What do non-Londoners think of London?

[savedbyanalien]

We live (just inside) zone 1, so very central. We're very much "big City people" and couldn't imagine living in the suburbs or the countryside, or even a provincial town.

I was at London Victoria station earlier today and saw reams and reams of day-trippers (Hen and stag do's etc) and tourists getting off the Gatwick express with their luggage.

I wonder, what do you think about london when you get here? Big, noisy, busy, pretty, exciting?

I wouldn't dream of slagging off someone else's home.

It's not their home, it's their city.

I wonder how the same argument would go down with Liverpool?

@SmellyWellyWoo

That they think everyone in the north is thick/uncivilised etc, that it's a cultural waste land. Or they just don't think about us at all and think they are the centre of the universe.

So, you are making a sweeping judgement about people making sweeping judgements 🤔

When I go to london, I find that a breath a fresh air.
Lost of different citizenship, different languages around me, ethnicities… I feel at ease compare to the town I currently live in.

I enjoy the easy access to culture, the free museums etc…

But I also know that I wouldn’t cope well with the lack of nature, the noise, constantly and the way people are always, always in a hurry. The pollution too.

So yep. Nice to go there from time to time, I enjoy it but that’s because I know I don’t have to stay there iyswim

Everywhere has its good and bad points.
I enjoy visiting London for all the cultural and historic sites, I love that there's such a wide variety of places to eat, different cultures represented, a wide variety of things to do, and I think the public transport is brilliant.
But I don't like the crowds and the noise gets to me after a while. I don't always feel safe, it's certainly dirty compared to where I live and a lot more expensive.
For me, its a great place for a holiday but I wouldn't want to live there. But I know that large numbers of people say the same thing about where I live. Rural life isn't for everyone either . It's just as well really, as if we all wanted the same things in life society couldn't function.

I love visiting London. The only thing I don't like is if you're with someone who doesn't know it terribly well and doesn't appreciate how far apart things are so you end up walking your legs off in the tourist crowds and exhausted.

Dh and I visited a couple of months ago with no real plan of what to do and where to go. We wandered around Hyde Park, saw the million women rise march in Trafalgar, had a drink watching the world go by - just soaking up the atmosphere. I loved it.

Am always glad to get back to my rural market town home though - even if the Norwich to Liverpool Street line would test the patience of a Saint.

I was born in London and lived within a 30 minute train journey of it for several years. Moved abroad in my early 20s and lived in many different countries and capital cities. I worked there again recently for a while and loved it.

There are many cities with better infrastructure, nicer buildings etc but in my opinion there is nowhere on earth that has the same energy, creativity and fun that London has. If I could get a good job there again I would go back in an instant.

Fab to visit for a day trip but you couldn't pay me anything to live there. The air quality is horrendous, its crowded, expensive etc etc.

We live easy day trip distance so get all the benefits with none of the downsides.

Hectic, busy!! Loud! Everyone's rushing around and often I'll tempered, I'm used to village life which is taken at a saunter and everyone is friendly

I absolutely love it. I especially love the public transport and how it all links up and the buses or trains arrive every few minutes, and that it's so easy with contactless and daily capping. I love going on the top of a double decker and looking up at fascinating buildings with all their history. People say it's expensive, I realise buying or renting is if you live there, but as a visitor there is Tesco express or similar everywhere and premier inns. Even if premier inns are a bit further out the transport makes it a doddle. I love the diversity and listening to so many languages and wondering pointlessly where someone was born or where they woke up this morning. I love the theatres, ballet, museums, shops etc. London is brilliant 🤩

I am a die hard Londoner but I do like living in the suburbs (zone 3) so you don't need a car and can easily visit central London but you also have some greenery (Hampstead heath and Highgate woods within walking distance) and it's less crowded. I don't mind apartment living (may feel differently if we couldn't afford to buy!)

I lived in three different countries but I always miss London and am glad to come back..

I like visiting London. Just back from a few days there with dc and dh. Loved taking them to Tower of London, Natural History Museum, Matilda etc. Love how easy it is to get around. We had a great time. But it’s so busy and polluted and so, so expensive - I wouldn’t want to live there. I’m up north and to be honest I do find Londoners a bit cold and standoffish.

I'm from the North and I love London! Visit every 6 weeks for a few days and always find something quirky to do.

I love visiting. Compared to Central Scotland where I live it is so much more multi cultural and vibrant. I have always found Londoners to be friendly and enjoy my visits there. Stay off the tourist traps and explore on foot.

Honestly it's my absolute worst nightmare! Too many people, polluted, noisy and busy. I am very much a country bumpkin!

London is amazing. True home is where you heart is and mine is there.

I like London, but then I used to live and often visit a fairly large city so its not foreign to me. Plus we are about 1hr 30 mins from London on the train so have visited a fair few times and know how to navigate the tube etc.
I love the tube, like the hustle and bustle, I like how much there is to see and do. I wouldn't want to live there though, a bit too busy and not enough greenery. Besides a house with a garden would cost about 5x what our house cost so impossible anyway!

Overpriced, overhyped and filthy.

@SmellyWellyWoo

That they think everyone in the north is thick/uncivilised etc, that it's a cultural waste land. Or they just don't think about us at all and think they are the centre of the universe.

But does anyone from anywhere spend any energy thinking about other areas? I think this is so relevant. People outside London, especially ' up north' often say what you say, that we don't think of people outside London/south East. But seriously, how much time do you spend pondering Aberdeen? Or Norfolk? Or The Cotswolds? I think a difference is that we accept that we don't spend a heck of a lot of time thinking about other areas. But neither does anyone from anywhere else.

I love visiting London. Love the buzz, love the fashion, so many good looking people, loads to do and see. Have personally always found Londoners to be friendly.

I'd only live there though if I had a big fat wedge so could live pretty centrally without any scrimping or saving.

We’ve just arrived in London for a few days away. I’ve never seen it so quiet! (Staying near Waterloo.) Love visiting but couldn’t imagine living here. I find it exciting and great fun but also very tiring!

It's like most big cities - noisy, crowded, full of culture - only better!

Great to visit, but better to come home from to the outer 'burbs.

I love it, but only few a few days at a time, then I have to retreat home to my back water.

@SmellyWellyWoo

That they think everyone in the north is thick/uncivilised etc, that it's a cultural waste land. Or they just don't think about us at all and think they are the centre of the universe.

Oh grow up.

Good bits and bad bits. Its great that there is such a comprehensive public transport system, and TERRIBLE that that system is so crowded.
When I visited the various traditional London attractions with my children I found them all way more crowded than a decade or so previously. Also, several of the most wonderful museums etc had been dumbed down and stripped of what made them magical. Though to be fair that has happened elsewhere too.

I like that the streets are full of a much wider range of people. I don't primarily mean people of different ethnicities; I also mean people who are 'unconventional 'in a wide range of ways, and therefore (seemingly) probably not actually) more creative./free. I don't think that is a 'London' thing though. I think I see the same in big northern cities just not in my v parochial northern town.

Love visiting London; would hate HATE to live there.

Re London/Londoner bashing, that is very silly of course, but I think it is provoked by the unreflecting 'othering' of the north and of rurality that London-based media and London-based politics engage in. As if London was the default and everyhting not-London was non-standard, inferior, defined by its not-London status.

I like that in my northern town I can't smell the traffic fumes all the time,and I don't feel them on the back of my throat. I like that the foxes here are wild shy creatures, not giant bushy-tailed rats. I like that I am as likely to see a deer or a hare or a buzzard or a barn owl as I am to sww a fox. I like that I saw a assive Red Kite the other day.

I think the transport and wealth of things to do and see is utterly fantastic. I love the diversity of people. The weather is usually so much better than here in Scotland.
Londoners seem socially confident. And I admire the feeling of drive.

But I like my bigger home with its garden in a leafy suburb of a Scottish city with very easy access to beautiful countryside. And a more relaxed pace of life.