A sunny Thursday afternoon in August and the cars circling Harrods need to be seen to be believed. Million-pound Bugatti Veyrons – normally a rare sighting, even on the well-heeled streets of Central London – are, around here, about as common as Ford Fiestas.

Other cars, in a display that could rival anything in Monaco or Goodwood, drive round and round the block, pausing at the rear each time to see if their masters are ready for collection.

In the cafes surrounding the department store, every single table is taken by people from the Gulf states and the Middle East — Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Dubai.

A young Arabic man leaving his vehicle outside the Berkley Hotel in Central London

Welcome to Knightsbridge — or, as it is better known to locals, ‘Little Kuwait’.

For British residents, the summer is all about anescape to the sun; a fortnight in the South of France, the Italian Riviera or Spain. We Brits want sand, sangria, heat and a swimming pool. Anywhere but the sticky, filthy city.

For the mega-wealthy billionaire families of the Gulf states over here this summerwill tell you that they come to London because, unlike in the U.S. or France, they are made to feel welcome,’ says Hussam Baramo, the Syria-born features editor at Al Quds newspaper, a daily paper widely-read by Middle Eastern people in London. ‘They like London because they think it’s safe and friendly.’

And here, they can bring their cars with them. Around the corner from Harrods, Isaw one Veyron with every inch of its bodywork coated in gold; another, chromed all over.

Behind it, I watched a Veyron in pearlised white with shiny chromium wings making a noise like a scalded Rottweiler.

The Saudi number plate on this car was ‘999’. I watched the driver get out. he was around 25 and dressed like an off-duty Lewis Hamilton. I complimented him on his car and asked how he got it over to London. ‘In my plane,’ he said, grinning.

The car was parked in a pay-and-display’ bay, but its driver did neither. The auto show continued with a Rolls-Royce Phantom customised with a stainless steel bonnet. The number plate on this car is simply ‘1’. later that day I Googled this vehicle and discovered that a couple of years ago its Dubai-based owner paid