Am I alone in saying I dont like London and don't see the attraction ?

[Bertybamboozle]

I am SE based and can be in London in around 20 mins on the train. I cannot stand the place. There is no reason to visit, unless you are a tourist. I really cannot see the appeal and apart from the tourist things, there is nothing else especially special/different to do. I can do pubs/cinema/shows/shopping anywhere.

I feel like I am the only one who thinks this.

I hear what you're saying, but for fantastic theatre"it helps" in that if you live in London you don't have to wait for something to come around, and hope that it does. You have a selection of dozens of outstanding productions of all types being performed every night of the week, and not just West End musicals, which are not everyone's cup of tea, but also rather more adventurous non-commercial stuff from the National Theatre to the Almeida to two-man shows in rooms above pubs, and things like opera, classical and modern dance, and foreign language productions.

I've been an enthusiastic theatre goer for over forty years, I've lived in various places around the UK, but I would have to be a particularly stubborn London hater not to accept that if you want fantastic theatre then London is by far the best place to be!

I'm not keen on London because it's too bloody big, busy, and such a slog to visit my family who are strewn around the place. I also hate musicals and shopping, so that's no draw! Every time I visit I find myself putting my "I'm in London now' mentality on and bracing for the onslaught of people, upping my walking pace, and reducing my eye contact.

I grew up there but moved to Manchester for uni and stayed. I just find it a much more manageable size, and the range of cultural offerings here are enough to satisfy me, and it's just a lot easier to get around and get out to other places in the NW. Every now and then there is something that is only on in London and I make the effort to go, but it is an effort.

Thankfully my family are slowly moving out of London so it's easier to see them.

I have to say, though, being a teenager in london in the nineties was fab. I had the energy for it then.

I like London, it's fine, but I'm always glad to leave and I wouldn't move back there. I've lived in about half a dozen other cities due to work commitments and my favourite by a mile is Glasgow. Fantastic place with the funniest, kindest people I've every met.

House prices could do with A LOT more people ‘not seeing the attraction’.

As ever different strokes for different folks. I do think if you don’t live in a place it’s hard to really judge, for example some people think there’s a murder happening on every corner, randomly. And you get some very odd threads about terrorist attacks on here, like your chances of running into one of those are almost inevitable.

Looking forward to my visit in January and will be seeing Sigourney Weaver in The Tempest!

Apparently you'll be able to see the same show in every regional theatre, and you won't get dirty finger-nails.

yabu

Still interesting that the OP never came back....

I can get a pint of milk at 3am if I run out.

This is the most bizarre reasons ever to recommend London. As if the rest of the country don't have 247 supermarkets. Meanwhile I get award winning organic milk delivered to my doorstep from a local farm so never run out of milk at 3am.

@JaninaDuszejko I agree !
So much on this thread is bizarre.
I live in London. I (mostly) like London. But there's plenty of things I do in London that I can still do in the (medium size) midlands towns where my family lives.
Including getting a pint of milk at 3am 😂

I too am baffled by tbe focus on musicals. I have lived on London for 24 years and have seen precisely one musical. Access to musical theatre is not why most people live in London.

@Ginmonkeyagain I know 😂
I see a lot because my daughter loves them. But we'd still be able to see plenty if we weren't in London. She wants to see Mamma Mia next year and we might go for the performance in Oxford because my mum might come too and that's her nearest theatre.

I lived in London for almost 30 years and left to live by the sea three years ago.

I used to love London but I think it has changed for the worst over the decades.

It is just too expensive and crowded now and has lost a lot of his individuality and quirkiness as independent shops are replaced by the same chains almost everywhere. Also anti-social behaviour and knife crime has been left to grow out of control.

I still work for a London based company, thankfully mostly from home, but really don't enjoy the times when I have to be in the office.

I think London is fine to visit but not to live anymore. Unless you are very wealthy and can afford a nice house in a leafy, quiet part of town and don't have to depend on public transport all the time.

I also think it can be an age things. It was great to be young in the 90s in London but now that I am middle aged I prefer a quieter life by the sea with access to countryside.

I too am baffled by tbe focus on musicals. I have lived on London for 24 years and have seen precisely one musical. Access to musical theatre is not why most people live in London.

I think it's just something that people who don't live in London do when they go there, so it takes on a disproportionate importance in their mind! It's like visiting Leicester Square, walking along Oxford Street and going to Madame Tussauds - people who live in London don't do them.

It is useful! We're talking about a 30-second 3am walk from your front door to a fiendly little local shop that is a miracle of supply, not getting in the car to go to a supermarket.

(50-50 chance you'll get blood on your shoes from a recently-stabbed corpse. Bonus: you can pick up a gram of MDMA from the nice man in the churchyard while you're out )

On the musicals thing - yes, they tour. But not often with the top level performers. The Olivier award winners are not the ones doing the same show five years down the line in regional theatres.

Peter Capaldi was marvellous in The Ladykillers; he wasn’t the one doing it when it came to Salford or Newcastle. Ditto James Corden and One Man, Two Guvnors, or Jamael Westerman and Hamilton.

Sometimes the absolute cream of acting or performing talent will be based outside of London - Ian McKelken did an extended period in Leeds, for example. But most often, if you want to see the best you need to travel to London.

I’m in the provinces, and it’s about 200 metres away, but yes, we too can access emergency pints at 3am.

I do have to go to the back of the local high school for a chance of the drugs, though, so you’ve got me beat on that.

Well, I have lived in London since 1996 and I have seen pretty much every musical that has ever been on here, many more than once. Matinees on a random weekday off work, preview tickets for new shows, tickets high in the Gods when a random opportunity comes up, as well as the big occasion outings for special events, when visitors come etc. I often go on my own. And I still do at least one Broadway show whenever I go to New York!

I mean, I’d live here for work anyway even if it wasn’t a world centre for Musical Theatre (and non-musical theatre), but I absolutely make the most of the fact that it is.

I don't disagree with your overall point but I do disagree that the best = big names. In my experience the normal 'jobbing' actors who take over the role after the overpaid celebrity name has done their few opening weeks are often far better, having won the role because of their talent/how well they fit it rather than because they'll bring in bums on seats.