To think I’ve missed out on an exciting life by never living in London?

@Thepeopleversuswork the only time it annoys me is when people moan at DFLs moving to their area and ruining it.

Thank you. Utter bollocks that London is “lawless”.

@Cinocino what part of London are you from?

@GettingAroundTown

Not in the same way there aren’t. People diss other places but you don’t get people who have been to Leeds, York or Inverness once or twice piling onto threads to inform others that they are “shitholes”.

People feel a compulsive need to put London down for reasons that usually have more to do with them than they do with London.

Or they went to visit their Aunt Doris once at St George’s hospital and saw some litter in the street and have concluded it’s “filthy” or read about a stabbing in Streatham and counclude that it happens every day.

If I went to Bath and witnessed someone getting mugged I wouldn’t dream of posting a self indulgent rant about how dangerous Bath is. Because it’s a snapshot and I don’t know Bath. But because it’s London everyone is an expert and everyone is entitled to an (ignorant and biased) opinion.

People can think what they like and of course not everyone has to like London but I wish people didn’t feel the need to be so bigoted about it.

Yes and no. I really enjoyed my time working/living in London at the start of my career / mid 20s. But it took its toll, mentally, physically and financially.

Abs tbh, I was mostly too tired to DO the good things.

Now we enjoy trips to London using the money we save by not living there, knowing we can go home after the weekend. Best of both worlds

@Cinocino I made the point upthread that families were getting priced out hence my links & the quote from the census echos my opinion of the areas I knew growing up and how they have changed. What exactly are you arguing with me about?

@Cheek2cheek London is lawless now, which is pretty terrifying.

Nothing worse than people who don’t live in London making up nonsense statements like this.

Oh so it’s not culturally or religiously at all? You have an issue with people having less children?

The birth rate across the UK is 1.49 and 1.39 in London. So marginally lower.

Been to Manchester recently?
It and Liverpool have most of the things London has. Just less. Like maybe 20 Japanese restaurants instead of 200. But they still exist.

It's filled with London escapees and changed a lot in the past 5 years.

London used to be amazing. I lived there in my 20s and I'm so glad I did. It was truly a brilliant place to be young and working and having fun and making the most of all it had to offer - I had the best time of my life.

But I'm not sure it's like that now. I dunno - it seems very expensive and also dangerous. Street muggings are out of control and the police either don't care and simply don't have the manpower to deal with it any more, and that's worrying. London is lawless now, which is pretty terrifying.

@GettingAroundTown sorry I’m confused by your post to me. I haven’t mentioned foreign born young people with family wealth.

Agree with @LuubyLuu below your post, I've the kids are older you can still have that life if you really want it. We only get one, give it a try one day

There are also people saying things like no other place in the UK is worth living in. Chill.
If you live in the greatest city in the world why do you care what others say about it? Enjoy your TFl, amazing culture free stuff etc etc that other places supposedly don't have 🤣

There are loads of threads with people saying bad things about other places too

I prefer Clarm, St Reathem and St Ockwell.

😆😆

@Cinocino

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68144986

https://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2023/12/plummeting-enrolment-forces-closure-of-four-hackney-primary-schools/

“Generally, the oldest age group is the least diverse. Yet this is not the case in Lambeth and Hackney. In both of these boroughs, the least diverse age group is 25 – 34 years. ”

From the census.

I stayed there for a month with work in my 20s. What shocked me was loads of the people I was working with never went into central london and hadn’t been to lots of it, they were all from london.
They came to work and then went home to zone 4. It was all on their doorstep but they just weren’t interested.

OP, if you have the money central London is an amazing place to retire to. Free transport, no need for a car, the buzz keeps you young. I live in zone 2/3 now but am planning on moving back to zone 1 as soon as we no longer need a family home. So you haven’t missed out by not doing it when younger- you just haven’t done it yet.

@Towelmode
It's extremely difficult to move to the UK legally now unless you're loaded (refugees excluded). Otherwise, you need a student visa (the fees for international students are triple that of locals) or, a visa sponsored job which are like hen's teeth.

The foreign young people staying in London and having families that you mention are almost certainly in this category. Professionals or independently wealthy. Also probably have a chunky house deposit from parents or the sale of property in a foreign country. Unlike the immigrants of a decade or so ago, or similar or PP's parents.

So you and PP are saying the same thing. The foreign young people are the gentrifiers. Flats even in 'poor immigrant' areas with good connections cost a bomb now anyway ordinary people can hardly afford them

👍

@FinalCeleryScheme

Sorry sense of humour bypass on my part. I am really chippy about this. 😀

I do think the way people talk about London on here is small minded, vindictive and prejudiced and I will continue to call it out even if I start foaming at the mouth about it.

@Cinocino Again saying something is more homogenous doesn’t mean it isn’t still diverse. The areas I grew up in eg Brixton & Hackney are definitely less diverse in a number of factors now vs back then.

No, I actually don’t like Dulwich or Greenwich very much.

I prefer Clarm, St Reathem and St Ockwell.

Zone 1&2 is where the fun is at. DH and I live in zone 4. It's kinda shitty with toxic people but it's we have good tube links to central.

Oh so by saying London is more homogeneous now vs 20/30 years ago you somehow didn’t mean that it was more homogeneous?
Its a statistical fact that London is more diverse culturally, religiously and even socioeconomically due to the increases the extreme ends of the spectrum.
Your anecdotal opinion doesn’t reflect reality.

Sure, but nice parts of South London are very few and far between. And they’re difficult to get to and from.

What are you defining as nice? Only places like Dulwich Village?