Having lived in a few very different parts of the U.K. I would say that actual living costs aren’t that different.
Property prices maybe, but not living costs.
To go back to London I’d still require megabucks though. Not because of living costs but because of the lifestyle I’d have to live in order to actually enjoy what London has to offer.
Where I live now, most of our social life revolves around free outdoor activities on the beach, in the sea or on the moors. I don’t need expensive work clothes and our children attend excellent state schools and spend their spare time on the beach. We grow a lot of our own food and buy from the farms.
In London our lives were built much more around things that cost money. Restaurants, bars, theatre, shopping, artisan markets, artisan delis, waitrose, private schooling, nannies, expensive gyms, expensive clubs for the kids, rugby tots etc, expensive hair cuts, high end clothes etc
Consumerism basically. That’s how we survived London. I know there are free art galleries and parks and whatever but for us, London seemed to lend itself to spending and more spending.
I’d never choose to go back. And I say that someone who grew up there. But if I HAD to, I’d want £300k pa. Minimum.
Whereas we have a lovely life on less than a quarter of that, 200 miles west.