London Olympics Economic Boost Failing to Materialise

abaxas

Silly q...

What about the millions watching on TV? I went out for a drive during the opening ceremony, everywhere was deserted.

Graham_Devon

Blimey, we've had the first Olympics "bust" already.

Sadly, staff are left without wages and builders and suppliers are left without invoices being paid.

The company running a major arts venue to cater for Olympics visitors in east London has gone bust after a string of failed events and disappointing visitor numbers.

London Pleasure Gardens has gone into administration, just over a month after it launched with the public backing of Boris Johnson and a £3million loan from Newham Council.

The company took over a derelict site near to the ExCel Centre in London's Docklands to provide a cultural quarter and party venue for visitors to the Olympics and local residents.

Seems it's another victim of the lack of Olympics visitors which were again hyped up. However, in this case, to be fair, the whole thing, from start to finish was badly created and plagued with problems. The idea, generally, was that hundreds of Olympics visitors would be visitng, but it's didn't pan out.

Silly thing is, access was again restricted to Olympics ticket holders and other selectr individuals. If theres one thing we have learnt from this Olympics it's that we should never run a ticketing system the same again.

homelessskilledworker

If people/government/business were hoping a successfull Olympics was going to lift the spirits and feel good factor of Great Britain then I think we have had a games(up until now) that have been way and above the expectaions of most people.

JUST BRILLIANT!!

I personally do not think it is going to spread to a feel good factor or more to the point for this MSE board a housing market revival around the UK once the games have finished. I think what we are seeing is something like the Dunkirk spirit or the London Blitz, we are going to smile and party despite our economic woes.
Lottery funding and funding in general from Gordon Browns "economic miracle" days have also played a big part.

We will see!!,

Graham_Devon

As a side note to this thread, Taylor Wimpey has won the contract to build 11,000 new homes in the Olympic Park Neighbourhood.

The homes will be built over the next 20 years and the first will 870 be available by 2014.

Some good news this, as it also brings 8000 permanent construction jobs with it. So one Olympic Legacy can already be seen.

The homes are being built over 20 years as to not flood the market (statement, not my words), i.e. rationed.

Boris promises "housing legacy".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19202257

Graham_Devon

I've been having a read on HPC tonight, and theres a lot of information there that we don't generally get to see here.

One snippet I saw was a RICS report stating rental demand for flats in London is at the lowest it has ever been (since records began).

Seems a bit weird to me, but theres a link to a graph from RICs.

It;s on a thread from mumsnet, where even those looking for properties (and must be talking about it) are seeing rightmove flooded with flats for sale. Seems a bit weird considering the olympics? Maybe there was something in what people were saying?

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I've been having a read on HPC tonight,

Interesting.

It seems even the hpc-ers are starting to wise up....

Thought this comment was particularly incisive, for a crashaholic anyway.

Gigantic Purple SlugPosted Today, 03:50 PM

The problem now is that any cataclysmic event that may lead to ir rises that will collapse the housing market will also lead to people being unable to take advantage of that particular event to buy houses.

In other words if house prices are creamed, our ability to buy them will be creamed too.
http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=181709&view=findpost&p=909111163

lostinrates

Sapphire wrote: »

The BBC has unfortunately degenerated into celebrity-driven drivel when it comes to big events – although I have to say the sports commentary during the Olympics, for the rowing and swimming in particular, has been first class.

I have watched more of the sport than i expected to, sasly missing some of what i would have liked to watch.

I have really enjoyed watching how amazingly well the human body adapts, and particularly watching the athletes whose physiques are perhaps less genetically primed for the sport they have chosen to follow.

It made me think that an excellent follow up programme ( with sport legacy in mind) would be to watvh athletes do different sports in swaps, to show that there is asport for most body types and characters, but also how we can often acheive against odds.

paddyrg

I think the problem the doomsayers miss is the long-term benefit. There's a fortnight of games every 50 years or so, however the uplift in our national identity and visibility should not be underestimated. Mr and Mrs Redneck from some backwater somewhere who came for the sport tell people London is a great place to go. The city has had more TV hours internationally with the Jubilee then the Olympics than any amount of tourist board advertising could ever secure. The ceremonies speak of Britain, and remind people of all the great things we do/have done. A lot of governmental-level deals and international diplomacy also going on, and it proves to the world that if you want a job doing well, come to us. Just in terms of drawing attention to the country and in the mid-term the tourism and credibility uplift...well it is really rather wonderful. And in exchange, a fortnight of all the tubes running well and a great atmosphere in London - it's a winner ;-)

Maybe don't repeat it for another couple of decades, mind, but what a great way to remind the world we're still here, open for business!