Do you regret leaving your home town?

[sandrasimuchassi]

I left my hometown in Scotland at 18 and never returned. The type of work I have is only found in London so I had to move.

I miss knowing somewhere like the back of my hand. I miss having family all around and friends from school days.

But, I wouldn’t be the person I am now if I hadn’t moved. I wouldn’t earn anywhere near as much and I enjoy London life.

I miss my homeplace for the people. I wish I could just drop in on my parents, go round and see them, ask them to do things when I'm not well etc. I'd like to have kept up with some of my friends in so much as going round for coffee rather than it feeling a special visit and that sort of thing.

But I don't miss the place really. There's not much to do without driving 5+ miles, and even then it's quite limited. I'm not in London, but can get there quickly enough to do the attractions there when we want to, and there's been opportunities here that we wouldn't have had there.
I'd like the house prices though. 😁

Yes, I do.

But I wouldn’t be able to afford a house there (or if I did I’d have a £££ mortgage). A house on the street I grew up on just sold for over £800K. Insane prices.

I’m not far away, but it’s considerably cheaper.

Not my hometown, but country #2, which I consider to be “home”.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have returned a long time ago (when kids were small). DH is happy where we are because he has been able to make a lot of money.

Not remotely

Home is where the heart is and there's noone there any longer.

No

Conversely I regret not leaving my home town, I came home after uni and got trapped here. I try not to think about the amazing jobs/life I could have had if I'd stayed where I studied!

I moved away for a few years and it was good fun but I missed my wider family and long standing friends. I moved back before we had kids.

No. We visit in laws and there’s a nice familiarity but the people seem miserable. We’ve been on our new town (4 hours from “home”) for 20 years though.

No, but I still have family there and love to visit.

But too many salmon cords for living there

No. My home town was a small rural market town until the 90s. Then, being fairly close to London, it has been swamped by vast housing estates, and is now almost unrecognisable. It has a major drugs problem, and is a depressing dormitory with estate agents and take aways, and little else.

I left for university, and never went home. My DB still lives there but is desparate to leave as soon as he retires. I think he and sil are the only peoplle I know there now. Everyone else has left. The community has been destroyed. It's so sad.

God no. It was the arse end of nowhere. I had a shit childhood (although that was down to my "parents" not the place). Was also bullied at school. So I have zero happy memories. Left at 16 and never looked back!

I am still thankful to this day that I didn't stay there. I have had a great career (which wouldn't have been possible there). My DC had so many more opportunities. Aspirations are very low in my home town, not really the residents fault, just how it is. Lack of opportunities etc. I wanted more for my DC.

I still have relatives there who I have on fb. I don't feel any sort of pang or attachment to the place. I just still think thank god I left.

Lord no. When I go home to visit my parents I can’t help but wonder why so many people are still living in the same village, sometimes even the same damn street, that they grew up on! And yeah it’s a nice area, but there’s a whole world out there!

No. I don't miss it. It's OK and I do still visit it quite often because my elderly mother still lives there.

I like visiting, but wouldn't live there again.

Absolutely not. It was dull boring and tedious. Went to London to university and never looked back. Couldn't have done all the things I've done if I'd stayed there.

Absolutely not. Small minded and incredibly xenophobic place. I believed I had had an excellent grammar school education until my eyes were opened by the immeasurably superior experience my kids are getting in their city comp. I’ve also found my own tribe in a city through a hobby so I don’t mind not knowing everyone in the neighbourhood (and all their gossip) either. The amount of unimportant business that people would wade into when it was nothing to do with them was ridiculous. Both my parents have now died and my sister also moved away so nothing at all to drive me back, except house prices maybe.

God no. I don’t miss the place or the people. It’s a parochial little midlands market town with no diversity and loads of tories and chavs. Not much in between. It’s a place that gets mentioned on here sometimes as a nice town to move to to bring up kids, but as a teenager all my friends and I did was smoke weed and get drunk in fields or bus stops because there’s absolutely fuck all to do.

Not at all. It's a small city, extremely popular with the Mumsnet crowd, but I left at 18 and never went back. I was walking in the city recently (visiting elderly parent) and walked down some streets I'd never been down before. It struck me that I didn't really know the city at all, had very limited knowledge of the various areas and how they connect together because I left as soon as I was an adult and never needed to drive it or make my way around it. I barely know a handful of street names.

I know various areas of London much better, having lived here for almost 40 years.

Not for a second. I hated my home town. I grew up on a council estate in an affluent commuter town. Was bullied mercilessly at school and got out as soon as I could. Still don’t like going back to visit relatives if I’m honest.

To a certain extent. I wish I lived closer to my family and my friends. But house prices are more expensive and DH wouldn't be able to have the job he has.

Sometimes I wish I had never left, and just never considered it a possibility. Lots of my friends who've done that seem perfectly content and happy, but now I have left I'm not sure I could go back.

Absolutely not. I grew up in a big city that I moved away from to live in another big city for ten years in my early 20s. Now live in a small coastal village close to a city - suits me so much better. I would never want to go back to city living.

Christ no. Couldn't get out fast enough.

No. We moved away with my dad's job when I was 12, and had no family around there anyway. I never kept in touch with old school friends, and even the school itself has been demolished now! Nothing for me to regret.

No.

My DPs still live there so I visit.
I grew up in a very deprived northern town. I don't miss the town itself but miss the people and 'characters' - I do miss the countryside up there.

A few of my friends stayed up there, have professional careers e.g. law and live in massive houses and their DC go to private school. A

The jobs my DH and I have had are southern based, not really available 'up north.' We can't afford private school but we live in a lovely house and village.

Yes. Every year I dream of moving back. But I’m not sure it’s best for my family (DH and DCs). I’m not sure what’s best, and I’m not brave enough to give it a go.

Hell, no. It's a Black Country town that lost its sense of purpose when its industries died. I miss my adopted home town - London - dreadfully. I lived there longer than in my 'home' town, know it better and like it a hundred times more.