Tell me how much you love living in London - feed my obsession...

[Bugsy73]

I lived in London for around 10 years and loved it. Lucky enough to live really centrally as worked for NHS so had accommodation provided. Moved back up North when my eldest was 18months old (now 20yrs!) and am very happy and settled.
But London just has my heart! Its definitely my spiritual home, and I'm envious of those that still get to experience it on a daily basis.
Come tell me your favourite things about living there; let me live vicariously 😊

I was born here but not brought up here (grew up in US after age 6), but came back as often as possible and moved here after uni. I love it. We used to live in Chelsea and I remember Kings Rd as it was then, and when I moved back it was the 1980s so still quite a quirky place. If I felt down or lonely in my 20s a walk down Kings Rd did the trick. I live in Zone 3 now simply because I don’t have the spare £3-4m for a house closer in.
I love the hustle and bustle, I love the people watching, the double decker buses, the architecture, the feeling of things happening. I don’t have to be up the west end every day - but I know it’s there.
And as counter to that there’s so much green space - I just drove across Richmond Park earlier and walked the dog there.
And friendly! I’ve always had good neighbours and helpful shop staff (Odd bins in Fulham happy to take in an enormous Amazon box and keep it for three weeks, for example). Love it love it love it.

I love it because it's my home & as a 2nd gen immigrant don't know anything else & feel completely comfortable here. Having said that the crowds and traffic piss me off now. I do think it's lost its edge somewhat, the 90s were fantastic for me as a tween/teen!

Eugh - I feel you! I’m in the Home Counties so I’m technically not a Londoner, but 20 mins away and go in a couple times a week for work/fun (and have worked there full time in the past too!)… favourite things are:

Being so close to musical theatre! Love booking a last minute ticket for a show. I used to do this ALL THE TIME when I worked in central, I aimed for every couple of weeks.

So many fun and unique food options - I love following foodies on social media and trying out all the incredible places out there.

Such a vibrant mix of culture - I’ve tried food from countries I knew nothing about because it was a pop up stand, and had a long chat with someone random on the tube about the beauty within Islam and being satisfied with the life you have (I am not a Muslim) - or just hearing some incredible music from a busker and discovering a whole genre I’d have written off.

It’s really good for my career - not just my actual job, but there are so many networking opportunities and classes to take. And hobbies! (For example, a sing along bar themed by musical theatre… if you can’t tell my biggest hobby 😂)

Christmas in London! My god. I’m a huge Christmas fan already but London comes into its own. I love the vibe. I love wondering a packed Oxford St with a music playlist in my earphones and lights everywhere. Winter Wonderland with it’s awful ice rink and £8 hot chocolates, but it’s the FEELING of wandering through and seeing everyone having fun and having fun myself and paying £239,603 for a portion of fries. Or going to Battersea and actually skating (always on a weekday, followed by a riverside stroll and a bit of shopping). Or heading to my favourite bakery at 7am on Christmas Eve on an empty Jubilee line to pick up brownies for Santa (it’s a thing)

and my favourite… DS(6) knows the city like the back of his hand. Is confident enough to navigate the public transport like a pro, is not phased by large crowds and actually believes the whole city is magical. Knows every corner of every museum, (thinks he can) recognise specific penguins at London Zoo, has been to every playground in the ‘Best London Playgrounds’ book. Not sure how we’ve not got mugged yet and the bubble burst, but he thinks every busker is playing just for him, every corner holds some new adventure, every interesting shop with signs we can’t understand is the holder of some unique chocolate bar we have yet to try 😂 I think he sees more magic in it than I do, still!

Sorry, started writing and couldn’t stop 😂 But if it’s not clear, London has my heart.

I love wondering a packed Oxford St with a music playlist in my earphones and lights everywhere.

When did you last go to Oxford St?!

😂 I admit last year I deliberately had to go on a weeknight a few days before Christmas during peak panic shopping time to get the ‘packed’ vibe.

I love the fact that when you reach 60, all travel in London is free - tube, bus, tram and train.

Live in south London, and don’t venture into central London all that often. But DS8 and I nipped into the British Museum to see the Hiroshige exhibition last week, we have zoo membership so will go a few times during the holidays, and we’ll probably get over to the science museum and NHM at some point in the holidays. We also go over to Greenwich pretty often, and get the Clipper back up to Blackfriars.

Great place to bring up children (we are in a suburb - walkable, low crime, low traffic, lots of parks, playgrounds, tennis courts and swimming pools locally, plus a Picturehouse Cinema which is always pretty empty).

I can't stand Oxford street now, it depresses me!

But a walk over a bridge in the evening normally makes me catch my breath & I still think Tower Bridge and the Tower of London are like something from a fairytale.

I love the fact that when you reach 60, all travel in London is free - tube, bus, tram and train.

I think they will scrap this when i'm 60! 😆

I think its the same up here to be fair, its just that said transport consists of one bus an hour. Its pitiful!!!

YESSSS, to everything you have all said!! Oh I'm so jealous of you all 😂.
I love how every bit I go to I think, oh this bit is definitely my favourite, and then I go to another part and I'm like, oh no, this bit is my favourite. Its all my favourite 😁

Copying this over from a different thread, with some additions:

I love London so so much. I love the parks and forests - going for a stomp on Hampstead Heath or Crystal Palace or Wanstead Flats, or up and down the canals in East London. I love that technically, London is a forest because of the amount of trees per square metre (or something).

I love swimming outdoors, in Beckenham Park Place lake and Brockwell Lido. I love going for long wanders through bits of town that I think I know and always finding new backstreets and shops and little parks. I love how fractal it feels - there's always something new that opens itself up to you.

I love the transport infrastructure :) The Elizabeth line is a dream, the Overground is gorgeous, especially to stare out the window and look at everything. I know parts of the rest are a bit old and shaky, but the system as a whole is incredible, especially when you compare it to other places.

I love the food culture here - so many places all over the city which will feed you anything. I love that there are a bazillion pubs and bars of all flavours. I love how multicultural it is, with so much nested and layered history, and how we all live here together in so many interlocking communities.

I love how it feels like coming back into a huge machine (if you want to be in a huge machine!). Every time I've been away to somewhere smaller or rural, I've had a nice time, wondered about downsizing and moving there - and then I get the train or plane back into London and feel like I can breathe again.

I’d opt for a long walk through London over a walk by the sea.

I want to be in a huge machine!!😄

I lived there for twenty years, always house shares or studios in the SE until I bought a flat in early thirties. I loved the buzz about going up to the city with my work friends, it felt like there was so much possibility there. So different to my northern town where it was the same people in the same pubs. Made the best friends of my life there. My favourite thing to do though was walking up to central on the Thames path on a sunny Sunday, stopping for a drink and walking round the city when it was quiet. There's so much history, nowhere is like it.

When I retire (fifteen years at least!)I hope I can go back, by then I could probably afford a one bed flat at a push 😂

Lived here for 30 years - it's the only place that's ever felt like home.

I grew up in Yorkshire and thought racism and racial divisions were a normal part of life. I grew up in fear. Then I moved to London and it is so different - ironically I feel safer here than anywhere else.

The diversity is different (other than the few very affluent parts of London) - people don't live in ghettoised areas then drive to their nice local village school full of people just like them then drive to work - never having to interact with the general public. There simply isn't the space for that.

Most Londoners have to interact with people who might be different to them on a daily basis, they'll be living down the road, they'll be on the bus etc. It builds tolerance, knowledge and understanding as people aren't just 'different', they're your neighbours, their kids are your kids friends.

Dp (who is caucasian) moved here from the south west and finds it difficult to talk to old school friends who still live there - they think Farage is a good bloke and all muslims should be deported. He didn't feel aligned to people's views there and that's why he left.

I really notice little differences when I visit family in Yorkshire - stares from people, odd comments to waiters in Indian restaurants that make me cringe etc.

Yes the busyness, house prices, expense etc is a pain but there's lots to love. I'm glad we're raising dd here. She is exposed to so much, has a diverse range of friends, has a level of independence that her cousins simply don't have as they are car reliant. She knows she is fortunate.