To wonder why people live in London

[AtSea1979]

On the news just now, discussing the North/south divide. I live in the north. London seems a big scarey place where bad things happen often and I wonder why people want to live there.
But do people down south wonder why we live up north too with our poor health and education?

I love London, everything is on tap and fantastic job opportunities and great public transport.

I grew up rurally and it truly was the pits, I was so isolated from my friends as there was no public transport and my mum couldn't afford the petrol to take me into the city to hang with them all the time.

Love the countryside for a visit but I could never take away so many opportunities for a visit.

Half the UK population lives in the South East, so in or commuting distance from London, so half the scary things in the country happen near London. Plus the national politics...

I've lived in London for 20 years now and love it despite the crowds and terrible traffic. Knowing that I can get a bus from the corner every 2 minutes or a train from down the road every 10 is wonderful. There's a common 5 minutes away, a wood 10 min walk away, every facility you could want within an hour's travel - though sometimes it will be an hour to get somewhere a few miles away.

I'm actually quite happy with rural living though my health means I can't always drive so would become very isolated. It's small towns and suburbs I can't stand - lack advantages of cities and rural life, with just a garage to show for it!

Places we've been in the last 18 months:
Richmond park (free)
Dulwich park (free)
Battersea park (free)
Peckham Rye park (free and 45 seconds from my front door)
Kew Gardens (£10 for adults, free for kids)
Greenwich park (free)
Crystal palace park (free and comes with dinosaurs)
Regent's Park (free)
Hyde park (free)
Olympic park (free)
Lee Valley park (free and about 20 miles long)
Clissold park (free)
Springfield park (free)
Hampstead Heath (free)
Brockwell park (free)
Victoria park (free)
St James park (free and comes with pelicans)
A lot of parks have paddling pools, adventure playgrounds and skate parks.
British museum (free)
Museum of Childhood (free)
V&A (free)
Tate Modern (free)
National Gallery (free)
National Portrait Gallery (free)
Maritime museum (free)
White water rafting at Lee Valley park
Inflatable obstacle course and diving lessons at the Olympic swimming pool
Cycling at the Olympic velodrome
Latin American carnival
Irish festival
Three street parties
Open air ice skating at the Natural History museum
DD has sung at the O2 with her school
DS1 has played at the Royal Festival Hall
Museum of London
St Paul's
The Barbican (has an amazing indoor garden which is brilliant for hide and seek)
Been to theatre about 8 times (not the West End but little theatres)
Numerous visits to South Bank Centre on Sunday for free concerts ranging from Mexican rock bands to string quartets
Multiple trips on night buses.

I could go on. Also, free travel for children. We haven't had a car for 5 years and don't miss it.

As Jack Dee said, Why would I want to swap that for a load of cow pats and a Londis?

Sparechange, no, I don't think I have. Will make a note to go there one day. Further east, between Eastcheap and the river, there are some old cobbled streets.

Speaking of filming, one of the things I used to enjoy about New Tricks was the London locations.

As well as St Paul's there are all the other City churches, many of them also by Wren. They're usually open on weekdays. Visiting all of those is a project, if anyone wants one.

I grew up in a rural location and although it's very beautiful I hated relying on my parents to take me anywhere or pick me up. OP you do sound a bit like a lot of people I know from back home, who have never been anywhere outside from their nearest town a few miles away, never lived anywhere else, never travelled, never visited anywhere.

sparechange, Brockwell park, the dinosaurs at crystal palace! South London is great. Rarely went into Central London as I just didn't need to.

London? Lived there, done that.
Great museums, some good parks but, ultimately, too many people.

I say that because I am an antisocial git who wants to go for an hour-long walk without seeing anybody else, and who likes to see the stars.

I don't understand the draw to London either OP It doesn't win any quality of life awards. If I could choose (I can't, as DH's work is in London) I'd live in Cardiff or York or Edinburgh. I prefer smaller cities.

I think people in the north like to cling to a whole load of silly myths about London. The one I hate the most is 'it's unfriendly'. I'm a Londoner by birth, and have lived there on and off - though I'm currently based in the north. I regularly hear this complaint about unfriendliness. Yet the city I live in is one of the rudest and most unwelcoming places I've ever been - far, far worse than anywhere in the capital! It's like there is some kind of mass delusion here that grumpiness and sometimes outright rudeness are somehow manifestations of bon homie.

(My pet theory is that people from elsewhere turn up in the capital and don't know how anything 'works' (the tube, for example), feel inadequate and surrounded by people 'in the know', and then characterise it as unfriendly to compensate).

However, I would also say that Londoners have a lot of myths about the north too. Some of them are really quite patronising - that it's backward, that people are stupid, that it's not 'go-getting', that it's 'like going back to the 1970s'. These are equally wrong, and equally offensive. You hear it a lot around the move of the BBC to Salford, and sometimes from surprising people you wouldn't associate with such snobbery.

Like many others, I moved to the north so that I could spend time doing what I really wanted to do with my life - it's not getting 'in the way' of my experiencing culture, it's actually the thing that enables me not to work and to pursue my artistic dreams instead. I could never have afforded to do this in London. The north has been amazing to me, and I'm grateful to my city - rude as it is - for letting me have this life.

sparechange have you seen this?

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/roupell-street-campaign-to-protect-magical-london-street-from-development-after-150-years-a2918746.html

Misshoolies we've done about 85% of your list this year as well - we must have crossed paths at some point

Epping forest is around 6000 acres

Yes it is...except that the majority of that 6000 acres is outside of London . So hardly the poster child for 'Green space IN London'.

The whole 'We have X park which is 200 acres' is misleading when talking about 'open' space. 200 acres is a decent enough amount...until you cram 2000 people into it that is. A handful of 'huge' 200 acres parks is minimal when you consider that 8.5 million people have to share them.

It's fantastic for Londoners to love their City...good for you. But it doesn't have to win at everything. And in terms of green, open spaces - woodland, farmland, fields, parks, whatever - it comes a poor last place compared to many other places in the UK.

Which is to be expected - seeing as it's a massive fuck off great big CITY. It's laughable to try and argue that London is 'full of green space'.

I am now a ex Londoner but will always class my self as a Londoner. I chose to move to London straight after uni to start my career, the best opertunitys and hospitals are there. I had 9 years of central london life and loved it! We moved out when we had children as simply could not afford to give them the childhood we wanted in London by that I mean we couldn't afford a decent sized home with a garden where we would have wanted to live. To be fair we had very high expectations after always living in fantastic central locations but having grown up rurally I wanted my children to experience that childhood also. We moved out to the country near my parents DH still commutes in and we go up regularly with the children for museums etc. I miss London very much but I also enjoy my life here and my children get the best of both with us taking them up often but they get the benefits of us living here in that we have a house and garden in a nice area. they go to an excellent small school, they can see birds of pray and wildlife on the school run. Most family's here are like us ex London with normally one parent commuting. You have to live in London to really understand it but it is an amazing city full of life and history.

Misshoolies - I've done lots of your list over the last few years during odd weeks to London. It's very nice but I'm always hugely relived to return to my rural hills/woodland/community/whacky local events. Right now I'm looking out of my kitchen window enjoying the autumnal trees on the massive hill opposite, the lamas/horses/sheep in various fields and I'm just about to meet my friend in our local vegan gluten free cafe and visit some open studios. It's not the dark ages here!

(My pet theory is that people from elsewhere turn up in the capital and don't know how anything 'works' (the tube, for example), feel inadequate and surrounded by people 'in the know', and then characterise it as unfriendly to compensate.

I think there's something in this. I also think the friendliness and helpfulness in London can be a bit more stripped back - it's real. You might not chat on public transport (unless something has gone wrong, in which case - instant camaraderie) and on the surface it can be brusque and businesslike as a lot of people are in a hurry, shops are busy so less time for a natter, etc.

But underneath that is a lot more true friendliness that I think comes from the fact that a lot of people are from somewhere else - their families aren't nearby to help so friends fill the gap. Londoners know that good friends can be absolutely vital.

I had my second child recently. I kid you not, I had twelve offers, unasked, of help with DS1, all of whom were quite happy to be dragged from their beds at 3 in the morning if needed. My family is all on the other side of the world - so my urban 'family' is so important and so valued.

Summer,
Have a look at this link, which shows how much of London is green space
Depending on where you draw the boundary for London, it is as much as 47%

www.gigl.org.uk/our-data-holdings/keyfigures/

Other than the roasting hot Saturdays in August when everyone goes to the park to sunbathe, parks just aren't that busy

And to my earlier point, I'd rather take lots of parks shared with other people than the big fat zero number of parks you get in lots of rural areas

Sparechange - The definition of 'greenspace' includes paved over private gardens, concreted sports grounds, graveyards and paved over schoolyards to name just a few. To say the figure of 47% is misleading is an understatement.

London is one of the most - even maybe the most - built up/built upon/concreted over (whatever you call it) places in the UK. That's just fact. If you doubt it just look at google maps fgs - the green turns to grey pretty quickly as you enter London.

I'm from the North - live down here - love both but actually there is so much more to do down here and the public transport is great - and walking round London is amazing. I have also (half joking) realised that Londoners are lovely too!!!!

I am a Londoner (immigrant though), and really like it. I wouldn't say I love it, but I really like it.

I think it's great for free stuff and lots of things to do, but over rated in other ways (I am not crazy about the food here. Much of zone 1 and 2 are chains). It's criminally expensive to live here.

But one thing I am amazed about are the comments of being scared of it. It's probably one of the most safe big cities in the world. It also isn't dangerous by British standards either. The worst thing that's likely to happen to you is getting ripped off by someone (prices not being displayed, but even this is rare and easily avoided by asking first) or having your pockets picked.

I wouldn't Want to live in London now but I wish I had when I was younger. I love visiting, as there is so much to do but I find it a bit too crowded for me for more than a few days. I don't go to my local town if I can help it because of the crowds.

I can totally see why people love living there though. So many different things to experience and having everything close by.

I was born in London and now live in Berkshire, 45 minutes from London.

Tubes aren't scary, just uncomfortable in busy times!

I prefer to live in the south, I've been up north many times, my sister lives in Carlisle. It's freezing up north!

London is full of culture and diversity. There's better opportunities and more to do. The countryside isn't that far away, I live in a village surrounded by rivers and beautiful walks.

I was born in London, but don't understand why anyone would choose to live there when they could move to Brighton, which is less than an hour away from the centre of London and has a beach!

Jolly I feel like you but in reverse - DH's family live in rural Ireland and my Dsis lives in a very rural part of Wales. They're beautiful and I love visiting but, after a week, I've had enough and I'm itching to get home. However I can understand the appeal of living there. It's the not being able to understand why anyone wants to live in London that's a bit daft.

I would love to move to London.

Can't afford it and I would have to leave DH behind

I'm a Londoner.

Firstly, as many others have pointed out some of us were actually born here and all our families and friends are here so this is our home town. Don't imagine that actually occurred to you.

Secondly, I can't really get past the tube being 'scarey'. Are you an adult? Are you scared of all transport or just trains in tunnels?

Thirdly, if I thought that the North was full of 'poor health and education', I'd slap myself around the face and kick myself up the arse for being an ignorant twat.

Dear God, I've seen many of these threads before, but never such a stupid OP!