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.

Other UK cities really don't. They have one big musical at a time, usually a long time after it was shown in London. Many plays performing in London never make it out on tour and usually with a different less well-known cast.
Big and small bands play more gigs in London. Art exhibitions hardly ever tour.

An uber boat down the Thames shows you a vast amount of architectural beauty that really is not replicated to the same extent elsewhere.

Depending on what you enjoy doing, you can really make the most of living in a city with such cultural diversity or you can also have a great life just living in your small area of London and enjoy what it on offer there.

Do you seriously think that you're expressing a new and radical sentiment here?

Loads of people don't like London and most of them constantly bang on about it as if they think not liking London somehow makes them special.

Don't like London? Don't go there. Nobody cares. As cities go, I'm not particularly fond of Liverpool, but I wouldn't make that my main personality trait.

@CitrineRaindropPhoenix well yes that's true.
But some people on this thread seem to be claiming that London is the only place in the UK with a variety of culture.
Which isn't true.

Clearly the cost of a family home in London suggests people place more value on living there than other parts of the U.K.

Lucky for you if you don’t like it - but a bit of a weird post? Almost as though you’re protesting too much.

I personally love the history, the diversity, the architecture, the endless things to do, the buzz, the good coffee, the variety of cuisines and culture.

The countryside has fresher air and can be pretty….but also no theatre, no comedy, nowhere to get food after 8pm, no diversity, no pavements to go for a walk or a run, fewer job opportunities, more narrow politics and outlook etc etc

well said

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 don’t think of galleries, exhibitions, museums, gigs, lectures, book or poetry readings, theatre, comedy nights, workshops as “tourist things”. Have you ever looked at Time Out?!! There are hundreds of events going on, many of them free.

It’s also about variety. I don’t want to go to the same nice pub with a view/good food/an open fire/sunny beer garden time after time. I’d rather go to a Palestinian film festival or see a classic art house movie than a blockbuster. You don’t usually get South African music festivals or Immersive theatre events for 1 viewer in the ‘burbs. There aren’t many Ethiopian, Indonesian, Scandi Japanese fusion, Persian ice cream or Afghan restaurants outside of cities. London is one of the few places with lots of independent stores or high end brands, if you want to browse before you buy. Vintage fedora, yak wool teddy or rubber necklace on your Christmas wish list? You won’t find those in the sticks.

Those are all things I have done in the past fortnight. If they don’t interest you, then London doesn’t have much to offer you.

Couldn't wait to get to London as a student and never looked back. I can't imagine living anywhere else. It's my adopted city and I love it. I've lived all over it in the decades I've been here - rougher areas, chi-chi areas, inner London, outer London - and nothing would ever make me leave.

It has so much incredible culture and rich history. Theatres, museums, art galleries, exhibitions, events, fantastic restaurants, historic sites, the river - and you don't need heaps of money to enjoy it - there's so much going on that's free.

And London 2012 was absolutely glorious. The atmosphere was fantastic everywhere you went. All the moaners left town and the rest of us had a ball.

Even the royal 'events' ( HM's funeral, the Coronation) - whether you are a monarchist or not - were incredible to go and watch just for the pageantry and scale of them.

But if there's nothing to attract you here then I quite understand. Each to his own I guess.

I’ve lived in London for 30 years. In the last hour I’ve come back from visiting a museum I’d never been to before. It was free and it was fabulous.

you’re not unreasonable to not like London yourself don’t for one minute think your viewpoint is universal! There is ALWAYS something new to do here. You just need to find it.

This thread gets weirder.
Now people are saying there's London and the rest of the UK is some rural hicksville with no pavements.
Have some of you never been to Birmingham? Liverpool? Edinburgh?

I always find comments like these funny...

I mean you find ALL of london ugly, shabby, and crammed? Even Hampstead Heath? Dr Johnston's house (where I was completely alone in the top room with his dictionary)?The many empty and quiet galleries in the V&A? The top eateries with some of the top chefs in the country?

OK then.....

But I won't argue that it's not for everyone....

I love these pronouncements about not liking London, like it's a revelation. Thing about London is - it's an economic powerhouse, a major world city - possibly one of the world's greatest, a magnetic draw for talented people from across the globe. It is also crowded, dirty, expensive and maddening.

What is isn't is a city that gives the tiniest fuck what anyone, especially someone from Little Arsington on the Wold, thinks of it.

Well of course you can do shopping, shows, restaurants etc anywhere but you get a lot more choice in London. I'm not sure there's anywhere else in the UK you could see the range and production value of stage shows that London has, or the variety of cuisine.

This is a strange post thought. If you don't like it just don't go?

We live a similar distance away and go in when we want to do something London offers/stay closer to home when we want the countryside.

I live about 2 hours away and get to London two to three times a year. I am very lucky that I have family who live pretty centrally and I can usually stay there.

I absolutely love it 😊

Hardly shocking to love, loathe or be indifferent to it.

Horses for courses and all that.

Everyone likes different things. You don't like London which is fair enough but to say there are no places worth visiting unless you are a tourist is stupid and untrue.

Me and DH were born in London and lived there for several years when we were married. We moved away over 20 years ago and both still miss it. We go back about once a month, sometimes just for the day and sometimes for a couple of nights or even a week. We live an hour and a half train journey away.

We like where we live now but, as vegetarians, miss the choice of London restaurants. We often go to a vegetarian indian restaurant in Covent Garden and it cheaper and much much nicer than any of the indian restaurants near us in East Midlands.

We never get bored with London. Love going to the Natural History Museum, The British Museum, The V&A, The National Gallery plus all the smaller lesser known museums and art galleries. Music at The Royal Albert Hall, plays at The Globe. So much to see and do.

As soon as I step off the train at Kings Cross I feel I am back home

I don't like London either, but then I live in Edinburgh which there truly is no need to ever leave.

As someone who has lived and worked in London for 24 years, I am intrigued to know what the poster who always gets dirty finger nails when they visit is doing.

Maybe a bit of light mudlarking followed by a show?

We're only on page 6 yet I've already calling 'house' on my I-hate-London-and-must-tell-everyone bingo card.

Me too. I've lived here continuously for <checks clock> twenty years now and my fingernails remain stubbornly un-black. What am I doing wrong..?

What is isn't is a city that gives the tiniest fuck what anyone, especially someone from Little Arsington on the Wold, thinks of it.

Can we have a board for people who don’t like London😂? It feels like we have one of these posts practically daily, full of people saying “it’s a shithole” to each other and stroking their chins.

Other than the wide range of cultural stuff that (only 😂) London has - no one has actually said why it's so great.
Come on folks.....if it's so great tell everyone why.
By the way.....I LIVE in London so not anti London.
I think the public transport is bloody marvellous - that's my contribution.

I’m well aware of what the Rocky Horror Show is. How many other musicals have you seen?

Im from London and left in my 20s.
Its a great city, but i prefer Edinburgh/Glasgow as i find the crowds and rush of London a bit too "busy" for me these days.

I'm a Londoner. Why I like it:
I live in walking distance of :

• 2 cinemas
• comedy club
• gym and fitness studios
• swimming pool/leisure centre
• supermarkets and independent stores
• lots of pubs, restaurants, cafes and bars
• lots of green spaces - woods and heath

Within 40 minutes of the centre of town for galleries and museums (I have membership of the Tate and RA) and love different vibes and neighbourhoods to meet friends for drinks and dinner outside of my local area.

So I never spend a lot of time driving here there and everywhere. When my DC were younger they could walk home from school, to clubs and activities and friends. And as teens to parties and nights out. I did not spend my life as a taxi driver.

We have ample public transport, Ubers etc if needed so in their 20s neither need to drive. My DC have lots of local friends they can meet up with in local cafes, pubs and bars at last minute - again no need to drive.

On the way back from town I can drop into a food shop to get anything I want for supper or a cinema if the fancy takes me.