Time and again in the long history of the City of London it has somehow defied those who seek to plan its future too carefully or predict its demise. It is as though there is something inherently unruly and free-form about the place, some mysterious quality in the ancient patch of earth that is the Square Mile that insulates it from excessive micromanagement and prescription. The City so often goes its own way.

That was what happened when attempts were made to bring perfect order to the street plan after the Great of Fire in 1666. Speculators and innovators in the early property industry certainly put up more modern buildings, but they often outwitted those who wanted to keep it all too neat. Parliament later tried to regulate "the pernicious practice of stockjobbing" out of existence in response to the bursting of the South Sea Bubble. The ban failed. The stockbrokers came roaring back.