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London Scottish Bank Plc Business Information, Profile, and History

London Scottish House, Mount Street
Manchester
M2 3LS
United Kingdom

Company Perspectives:

London Scottish Bank is a Specialist Financial Services Company. It has been Established for over a century. Over 2000 staff provide services to the Public and Private sectors, as well as the consumer, through a nationwide network of over 100 Branches and a state of the art Call Centre. Its High Power Systems are without equal.

History of London Scottish Bank Plc

London Scottish Bank plc (LSB) is one of the United Kingdom's leading providers of credit to the "sub-prime" market--that is, to consumers typically denied credit at other financial institutions. LSB's core operations revolve around its traditional base in the so-called doorstep lending sector, in which loans are made and collected in door-to-door fashion. In this segment, LSB's loans are typically small, at an average of £420 and ranging up to £1,000, and for older customers, as high as £3,000. Loans are also typically short-term, usually no more than six months, with interest rates at 20 percent APR and higher, and payments are made weekly. LSB customers, primarily working class and low-income, generally begin with small loans, which are gradually replaced with larger loans as the customer establishes a credit history. Consumer Credit remains LSB's largest division, representing more than 70 percent of annual revenues of nearly £313 million in 2004. Debt collection, principally through the company's Robinson Way subsidiary, is the company's main profit generator. The company not only supports its own operations, but also provides debt collection and related services--including meter reading--to a variety of customers. Since the early 2000s, London Scottish Bank has made an effort to diversify its lending portfolio away from a reliance on doorstep lending. The company has made a number of acquisitions, including Call-4-Cash, Sterling Direct, Pacific Homeloans, and Personal Loan Centre, boosting its direct lending business. This operation also has been extended to LSB's national network of more than 100 branches. In 2004, the Manchester-based company also launched its first retail deposit offering to the public. In another move, LSB has stepped up its efforts to win commercial lending customers, a division that adds some 15 percent to group turnover. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, LSB is led by CEO Roy Reece. Chairman of the board is Jack Livingstone, grandson of the company's founder.

Turn of the 20th Century Lender

London Scottish Bank traced its roots back to turn of the 20th century England, when Lewis Livingstone set up a small money-lending business in Wigan, Lancashire. By providing small, short-term loans to the area's large, low-income working class--which tended to be shunned by larger lenders--Livingstone's business grew quickly. By 1903, Livingstone opened an office in Manchester. That city then became the company's headquarters, as well as its major market.

Livingstone's company became a family affair in 1918 when son Harry Livingstone, just 15 years old at the time, joined his father's business. Together the pair expanded the company's base of operations. By the mid-1930s, the company operated seven branches, all within the Lancashire region. In 1936, the Livingstones incorporated the company as Refuge Lending Society Limited. Harry Livingstone's son Jack Livingstone joined the company in 1958.

Lancashire remained Refuge's focus through the 1950s, and by the beginning of the 1960s, there were 15 Refuge branches throughout the region. In 1961, however, the company, then led by Harry Livingstone, decided to expand beyond its home base for the first time. Adopting a strategy of organic expansion and acquisition, Refuge added 18 new branches by 1962, including the acquisition of Reliance Guarantee Company. The company also established new regional subsidiaries, Refuge Lending Company (Northern) Ltd. and Refuge Lending Company (Midlands) Ltd. in 1962.

Refuge's earlier expansion targeted primarily England's North and Midlands regions. In the second half of the 1960s, Refuge began extending further across the country. By the end of the decade, the company operated 38 branches, including two in London, first established in 1968.

Public Offering in 1970

Concurrent with its geographic expansion, the company began to expand its range of financial services as well. Into the 1970s, Refuge's client base topped 18,000 customers, the majority of whom were regular customers. Average loan amounts ranged from £40 to £200, and regular customers tended to arrange advances twice per year. A distinguishing feature of Refuge was its low bad debt ratio. By conducting thorough investigations of its potential clients, the company was able to maintain its defaulted loan rate at just 2 percent of total turnover.

This success led the company to extend its loan services into longer-term categories in 1966, with the creation of a new subsidiary, Sameday Re-Mortgage Company Limited. Refuge then began providing loans for up to three years, as compared with its main business's average of just six months. Through the 1970s, the company continued to shift its balance of business toward the longer term, in part by targeting council tenants, seen as better risks, with one- to three-year loans.

Refuge restructured at the beginning of 1970 in preparation for its public offering. In July 1970, the company listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange, and prepared to step up its expansion. A major milestone in the company's growth came in 1975, when it acquired debt collection agency Robinson Way. That business, like Refuge itself, conducted a great part of its debt collection services through door-to-door visits. In this way, Robinson Way proved a strong complement for Refuge's core business. It also proved to be one of the most profitable areas of the company's operations, eventually responsible for some 30 percent of group profits.

During the 1980s, the company added a small commercial debt collection operation as well, as an add-on to Robinson Way's focus on the consumer market. This diversification of the company's activities, coupled with a liberalization of the British banking sector, led Refuge to change its name in 1986, when it adopted its new moniker, London Scottish Bank (LSB).

LSB continued to seek growth opportunities through the end of the 1980s. In 1988, for example, the company acquired Manchester-based James Stewart Group. That purchase boosted LSB's consumer finance and retail credit operations. The company also continued to expand its debt collection operations, both through organic growth and through a number of smaller acquisitions. Another acquisition, of Commercial Credit Consultants in 1990, helped establish the group's commercial debt collection operations as a major part of its overall business.

Diversified Financial Group for the New Century

Despite the lean economic times of the early 1990s, especially in the United Kingdom, which only slowly pulled out of a national recession toward the latter half of the decade, LSB remained in relatively good health. This was due in large part to its focus on the low-income sector. LSB's clientele relied heavily on relief benefits, or, in the case of working clients, wages that barely climbed above the relief level--because of this, these populations tended to be much less affected by economic downturns. As a result, LSB came through the worst of the recession with more or less stable bad debt levels.

Nonetheless, LSB's core market was seen as relatively mature as the company approached the new century. In response, LSB began preparations to diversify its operations beyond its reliance on doorstep lending and, to a lesser extent, debt collection.

Acquisitions played a prominent role in LSB's new diversification strategy. In 1997, the company established a new direct lending wing, with the acquisition of Personal Loan Centre. This was followed in 1998 by the addition of another area of operation, factoring--that is, providing billing services for smaller companies--when it acquired Isis Factors, paying £6 million.

Acquisitions continued into the next decade. In 2000, the company added telephone-based direct lending specialist Call-4-Cash. By 2001, the company's direct lending activities accounted for some 15 percent of total turnover.

LSB continued looking for acquisitions in order to expand into the new century. In 2002, the company acquired Stirling Direct Finance Ltd. This purchase enabled LSB to establish a mortgage-secured lending wing. LSB returned to the acquisition trail and, in June 2003, purchased Prime Finance, a sub-prime lender and loan packager.

By 2003, LSB's customer base had topped 180,000. With the sub-prime market estimated to be as much as eight million people in the United Kingdom, the company was considered to have strong potential for future growth. In that year, the company took a new approach toward attracting customers, launching its first retail deposit account for the first time. The fund, offering rates as high as 5.85 percent, quickly attracted nearly £29 million from more than 1,700 customers.

By then, LSB also had boosted its secured loans division. In February 2003, the company announced its acquisition of Pacific Home Loans, based in Leigh, Essex. LSB paid an initial price of £3.2 million for the purchase. LSB did not neglect its core doorstep lending business, however. In August 2004, the company boosted that division through the acquisition of the debt portfolio of Morse's Ltd. The purchase, for £10 million, added Morse's more than 123,000 customers to LSB's books. The acquisition also provided LSB with Morse's 500 staff, including 200 collectors employed directly by Morse's. In addition, the purchase gave LSB the option to hire more than 300 self-employed collectors who had worked with Morse's.

Yet, LSB faced uncertainty at the beginning of 2005. The company's low stock valuation exposed it to a potential takeover and breakup--indeed, in September 2004, the company was rumored to have faced down just such a threat. More troubling, however, came the news in January 2005 that the British Competition Commission had launched an inquiry into the doorstep credit market. With some members of the sector reportedly collecting as much as 170 percent APR on loans to the United Kingdom's poorest households, observers feared a shakeup of the industry upon the inquiry's completion in 2006. LSB's reliance on doorstep lending, despite its diversified operations, left it vulnerable to any measures enacted by the Competition Commission.

Principal Subsidiaries: Pacific Homeloans; Personal Loan Centre; Robinson Way; Sterling Direct.

Principal Competitors: Provident Financial plc; Cattles plc.

Related information about London

51°30N 0°10W, pop (2001e) 7 172 000 (Greater London), 3300 (City of London). Capital city of England and the UK; on the R Thames in SE England.

Greater London consists of 32 boroughs and the City of London, area 1579 km²/610 sq mi; from 1st–5th-c, a Roman town (AD c.43), situated where the Thames narrowed to its lowest convenient crossing; sacked by Boudicca (c.61); later surrounded by a defensive wall, fragments of which remain (c.350); developed as the leading trade and administrative centre of England; received charter privileges in 1067; mayoralty established in 1191; major building programmes in Middle Ages; extended W, especially in 16th-c; Great Plague (1665), Great Fire (1666), followed by major reconstruction; many squares laid out in 17th–18th-c; in 17th-c developed into a major trade centre and became one of the world's largest cities; severe damage especially to City and East End in World War 2 (the Blitz), with much subsequent rebuilding; administered by London County Council (1888–1963), and by the Greater London Council until 1986, its functions then transferring to the boroughs and other bodies; City of London, occupying site of the old mediaeval city N of the Thames, is the financial and business centre, including the Bank of England, Stock Exchange, and Royal Exchange; City of Westminster is the administrative and judicial centre, including the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and government departments; the West End is the main shopping and entertainment centre, around Oxford Street, Piccadilly, and Regent Street; outer boroughs comprise mixed residential and industrial developments; extensive dockland, much now scheduled for redevelopment. Transport: headquarters of Port of London Authority; major railway terminuses (Euston, King's Cross, Paddington, St Pancras, Victoria, Waterloo); extensive underground system (known as ‘the Tube’) run by London Transport Executive; main airports at Heathrow (W) and Gatwick (S), also at London City, Luton (N), and Stansted (E); central bridges across R Thames include Westminster (1750), Blackfriars (1769), Waterloo (1817), and Southwark (1819); Tourism: markets (Billingsgate, Smithfield; Nine Elms at Vauxhall, replacing Covent Garden, now a tourist centre); parks (Battersea / Hyde / Regent's / St James's Parks, Kensington Gardens); zoological gardens at Regent's Park; leading cultural centre, with many theatres, museums (British / London / Natural History / Science / Victoria and Albert), galleries (National / National Portrait / Tate Galleries, Courtauld Institute), concert halls (Albert / Queen Elizabeth / Royal Festival / Wigmore Halls, Barbican Centre), churches and cathedrals (Saint Paul's / Westminster Cathedrals; Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Church, a world heritage site); London Eye; South Bank development includes (from W to E) Royal Festival Hall, National Theatre, National Film Theatre, Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe; BBC Symphony / London Philharmonic / London Symphony / Royal Philharmonic Orchestras; Opera House (Covent Garden) / Ballet (Sadler's Wells) / Academy of Music / College of Music / Academy of Dramatic Art; centre for radio (Broadcasting House), television, and the press (traditionally at Fleet Street, now largely elsewhere); Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey), Planetarium, Madame Tussaud's; Millennium Dome at Greenwich; Trooping of the Colour on the Queen's official birthday (Jun); procession to the Royal Courts of Justice (Lord Mayor's Show) (Nov). Educational centre: several constituent colleges of London University (from 1836), and many other institutions, including City and Brunel Universities (both 1966); University of East London (1992, formerly Polytechnic), London Guildhall University (1992, formerly City of London Polytechnic), Middlesex University (1992, formerly Polytechnic), University of North London (1992, formerly Polytechnic), South Bank University (1992, formerly Polytechnic), Thames Valley University (1992, formerly Polytechnic of West London), University of Westminster (1992, formerly Polytechnic of Central London), University of Greenwich (1992, formerly Thames Polytechnic); leading medical centre, with several major hospitals, and Harley Street (private practices). Sport: football league teams, Arsenal (Gunners), Charlton Athletic (Valiants), Chelsea (Blues), Crystal Palace (Eagles), Fulham (Cottagers), Leyton Orient (‘O's’), Millwall (Lions), Queens Park Rangers (‘R's’), Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs), Watford (Hornets), West Ham United (Hammers), Wimbledon (Dons); scene of 1934 British Empire Games; new Wembley Stadium under construction (2003– ).Infobox London

London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom. An important settlement for around two millennia, London is today one of the world's most important financial and business centres and its involvement in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion and the arts contribute to its status as one of the key global cities.

London is the most populous city and metropolitan area in the European Union.

London is an international transport hub, with five international airports and a large port.

London is a major tourist destination - counting iconic landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the London Eye amongst its many attractions, along with famous institutions such as the British Museum and the National Gallery.

Defining London

Area

Today, "London" usually refers to the area known as Greater London which is co-terminous with the London region of England. London's metropolitan area grew considerably during the Victorian era and again during the Interwar period with expansion halted in the 1940s by World War II and Green Belt legislation and has been largely static since.

The extent of the London postal district, Metropolitan Police District, local government area, London transport area, urban sprawl, coverage of the London telephone area code and metropolitan area have rarely been coterminous and are not currently. London is split for some purposes into Inner London and Outer London.

The co-ordinates of the centre of London (traditionally considered to be the original Charing Cross, near the junction of Trafalgar Square and Whitehall) are approximately . Officially, London is a region containing two smaller cities within its built-up area: the City of London and the City of Westminster (see City status in the UK).

Unlike most capital cities, London's status as the capital of the UK has never been granted or confirmed officially ? Its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the UK's unwritten constitution.

Geography and climate

Greater London covers an area of 609 square miles (1,579 km²)making it one of the worlds largest cities by area. The Thames Valley is a floodplain surrounded by gently rolling hills such as Parliament Hill and Primrose Hill. It has been extensively embanked, and many of its London tributaries now flow underground. The Thames Barrier was constructed across the Thames at Woolwich in the 1970s to deal with this threat, but a more substantial barrier further downstream may be necessary in the near future.

London has a temperate climate with regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. The warmest month is July, with an average temperature range at Greenwich of 13.6 °C-22.8 °C (56.5?73.0 °F). Accessed 15 July 2006. Snow is uncommon, particularly because heat from the urban area can make London 5 °C hotter than the surrounding areas in winter.

Districts

Main articles: Central London, City of London, West End, East London, East End, Docklands, West London, North London, South London

London's vast urban area is often described using a large set of district names (e.g. Bloomsbury, Mayfair, Whitechapel). One area of London which does have a strict definition is the City of London (usually just called The City), the largest financial district and central business district (CBD) in Europe. London's other financial hub is the Docklands area in the east of the city, dominated by the Canary Wharf complex, whilst many other businesses locate in the City of Westminster which is the home of the UK's national government.

The West End (actually in Central London, in the City of Westminster) is London's main entertainment and shopping district, with locations such as Oxford Street, Leicester Square, Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus acting as tourist magnets. The West London area, further out from the centre, is now known for fashionable and expensive residential areas such as Notting Hill, Kensington and Chelsea ? now, brownfield sites throughout the area are being redeveloped, including areas along the Thames (the Thames Gateway) and up the Lower Lea Valley, which is being developed into the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympics. North London and South London are informal divisions of the capital made by the River Thames, although they can define varying areas.

Built environment

The density of London varies, with high employment density in the city centre, high residential densities in inner London and lower densities in the suburbs. Thus, skyscrapers such as the City's "Gherkin", Tower 42 and Canary Wharf stand out due to both their height and their relative rarity.

However, developments of tall buildings are encouraged in the London Plan, which will lead to the erection of many new skyscrapers over the next few years as London goes through a high-rise boom, particularly in the two financial centres, the City of London and Canary Wharf. The 72-storey, 310 m "Shard London Bridge" by London Bridge station, the 288 m Bishopsgate Tower and around 30 other skyscrapers over 150 m are either proposed or approved and could transform the city's skyline.

The buildings of London are a collection of different styles accumulated mostly over the time since the Great Fire in 1666. The largest of these in the central area are the Royal Parks of Hyde Park and its neighbour Kensington Gardens at the western edge of central London, and Regent's Park on the northern edge. A number of large parks outside the city centre are also notable, including the remaining Royal Parks of Greenwich Park to the south east, and Bushy Park and Richmond Park to the south west. Around AD 61, the Iceni tribe of Celts led by Queen Boudica stormed London, burning it to the ground. The next, heavily-planned incarnation of the city prospered and superseded Colchester as the capital of the Roman province of Britannia in AD 100. However, by the 3rd century AD, the city started a slow decline due to trouble in the Roman Empire, and by the 5th century AD, it was abandoned.

By 600 AD, the Anglo-Saxons had created a new settlement (Lundenwic) about 1 km upstream from the old Roman city, around what is now Covent Garden. In a retaliatory attack, Aethelred's army achieved victory by pulling down London Bridge with the Danish garrison on top, and English control was re-established.

Canute took control of the English throne in 1017, controlling the city and country until 1042, when his death resulted in a reversion to Anglo-Saxon control under his pious step-son Edward the Confessor, who re-founded Westminster Abbey and the adjacent Palace of Westminster.

Norman and medieval London

Following a victory at the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror, the then Duke of Normandy, was crowned King of England in the newly-finished Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. This castle was expanded by later kings and is now known as the Tower of London, serving first as a royal residence and later as a prison.

In 1097, William II began the building of Westminster Hall, close by the abbey of the same name. Eventually, the adjacent cities grew together and formed the basis of modern central London, superseding Winchester as capital of England in the 12th century.

After the successful defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, political stability in England allowed London to grow further. His enactment of harsh anti-Catholic laws made him unpopular, and an assassination attempt was made on 5 November 1605 ? the famous Gunpowder Plot.

Plague caused extensive problems for London in the early 17th century, culminating in the Great Plague in 1665-1666. The Great Fire of London broke out in the original City and quickly swept through London's wooden buildings, destroying large swathes of the city (and killing off much of the disease-carrying rat population). It was then replaced by the County of London, overseen by the London County Council, London's first elected city-wide administration.

The Blitz and other bombing by the German Luftwaffe during World War II killed over 30,000 Londoners and flattened large tracts of housing and other buildings across London. The expanded region was called Greater London and was administered by the Greater London Council.

In the decades following World War II, large-scale immigration from British Commonwealth countries and beyond, transformed London into one of the most racially and culturally diverse cities in Europe. IRA bombers sought to pressure the government into negotiations over Northern Ireland, frequently disrupting city activities with bomb threats ? City-wide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA), whilst local administration is carried out by 33 smaller districts.

The GLA is responsible for strategic planning, policing, the fire service, transport and economic development. The GLA is a recent organisation, having been set up in 2000 to replace the similar Greater London Council (GLC) which was abolished in 1986.

The current Mayor of London is Ken Livingstone, who is in his second term of office.

The City of London also has its own police force: The City of London Police, which is independent of the Metropolitan Police Service which covers the rest of Greater London.

Health services in London are managed by the national government through the National Health Service, which is controlled and administered in London by five Strategic Health AuthoritiesStrategic Health Authorities > Map Search {London}, National Health Service. URL accessed on 3 June 2006.).

National government

London is the home of the Government of the United Kingdom which is located around the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Many government offices are located close to Parliament, particularly along Whitehall and including the Prime Minister's famous residence on Downing Street.

London is represented in the national Parliament by 74 Members of Parliament (MPs) who correspond to local parliamentary constituencies. Of these 74 MPs, 44 are from the Labour Party, 21 are Conservatives, 8 are Liberal Democrats and one is from the RESPECT party.

Economy

London is a major centre for international business and commerce and is one of three "command centres" for the global economy (along with New York City and Tokyo).

As Europe's largest city economy, London generated £181 billion in 2004 which was 19% of the UK's GDP,"London's Place in the UK Economy, 2005-6", p8, Oxford Economic Forecasting on behalf of the Corporation of London. PDFlink whilst the entire London metropolitan area generated approximately £280 billion ? Greater London has 26,721,000 sq m of office space (2001).


Business District	Office Space (sq m)	Business Concentration
The City	7,740,000	finance, broking, insurance, legal
Westminster	5,780,000	head offices, real estate, private banking, hedge funds, government
Camden & Islington	2,294,000	creative industries, finance, design, art, fashion, architecture
Canary Wharf	2,120,000	banking, media, legal
Lambeth & Southwark	1,780,000	accountancy, consultancy, local government

London's dominating industry remains finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to the UK's balance of payments."Financial Services", UK Trade & Investment, 11 May 2006. A second, smaller financial district is developing at Canary Wharf to the east which includes the global headquarters of HSBC, Reuters, Barclays and the largest law firm in the world, Clifford Chance. with more US dollars traded in London than New York, and more Euros traded there than every other city in Europe combined."Triennial Central Bank Survey", Bank for International Settlements, March 2005. Over 70% of the FTSE 100 are located within London's metropolitan area, and 75% of Fortune 500 companies have offices in London.

Along with professional services, media companies are concentrated in London (see Media in London) and the media distribution industry is London's second most competitive sector."London's Place in the UK Economy, 2005-6", p19, Oxford Economic Forecasting on behalf of the Corporation of London. Many national newspapers are edited in London, having traditionally been associated with Fleet Street in the City, but they are now primarily based around Canary Wharf. Soho is the centre of London's post-production industry.

Tourism is one of London's other prime industries and employed the equivalent of 350,000 full-time workers in London in 2003,"London is the HR centre of opportunity in the UK", PersonnelToday.com, 15 February 2005. PDFlink

From once being the largest port in the world, the Port of London is now only the third-largest in the United Kingdom, handling 50 million tonnes of cargo each year."Trade Statistics", Port of London Authority, Annual Report and Accounts 2005.

Demographics

With increasing industrialisation, London's population grew rapidly throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and was the most populated city in the world until overtaken by New York in 1925.

There were an estimated 7,517,700 people living in the Greater London area in mid-2005.Population time-series - City of London www.nomisweb.co.uk However, London's continuous urban area extends beyond the borders of Greater London and was home to 8,278,251 people at the 2001 UK census,KS01 Usual resident population: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas www.statistics.gov.uk whilst its wider metropolitan area has a population of between 12 and 14 million depending on the definition of that area. World: metropolitan areas www.world-gazetteer.com Southest England Population by Area from 1891 www.demographia.com

It is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the industrialised world, with more than 300 languages spoken and 50 non-indigenous communities with a population of more than 10,000 living in London."Every race, colour, nation and religion on earth", Guardian Unlimited, 21 January 2005. URL accessed on 3 June 2006.

In terms of religion, London is historically dominated by Christianity, and consequently has a large number of churches, particularly in the City. The famous St Paul's Cathedral in the City and Southwark Cathedral south of the river are Anglican administrative centres, whilst important national and royal ceremonies are shared between St Paul's and Westminster Abbey. Despite all of this, observance is very low within the Anglican denomination and yet considerably higher among London's Roman Catholic and Christian Orthodox communities."Anglican Church Attendance Figures" "Catholic Church Attendance Figures"

London is also home to sizeable Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Jewish communities. London's large Hindu community is found in the north-western boroughs of Harrow and Brent, the latter of which contains one of Europe's largest Hindu temples, Neasden Temple."Hindu London", BBC, 6 June 2005. The majority of British Jews live in London, with significant Jewish communities in Stamford Hill and Golders Green in North London."Jewish Communities in London", BBC, 1 March 2006. The public transport network, administered by Transport for London (TfL), is one of the most extensive in the world, but faces congestion and reliability issues, which a large investment programme is attempting to address, including £7 billion (?10 billion) of improvements planned for the Olympics.

The centrepiece of the public transport network is the London Underground, the oldest metro system in the world, dating from 1863. The Metro system was home to the world's first underground electric line, the City & South London Railway, which began service in 1890.Schwandl, Robert (2001) London Underground UrbanRail.net, Accessed September 24, 2006. Nearly 1 billion journeys are made each year on the London Underground system."How to Best Use the London Underground", The Travel Insider, 4 July 2004 (last updated: 8 May 2006). The inner ring road (around the city centre), the North and South Circular roads (in the suburbs) and an orbital motorway (the M25, outside the built-up area) circuit the city and are intersected by a number of busy radial routes ? A plan for a comprehensive network of motorways throughout the city (the Ringways Plan) was prepared in the 1960s but was mostly cancelled in the early 1970s due to vociferous objections from the population and the huge costs. Accessed 17 September 2006. such traffic is also handled at Gatwick, whilst Stansted and Luton cater mostly for low-cost short-haul flights. Accessed 17 June 2006. Eurostar trains link London Waterloo station with Lille and Paris in France, and Brussels in Belgium.

On a small note, Biggin Hill is counted as London's sixth airport. Most primary and secondary schools in London follow the same system as the rest of England.

With 125,000 students, the University of London is the largest contact teaching university in the United Kingdom and in Europe."About the University", University of London, 20 February 2006. Its constituents include multi-disciplinary colleges such as UCL, King's and Queen Mary and more specialised institutions such as Imperial, the London School of Economics, SOAS, the Royal Academy of Music and the Institute of Education.

London's other universities, such as City University, London Metropolitan University, Middlesex University, UEL, the University of Westminster and London South Bank University, are not part of the University of London. Some were polytechnics until these were granted university status in 1992, and others which were founded much earlier.

London is home to a number of important museums and other institutions which are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum (dealing with fashion and design) are clustered in South Kensington's "museum quarter", whilst the British Museum houses historic artefacts from around the world. URL accessed on 3 June 2006. The city also houses extensive art collections, primarily in the National Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern.

Society and culture

Leisure and entertainment

Within the City of Westminster, the entertainment district of the West End has its focus around Leicester Square, where London film premieres are held, and Piccadilly Circus, with its giant electronic advertisements. London's theatre district is here, as are many cinemas, bars, clubs and restaurants, including the city's Chinatown district, whilst just to the east is Covent Garden, an area housing speciality shops and London's "Avenue of Stars" which honours achievers in the entertainment industry. The adjoining Bond Street in Mayfair is a more upmarket location along with the Knightsbridge area - home to the Harrods department store - to the southwest. Furthermore, London has a number of markets, including Camden Market for fashions, Portobello Road for antiques and Borough Market for foods.

London offers a huge variety of cuisines as a result of its ethnically diverse population. Soho offers a variety of relatively cheap international restaurants, whilst more upmarket restaurants are scattered around central London, with concentrations in Mayfair. Across the city, areas home to particular ethnic groups are often recognisable by restaurants, food shops and market stalls offering their local fare, and even the large supermarkets stock such items in areas with sizeable ethnic groups.

The Caribbean-descended community in Notting Hill in West London organises the colourful Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's biggest street carnival, every summer. The beginning of the year is celebrated with the relatively new New Year's Day Parade, whilst traditional parades include November's Lord Mayor's Show, a centuries-old event celebrating the annual appointment of a new Lord Mayor of the City of London with a procession along the streets of the City, and June's Trooping the Colour, a very formal military pageant to celebrate the (official) Queen's Birthday. Two writers closely associated with the city are the diarist Samuel Pepys, famous among other things for his eyewitness account of the Great Fire, and Charles Dickens, whose representation of a foggy, snowy, grimy London of street sweepers and pickpockets is a major influence on people's vision of early Victorian London. James Boswell's biographical Life of Johnson mostly takes place in London, and is the source of Johnson's famous aphorism: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; Along with Bloomsbury, the hilly area of Hampstead has traditionally been the literary heartland of London.

Traditionally, London has played a significant role in the film industry, and boasts major studios at Pinewood and Shepperton, both just outside West London, as well as an important special effects and post-production community. See main article London in film.

The city also hosts a number of performing arts schools, including the Central School of Speech and Drama, whose past students include Judi Dench and Laurence Olivier, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (educators of Jim Broadbent and Donald Sutherland amongst others) and the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (past students including Joan Collins and Roger Moore).

Sport

London has hosted the Summer Olympics twice, in 1908 and 1948. URL accessed on 3 June 2006. London was also the host of the British Empire Games in 1934.

London's most popular sport (for both participants and spectators) is football.Football (from London), Encyclopædia Britannica. London also has four rugby union teams in the Guinness Premiership (London Irish, Saracens, Wasps and NEC Harlequins), although just the Harlequins plays in London (all the other three now play outside Greater London), as well as a rugby league Super League club in Harlequins.

Wembley Stadium (which is currently being rebuilt) has traditionally been the home of the English national football team, and serves as the venue for the FA Cup final as well as rugby league's Challenge Cup final. Twickenham Stadium in west London is the national rugby union stadium.

Cricket in London centres on its two Test cricket grounds at Lord's (home of Middlesex CC) in St John's Wood, and The Oval (home of Surrey CC) in Kennington.

One of London's most well-known annual sports competitions is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, held at the All England Club in the south-western suburb of Wimbledon. Other key events are the annual mass-participation London Marathon which sees some 35,000 runners attempt a 42 km course around the city, and the Oxford vs. Cambridge Boat Race. URL accessed on 6 June 2006.

New York City since 2001
Moscow, Russia
Berlin, Germany (since 2000)
Paris, France
Beijing, China (since 2006)
Tokyo, Japan (since 2006)

References

Chronology

Key Dates:
1895: Lewis Livingstone opens a money-lending business in Wigan.
1903: Livingstone opens an office in Manchester and moves headquarters there.
1918: Son Harry Livingstone joins the business.
1936: With seven branch offices, the company incorporates as Refuge Lending Society Ltd.
1958: Jack Livingstone, grandson of the founder, joins the business.
1962: The company launches expansion beyond the Lancashire region.
1966: The company founds Sameday Re-Mortgage Company Ltd. as part of a shift in focus to longer-term loans.
1975: The company acquires Robinson Way in diversification into debt collection.
1986: The company changes its name to London Scottish Bank.
1988: The James Stewart Group, in Manchester, is acquired.
1990: Commercial Credit Consultants is acquired, boosting commercial lending operations.
1997: Personal Loan Centre is acquired, adding direct lending operations.
1998: The company acquires Isis Factors and enters factoring (invoicing) services.
2000: Call-4-Cash is acquired, adding telephone-based direct lending services.
2002: The company buys Stirling Direct Finance Ltd., adding secured lending operations.
2004: The company acquires the doorstep loan portfolio of Morse's Ltd.

Additional topics

Company HistoryFinance: Banks & Credit

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