Have you traded working in London for another city?

[december2020]

What was it like?
Was it the best decision you made or do you wish you were back working in London?

I think I have an idealised notion that if I didn't work in London my life would have a bit more balance. Things would be a little less expensive, commutes would be shorter and faster, there wouldn't always be this extreme urgency to be overly busy at work and clock in overtime?

But tell me, is this an idealised notion or is there some truth to it?

Hopeful bump

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but I have worked in London and now work in Liverpool. The work culture here is very different. However, my workplace is also very different (public sector vs City law firm). The type of environment I worked in in London doesn't exist here.
I'd say Manchester is probably more similar to London, but still different.
No idea if that helps!

London move to Edinburgh here. Best thing we ever did as a family. Love London but we could just never keep up with the prices, and the commute times make everything harder with kids. Edinburgh ain't exactly cheap, but not a patch on the amount of money we had to spend daily in London just existing. Also - v easy to get out of city so quality of life massively improved. Down side is the pool of jobs in much smaller, less movement.

I also went from London to Edinburgh. Stayed for almost five years then came back to London. Far too few opportunities in my role/industry at a senior level, even if I considered jobs in Glasgow; and many of my colleagues just seemed to lack the same ambition as my colleagues in London. I knew I wouldn’t be able to progress in my career as I can here, and even the lower cost of living didn’t really make up for it.

I also just missed London as a city and an atmosphere. Edinburgh was lovely, but so tiny in comparison.

Went from London to Leeds. It was a no brainer.

What sector do you work in / what do you do? I don’t think that feeling pressure to appear busy all the time or being required to work beyond office hours regularly is a feature of all industries or employers in London. It was definitely the case when I worked for one of the Big Four; not the case at all when I worked with the Civil Service; and I now work in a fairly niche area of financial services for a really great company and it’s very much give and take: I’m senior enough that there will always be times I need to work long hours, but it’s always recognised and rewarded with bonus, and even just a little extra leave in lieu and a personal thank-you letter from the CEO (it does tickle me sometimes how much I like this )

If you’re not sure you’re ready to leave London yet perhaps it’s time to explore where you can take your skills where there might be a better work-life balance and more flexible working opportunities.

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences!
It sounds like there has been both negative and positive experiences!

I work in media and advertising, so granted, a very heavy work load and 'constantly busy' work culture. We are also priced out of London housing-wise (for the type of area we'd want with small kids) so the commute feels like another time and money vortex (I dream of a door to door commute of under an hour).

I could do my industry in most big cities and sometimes wonder if the commute, disposable income and work culture outside of London is totally different (dare I say better) or if I'm just fantasising that the grass is greener when in fact it isn't.

My commute is about 40 mins door to desk. I only go in twice a week tho. I think even in a typically high pressure job, the culture up here is early start and early/on time finish. I don't know anyone who would regularly be in the office after 6pm. This is obviously very different from London, where 6pm would be considered an early dart!
I'd suspect Manchester is a bit longer hours, purely because the people who are in the Manchester office of my workplace seem to work longer hours than colleagues in Liverpool. That doesn't necessarily mean that the bigger the city, the worse the work/life balance tho, that's purely an anecdotal observation.

The biggest difference I found is that Londoners tend to start later so finish later. It depends if you like your lie ins or not!

Also the big English city I live in has affordable housing in a nice area about 30 minutes away on the tube equivalent. London is obviously much bigger so that makes a difference.

I do miss London but I think the work/ life balance is better outside it. But are there as many jobs in your industry outside London? I always thought advertising was heavily London centric.

We swapped London for Sydney. When we first moved over we swapped an hour commute from west London to a walk over the Harbour Bridge which was nice. We now live further out so we have a house instead.
I’m sure you’re not planning to move to Australia but I just wanted to say that there are millions of people living not in London and having a lovely time , surfing after work, not putting work above everything else.

I would love to swap for Sydney - The weather is much more for me! But I wasn't sure if I had idealised living there with a surf after work and a lifestyle less around work or if the legend actually existed!
DH is terrified of moving anywhere though - he thinks it means we'd be starting from the bottom rung all over again and we'd never see family or friends.

With small kids, lie ins are currently a thing of the past! Though hopefully reducing the commute would mean wake ups are about the same - I'd just be there earlier.
30 mins sounds like such an ideal commute! That's wonderful!
London is definitely the main hub for media and advertising but regional hubs tend to be around Manchester and Edinburgh, so there could be potential there.

My commute is 20 mins on a push bike across a park. My previous commute was an hour and a half either way, standing, on crushed trains, which cost me a fortune. No competition.

20 mins on a push bike - things that dreams are made of!!

My current commute is 1.5h each way on said crushed train. Thankfully no longer need to do it daily but on the days I do - my god managing that with nursery, dog walks and meetings - is just getting a bit too much.

It really does feel that maybe another big city would be a strong contender here and the leaving London workforce.
Though getting DH on board may be another matter 😬.

I have never worked in London as I knew I’d never afford a house.

Post London university experience we both live and work in Bournemouth- it’s still not cheap but we could have our choice of houses here. We both work in finance but there are plenty of media/ad start ups too.

Work life balance is good and I know several people who’s commute is a 20 min cycle along the beach…

The down side is that the pool of jobs is smaller - it can take awhile to find the right post and changing roles if things don't work out is not as easy. I mitigated that by choosing a city near other cities with openings in my area, so if the s_ really hit the fan (bully boss type stuff) I could temporarily commute a day a week or so to nearby cities. A commute to Glasgow, Stirling or St A, for example, would be the same as my old commute across London.

Another nice 'triangle' is Leeds, York, Sheffield depending on your industry.

And I know several couples who live half way between Manchester and Leeds so one can go one way to work and the other can go t'other.

I'm also in Sydney (its currently been raining non stop for ever so your dream of sunny weather and surfing seems pie in the sky)
some aspects are better- my commute is a 20 minute ferry ride..
ignoring Sydney specific issues (its a long way from anywhere and time zones are a PITA) - It does also have housing costs issues - it is amore relaxed pace of life
For me I miss London as a working place (ignoring the living aspects) as it was one of the centres of my industry- i loved the buzz and pace of working- lots of opportunity to interact with peers and decision makers. The things i disliked about London were more about commuting as i'd moved out of London- and commuting is soul destroying and a waste of time- maybe under the new hybrid working norms it would be better
I would have considered living in another city- Midlands or North (Nottingham/Manchester, Leeds Sheffield etc)but my job doesn't exist there

I swapped London for Paris then Melbourne and now Sydney. The only workplace I found easier was Melbourne. In Paris there may be laws around not working overtime or weekends but they're up to the employees to force and I don't fine they're that well understood. Melbourne is genuinely a very relaxed culture and built on relationships. I had a lovely balance. Sydney is just as full on as London and I don't know anyone who surfs after work.. its also really expensive so if you don't want to live close to a beach you'll be paying high rent and still have a decent commute.

Oh and I work in media & advertising too so hopefully I'm speaking from relevant experience.

OP my partner and I did this, swapped from super city like roles (don't want to out myself so won't be specific but senior, successful, in professions) with the whole townhouse, commute, client dinners, etc, total city life, then we decamped to country. Honestly we totally loved the city life but work stress etc, and stuff you're mentioning and a couple of other things were a major catalyst to move to the country.

Omg is all I can say, we count our lucky stars every day. It's a life stage thing too no doubt but we feel like we live in the moment here if that makes sense whereas in our city life we were always kind of on pause, working or planning or whatever for some future moment (holiday, retirement, whatever). It's so much better for us I have no words really as to how much better it really is. But we did value ans love our city life. Guess we were there long enough to feel as if that chapter had closed.

@Tomlettegregg maybe I’m a bit older than you (mid 40s) as I found Sydney more full on before I had kids. Now my circle is mainly other families and I know loads of people who do hobbies, sports, go to the beach etc after work.
My DH works for an investment bank and he kayaks one morning before work, he plays golf one morning a week, takes the kids to school sometimes, takes our son to his sports practice a couple of times a week.
I don’t know what it’s like having kids in London but I regularly worked until 7 in London and I don’t know anyone who ever did that here in my industry (law) apart from on rare occasions - although I haven’t worked in law for a while as I run my own business now.

I'm so sorry! My app didn't flag that all you wonderful folk had commented!!

Great idea on a good triangle city to expand options especially with the job pool being smaller than London.

It does sound like I am partially idealising some of it (what do you mean people don't surf after work in Sydney ). But it also sounds like there is some truth to finding a bit of a better pace of life with a better balance to prioritise life and not work.

I feel at the moment I 'pay' for all the bad sides of working in London (commute, time and money vortex, expensive housing in the commuter belt, rail replacement service, stranded in London if there are any delays and no way to reroute for nursery pick ups) but don't actually get to experience the positives of London (having to commute again to do museums, restaurants, shows etc.).

Maybe I'm being pessimistic, but there must be something better, and it sounds like from all your posts there may well be!!