What do you think of as “London”?

[CruCru]

On another thread I got into a discussion on which places are London and which are actually somewhere else. I think that only places with a London postcode are in London, otherwise they are in the Home Counties. However, quite a few people disagreed with me as they said that they lived in an outer London borough. I didn’t want to derail that thread (which was about something else) so thought I’d start my own.

To my way of thinking, if I sent a letter addressed to someone at 123 Their Street, London, Their postcode, it would only be sensible to do so if they actually live in London. If I did that for someone who lives in Harrow, Croydon or Kingston, doing so would cause confusion (but it might still arrive if the postcode was correct).

What do you think?

The easiest way to upset a Surrey resident is to say they live in London 😆

Despite being in ULEZ, voting for the London Mayor etc...

Would you really consider villages like Downe or Cudham as being London?

But legally and politically they are - as I said before what consitutes London is divided into Inner and Outer London and is clearly defined in statute law.

there is a difference between inner london (which reflects a lot of what is on this thread the concept of inner London being London) and outer but the definitions are very clearly set out

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1963/33

here you go the 1963 Act - 12 inner boroughs 20 outer boroughs and all 32 set out in the Schedule

Yeah I think everyone knows what is technically classed as London. This thread is about places people perceive as being in London. I always think of Hornchurch as Essex, even though I know it’s in London. It just has more of an Essex feel to it.

I know a tomato is a fruit, I still think of it as a salad vegetable.

Yes, I live nearby and they are London. They may not have a city feel like it, the people lliving there may not see themselves as Londoner especially as there is no easy communter link to Central London/The City but for all purposes, it's London.

While there may still be people around who were alive when Bromley was part of Kent, the majority has been born after the Greater London Authority was formed and while there may stil be some feelings that London means West End and Westminster, East End and the Docks, this is not political and legal reality.

Yeah, I wouldn’t consider Bromley itself to be London. But perhaps that won’t surprise anyone.

Crystal Palace is though.

Yes which is where inner London comes in which is very much considered London

that said I live in Surrey close to the Sutton border (could run to Sutton from my house in under 5 minutes) depending on who asked where I was from I would say Stoneleigh/Epsom/Surrey/London with London very much for when abroad (say the US) who may well not have a clue where the first 3 are but will know (you would hope) where London is and frankly it is close enough

Bromley is one borough that could really do with being redrawn. It has huge chunks that are neither urban nor suburban and therefore really have no business being considered part of a city. Seeing a London bus chugging down to Biggin Hill is just mad.

But Crystal Palace is in various boroughs including Bromley and Croydon isn’t jt?

Yes, this exactly.

When I was at university, a boyfriend asked if I wanted to have a weekend in London (he’d been asked to help some colleagues move from Newcastle to the London office, which was in Ilford). His work put us up in a Travelodge a taxi ride to Upminster. Upminster may, for administrative purposes, be considered outer London but I wouldn’t count it as a “weekend in London”.

The boroughs add quite a bit of confusion. Highgate is a distinct area but it falls within the boroughs of Islington, Camden and Haringey.

Crystal palace is famously where 4 boroughs meet- Southwark, Lewisham, Croydon and Bromley. I have heard Bromley described as 'very rural' though and as a person who is from an actual, very rural, area it always makes me fall about laughing.

The edges are definitely uber-burby but if you want to live in Kent so badly, move to Kent.

And London is a series of towns anyway, so being 'a town' within London is sort of the point of it. No one goes to the West End to buy groceries. I think of Croydon as London.

I can’t post a photo at the moment but just look on Google maps at the southern part of Bromley borough - how is it not rural when most of it is fields and woodland?

Part of what eceryone calls London is actually the City of London.
even the inner boroughs have towns in them

Crystal Palace is in the borough of Bromley 🫣🤣

Ah, but what do you mean by Crystal Palace? If it is ‘the triangle’, the busy trendy centre , then Westow Hill is in…..Croydon!

(just to mess with the OP’s head)

No one in their right mind would say Crystal Palace is in London.

Of course it's in London. It's within the county of Greater London. Where do you think it is?

If you vote for the London Mayor and the assembly then you are in London, all be it Greater London. I live on the outer limits but am 20 mins from London Bridge by train

Exactly where else is it then?

there is the city of london, central london then I think the way it is split into inner and outer boroughs

the football club is always a London club

so yes Crystal Palace is definitley london

Crystal Palace even has the London postcode (SE19, SE20, SE26) and area code (020)

I'm from south London. Croydon, Kingston and Harrow are definitely in London. Anywhere in a London Borough is. I'm surprised this is a matter of debate.

What about Sutton?
it’s in Surrey…but it’s a London Borough?!?