AIBU to ask is there life after London?

[poppingshop1]

I know there is, but is it a good one?

DH & I are true Londoners & live in a lovely part of SW London that I grew up in. We have a lovely life, mum around the corner, excellent school which DC1 attends around the other corner, lovely neighbours, etc. BUT we are starting to think we should leave. 90% of our childhood friends have moved out to either zone 5/6 or the home counties. 3 of my close friends (met through NCT) who live nearby have all decided to leave & told me this week.

We want more space (property is 1300 sq ft) which we can’t afford unless we move to other parts of London (don’t really see the point) & husband is finding the tube more & more stressful. Plus the general hustle & bustle is starting to grate.

However the idea of moving to the suburbs terrify me (don’t mean to offend), worried I will be bored/lonely & DH might struggle with the commute as he’s used to 30 mins door to door. I’d prefer to live in a 3/4 bed terrace close to amenities than a 6 bed detached in the middle of nowhere.

My 3 NCT friends are moving to other cities (Bristol, Edinburgh & Bath) & I’m starting to think that moving to another city could be a great option.

I’m lucky that I freelance so 90% of my work is wfh. DH would obviously earn less working in another city but still plenty of finance jobs around at the 70k mark and as we have at least 500k equity our cost of living would ideally be lower, I feel we might have a better quality of life. My mum is likely to move to be closer to us (she’s an immigrant, so no other family here).

Has anyone moved from London to other cities? Did you regret it? How hard did you find it settle? Where would you go?

Be careful, we're very primitive outside of London.

Witch hunt? I do not think that word means what you think it means?

OP should have thought about it before she posted. The entire premise is dickish.

not Really OhChill the thread title is there life outside of London which is pretty insulting to the rest of the UK.

popping has made it clear that she likes London.

There isn't much point, really, in answering on this thread with "I hate London, I love where I live," other than to get an airing for some weird chip on your shoulder.

OP is clearly looking for alternatives that will appeal to someone who likes London.

It's as though she's posted saying that she likes books by author X, what other books might she enjoy, and loads of people coming on and telling her that X is a shit author, they hate X, and they read A, and she should too.

That is nuts, frankly.

What she needs is replies from people who say "Yes, I like X and also Y and Z; I think you might like them too," or even "I get you like Z but A has this really interesting style/subject - do you think you'd like that?"

Honestly, some of the posters on this thread must be deeply lonely and have to pounce on a "London" thread just to tell the still, cold air that they really, really hate London.

Don't be so selfish and "me, me me." I get that you think you're the most important, special person in the world, who everyone, everywhere must listen to - but the OP here has a question that she would like advice on.

Not just hot air from people who think they are special.

I wouldn't move to Bath. It's beautiful, but dull. All summer it's rammed with traffic, there aren't enough supermarkets for the population, and for most of December you can't get anywhere because of boatloads of tourists from Cardiff in for the Xmas Market. It's also expensive. We gave up on it after a year.

Bristol, however, is fantastic (I don't live there but DH works there).

Pathetic, sorry. Do it and get a grip. I did it and realised London is a sh*thole

OP I live in a semi rural city 1hour outside of London. Great schools, fresh air etc but I would give it up in a heartbeat to live in Central London with my kids!

I also wfh. Would you like to swap for a couple of weeks?

You could buy a lovely family home outright in a gorgeous place like Dorset, by the sea, couple of hours by train to London... no way I'd stay in London in those circumstances. We left London six years ago, best decision I ever made.

OP how about Brighton? Lots going on, lovely countryside, sea and you can get into London in an hour on the train?

i moved from London to Bristol. Best thing I ever did. I find I do so much more as it's all so much easier to access than in London. We are a 20 minute walk into the city centre or a 20 min drive into the depths of the countryside. It's incredibly easy to raise a child here as there's a high concentration of families, so a lot laid on and all easy to get to. We had no problems making new friends and get back to London regularly on the train.

I’ve never lived in London - I’ve lived in NI, Scotland, SW England, SE England and abroad. I’m not remotely offended by the title, which, as soon as you read the actual op, is clearly just a turn of phrase. She says in her op that she thinks moving to a city outside of London would be a good option. I don’t usually like to bother getting into a big debate on here, but this thread is really getting silly.

Catfromjapan wtf are you banging on about mate 😂

oh and lots of finance jobs in Bristol. Also great support available for work-at-home-mums, especially if it's something creative!

Catfromjapan wtf are you banging on about mate 😂

How droll mate... 😂 🦄 ✨

witches - yes I have been to every city in the UK! There aren't that many, so it's not that hard. I don't live in London, but only a fool could think that any city outside of it has anything like the cultural wealth of the capital. There are good regional and local museums, but nothing that remotely rivals the number and scale of the collections in the capital's art galleries, or the national collections. There are excellent regional theatres, but there aren't dozens of them in any other city. Opera, dance, classical music are not as deep or as varied outside the capital; shopping isn't as good either, and you'd struggle to find such a concentration of amazing Michelin-starred restaurants anywhere else either (Bray possibly excepted!)

You can still enjoy all of it on a day trip if you live outside of London, though! As I do!!

It so depends on where your heart is. I could simply not live in a city - I hate London with a passion; and only feel truly myself when I am surrounded by green hills. Clearly that is not how you are! But my comment would be that being in suburbia may be a middle way that is very like being in a city - so if you really want something truly different then go for the country, where you can live in a village where everyone speedily gets to know everyone else, the schools are small and your children get personal attention, and you have beauty around you to refresh your spirit.

We live on the S Wales border and have all the joys listed above plus good transport to Cardiff and Birmingham for additional cultural activities activities - although local city has wonderful cultural scene.

ilikecakes thank you, we did consider Brighton or similar. What do you think of Shoreham by Sea?

ElliePhillips thank you & you have livid in some amazing places!

IsaSchmisa From basic reasearch & jobs like the look of Bristol & Birmingham. We would get a mortgage, ideally a little one.

BiscuitTinClarabel Can I ask where you went?

We are in nappy valley land (don’t want to out myself). DC1 is 4 & DC2 is 1.

whiskyowl what area are you in if you don’t mind?

I don’t mind Kingston but don’t love it, nice houses & good schools though.

God I know, how will op survive without michelin starred food and decent opera? May as well just jump off a bridge without those two life affirming staples

x2boys tongue is vey firmly in cheek. I love Manchester - I live here .

grimeofthecentury : Catfromjapan wtf are you banging on about mate

I don't think I can apologise if you find literacy, and the use of literary devices and tropes - such as analogy - in order to communicate, either offensive or exclusive.

Bristol is fabulous OP

Omg leave the OP alone! She’s never spent any time anywhere other than London!

I live in London and in similar circa am about to d the same as OP, but I drive and know the UK really well.

You’re bening very narrow minded if you don’t understand how she might be apprehensive. One of my best friends is British but her family isn’t - and as she doesn’t drive she just has no experience of the rest of the UK.

Don’t forget it takes over an hour to drive out of London - so where you might nip to the Peak District if you live in Birmingham or the Lakes if you live in Liverpool it just isn’t like that here.

It’s not a stealth boast either! It’s hard to live e in London and it’s also an amazing place - it’s tricky to decide when you’ve reached tipping point.

For me I want out because I feel I’m always ‘on’ here and I want to think and breathe better. I’m a country girl originally so it’s an informed decision...

This thread is making me want to visit London! It sounds like it's in a little world all of its own - I'm intrigued