Security guards in the City of London

Which parts of the Square Mile do we cover?

All of it, from Temple and Fleet Street in the west to Aldgate in the east, and from the Barbican down to the Thames.

• The City Cluster. The City Plan 2040 is still a draft, but the inspectors’ report published in October 2026 found it sound, subject to changes. The draft focuses tall buildings in the City Cluster and the Fleet Valley, and the inspectors’ changes add a tall building site at Broadgate. The Eastern City BID, set up in March 2022, covers the eastern City between Bank, Monument, Aldgate and Liverpool Street.
• Seven Key Areas of Change in the draft plan: Blackfriars, the Pool of London, Aldgate, Tower and Portsoken, the City Cluster, Fleet Street and Ludgate, Smithfield and Barbican, and Liverpool Street. The draft plan expects these to take a bigger share of new floorspace, or more change to their buildings, than the rest of the City.
• Shopping streets. The draft plan’s four principal shopping centres are Moorgate and Liverpool Street, Leadenhall Market, Cheapside and Fleet Street.
• Culture and landmarks. The Barbican Centre welcomes about 1.5 million visitors a year, and the London Plan rates the Barbican as a night-time location of international or national importance. The London Museum opens its new free permanent galleries in Smithfield’s General Market on 28 November 2026, near St Bartholomew’s Hospital on West Smithfield.
• Homes. Most of the City’s housing is in four estates near its edges: the Barbican, Golden Lane, Middlesex Street and Mansell Street.

What needs guarding in the Square Mile?

Office buildings. In an office building, reception decides who gets in. Our office security officers can greet visitors, check them against the day’s list and issue passes, then lock up and patrol once the floors empty.

Construction and refurbishment. Contractors in the City can join the City Corporation’s Considerate Contractor Scheme, which scores sites on safety, planning, liaison, site environment and cleanliness. Officers can control the gate by day and guard the site out of hours: see construction site security. Before mobile cranes or plant arrive, the City’s Pollution Control Team must approve a mobile crane authorisation notice, followed by a traffic appointment with its Highways team, and traffic marshals can see lorries in and out of your gate on the day.

Fire safety. Each building’s responsible person must nominate enough competent people to carry out evacuation under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. In tall office buildings that work often falls to fire marshals, and fire watch officers can patrol during hot works on a refurbishment.

Shops and hospitality. Stores in the principal shopping centres, from Cheapside and Leadenhall Market to Moorgate and Liverpool Street, can use uniformed retail security officers. The London Plan also rates Cheapside and Liverpool Street as night-time areas of more than local significance, so activity carries on into the evening there.

Venues and events. For receptions, conferences and cultural events, event security officers can check guests in, search bags and manage queues to the organiser’s plan.

What rules and local schemes affect security in the City?

• Construction hours. Where residents are likely to be disturbed, the City restricts building work, including deliveries, to 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 2pm on Saturdays, with none on Sundays or bank holidays. If businesses are disturbed, noisy work can also be limited between 10am and noon and 2pm and 4pm on weekdays. Plan guard shifts and delivery bookings around these hours.
• Five Business Improvement Districts. Aldgate Connect, Cheapside Business Alliance, Culture Mile, Fleet Street Quarter and the Eastern City BID each run their own programmes, alongside the City River Partnership. The Eastern City BID lists security and resilience among its priorities, so ask yours what it already provides before you set your officers’ duties.
• Its own police force. The Square Mile is policed by the City of London Police rather than the Met. Your officers’ incident reporting and any police contact should be set up with that in mind.