Can anyone identify this book??

[MinnieAnonyMouse]

I am either going mad or I have actually read this book as a kid! It concerned maybe a teen or child who was maybe apprenticed to a wizard and places like cities were characters. So the City of London was described as having a big voice and a small city (?Salisbury?) kept grumbling that he wasn't a city anymore really. There was also lots of dashing about in seven league boots... not much to go on but it may spark a memory! I have googled like mad and come up with nothing.

Was it a Diana Whynne Jones?

It sounds a bit like her style.

Wynne not Whynne, I think

That’s Philip Reeve - the Mortal Engines books.

Oh no it isn’t - it is Diana Wynne Jones, you’re right! The Merlin Conspiracy.

It definitely felt like a Diana Wynne Jones and I loved her as a kid - particularly Chrestomanci! Thank you, your absolutely right - and it's amazing what comes flooding back about the plot when you have the name! I have a sneaking suspicious it might still be on my childhood bookshelf so may merit a re-read!

The seven league boots dashing about deffo happens in Howl's Moving Castle. But I don't think there's anything about Salisbury. Could you be mixing two plots / books together?