To hate this Kind of sneering attitude to places outside London

[wasonthelist]

"many things in life would be better and cheaper if we all just gave up and moved to that six-bed detached in Ashby De La Zouch. But could you really subsist in a place where the height of culinary pleasure is unlimited smarties on your ice cream at the local carvery?"

I am not sure if the author, Caroline Mginn, who wrote that in Time Out -
a) Really believes that Ashby has such limited culinary offerings (it doesn't)?
b) Thought she was preaching to the converted and no-one outside London would read it?

I cannot be the only person to Google ADLZ.

I'd rather have a carvery than get rained on eating over priced "street food" in the rain standing up but I'm a philestine.

Theycall, It is just over 2 hrs on the train Manchester to London. If I was totally desperate to see something I could. Never felt the need strangely. And as for food, the Northwest is awash with amazing eateries.

I used to live in London and loved it but never went to the theatre, spent half my salary on rent and would go round to friends' houses rather than spend £8 on a glass of wine in a pub. Where I live now, I'm still shocked that you can buy 2 drinks for under a fiver!

And you can buy a house for £150k or less!

Hmm. Ashby de la Zouche as an example and carveries? You can't get decent food out of London? Wow. That's a journalist reaching for stars, job wise. I thought professional writers were supposed to avoid cliche.

It takes me about 25 minutes on the metro to get home from a night in Manchester, think the metro works later into the night than the tube does.

I am currently sat on the train to London. This particular train takes 2 hours and 1 minute. We (DC and I) are coming down just for the day to meet up with friends and go to a show.

I do understand that life 20 or 30 years ago in somewhere like Halifax might have been tame and yes, could not have competed in any shape or form with London living in 2016. But honestly, Manchester / Birmingham / Liverpool etc living in 2016 is wholly different and definitely comparable in most respects to London. I think your view theycall is out of date and that article just perpetuates the misconception.

Yes, but I can walk to most of my local cultural amenities in 20 minutes. There isn't the same range as there is in London, it's true. And that's only going to get worse as more funding is pulled from NotLondon because culture everywhere else is seen as unimportant. At this stage in my life, I would rarely be able to afford to experience any of the activities London has to offer anyway. When that changes, I'll be able to afford the two hour train journey more frequently.

Some Londoners really do enjoy all the opportunities offered by their city. But I don't think that many of them are SAHP on a small budget.

When I compare my life to friends who live in London, the ones are who are truly happy there and who get more out of London than I do out of my city, either don't have children, are very rich, or have family nearby.

Not sure what rest of article says, but I'd love to have a house right in the centre of London, somewhere in the countryside and maybe a ski chalet and a get away on a private island, a bit like Richard Branson. (I would also need a private jet I think).

However like most people, my choices are small house in London suburbs or somewhere a little larger further out, but still commutable to London, what with having to earn a living.

the day to day reality of living in or near London doesn't usually involve regular trips to the latest pop up restaurant, (particularly if most of your money goes on housing), and may involve less exciting culinary experiences than if you live near the centre of another city.

however, I think this journalist is just writing filler, not particularly expressing what most Londoners think.

I would love to move out of London for somewhere much greener and calmer. I would also be scared of losing the multiculturalism that is very much a fabric of our lives. Moot point anyway as it is only me and dd2 who want to move (in our family of 5).

I do love the buzz of London as much as I feel completely exhausted by it - and my high street is HORRIBLE. It seems that to live near a nice high street in London you have to be uber wealthy.

Thanks for the explanation reasonably.

The assumption is that most Londoners eat out all the time, go to the opera and theatre a lot and visit museums regularly. How true is this in reality?

When we lived in Leeds I used to go to the opera and ballet far more than I ever did in London.

London is our capital and is the largest city, so by definition it is going to offer a wider variety and higher quantity of cultural activities. However, I really resent the implication that there is a dearth of them outside of London and that they are of lesser quality.

Fozzleyplum waves back!
Ashby is great. Yes, to the poster who asked about Adrian Mole. We've also got a couple of slebs in the nearby villages.

I live in Durham and know it's beautiful and cultural and has great history, I don't care or need to know what some obscure writer thinks. There's not so good parts but having lived in the south for twenty years I can confirm that there are shit places there too

When I lived in London we did go out to eat and to the theatre but no more than we do now. Plus we have a lot more disposable income to enjoy ourselves now, and a much bigger house with a mortgage which will be paid of in four year. I'm beside my self with excitement at that

I live in London (zone 3) and I never have black snot
My brother always slags off London (lives in the country) and has never visited me. He'd be surprised by how quiet it is where I live(suburbs,zone 3). I think some people (db) think that central London is like the rest of it.My best friend lives round the corner from me and goes into central London about twice a year (20 mins on the train) so for her it's like living in a town I think.
I would like to live out of London but it's one of the only cities I can work in I couldn't bear a long commute.

YY BunBaker. It's the constant implication that these things are only available in London that annoys me. There are several other big cities in this country, that all have a wide variety of interesting things to see and do.

I live in Leeds. We have at least 4 national museums within an hours drive. Half the people in London, who live on the outskirts will be a similar time away from the Central London attractions. We have countless smaller museums. We have a very well thought of opera company (Opera North). We have other theatres and concert venues, country houses and large parks. Due to a thread on here I have found out that our local universities have countless lectures and talks by high profile speakers. We have hundreds of restaurants etc serving many different types of cuisine, due to a diverse multicultural population.

I agree that the weather in London is better, as is the public transport, the latter being due to the shocking lack of investment anywhere else in comparison. But I will never agree with anyone spouting cliched rubbish about the rest of the country being a cultural wasteland lacking in any sort of interesting opportunities.

"I live in London (zone 3) and I never have black snot"

I think your body adapts. Mine was black after a weekend in central London, because the air is a lot dirtier there than on the edge of the Pennines (where I live).

I like visiting London, I just wouldn't want to live there.

I find it so weird that people are so insistent that there is no difference between London and places live Manchester and Birmingham. Yes of course there are excellent restaurants, hip bars, and fantastic theatre and art in those towns. But, here's the thing -- it's not in the same volume as in London.

To say that the restaurant scene in Birmingham has the same volume of new openings as that in London is just not true.

Similarly to say that Manchester has the same theatrical offerings as London is false. In Manchester you have the Royal Exchange, the Lowry, the Opera House and the Royal National College of Music (the concerts held at this last are highly recommended - v cheap way to see outstanding young musicians). All fantastic venues where I've seen amazing things. But that's not the same thing as there being the same volume and choice of excellent things as in London.

How could it be? Manchester has a population of 2.5m, London of 8.5m. London is massively more wealthy. London disproportionately benefits from government funding in the arts (I don't agree with this as a policy but it's true). OF COURSE the arts are stronger in London. If you're the kind of person who doesn't go to the theatre more than once every few months then there's no reason this should bothers you.. But if you're a nerd who goes a couply of times a week it makes a huge differences.

I haven't experienced black snot since the congestion charge came in. Before that, it was a standard part of visiting London.

i agree that due to its sheer size London is culturally richer than other cities.

But this does not mean that these other cities are not culturally rich. In the city I live in, the live music scene in particular is amazing and diverse - pretty much any night of the week you see world class jazz, classical or experimental electronica.

You can also, funnily enough, access London culture when living outside of London. We live much further than poor old Ashby de La Zouch, and still get down to the theatre in London several times a year.

It's also worth mentioning that here (Manchester) I can be in Leeds or Liverpool quicker than I could travel from Peckham to Hampstead, so easyily accessible cultural opportunities are not limited to the city you're in (or the half of the city you can get to without crossing the river .)

I loved living in London, but I love living at the other end of the country just as much.

i agree that due to its sheer size London is culturally richer than other cities.

But this does not mean that these other cities are not culturally rich. In the city I live in, the live music scene in particular is amazing and diverse - pretty much any night of the week you see world class jazz, classical or experimental electronica.

You can also, funnily enough, access London culture when living outside of London. We live much further than poor old Ashby de La Zouch, and still get down to the theatre in London several times a year.

It's also worth mentioning that here (Manchester) I can be in Leeds or Liverpool quicker than I could travel from Peckham to Hampstead, so easyily accessible cultural opportunities are not limited to the city you're in (or the half of the city you can get to without crossing the river .)

I loved living in London, but I love living at the other end of the country just as much.

The thing that stops me from being a regular theatre goer is lack of money and need for babysitters. That would be the case wherever I lived.

Of course it would be lovely to have a bijoux flat in zone 1 or 2, but it's not a lifestyle that most people can aspire to, particularly if they have to accomodate a family.

That's not to say that London isn't a great place, but a lot of theatre/gallery/restaurant visitors are tourists.

One thing you can say about London is that it is quite accessible.

I would also be scared of losing the multiculturalism that is very much a fabric of our lives.
I hear that a lot here and I genuinely have no idea what people mean when they say that.

I can see why people want to live in London and why they enjoy it.
What pisses me off are the people who honestly think that there is no life outside the M25.

I lived in London, well paid job, nice area etc., and then I switched to a temporary position in a Northern office. That was around 16 years ago. I wouldn't live in London again through choice. I visit now and am desperate to get out after 2 days.

Anyone who believes that everywhere apart from London is crap, is slightly foolish with incredibly narrow horizons, in my opinion.

As far as food in concerned, there's some bloody awful restaurants in London, and some good ones. Just like most other cities.

I would also be scared of losing the multiculturalism that is very much a fabric of our lives.

You do realise that most UK cities are pretty multicultural too? Especially Birmingham and Manchester.

I'd agree with the posts upthread that many Londoners don't realise how accessible London amenities are to those outside London and we have plenty of things going on here too. And lunch available after 2.30pm.

I'm also glad to read other people who are bemused by the media's fetish for restaurants. There's something really weird about the fuss that gets made about food these days, but maybe that's for another thread.

"What pisses me off are the people who honestly think that there is no life outside the M25."

What pisses me off is that some people think that it is a cultural desert outside of London. As I and other posters have acknowledged, due to its size and diversity London has more options, but I dislike the thinking that there is absolutely nothing at all outside of London.

When we lived in Leeds we used to see Opera North productions on a regular basis. I used to see Ballet Rambert, the Phoenix dance company and Northern Ballet. We have Leeds Festival, Slam Dunk and other music festivals. There are Christmas markets, food festivals, the BBC Good Food Show in Harrogate. We have theatre and musicals and we even have several national museums in Yorkshire. Oh yes, it is a cultural desert here

I also dislike the assumption that there is very little multiculturalism outside of London. What about Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield? They are all pretty multicultural.

Birmingham is so multicultural that there are no-go zones for white people

And what about the bleeding RSC for culture?