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?

I think one day London will be in everything inside M25!

I live in the London Borough of Sutton. I have a KT postcode and 0208 dialling code, address is Surrey. DH works for the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames (anyone know why it's royal?) I class myself as living in SE London.

If it's covered by the Met Police, it's London. We don't like travelling to the counties at work, even though most of us live in them!

I've heard of Penge. It's where E.M. Forster set Clive's childhood home in "Maurice". It was renamed Pendersleigh for the film. That's the only reason I know of it.

MrsFizzy 'cos of all the kings that were crowned there!

You can't take airport names as proof of London or not. London Ashford Airport is in Lydd on the South Kent coast and is actually closer to Calais.

Postcodes are irrelevant.

Agree - all of the Highlands have an IV postcode but they're not all Inverness.

I still stick to my "inside the M25" definition as it's called the London Orbital motorway for a reason ;-) And it's where my blood pressure starts to rise with the stress of London when I come down from Scotland.

All the Highlands do not have an IV postcode. Some have PH relating to Perth, but even odder is that the north of the Scottish mainland has a KW postcode which relates to Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands.

I have just moved from Penge. It is postcode se20 so south east London. Just past crystal palace and before Beckenham. So about 20 mins on the bus you get to Bromley which is Kent really. It is quite confusing but I'd say it is very much the outskirts of London however still only zone 3

Sorry it's zone 4. I stand corrected.

Bracadogia when I first moved there people were laughing about people like you pronouncing Penge like pong-eh! I suppose you pronounce streatham Saint-reatham too! Ridiculous

It's anywhere that is a London borough. Regardless of postcode, travel zone, cycle lane etc. London borough of Xyz = London. So that includes Kingston, Richmond despite their non-London postcodes.

OP here - thanks for clarity (or otherwise). As one PP said "I did ask"!

I'm chuffed that there is no easy answer (I don't look too ignorant now) and I've kept you entertained.

I guess the same arguments take place across UK - as another poster said there's the old Yorkshire Ridings never mind Lancashire/Yorkshire boundaries, Greater Manchester and Merseyside etc

If it's covered by the Met Police, it's London.

No it's not. Loughton, Essex, is patrolled by the Met and it's not London, even though it has a tube station as well. It is under Epping Forest District Council, so residents cannot vote in the London Mayoral Elections, and more importantly, pensioners do not get free tube travel as do over 60s in all London boroughs.

That was a searing injustice my mother took to her grave, what with being from an undisputed part of London as a girl and being called up to serve on the buses during the war.

Do you know how much it costs to get into the West End from Zone 6 every Saturday? I do. She would never take the money though

I can remember when Croydon was in Surrey and Dagenham was in Essex. Now if they're reported on the news they're all in London. It's one of my (many) regular rants

Dagenham still is Essex grumpmitchell and I woke up thinking about Croydon which is in Surrey. How obsessed is that?

Whenever you rant about them being reported as being in London, just remember that you're not alone. Wherever I am, I'm with you in spirit

You'd have trouble getting the 12 to Penge now, it stops at Dulwich library.

Trills it's an informal study, but when I'm waiting in Trafalgar Square on a cold night, the 176 to Penge outnumbers buses to where I want to go by about a million to 1.

I find that when I'm standing near Piccadilly on a rainy night the 12 outnumbers the bus I want by a similar ratio. What is AT that library?

Kingston's Royal because 7 kings were apparently crowned there over 1000 years ago.

Some precious artifact, no doubt. If Harrison Ford fancies another outing I could see Indiana Jones and The Bus Pass to Dulwich Library capturing the same market at The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Yes I remember the coronation stone now outside the council offices!

The stone pales in comparison to the knocked over phone boxes though

Born and bred in central London and I've never done it by tube line but more so on post code N, NW, SE, SW, W, E, WC, EC and newly appointed NC . As they all explain your position in London when you start getting none directional postcodes such as RM and DA then I reckon that's outside of London but they do keep expanding London and it's all rather confusing!

We get BBC London news which annoys me because we're not in London and so never actually see any local news (unless it's about Gatwick which is just over there - points out of back window) We're not even in Surrey!

London is in the M25, apart from the bits that aren't London.

My mum used to moan about the loss of Middlesex and say that Croydon was in Surrey. She would still address envelopes with them on.

The 12 bus goes past my house and it is extremely frequent. The destination used to be 'The Plough' which is a pub that then changed its name to something stupid so the destination was changed to Dulwich library which is on the other side of the road although I think the pub has turned back into 'The Plough' again