The 100 richest people in London

Who is the richest person in London? Where does Roman Abramovich rank in the top 100 now that he has moved to the capital? How rich is retail billionaire Philip Green who owns most of the high street?

One thing is for sure, there are two economies in Britain: London and the rest.

With this in mind, the Evening Standard has set out to analyse the real movers and shakers in the capital, to discover the 100 wealthiest individuals in London. The results, like the sums of money involved, are staggering.

The combined wealth of the top 100 people is £56.7bn. But the investigation goes further than this breaking down how they made their money, where they live and where they were born. This analysis produced an identikit of a typical London tycoon.

The old view of London as portrayed by the Monopoly board still holds true. Property and construction are where the big money is to be made, with the smartest Central and West End addresses yielding millions for their owners.

But times have changed. The landed families who have dominated London's wealth league for generations are still there but these inherited estate holders have been joined by property barons responsible for developing the River, City and locations further east in previously unfashionable Docklands.

In the super rich stakes, inherited wealth only gets you so far.

Only 24 of the 100 inherited their fortunes, the vast majority are first-generation multimillionaires, and in a few cases, billionaires. And, in this most cosmopolitan and opportunistic of cities, having an English surname isn't a passport to riches either.

Thirty-four of the 100 are already wealthy foreigners who have found London a congenial place in which to live and to work, and to make even more money, or immigrants or refugees who have settled and made their fortunes here.

Entrepreneurs in London tend not to manufacture things, preferring to concentrate on servicing the rest of the nation and the world. Dominating the London economy is, of course, the City and finance and banking account for 14 of the 100 richest individuals. Most major UK media and retail groups have their headquarters in London and their chiefs live in and around the capital, so those two powerful sectors together supply a quarter of the 100.
Once, the cream of London society would not dream of living anywhere but within the confines of W1 or SW1. But this has changed, so discover which areas are now the most lived in by the super rich.

In today's exclusive list, the Evening Standard reveals the richest who's who among the capital's millionaire elite from numbers 10 to 1.

Many people will have their own views as to who should be on the list, will think of millionaires they've heard of or know personally. Remember, however, that these are the top 100. There are plenty of rich people who don't qualify, who are rich but not that rich.

Find out who's in and who's out. Buy tonight's Evening Standard.