To wonder why people increasingly refer to places not in London as 'in London'

[redpipe]

I genuinely don't understand why people say they live in London when in fact they live in a town within the M25.
Croydon is not in London is it? Nor is Kingston. I never remember people referring to these towns as London years ago. Is this a new thing?

I used to live in a part of Croydon that has a SW postcode, but that is definitely in Croydon, not Lambeth.

I live up rd from luton and it makes me when I catch the train into London and you go past the luton airport stop and it is called London luton or luton London airport or something
It's not bloody London!

I am laughing at the couple of posts informing me that London isn't just the west end. Firstly because I know and secondly because they are inplying the west end is the centre of London.

The clue is in the name ha ha!!

Many years ago, postal addresses used to include the county. These stuck, even after the county (such as Middx) ceased to exist, or after the place had been absorbed into a growing city (for example Richmond).

Because the postal addresses were not updated, people continued to think that Staines was in Mddlesex, or Richmond was in Surrey. They aren't and may not have been for more than your lifetime.

The PO no longer recommends that county names be included in addresses. For at least 40 years UK Postcodes have been a much better way for the Post Office, and anyone else, to know where a place is.

I think Stooshe makes a great point
"Why not pick up something logical from the Americans (New York), where there is a difference between the city and the state.
By the way, lots of people commute from New Jersey and Connecticut and manage to NOT say that they are New Yorkers. They have the equivalent journey into work as say somebody living in Bromley, KENT into Central London."

I think this map is pretty good. Pink is actually London the rest is suburbs

Pinkarea

You're missing the new 0203 numbers from your telephone list.

Er...the places mentioned have been in London since 1965. It's not very new news, is it?

0207 and 0208 numbers are now allocated at random, most annoyingly.

I think that anyone who lives within the Green Belt is entitled to say they live in London.

What's Dulwich in?

You can't win. Surrey people say it's not Surrey, London people say it's not London.

As long as I have to pay for the Mayor of London I reserve the right to call myself a Londoner.

Dulwich is in southwark, bits in Lambeth.

So Actual London then?

Actual inner London yes.

Plenty of boroughs that are in counties like Essex Kent and Herts are still called the London Borough of Blah, so I guess technically they are sort of correct.

Eh? Hertfordshire is most definitely not a London borough.

So I guess it boils down to what we consider to define "London-ness"

Historical association
Political designation, current and past
Geography
Postal
Social (socio-cultural)
TfL coverage (tube stop and red buses anyone?)
Church parish
Etc

When we first moved to the UK I learned very quickly that postcodes and postal addresses are only for the convenience of the RM and nothing else. We were in a Camden post code but in the Borough of Barnet and therefore a different Primary Care Trust. We moved here when I was six months pregnant so finding a GP was sort of important and I would ring the Camden surgery and they would say, no sorry not us you are Barnet, then the Barnet surgery would see the postcode and inform me I had to find a Camden GP. It was really stressful sorting it out.

Now, we live in the London Borough of Camden, formerly the Borough of Hampstead, Parish of St Marylebone or Parish of Hampstead, depending on which map you look at. When someone asks where we live though it's Swiss Cottage unless it's an estate agent in which case it's definitely Primrose Hill

OP I have been wondering this recently too. Richmond, Croydon, Guildford definitely all Surrey. Places like Romford, Chelmsford definitely Essex. London is places with postcodes like W1, NW1, SE1, etc etc. If the postcode doesn't stand for (say) North West (NE) or South West (SW£ etc then it's not London. IMO

redpipe, that is not an accurate description of what is London.

Pigletjohn

What isn't?

Richmond, Kingston etc are London boroughs. I agree they are in the county of Surrey, but they pay greater LLondon authority council tax, are policed by the met etc, vote for london mayor not Surrey county council.

nameuschangeus, that is not an accurate description of what is London.

You are thinking of places that fifty years ago were not in London.

redpipe

All the coloured parts in your picture are in London.

Fifty years ago, some of them weren't.

Piglet
The are in London Boroughs but not in inner London. They are suburbs.

Richmond is definitely not in Middex