Patterns and determinants of manufacturing plant location in interwar London

Greater London constituted Britain’s most important interwar centre for new manufacturing plants. Using a new dataset of plants established throughout London from 1919 to 1938, this article examines intra-metropolitan location patterns, together with the factors that led to heavy concentrations of plants in particular localities. Traditional sectors characterized by batch production are shown to be concentrated in sectorally specialized inner London industrial districts, benefiting from Marshallian externalities. Meanwhile, industries experiencing a transition towards standardized production became concentrated in new industrial areas along outer London’s arterial road network, encompassing a diverse range of sectors using similar production methods and mainly accruing inter-sectoral ‘Jacobs’ externalities.