Subscribe
Compared to 2019, the Tate galleries in London are seeing ~2.2 million fewer visitors, representing an approximately 27% decline in patronage. Much of this is coming from a decline in international/European visitors. They're at 61% of pre-COVID levels, whereas domestic visitors are at 95%.
One of the biggest groups to fall off has been young visitors (aged 16-24) from the EU. Between 2019-2020, the Tate Modern alone welcomed 609,000 people from this segment. By 2023-2024, this had dropped to 357,000 and it remains depressed.
So now the Tate is cutting its staff and blaming two macro changes: the pandemic and Brexit. Though some people are arguing that it's really because the programming has been too woke and stuff.
In my mind, the Brexit excuse makes the most sense because it has clearly created additional friction. If you're a school traveller in France and want to visit the UK, you now need to complete a school trip information form (I'm assuming this wasn't the case before).
And if you're a student from any another country, you need a passport. In some cases you may also need a visa. So it makes sense that schools and teachers might say, "yeah, let's make our lives easier and just stay within the EU."
Based on a very cursory review of how other cultural institutions are doing, this possibly checks out. In 2019, the Centre Pompidou in Paris welcomed over 3.2 million visitors and in 2024 it welcomed 3.2 million visitors. In 2019, the musée d'Orsay and the musée de l'Orangerie welcomed over 4.6 million visitors, and by 2023, this number had jumped to over 5.1 million.
Could it simply be better programming? Yes, of course. But it's hard to argue that erecting barriers to become more closed off from the rest of the world, won't, you know, make you more closed off from the rest of the world. Here we're just talking about one cultural institution in the UK. But the lesson scales.
I'm thinking of you right now, America.
Create Streets recently published this review of the proposed Shoreditch Works development project in Hackney, London. And one of the interesting things they did as part of it was something they call a visual preference survey. What this means is that they showed a statistically representative sampling of over two thousand British people some before and after images so they could choose which they prefer.
Here's how they responded:
Last month, the UK ended its non-domiciled tax regime. This change had been announced in 2024, but its effective date was April 2025. The way this program worked was that if you lived in the UK but were "domiciled" somewhere else, you could limit the amount of taxes that you had to pay in the UK.
Only income and gains earned in the UK and foreign income and gains brought into the UK were taxed. If foreign income stayed abroad, it was not taxed. There was still an annual charge for long-term residents of the UK, but at a high level, this is how the tax regime worked.
The advantage for a rich people is that they could decide to reside in the UK because, hey, London is pretty cool, but at the same time they could nominate a lower-tax country as their domicile. For non-rich people, this became a controversial program, and so it was swapped for tax regime based on residency.
The reason I mention this is because it seems to be having a direct impact on Milan's real estate market. Since 2017, Italy has had a flat tax regime that allows new residents to pay a fixed annual tax rate of €200,000, regardless of how much money they earn abroad.
This has proven to be attractive among rich people and, between 2017 to 2022, the program attracted 2,730 individuals according to the Financial Times. But then the UK made its change and so Italy decided to colloquially rebrand its program to "svuota Londra", which translates to "empty London" in Italian.
It became about taking direct advantage of what the UK had done. And it seems to be working even better. In 2024, approximately 2,200 high-net-worth individuals relocated from the UK to Italy
Compared to 2019, the Tate galleries in London are seeing ~2.2 million fewer visitors, representing an approximately 27% decline in patronage. Much of this is coming from a decline in international/European visitors. They're at 61% of pre-COVID levels, whereas domestic visitors are at 95%.
One of the biggest groups to fall off has been young visitors (aged 16-24) from the EU. Between 2019-2020, the Tate Modern alone welcomed 609,000 people from this segment. By 2023-2024, this had dropped to 357,000 and it remains depressed.
So now the Tate is cutting its staff and blaming two macro changes: the pandemic and Brexit. Though some people are arguing that it's really because the programming has been too woke and stuff.
In my mind, the Brexit excuse makes the most sense because it has clearly created additional friction. If you're a school traveller in France and want to visit the UK, you now need to complete a school trip information form (I'm assuming this wasn't the case before).
And if you're a student from any another country, you need a passport. In some cases you may also need a visa. So it makes sense that schools and teachers might say, "yeah, let's make our lives easier and just stay within the EU."
Based on a very cursory review of how other cultural institutions are doing, this possibly checks out. In 2019, the Centre Pompidou in Paris welcomed over 3.2 million visitors and in 2024 it welcomed 3.2 million visitors. In 2019, the musée d'Orsay and the musée de l'Orangerie welcomed over 4.6 million visitors, and by 2023, this number had jumped to over 5.1 million.
Could it simply be better programming? Yes, of course. But it's hard to argue that erecting barriers to become more closed off from the rest of the world, won't, you know, make you more closed off from the rest of the world. Here we're just talking about one cultural institution in the UK. But the lesson scales.
I'm thinking of you right now, America.
Create Streets recently published this review of the proposed Shoreditch Works development project in Hackney, London. And one of the interesting things they did as part of it was something they call a visual preference survey. What this means is that they showed a statistically representative sampling of over two thousand British people some before and after images so they could choose which they prefer.
Here's how they responded:
Last month, the UK ended its non-domiciled tax regime. This change had been announced in 2024, but its effective date was April 2025. The way this program worked was that if you lived in the UK but were "domiciled" somewhere else, you could limit the amount of taxes that you had to pay in the UK.
Only income and gains earned in the UK and foreign income and gains brought into the UK were taxed. If foreign income stayed abroad, it was not taxed. There was still an annual charge for long-term residents of the UK, but at a high level, this is how the tax regime worked.
The advantage for a rich people is that they could decide to reside in the UK because, hey, London is pretty cool, but at the same time they could nominate a lower-tax country as their domicile. For non-rich people, this became a controversial program, and so it was swapped for tax regime based on residency.
The reason I mention this is because it seems to be having a direct impact on Milan's real estate market. Since 2017, Italy has had a flat tax regime that allows new residents to pay a fixed annual tax rate of €200,000, regardless of how much money they earn abroad.
This has proven to be attractive among rich people and, between 2017 to 2022, the program attracted 2,730 individuals according to the Financial Times. But then the UK made its change and so Italy decided to colloquially rebrand its program to "svuota Londra", which translates to "empty London" in Italian.
It became about taking direct advantage of what the UK had done. And it seems to be working even better. In 2024, approximately 2,200 high-net-worth individuals relocated from the UK to Italy
As you can see, from a visual perspective, there was/is strong support for the proposed development. At least according to these three views. This is despite the fact that the proposal is, of course, taller than what's there today. What I think this starts to show is that good design matters. People respond positively to beauty. And, that it's important to show what will happen at street level above all. This is how we all experience cities.
Visual preference surveys aren't all that common. I'm not sure I've seen one conducted for a new development. But it's a great idea and I plan to borrow it from Create Streets.
Cover photo from Shoreditch Works
Whether you agree with these policy decisions or not, they will have an impact on the fortunes of London and Milan going forward. In 2023 alone, it is estimated that individuals holding "non-dom" status in the UK paid almost £9 billion in taxes and contributed to the creation of some 44,000 jobs.
Part of this is now flowing south to Milan.
Note: None of this is tax advice.
Cover photo by ANASTASIIA BUCHINSKAIA on Unsplash
As you can see, from a visual perspective, there was/is strong support for the proposed development. At least according to these three views. This is despite the fact that the proposal is, of course, taller than what's there today. What I think this starts to show is that good design matters. People respond positively to beauty. And, that it's important to show what will happen at street level above all. This is how we all experience cities.
Visual preference surveys aren't all that common. I'm not sure I've seen one conducted for a new development. But it's a great idea and I plan to borrow it from Create Streets.
Cover photo from Shoreditch Works
Whether you agree with these policy decisions or not, they will have an impact on the fortunes of London and Milan going forward. In 2023 alone, it is estimated that individuals holding "non-dom" status in the UK paid almost £9 billion in taxes and contributed to the creation of some 44,000 jobs.
Part of this is now flowing south to Milan.
Note: None of this is tax advice.
Cover photo by ANASTASIIA BUCHINSKAIA on Unsplash
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
