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?

Everyone who lives there.

The post office.

[refering to coulsdon]

Well and Barking & Dagenham is again a London Borough

Thanks everyone, this thread has been very educational :)

I've lived and worked in croydon for over 20 years and never heard anyone refer to croydon as being in surrey.....

I went to uni with a girl who always said she was from london. We went on a uni theatre trip to see blood brothers and she didn't know her way around the west end, and everyone had been relying on her leading the way around (as she had been going on and on about aww I'm home etc)

Turned out she was from Croydon.

DP was born in Carshalton, I always thought surrey, have learned that is also a london borough to!

You said coulsdon and linked to an article about coulsdon, We were talking about coulsdon.

Where in croydon do you work, town centre?

Amberleaf Yes, anyone with a vaguely London accent sounds like a cast member from Eastenders to me.
My DB lived in Kent for a while and that was scary!

Lj8893 and she didn't know her way around the west end

I think you'd find that many Londoners wouldn't know their way around the west end!

Amber leaf, I can't change geography or history. I couldn't care less if some people like to refer to croydon as surrey but it doesn't make it correct! Happy to be proven wrong but need to see the evidence.

Not sure of the relevancy of where in croydon I work.

I grew up in zone 2 and don't know my way around the west end.

If you're from outside London, and never lived there, then I think anywhere within the M25 or on a tube line counts as "in London". If you actually live or work in London, then the distinction is more relevant, but for a lot of people, it isn't.

I like the Athletics description "Ancient and Geographical County of Surrey" for the bits which include the places now in London.

Southwark is in Surrey - can I not say London if I move there either?

Why do you now keep saying croydon, when you first mentioned cousldon and that was what I responded to?

Coulsdon is still called surrey, it is part of london borough of croydon and outer london on the map, but any postal address in coulsdon will say Surrey, not London.

Not sure of the relevancy of where in croydon I work

I asked because I want to meet you for lunch on monday...

Obviously I am asking so as to determine what you are basing your croydon knowledge on, if you work in the the town centre, I can see why you wouldn't even consider Surrey in this. I you work in Purley or Coulsdon, Im sure you'd get my point.

Croydon is definitely London but living there wouldn't qualify you to give guided tours of the West End anymore than living in Scotland means you'd know your way around Glasgow city centre.

Your analogy is faulty! Scotland is a country Glasgow is a city. London is a city not a country.

Southwark is not in Surrey!

Amberleaf, croydon isn't that large. I thought that by stating I've lived here for over 20 years it would be obvious I know it quite well rather than just the particular area I currently work in. I've lived and worked in different parts of the borough and have family and friends across the borough. My first post on this thread was about croydon, my link about coulsdon was in response to a post about couldson being in surrey. I would rather not be any more specific about where I live or work.

Southwark isn't in Surrey, hasn't been since the 1880s?

I don't think anyone would argue with southwark being London!

A lot of the London Borough of Richmond is in Middlesex not Surrey (think Twickenham and some parts of Hounslow). Their 20 TW postcodes, only 3 are in Surrey, the rest in Middlesex. Postcodes were devised and allocated by the post office for the needs of the post office only, geographical and political boundaries were not taken into account.

Surrey = south of the river

Middlesex = north of the river

South of the river was always surrey and north always middx., so westminster was in middx. And waterloo was in Surrey.

The Oval the home of Surrey County cricket club is in Kenington SE11, a few minutes walk from Vauxhall bridge.

Lords, the home of Middlesex cricket club is in St. Johns Wood, NW8

I think it's all been said, but I'll chip in anyway as it's a bit of a bugbear of mine. PARTS of London Borough of Richmond upon Thames are based in Surrey. OTHER Parts of LBRUT are based in Middlesex (postal regions) - mostly those with the TW postcode (Twickenham, as Richmond and Twickenham combined to make LBRUT).

Richmond Borough is not subject to Surrey County Council as it is a London Borough. Kingston ditto. They were both subject to the GLC when it existed though.

The border between Surrey and Middlesex is the River Thames, but there have been some efforts from Kingston to try and annexe the bits the other side of Kingston Bridge (Hampton Wick) - Hampton Wick mostly doesn't want to be in Kingston, it's quite happy being in Richmond (but Middlesex, not Surrey). Hampton Court is in Middlesex too as it is that side of the river, but Surrey claim it in various guide books (wrong ones).

S'fun, isn't it? I used to live there - even people who live there don't always get it but my parents were local councillors so it was kind of important that they knew. And my info is probably out of date now too...

Still waiting for the OP to tell us why it bothers her.

Nobody's mentioned North London yet. LB Barnet is in London but Barnet doesn't have a London post code. Some people from Potters Bar say they live in London but it's actually in herts