug-ridden den of vice a few miles away from their trading floors and wine bars. Today the area attracts tech giants, startups and global investors, even as the centuries-old heart of London’s financial world stands still.

At the heart of the renaissance is Alphabet Inc., which has built Google’s £1 billion ($1.24 billion) UK headquarters and housed artificial-intelligence powerhouse DeepMind in the area. The British base of Meta Platforms Inc. is close by. Early investors LocalGlobe and Balderton Capital are based locally; they have funded fintech firms ranging from Wise Plc to Revolut Ltd.

In the City of London’s 1980s heyday most well-behaved investment bankers paid little heed to King’s Cross, then a seedy, drug-ridden den of vice a few miles away from their trading floors and wine bars. Today the area attracts tech giants, startups and global investors, even as the centuries-old heart of London’s financial world stands still.

Read more: BNN Bloomberg