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 do hear you animatter - but for someone who's lived near there all my life I just can't bring myself to say anything but Sutton in Surrey!

I had an ex who lived 200 miles from London. His neighbour was the most cockney cheeky Londoner you'd ever met, kept referring to London as home.

"Oh yeah, where you from?"
"Welwyn garden city"

Ummmmm that's not London

damn I used to have a boss who always used to describe himself as a london lad.
He was from high Wycombe.

I know someone from Penzance who says he is going up London when they're going to Redhill.

It's all about perspective.

AnnBryce - I think in time everyone will say Sutton in London

I can't remember number of times I was correctd when I said I lived in Surrey!

I can't win, can I

Redhill is my number one place not to live, ever (sorry any Redhillians!)

Yeah, I do get you antimatter - I'm just an oldie.

No hardboiledpossum I think of Richmond as in Surrey.

What?

LBRT - The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames?
Which is on the District line.
How is this not in London ?

To OP - London is bigger than the West End.
(Largest city in Europe by a very long way...)

It's not that the names have changed as such, but that London has expanded and engulfed areas that used to be part of Surrey/Kent etc. I can see why the postal addresses confuse people, but they date back to the 1930's and much of the change happened in the last 50 years. A quick google solves the debate really.

Even surrey says croydon isn't part of surrey!

That's because it isn't. Neither is Addington so the police station has the wrong address - it should not have a county in it. Neither is Sanderstead which doesn't have "Surrey" as part of its official postal address. Obviously you can put it in if you want, but Surrey doesn't start until halfway between Hamsey Green and Warlingham.

Redhill is my number one place not to live, ever (sorry any Redhillians!)

Clearly you have never been to Nantymoel :o

Proper London is the little bit inside the congestion zone. The rest of you live in the suburbs.

Oops postcode fail

Lol at Redhill being London. I wouldn't live there either. I work there lol.

And Sutton is def surrey to me. My DH works there.

The address for Mayday Croydon university hospital from their website is 530 London Rd, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 7YE

YY Downstairsmixup, I live in Ilford, which these days looks and feels like part of inner London. We are part of the LONDON Borough of Redbridge, but our address is Ilford, Essex, IG whatever. 5 mins South is Barking, part of the London Borough of Barking, but Essex by postcode. And 5 mins West across the boundary of the North Circular is Wanstead, which is E11 and part of London 'proper', also part of LBR, but feels like a country village picked up and dropped into London. Until you see the house prices... :o

I once had a colleague over from LA who asked us to point where in London we lived on her map.

She got out a Zone 1 map....

Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. The town, which adjoins the town of Reigate to the west, is due south of Greater London

not even part of GLA

as Isaid I wish we in Sutton were in Surrey but we aint

I think to be in London you need a London postcode AND on the tube. Which rules out Barnet ( EN postcode) but not Finchley.

post codes were invented for admin reasons to do with postal system not the administrative borders

for instance in 1965 Croydon was included into Greater London and at the same time it was given CR post code

so calling it CR0 as opposed to for instance SE30 was just an arbitrary decision.

Having address of Surrey is showing historical context not the real administrative link.

Address has been made up by Post office

Just because some websites have incorrectly included Surrey in their address does not magically place Croydon in Surrey.

Crystal palace, SE19 and yet in the London Borough of Croydon. Pick the bones out of that...

Amberleaf Coulsden is not in Croydon, it's in Coulsden (strangely enough!) it just has a CR postcode, as noted by someone up thread, Ilfracrombe has an EX postcode, doesn't make it part of Exeter!

I have a London postcode. I live in Croydon. I live in zone 4. I live in Greater London.

I live in the North, but I am from Watford...its easier to tell people London! After all, Watford is only 20 + miles from the centre of London. Up here all big towns are about 20 miles from each other, and considered "just up the road".

Coulsdon is in croydon.

Amberleaf Coulsden is not in Croydon, it's in Coulsden

No idea where Coulsden is but I do know Coulsdon - it's in the London Borough of Croydon.