I'd say the UK is too centralistic. Back when my field of work included "media" it was said that every company with a foothold in the UK needed to be in London, anything else wasn't so important. I think it's a bit the same in France - be in Paris or be bust. Take Germany as a contrast. If you exclude weird fringe stuff (not on this site, you should get my point) like startups - it's all over the place. Sure, the banks are in Frankfurt - but the media stuff is pretty much divided between Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Stuttgart. Also all the "big" well-known companies have their headquarters either in any big, or even a small city. That's why the rent in Munich is quite high, but nothing compared to London - and Berlin is quite cheaper.