Am I the only person who has never been to London?

[MamaCrazy]

I live in central England. I have never been to London. I have also never been to Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Am I the only person to have never been to any of these big cities? By going to them, I mean actually parking and going into the city centres. I have been to Birmingham New Street Station to switch trains.

At least Pyjama has been, made up her mind and doesn’t like it. Which is fine, why should she?

Why are you asking me? I never said she should- quite the contrary.

To me London= pigeons, dirt and crowds. I have zero desire to visit.

Ah well that's because you think London is Trafalgar Square, which to be fair, is exactly this! London is big and there are lots of places that are very different. I have added three pics from London that might surprise you .

Big cities are really not all the same but you have to have the feel the place. Go for a reason, to see a show, visit an exhibition etc and hook up with a friend who knows the place. You may enjoy yourself OP!

yep, very few pidgeons these days. Same with the homeless camps under bridges, they all went years ago. You dont see very many homeless people in London these days, theyve all been moved out I think.I went to Milton Keynes the other day and saw more homeless people.in a day than I've seen in London in the past year.

I realised a couple of years ago that I was quite well travelled globally but hadn’t been to many parts of the U.K. Made a decision to explore the U.K. more as there is so much to see and do.

I live in Manchester but visit London for a day quite often now (wait til Virgin have a sale on then book in advance), I’ve also taken weekend breaks to Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bath and short holidays to Whitby, Pembrokeshire, North Wales. I try to get up to the Lakes, North Yorks moors and the Peaks as often as I can, as they aren’t that far. There is so much to see and do in what is relatively quite a small country!

Still want to go to Oxford, Newcastle, Cornwall and Skye. Any other suggestions? I think some people are just more of a natural explorer than others to be fair, I have friends who are quite happy going to the same place in France every year and don’t really travel very far in the U.K. Nothing wrong with that either, just wouldn’t suit me.

It's all a bit Mr Banks and Mary Poppins - Feed the Birds, Tuppance a Bag!

Same with the homeless camps under bridges, they all went years ago

The last time I was in London (December 2018) There was a homeless camp of about half a dozen people on the stretch of pavement roughly opposite the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel. It was on Wilton Road. I- passed them every time on my way to and from the hotel and Victoria underground station.

To be clear for non Londoners the homeless camp I'm referring to is beside a large and very busy 4 star Raddison hotel and the Apollo Theatre - home to the long running musical Wicked- not some derelict hinterland.

Forgot to mention Liverpool and York. Both very interesting cities to visit and small enough to do in a day. The museum area around the Albert Dock in Liverpool is great.

I don’t really get this rivalry though - Edinburgh and Glasgow are both great cities, just very different. Edinburgh is beautiful and has a long history, going back to medieval times, like London. Glasgow is quite similar to Manchester and Liverpool, cities that grew due to the industrial revolution and their architecture reflects that.

I love an industrial city...Liverpool and Leeds especially.

Glasgow is quite similar to Manchester and Liverpool, cities that grew due to the industrial revolution and their architecture reflects that

Which is why I have no interest in visiting Manchester or Liverpool. I don't like Glasgow- I don't find it an attractive city. It's big and functional.

I've visited lots of towns and cities in Scotland but only visited London in England, I love the west end theatres.

I've just moved from London I absolutely hated it

It's nice for a weekend but not to live. People are unbelievably rude!

The other thing that I think is a bit of a waste is my many foreign (European and Asian) colleagues and friends who’ve lived in London for years but never travelled outside the M25, with the possible exception of a day trip to Oxford or Brighton. They’re always jetting off on Ryanair weekend trips to Tallinn or Barcelona but they’ve never seen Snowdonia or the Lakes or the Norfolk Broads or the beaches of Northumbria. I think it’s because they don’t have that cultural background or a network of friends living outside London that they just don’t know where to start. (Apart from one East Asian friend who actively distrusts anywhere that doesn’t have a million people in it and flatly refuses to venture into the countryside on general principle).

All cities have something unique to them or something that can only be found there. However if those particular things aren't something to would find that interesting (or have a personal link to you - ie Granny came from that city) then I don't see an issue of not going to there.
I want to go to Newcastle because of a specific museum that is there. However if that museum was in Crewe I would want to go to Crewe. Or in Swindon I would want to go to Swindon (get the idea).
There is obviously a lot of different things in London and all those different things are not going to interest everyone. A lot of people who have 'been to London' have actually been to one train station and one theatre. Because they wanted to see that particular show. Not because 'it's London'. As long as a person is generally happy in their lives who cares where they have or haven't been.

6 homeless people isnt a camp ... the one the PP was referring to (under Waterloo bridge etc) had 1000 odd people permanently living there. Which is by the by, nobody is saying that London, or anywhere, doesn't have homeless people - the small Surrey town I live in has 2, just that its not a universally visible feature of London like it used to be, which some people found intimidating, same as the pidgeons.

Margueritapink - we get a lot of football and music tourists in Manchester, these people consider Manchester to be a destination. I’ve met visitors from all over the world.

6 homeless people isnt a camp

Well I will bow to your superior knowledge of what is or isn't a camp and as to the level of permanance or otherwise of cardboard pallets and supermarket trolleys. As to whether or not it is a "visible feature" it was pretty visible on that short stretch of pavement. I'm sure it would be visible to anyone going to see Wicked. I can't precisely recall when it appeared as I don't always stay at that hotel but It's been there for a while.

I've been to Glasgow twice and enjoyed it both times. It's a lovely city, full of culture

All of the cities mentioned are worth visiting for different reasons, apart from shopping which is good in all of them. It seems a shame that Brits will happily visit foreign cities, but not their own.

Lungelady - I agree. What would you recommend seeing in Leeds? It’s only an hour away from me (Manchester) but I’ve never been. Quite fancy going for a day out.

I'd assume you live quite a small life and like to stick to a routine and stick to what you know.