A study of retail brands has found that London is the world’s leading city for retail brands, with just over 55% of all international retailers having a presence in the capital.

This puts London ahead of Dubai, in second place and New York and Moscow, which shared third place according to real estate service provider CBRE’s How Global is the Business of Retail? report. The study also found that the UK as a whole is the country with the most international retailers in the world, with 57.5% having a presence, including 31 new international retailers who entered the UK last year, such as J.Crew, Isabel Marant and Tom Ford.

Eric Eastman, executive director, luxury goods & international retailers for CBRE, commented: “London now attracts more international visitors than any other capital in the world. A flood of brand-hungry overseas shoppers, many from China, has swept into central London. Space demand from luxury and international retailers has moved into hyperdrive as a result.

"There are simply too many global brands now for traditional pitches in London to absorb them, which is why we are starting to see lettings to Dior and Chanel in Covent Garden and Philip Lim and Carven in Brompton Cross."