Where do cities go from here? COVID created what Ben Lucas of economic consultancy Metrodynamics called ‘Zoomshock', with many urban centres such as Coventry drained of key workers who shifted to working from their homes in more outlying areas.If this change becomes permanent, the implications are stark for city centres and surrounding areas and for the prospects of city centre workers in sectors such as hospitality and food.

And, as far back as May 2020, director of the Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP) Charlotte Alldritt, highlighted evidence that Key Cities – a network of 25 towns and cities covering almost half of the UK's urban areas – could be slower than other places to recover from the pandemic.