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.

There are still too many homeless people in London, as in every city. Last time I was in Birmingham the streets from New St to the Conference Centre were lined with homeless people crammed in every doorway, mid day.

There are homeless people under the bridge at Finsbury Park. And many other places.

But the vast ‘Cardboard City’ under Waterloo has gone and there are fewer street sleepers overall.

For those saying that there's little dirt, few homeless or pigeons in London nowadays - have you been to Camden recently? Homeless people in many doorways and on pavements overnight, pigeons galore, and the rubbish! I was shocked by it all last weekend, and I live in Brighton which suffers from all the above, but to a lesser visible extent.

I want to visit Glasgow for the Charles Rennie Mackintosh architecture.

V sad about the fire.

I like visiting for the museums, the history and the views of all the buildings, but I don't find it a pleasant city to walk around as it is too busy

It's fucking criminal what happened to the Art School. Two fires in four years. Rage inducing.

I live in London and have still never done any of the history bits 😂

I think whoever said London is a city of villages was right. #hackney4life

kenny33
Lots of Victorian architecture...look up!
Corn exchange is stunning....individual shops and just a beautiful building.
River taxi (free) to the Armouries.
Lots of different shopping..the Victorian arcades are wonderful.
Art Gallery and Henry Moore Sculpture gallery.
Excellent restaurants and bars...Wapentake and Iberica are my current favourites.

I have been to London but probably the last time about 25 years ago ,I live in greater Manchester so have obviously visited Manchester loads, I have been to Glasgow about 15 years ago and Edinburgh about thirty years ago, of course I would love to take the kids to visit London but it's too expensive.on a budget .

What is the deal with the artnschool fires? Is there some sort of scam going on to get the land?

You remind me of a relative of mine who was barely left Skelmersdale

To be fair, what can you possibly want that Skelmersdale doesn't provide? Am i rite?

Thank you Lungelady, I’m already looking forward to it. Might go next Sunday.

I don't even live in the UK and never have, but I've visited London several times. 🤔 Why on earth wouldn't you experience your own capital?

I was born in Outer London, so I'd fully agree it's full of people. Not so many pigeons now, but some bits are interesting if you can tolerate the crowds and public transport.

Never been to any of the other cities on the OP's list, though. I'd far rather go somewhere nicer than another city.

I love visiting London, all the museums and galleries and theatres - but I hated living there.

We never had a holiday abroad when I was a child, but we did tour Britain fairly well. We took in towns and cities as well as coast and countryside. I still like visiting new cities and finding out about their architecture and history.

However, I have family all round the country, and not all are on large incomes. I don't know if any have never been to London, but it's feasible - certainly my sister has only been two or three times, and she is now mid-40s. If you don't live within easy day trip access of London and don't have much money to spare for treats, I can easily see how you just wouldn't get round to going. I find it more odd that people won’t have been to their local cities though, even if only rarely.

Totally agree, I have to get the night train to London from here if I go and that's about £195 for two so not easy if you're on a budget

I met someone from Edinburgh who had never been to Glasgow. It's a 50 min train journey away.

@PortiaCastis £195??? That's insane. The cost of your public transportation is absolutely ridiculous.

Yes on the sleeper train it can be up to £236 return Penzance to Paddington

www.gwr.com/tickets/mobile/#/search#/3526/3087/2019-02-10/D12:00/2019-02-10/D20:00/2/0/0/1/1/N/N/N

Took DS 11 to London this year and we had the best time! Soo much to do and see. Yes, feet were aching after the first day but we were straight back out sightseeing the second day.

Some highlights were having a "posh" meal and sitting by the window people watching, chalking some poetry in Trafalgar Square, London Eye, Aquarium, seeing Chicago the musical (DS loved this more than he'll admit today) Harrods (91 grand for a bed!!!), anywhere on the underground, Buckingham palace (we reckoned Lizzy was in the middle right room scoffing a McD's), China Town/Soho, Covent Garden etc etc!

But my stand out moment was passing the Cenotaph en route to Downing Street. DS stopped and mumbled something. When I asked what he said he was "saying thank you"

How beautiful @tempname111

I met someone from Newcastle at a conference last year who was in London for the first time. It was interesting to me as I'm not even from the UK but have been to London quite a few times! The UK is very small compared to where I'm from so I don't really get why you wouldn't. Fair enough if you went and didn't like it, but how can you know what a place is like without having been? London is a huge city and so you may be justified in not being interested in one or more parts of it, but to have zero interest in any part of it would seem strange to me.

It is shocking how people live such insular lives and don't visit some of the great places in the country. You can be anywhere in the uk within 24 hours easily and most much less then that, but people still seem to be stuck in their ways.

We've such an amazing, diverse country...
London = capital city, the architecture, old with super modern, parliament, buck palace, some of the biggest public parks, high end shops to mooch around, festivals etc as well as just the amazing size and diversity.
York = medival town centre, so much history to explore.
Newcastle= modern city bang in Northumberland with its amazing coast and countryside.
Edinburgh = words can't describe the royal mile
Lake district, north wales, gower, yorkshire dales, yorkshire moors, peak district, dartmoor, scottish highlands = amazing scenery, beautiful walks, unique culture, amazing people as well imo.
Cornwall = beautiful coast, lovely ahatever the weather i think.

Just a small snapshot of what the the uk has to offer with so much more, belfast etc i haven't even mentioned. But people would rather stick to their local towns like scunthorpe and maybe venture to donny or cleethorpes for a trip. Why? There's so much to explore and see just in your home countries

I live in Greater London and love it. I visit central London often for work/theatre/friends/shopping/anything. I’ve also been to all the other big towns and cities mentioned on here plus many, many others in the U.K, Ireland, Europe and further afield. Every town has its own history, atmosphere, architecture and character. They all have similarities but are all completely different.

To say that London has pigeons, dirt and crowds is accurate but that’s only a tiny part of London and to dismiss all cities as being the same is shockingly ignorant (in the true sense of the word). It’s also heartbreakingly sad that the OP is missing out on so much.

It is shocking how people live such insular lives and don't visit some of the great places in the country. You can be anywhere in the uk within 24 hours easily and most much less then that, but people still seem to be stuck in their ways

It's shocking how people live such insular lives that they have no concept that other people's lives, interests, financial and personal circumstances might be different from their own.