If you live in London

I forgot about Norbury!

I twice lived in roads that were literally the last road of SE22 and both times when selling had to beg the estate agents to target sales at the people in the neighbouring postcodes, as otherwise we had endless viewings by people who wanted to live in East Dulwich but thought they were in Outer Siberia when they reached our place. Ironically both other areas were far better connected for travel and I'd happily have bought in either myself. My first place was firmly in SE22 but got placed in the North Dulwich triangle, as this was before anyone wanted to live in East Dulwich.

Anyway, there are people who will say they wouldn't never live outside zone 1/2 (choose your pickiness) in a generic way, and I agree on the phone codes! (I have a former zone 1 friend who moved to what we now refer to as zone 52 as she was so attached to central London living.) Other than that, possibly useful in a very local context if an area is large, to narrow it down?

No reason at all for anyone to be embarrassed about living in Harlesden.

Or any other area of London.

I really hate the snobbery around areas, where thousands of perfectly normal decent people live perfectly normal safe lives because that is where they can afford.

I would only ever talk about the London zone I live in if it was in the context of a conversation relating to my commute or travel. I wouldn’t use the zone reference as a substitute for the place or area name.

I suppose it would be helpful if you are telling a visitor how to get to you. For example, I am in Zone 1, so I might mention that to a tradesperson or a visitor so that they can anticipate congestion charges or cost of public transport?

But in general if asked where I live, I say the place name.

I think outside of TFL, it is not super helpful. For example, Zone 1 covers quite a large area. Someone from Belgravia is going to tell you they live in Belgravia. They are not going to say 'I live in Zone 1', lest you assume they might actually mean, say, Lambeth North.

I reckon they live somewhere that they're a bit embarrassed about and don't want to admit it. I'm not going to use Harlesden as an example or anything...
Otherwise it doesn't tell you much other than how far it is from the centre.

I have never seen anyone on MN talk about zones outside of the context of distance from the centre.

I am not sure half my friends who live near me would be able to say exactly which zone we are in.

It certainly isn’t eradicating a sense of place.

20 years living in London and also never experienced this-zones only get talked about in relation to lamenting the cost of a travel card or having to travel through zone 1 to get somewhere else 🤷🏻‍♀️
Most people talk about living North, East, SE etc etc

East Dulwich borders did make me laugh though 🤣 It is so true!

And 3

Back in the day when they changed the phones to 071 and 081 the distinction was important. 071 was infinitely preferable because it signified ‘proper’ ie inner London.

This Zone distinction is just the same. I’m Zone 2. As a born and bred Londoner it matters as a way of conferring a sort of social strata which isn’t class.

I don't hear Londoners using the zone word to other Londoners.

It's only really useful to describe to non-Londoners if you live in the centre or outer suburbs, or if you need for some reason to be absolutely accurate about which travel zone a station is in.

When people talk about which zone they live in it's normally because they're talking about their work commute because most people work in Zone 1 and generally if you're living in Zone 2 your commute is under an hour, but Zone 3 upwards you've got a commute of an hour upwards.

Unless talking directly about travel people in London tend not to refer to Zones.

On MN it's reasonable for a poster to say they live in a semi with a large garden in Zone 6 in a thread about property - this would indicate that they are not mega-rich but doing OK!

Also, someone lives in Zone 5 but their teen wants to go to Leicester Square with his mates and be out late.

That sort of thing.

As a Londoner I’ve only heard zones talked about if referring to cost of travel or house prices.

I can’t imagine anyone identifying with being in a zone before their Borough.

Maybe those living in zone one ‘boast’ about their zone oneness? As in ‘it’s expensive there, look how well I’m doing.’

But you’d never say, ‘can someone recommend me a plumber, I’m in zone 3’ because zone 3 is massive.

I only hear zones referred to in context of the tube. Or maybe in relation to desirability of different areas when people are talking about where to buy/rent.

It’s relevant in the sense of conveying how far out of the centre you live - ie to give a general impression of commuting time and expense. But not as an indication of an area.

I only ever really hear it referred to when people are saying whether they live in innner / outer London.

Zone 1/2 generally the expensive inner areas.

3/4 the easily commutable by tube suburbs

5/6 considered much further out.

In real life I refer to the borough or area or the borough I live in. Sometimes online I say Zone 3 for privacy as it gives an indication of the sort of area I live in (ie inner suburban) without saying where I actually live.

My borough spreads from zone 1 to zone 3, possibly even 4 - long and thin.

I’ve never heard people use the zones in the way you’re describing - they just say where they live. I only hear it if it’s a general conversation online and to give a sense of if they’re inner London or in the suburbs.

Born and bred Londoner. I've never used zones to describe where I've lived. Probably because they didn't exist when I was growing up. London was just London!

Seems fairly meaningless. Croydon covers zone 4, 5 and 6, after all.

Meh. Lived in London for over 20 years and only ever referred to zones in terms of commute / travel. Never for anything else as it’s otherwise meaningless.

I think zones can be a useful description as a way to narrow down the area you mean. If you say "I live in north London zone 2" then anyone can picture that area on a mental map of London, whereas most people are less familiar with the names and locations of all the boroughs.

Old school Londoners would never describe where they live as a zone. It’s for complaining about the cost of tube fares only ime.
people might tend to mention they live in zone 1 or maybe 2 for mainly bragging purposes but you would never brag about living in zone 5 but you might if you lived in zone 6 which is often v nice indeed 😁

Yes. Nothing says London estate agent more than “East Dulwich borders”.