Where is London?

[namechangenumber45]

This is not intended to be a "London bashing thread" so please take question (from northerner) in spirit intended - one of curiosity.

I have been watching the news and an awful update on situation in Penge where a young boy and woman killed. I've never heard of this suburb and couldn't place it on a map - but on looking it seems to be a bit further from what I'd class as "London".

So my AIBU to ask where London starts and finishes?

Have the boundaries expanded? Are there some areas that would be SouthEast a few years ago but are now London?

Petts wood and St Mary Cray are in LB Bromley

like this

Insabath my little boy is adamant it's called 'Elmo's End'

Ealing is definitely London and we got to vote in Mayor elections. All sorts of 'London perks' from living here. I live on border of w5/w7/w13 and Ub6 postcodes. Having the W in your postcode improves house price. I class myself as living in Greater London. This is based on the 0207/0208 telephone number basis.

Chazs - perhaps the way to spot a true Londoner is how well they can navigate Hanger Lane gyratory and how they always know best place to get on the tube to get a seat.

I must be a true Londoner because I can do both

Not boasting just fact!

Bill - I'm going to call it Elmo's End from now on!

Anywhere within the boundaries of the old County of London, which itself was carved out of parts of Middlesex, Surrey, Kent and Essex at the end of the 19th Century.

*"Much of the London Borough of Barnet has a London postcode - Whetstone, Finchley, Mill Hill etc. it's just High/East/New Barnet that has EN postcodes."

Indeed, nearly all of Barnet (borough) has a London postcode. Same goes for Enfield, Harrow etc etc.
We are definitely in London here in good old Barnet.*

My friend lives in Barnet and say they live in Hertfordshire.

Heathrow airport has two, I think, stations, was London Airport, I don't class it as London, I think it's Middlesex.

I followed a van today which fixed Windows or something. It said on the back the company worked in Herts, Bucks, Berks, Surrey and Middlesex. Made me think of this thread.

Anything in the 33 London boroughs. Parts of London are very rural. Downe (in borough of Bromley) is a village where Charles Darein lived. There are quite a few farms in the London borders.

I live in London and I agree with the earlier posters who say it is if you have an 020 tel no, London postcode and live in a London Borough. I would also add its if you live in zones 1-6 and have red London buses! Therr are a few exceptions though. Both Bromley and Croydon are London Boroughs although not all of both boroughs are considered as London, there is definitely a boundary which is basically where the London A-Z ends.

No, the London A-Z does not respect the London boundary. East Molesey, Sunbury, Shepperton and Ashford, Surrey are in, whereas Purely, London Borough of Croydon is out. I expect there are similar anomalies for other suburbs.

Haven't RTFT but isn't Luton airport called London Luton now?

mummy
I like your test. If you can navigate Hanger Lane using fewer than 4 swear words?
I do know exactly where to stand on the platform at various stations to be next to a set of doors

But that's discriminating against SE Londoners who've never driven Hanger Lane, and aren't served by the Tube.

You can have Elephant and Castle roundabout though that has a tube station. I can't help that dad

If you have a London postcode, it's London. Greater London includes outlying boroughs like Croydon, Sutton etc.

When I lived in London, we used to call Penge 'Ponge', as in, 'j'habite à Penge'. We always thought it would be the next big gentrification project, on account of its posh name

I used to have this argument with my ex P as I figured Enfield wasn't London as it does not have a London post code, however the fact it is called the London borough of Enfield possibly proves me wrong and invalidates the postcode rule!

Elephant and Castle isn't a roundabout any more.

Also there is part of Lewisham (old London County Council area) that doesn't have London postcode, whereas a small part of E4 is definitely in Essex, not Greater London.

I don't think Ponge sounds remotely posh, maybe slightly Frenchified, but certainly not posh.

I have a friend who lives in the London Borough of Lewisham but doesn't have a London postcode.

Penge was a more reasonably priced area I the past, now like everywhere in London it isn't!

I knew the shopping centre wasn't pink any more Trills but I didn't realise that. I really should get out more.

Still, I do know that you can't drive in front of the National Gallery anymore unless you want to scatter pedestrians like the Italian Job. That's a shame because I used to really enjoy driving there and merging with traffic going past South Africa House and then exiting the square depending on where I was going.

These days I wait for buses outside South Africa House and the protesters have long gone.