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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder why people live in London

243 replies

AtSea1979 · 01/12/2015 22:06

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?

OP posts:
IwishIwasinNewYork · 02/12/2015 12:33

Just realised my username might be slightly confusing! I love Noo Yawk too and wish I could afford to go every year for a week before Christmas. There again, there is the 'scarey' plane travel to think of...

redstrawberry10 · 02/12/2015 12:37

I think the north (certainly scotland) has a shorter life expectancy than the south.

Tamponlady · 02/12/2015 12:41

Because that's were I was born also as someone who is from a ethic minority I have largely no racial issues living their

We now live just outside of London still quite diverse but due to this issue alone I wouldn't move any further out

Sallystyle · 02/12/2015 12:42

This thread is just making me jealous now.

I have to wait until the summer holidays to go again. After Xmas I'm going to start saving up and take the children for a week, or a few days at least.

MissHooliesCardigan · 02/12/2015 12:45

When I moved here, I lived in quite a rough area. When my parents visited for the first time, my DM (who I swear Hyacinth Bucket was based on) was literally cowering behind me.I think she had this idea that it was like the Wild West with people just randomly shooting each other. She's not scared of the tube though.

EmpressOfTheVulvaCupcakes · 02/12/2015 13:06

Brilliant for random and intriguing museums.

chrome100 · 02/12/2015 13:14

I am not keen on London just because it's so far from what I consider to be decent countryside (hills, moorland etc) and therefore it's hard to escape from. But I do see why people live there. There is a lot to do and I think it's a smart looking city.

sparechange · 02/12/2015 13:24

MissHoolies
ExH and I lived in a slightly dodgy place and used to do 'yellow board recces' before his parents came to stay.
We would drive the route from the station to ours, and then ours to any places we might want to visit, to make sure there were none of those 'police appeal for information' boards on the roads
They were usually for road accidents, but MIL would be so pearl-clutchy about it that we didn't ever want to risk it!

Summeblaze · 02/12/2015 13:47

I really wish that when replying to an OP who is being incredibly rude about your home town, people would refrain from slagging off other areas.

I have lived in Hull all my life and love it. I am neither uneducated or in poor health or poor for that matter. I do not own pigeons or a flat cap.

I also love London. Visit at least once a year to look around, take in a show.

maybebabybee · 02/12/2015 14:06

I think most of the comments about other places were being sarcastic to be honest.

When I mentioned hull I was just throwing it out as an example of another place to live that I don't really see getting bashed in the same way as London consistently gets bashed.

I love many different parts of the UK.

Fatherwishmas · 02/12/2015 14:34

London and New York are the best two Cities in the whole world, I lived in London (by choice, moved from up Norf) for nearly 10 years, I only moved out as I couldn't afford to buy and my job doesn't involve an office now.

I only moved to Surrey, 45 minutes from Waterloo and I go up to London several a week, I was out last night there, at the top of the BT Tower and it was stunning, a beautiful city, all lit up with lights, the South Bank looked amazing and Somerset house etc. lots of fun going on, especially the West End.

I dislike the transport, my trains where all buggered and a cab from Clapham cost me £130. I dislike train issues but I don't blame London for them, leave her alone, she is beautiful....

Pandora97 · 02/12/2015 14:52

I see Hull getting bashed a lot (not on here but in the media in general). I met someone from Hull recently and she made it sound like some sort of backward hellhole! She said as it's so out of the way no-one ever goes there or leaves and the height of excitement is the annual trip to Leeds. I'm sure she's exaggerating, most people think their home town is shit. I do but I'll defend it if people who don't live there are slagging it off.

I'm hoping to move to London. I don't have to as I could work anywhere in the country but I want to. More opportunities work-wise, more opportunities hobby wise, it's incredibly diverse and I like that it's more anonymous. I feel very at home in London, much more than I do other parts of the country. I couldn't live in the North - don't get me wrong, I like it, I love the accents but I feel a bit like a fish out of water there. Plus, it's just too cold. I went to Manchester in June once and it was FREEZING.

And the tube isn't scary at all! I did have a man barge into me once and nearly push me over BUT I also had a group of young men ask me if I was alright and shouted after him that he was a twat so it's not full of uncaring people. It's so, so easy to navigate - I'm a complete twit and can barely tell my arse from my elbow sometimes, especially with directions and even I've never got lost. Grin

Masterpiece1 · 02/12/2015 14:52

I just can't deal with London. It's not my scene at all.

I have to go there a few times a year for business/visas/ etc., and everytime it's a nightmare to me!

Too busy.
Too crowded.
Too noisy.

It's just too much for me. I prefer the simple life. Each to their own.

PositivePete · 02/12/2015 15:05

The money (fat salary!). The restaurants. The history. The culture. The people. The river. Museums. Parks. Theatres. Shopping. Walks.

I could go on & on, forever & ever.

Best City

stopfuckingshoutingatme · 02/12/2015 15:06

I ask myself frequently why people live in some of the dire, uncultured and poverty scarred shitholes that exist in the UK outside of London

I assume they have work, family, friends and roots there?

SummerNights1986 · 02/12/2015 15:11

I ask myself frequently why people live in some of the dire, uncultured and poverty scarred shitholes that exist in the UK outside of London

Quite right. Especially when they could instead choose to live in a dire, uncultured and poverty scarred shithole that exists within London and also have to pay a fortune to do so.

Biscuit
stopfuckingshoutingatme · 02/12/2015 15:16

I was being sarky, don't get all defensive. I am quite aware London has its shitholes Tower Hamlets looking at YOU

just thought OP was a bit silly to ask

ElinorRochdale · 02/12/2015 15:46

Even Tower Hamlets has interesting parts that are worth visiting. I don't know what it's like to live there, of course.

maybebabybee · 02/12/2015 15:49

tower hamlets has got loads of nice parts...

Jibberjabberjooo · 02/12/2015 16:10

Summer we get the point, you don't like London, and think it doesn't have any green spaces. (You're wrong).

maybebabybee · 02/12/2015 16:17

London has loads of green spaces. You really don't get the proper picture from looking at a map. Where my mum lives near Wanstead flats it's endless green.

BarbaraofSeville · 02/12/2015 17:20

I think that, unless you are London born and bred, therefore your roots and support network are there, the perceived advantages of London over other big UK cities are far outweighed by the huge disadvantage of the cost of housing.

Only the very very wealthy can afford satisfactory housing in London, whereas in Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham, Bristol etc almost everyone except the very poorest can afford appropriate sized housing in decent areas and we have just about everything else London has to offer, except the big national sites (Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London etc) but that can be easily sorted with a weekend break, should we wish to visit.

If we want museums, galleries, open spaces, countryside, restaurants, culture, architecture, diversity, sporting events, music, and everything else, that some Londoners seem to think doesn't exist outside the capital, we have it all on our doorstep for whenever we want.

stopfuckingshoutingatme · 02/12/2015 17:30

Neasden then

I challenge anyone to say anything nice about Neasden!

I am allowed to slag it off as am local

ElinorRochdale · 02/12/2015 17:37

Have never knowingly been to Neasden, so have no opinion on it!

Chippednailvarnish · 02/12/2015 17:38

Neasden temple is spectacular!