AIBU to move our family from London to my home town?

That was me that said that 😂
I was referring to every day ordinary mundane life which takes up a large part of family life and is important.

By the way "Brownies and libraries" are culture too.

The poster was saying the op doesn’t need somewhere with culture because she’s a mum. She stated she needed a park, a large supermarket, Brownies and a library. This was my response to that

My kids could get public transport by themselves in our town. Hell they could even get a train into London if they chose

I personally prefer big cities. I like that my son who is a teen can get public transport on his own.

I had passes to art galleries and museums when he was younger and we went every week.

We aren’t white and my experiences living in a small town weren’t great.

And that!

Or cannot afford it

Exactly! And all while raising your children in a safer town and not bankrupting yourself to pay the rent/mortgage!

It still amuses me that people on this thread seem to think there's no access to culture outside of London 😂

Yes....but do you live in a town?
You can do those in a town too... doesn't have to be in London 😂
So if the OP did move she'll be able to do non-mum things.

A lot of us are just time poor though & tired!

I would do this too. If you have no ties to anywhere you could explore everywhere within commutable distance and once you're out of London in most directions you will be in areas with easy access to the countryside. Plenty of commuter towns with brilliant schools too.

I think that these posters don’t have access to the kind of things we do, so they probably don’t know that kids love this sort of stuff and thrive off it. As many of them have said, their lives are work/ supermarket/ home/ park. To me that sounds awful but we are all different.

What a massively depressing comment!

I am a ‘mum’ who wants most of those things (Brownies? No, Large Supermarket? no I shop online like most people) but I also have a life. Yes, a life of my own! Which involves socialising and going out. Sorry if it shocks you that mums aren’t solely dedicated to ‘mum things.’ Within the last month, I’ve been to a gig, an evening immersive theatre performance and out for dinner/ drinks multiple times.

Have you been on the 38 bus?
It's bloody sloooooow at times.
(I just checked TfL Plan a Journey. They give a travel estimate time from Victoria Station to Cambridge Circus (where the Harry Potter play is shown... I picked that at random).
The website estimates 25 minutes by tube or 31 minutes by bus.
With the tube you've got to add on the up and down escalators, walking along the long tunnels etc)

We moved from London to the South West 8 years ago. At the time the DCs were tiny and it was the most amazing thing we ever did for our family. Fast forward to now, we have teens wanting jobs and they no longer want to frolic around woods all weekend. Where we live is absolutely beautiful but there are no jobs or career prospects here. There isn't much in the way of culture or entertainment either, and it's very likely they are going to have to move away for work.
I think London can be great for children and teens. Pollution is getting better there and often it isn't much better in leafier places. During the summer the roads are often busier here than I ever experienced in London.

Yes, but you said - 'To get to a theatre or wherever is another journey', (after you have travelled in to the centre). Its not if the theatres are near the transport hubs

I concur that my life is very much confined to my immediate surroundings & I’m not spending most weekends in z1 but it’s nice to know it’s there.

I don't know the obsession. It's what someone else said about

What's the obsession with Tuesday nights. I am in my 50's and in bed with a book by 9pm most week nights ;) My kids however do lots of free things and when we were younger we did those together. All the things I listed above are things I quite regularly do at the weekend though (although I will admit not theatre most weekends) I am not saying other places don't have this stuff (and even if they don't they're not important to everyone) but there are loads of free things to do in London and it's not just a playground for the rich.

But you seem to refuse to accept that there's plenty of culture going on in towns as well as big cities.
Lots of it.
So I won't bother either.
Have a nice day.

I'd just be repeating myself on the points I've made about what an 'average' family is and why culture is different in big cities, which you're clearly choosing not to or are unable to engage with, so I'm not going to bother.

@AlwaysExtraHot seriously....for the average family daily life is school, cubs, brownies, lego club at the library, swimming, supermarket, a run around the park....
When thinking of moving somewhere it's everyday daily life that's more important.
Also again......teens can see plays, make music, create art etc in average town UK too 😂

What are ' fancy cultural events'?
Why don't you think 'average families' enjoy art and culture?
You do know that lots of children love acting/watching plays, looking at and creating art, listening to and making music, etc etc etc, don't you?
Are these things not valuable?
Is it not a good thing if they are available freely or cheaply, and in places where (older) children can get to them on their own on safe and cheap/free public transport?
I feel that these threads always go the same way too, except from where I'm standing it turns into people queuing up to sneer at the idea of people going to a play, and/or making wild claims about knife crime/pollution/desolation in big cities.

True. My kids grandmother has live in London all her life Shes 82.

I think she only time she went to an art gallery or museum was on school trips decades ago

A work colleague lives on the isle of dogs ( the old council flats not the fancy new buildings). He's lived there since 1997. He paid his first ever visit to the tower of London last year at the age of 55. Only as someone told him that as a tower hamlets resident he gets cheap entry . Never been to South Kensington museums or art gallery ( asked him about it at work last night)

Unfortunately these threads always go the same way.
Obsession with access to theatres and art and fancy cultural events.
When most average families don't do those things on a regular basis - even if they live in London 😂