To wonder how people cope living in London?!

[WinterIsHereJon]

I'm visiting for the weekend. It's hot, sweaty, incredibly busy. We had the misfortune of travelling on the tube during rush hour earlier, people pushed and pushed onto an already full train, to the point where I became rather intimately acquainted with a chap behind me. Despite the complete lack of room people were still attempting to read newspapers! I think I'd snap if that was part of my daily routine, I don't know how people do it!

No family help here, DH bought his first flat in 1994 in W Ken. We bought house together in SW London in 2000 and bigger house in 2006. I guess we were lucky he got on the ladder when he did and we both had good jobs...

I'm getting really tired of this "I hate London" thing. How and why has it become acceptable to hate a city and its inhabitants? I'd never start a thread saying I hate Cirencester, or whatever. I don't think I could summon up the shallowness to slate an entire city/area: it would indicate a level of idiocy I don't think I possess. So why London?

I used to have a bit of a sense of humour about these threads but I've completely lost it post-Brexit, where an anti-London feeling seemed to get thrown around and pretty much weaponised.

I love London. I'm intensely proud of my home city and those of us who live here. It's a beautiful, vibrant, welcoming city. I feel passionately proud of it.

I posted that and then thought 'that can't be actually be true, surely I know people who have bought without family help?'. I have racked my brains but I really don't! Probably relevant here: I am early thirties and I'm an academic and husband is a teacher so we know lots of similar. Having said that, even my city lawyer/financial sector university friends had family help, although they did all buy v. nice places...

ladymary, do you mean you see London as a 'female'? It's definitely a 'he' haha (not the burbs, I mean).

No family help here either. First house in v unposh area, moved half a mile and have stayed there. Overground, bus, walk. If I need to use the tube I try to do out if main rush, failing which I meditate. Londoners brilliant at creating their own mini bubble.

margaret
No family help here
Just worked my way up through a succession of flats, starting with one in a shitty area that no one else wanted to live in.
Of course that is now a highly desirable area, and when I lived there, it was a lovely place to live
DH did the same, which put us in the position to be able to jointly buy a 4 bed house in zone 2 SW London, surrounded by lovely parks and within walking distance to lots of wonderful places

You can still buy a 2 or 3 bed house in zone 3 for under £350k
A couple each on £35k a year (which is roughly what a PA or bar manager gets, for example) could comfortably rent a flat and still each put away £350/400 a month. That means they will have saved a deposit to buy in 3 or 4 years. Sooner if they forgo holidays and save more

They are then able to buy somewhere, possibly even rent out the spare room if they want the spare cash to make up for those years of being frugal

I don't know why property ownership in London is made out to be impossible.
Yes, you can no longer buy your first flat in Clapham or Islington, but you can buy in the current day equivalent - somewhere a bit rough around the ages but with good transport and good housing stock and amenities

thecat imo you aer over-reacting hugely! OP never said he hated the whole city - nor the inhabitants! she said she hated the tube in rush hour and was actually sympathetic to people who have to do it (and sometimes there is no choice if you need to be home from workj fast!) - I'hate the tube in rush hour too (and the buses) and so do many/most Londoners.
Quite a lot of people who love London hate some aspects of it (i.e. some people who are pushing and shoving in transport, pollution , whatever), I'm sure it applies to those living in other places too.

I love my commute by train and tube. I listen to my books on an app through headphones and if a tube train is too packed I just wait for the next one!

I used to drive to work for many years and that was much more stressful. On the way home driving you have to concentrate. On public transport you can relax.

Even though I am in zone 5 it takes me 1h 10 min door to door and that time is not wasted.

Re: feeling warm on the tube - just wear summer clothes! I feel mist of the time people are dressed for much colder weather than it actually is!

sparechange - genuine question, what are these places (seems like all rough around the edges places are gone into high price territory (well over 350K for a decent size 1-bed which aren't on a thoroughfare - and only very rough ones remain cheaper).

sorry brackets in the wrong place.

Another who can't understand why people want to live in ( most) places outside London! Of course it has less good aspects but so does everywhere.

What a warm and lovely thread. Hurrah for London and all who sail in her. I love it.
I do agree with thecat that there are very often quite unjustifiably critical threads about London on here - but clearly OP's is not one of them.

Ex Londoner here, living out in the provinces. I wouldn't move back to London even if I was paid large amounts of money. I like it well enough to visit, but am glad to come back to the cleaner Pennine air

Me too! I miss certain things in London, especially night classes (we have none here, they've all been axed) and I really miss public transport but I left ten years ago and wouldn't go back.

We bought with no help but the deposit was only 5k but we worked like dogs getting that together, seemed loads at the time.

There is a long thread running atm about places people hate, not just London.

Wouldn't live anywhere else in UK. It is full of so much wonderful stuff for DC.

love
Catford
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42723744.html
Woolwich
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39744798.html
Mitcham
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40241286.html
Leyton
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55024717.html

There are equivalents in north and west London, but I don't know those areas well enough
All about as rough around the edges as Clapham or Islington were in the 90s and all an easy commute into zone 1

What people want is an area as nice as Balham or Stokey are now, but at the prices when Balham and Stokey were rough

I don't think the OP is rude or disparaging, just expressing an understandable reaction. I live in London and have done on and off since leaving university, and I have often felt similar frustrations. I don't wonder how people cope, but there are many times it gets me down and I certainly don't wonder how people live elsewhere. There is a lot to love about London but if I am honest overall the disadvantages probably outweigh the advantages for me and if it were not for DP and his long work hours I would prefer to live elsewhere. I can completely understand why for some people it is very different, we all have different priorities.

London has major flaws, and major strengths. Let's not pretend it is black and white, because in reality how much you enjoy London life depends on your circumstances and your priorities. Even when London is at its best for me, and I am loving it, I will still always prefer the countryside because I value rural advantages more. Doesn't mean that I hate London, or that anyone else will feel the same. Ultimately, sorry for cliche, but there are many Londons .......and if you stay there long enough you may not always find yourself in the same one.

'Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner, that I love London Town'
The trains are just one aspect of this special City, and it's worse in Japan
I'd live with it anyway because there are a million positive things about it that outweigh the negative. (Thank God London is soo accessible).
We got married 4 years ago and broke through the housing barrier by getting shared ownership. We nearly own the property outright and it has increased by £20.000 a year!!! - a very lucrative investment.

The rush hour is full of commuters coming into London, not Londoners who know better than to travel then. Commuters tend to be rude, impatient and don't follow the same etiquette such as giving up your seat, they push, shove and don't have time for manners, but that maybe because they don't actually live here, and are not tied into the community they briefly pass through every morning. If you travel before 7am or after 9.30am, that is when people are more chatty and sociable, I even know our station masters by name and wish them a good morning etc. But I never travel at rush hour!

I'm so surprised to read this. We're just back from London and can honestly say it was brilliant. Folk were falling over themselves to help lift prams or make way for us on the Tube. We are proper country mice (2miles to our nearest neighbours) so the city was a big change. Exciting and diverse and friendly and interesting. We loved it.

Also I find commuters tend to be a bit aggressive and territorial, they just want to get from a
A to B in the fastest possible way. Tourist can also be a bit frustrating especially on the picadilly line, where they obstruct the door areas with their massive wheely suitcases, and then take up the seats, so leaving no room for people getting on

London is my heart and soul I love that place with a passion.

Oh boy, I miss London. I'd swap my 3 bed Georgian house plus garden in Devon with a studio in London in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, dh wouldn't.

Oh gosh, this stuff you mention, (that you seem to dislike) is like a breath of fresh air to me. I need this every few months.
I love the hustle and bustle! It just makes me feel alive! Centred even!

If you are more one for the countryside, beautiful views and have spare time, I'd recommend jumping on a Boris bike, going to London Bridge, taking a cycle about in the almost dark....I know it'll sound mental, but I love it, less busy too!

Walks.com or something similar do walks around the city of an eve, amazing, and a little quieter!

Enjoy your weekend!

spare thanks!
I thought Leyton has moved up already. Catford has VERY bad air quality, Woolwich still quite a crime spot though I do hear good things more and more often - but to me it's too far out, to the places I'm regularly at.
Re Mitcham- thought it was very rough, but maybe not any more.
I'd like to know more about areas in the North/NW.

I have so missed out on West Norwood though - 6yrs ago could have bought a large 2-bed or a smaller 3 bed there, but I was put off by a basic High St and lack of tube. Oh well.