To ask if London living is all that?

[nellyolsenscurl]

Inspired by a thread where posters are saying things like 'unless you live in London you couldn't possibly understand the benefits' and 'London living is one of the best things a child could have' (paraphrased, but you get the poi t). One poster said that her dd's friend didn't have a bedroom, she had a bed in the hallway but this is worth it for London life etc.

I've visited and yes it does seem amazing, but I was surprised at how busy the underground was at rush hour, I didn't think public transport was that cheap and in some parts the signs about knife crime/murder was daunting. Obviously as well extortionate house prices/rents mean more likelihood of living in a smaller place.

So London Livers (TM) please tell me about the great things (and any negatives) In my dreams when my dc leave the nest I will buy a lift conversion in Neal's Yard with those lovely coloured facades 😬

Do you live in West Hove? What other junior schools? I get the impression your evidence is anecdotal and you know someone that lives in Portslade. I don't live anywhere near that area, I'm talking about central Brighton, too scared to go out (hollow laugh).

I love London SO MUCH. Its such a fantastic place. I'm filled with joy there.

I can understand people doing anything to live there, I never will, I am in Ireland and am not a millionaire so will have to make do with visiting!

I only wish Dublin had a tiny fraction of what London has but it is like standing at the gates of Hell in that city. Its such a pity because Ireland is beautiful.

Best things? My job. My job is niche and not available in any other UK cities and only in very few worldwide cities, London is the premier location.

Other best things? Friends, restaurants, theatres, other culture, music, parks, easy of transport, availability of any and all services due to population density, shops etc. Also varsity of said list.

Downsides? The trade off of space for location. Price of decent housing stock

Also getting OUT of London by car is a pain... I moved to the zone 3 ‘burbs for a house and garden (ugh how typical) in the East direction (it’s the cheapest direction). If I want to go anywhere that isn’t NE or SE it’s a fucking nightmare. Camping in the New Forest used to be super easy when I lived super central (or if you live West) but now it’s an hour and a half to traipse around the M25 before I’ve even got anywhere.

Hove lawns. There's no portslade lawns. No, I meant The Downs, Ashdown forest you know Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

no, no I spent many years there, with experience of three different primaries in the area.

I can’t see myself ever moving. I have house and garden, friends and family and still make an awful lot of use of the myriad of cultural stuff.

oh Ashdown forest, lovely x

Oh, if I was choosing my ‘burb location again I would probably have gone south, because the lack of hills out east annoys me.

You see I find those comments about Brighton bizarre and unnecessarily rude but they are the equivalent of what has been heaped on London with remarkable regularity. I wonder if it's satirical?

no, it's my honest opinion of Brighton and Hove after spending ten years or so there. fine for a day out but I wouldn't want to live there.
In my opinion, paedophilia is rife in that city. It's just my opinion.

Totally agree with that downside serbska and it's probably for me the main factor in favour of life in another UK city - much easier to get out for the day if you fancy a total change. By contrast London gives you access to other countries a lot more easily. I often go to Paris or Brussels for the day.

I'm definitely not suggesting London wouldn't be great to live in but I was curious to see what my son thought as we have the ability to compare due to his cousins living a very desired part of North London.

Pre children I worked on Whitehall, I loved it and the biggest downside to me is having to do a part time job that is professional but nothing like my work London. I've found the sacrifice on my side and not my husbands in work satisfaction.

Brighton is basically London on sea though

Small enough you can get around quite easily without a car, but big enough and vibrant enough that there's tonnes going on

Although you're at the mercy of Southern trains, in theory it's only an hour direct into Victoria, so I know lots of people who live in Brighton and commute daily to London

Quite different to the experience of living in, say, Stoke or Worthing or Torquay or Kettering (as random examples of towns, rather than cities in close proximity to London)

It'd be interesting to see what his cousin thinks too. My DD (7) thinks it'd be totally awful to move house, never mind leave London. I expect in reality shr would find there are pros and cons. Her current life is very colourful though. She's a lucky girl imo.

I genuinely think it's me who would appreciate the countryside more than my DC though. Obviously others think completely differently but I think as far as the kids go they have an amazing childhood with friends on their doorstep and so much to do. They are genuinely not fussed about clean air and open spaces, though we all enjoy a beach.

Yes, I was going to say, 'London by the sea' but thought someone would post that is a load of rubbish. My brother thinks it's very provincial but he would tell us that's not a good idea to move to London unless you're well off like them.

I can't really contribute since I only know London from the point of view of a very occasional day tripper. However, I was intrigued by this post:

"downsides are rats, foxes, pigeons, parakeets and tourists who don't stand in the correct place on the escalators"

Parakeets? Wow, really? How, why, since when? I had no idea?

So many 5foot5! They started out west (escaped from captivity) but we have flocks of them in our local park in North London now

Almost all the pros of living in London can be achieved by living is most if not all cities in the uk in my experience. I get that public transport is cheaper especially for young people and like anywhere, the locals know the best and cheapest places to visit, eat and shop.

I can get most everything people have raved about in my own little town. Admittedly since moving to the centre of town it's much better, I am in walking distance of town centre with plenty of shops, cinema, theatre, train station etc. Although we don't have loads of 24 hour shops we have done and in all honesty I dong find myself needing a 24 hour shop. I have never found myself needing milk in the middle of the night - wine maybe , milk never.

That said when I visit parts of London I could imagine living there but only if I were rich and could afford to buy some of the amazing properties in great locations. I have been to many parts of London you couldn't pay be to live in. But chances are I will never have enough money to live how I would want to do I will stick to our decent sized town in the north east and just visit our amazing capital city and the other great city's we have in the uk when I can.

Almost all the pros of living in London can be achieved by living is most if not all cities in the uk in my experience

yet you admit you've never lived in London, only visited so how can you judge? If your statement were true, then everyone would be living in all these other wonderful cities in the UK.

While we’re in the subject of other London “benefits”.... I swear to god, I walked out of my house earlier and who should be standing there on the pavement but, David Gandy . Stunning! He was waiting for a woman with a dog to catch him up. God knows why he’s here. This is what I call sightseeing.

We live in North Brighton, my son's secondary school was in Tatler as one of the most desired state schools to go to in the country so I don't recognise this dark Brighton. We have sacrificed space and have a tiny yard to be within the radius of this school and to be next door to the station as my husband has to travel to London to work and all over to 'sites' as an architect. We only have a two bedroom mews style house but luckily my husband can convert the garage on paper for my DD. We face the same problems as people I. London in that respect. I could relate to the other thread about the OP who lived in London in a flat and people visiting outside of London are ride about it as my Dad visits from London (ironically) and remarks every time on how small our house is when we are both professionals and approaching 40!

Mandarine. I used to see James McAvoy at the toddler singing group (sadly he has now moved) and Kit Harington lives on the same street as my daughter's nursery.

If your statement were true, then everyone would be living in all these other wonderful cities in the UK

I think it’s probably a case of semantics. I suspect the PP means how I feel - that London can give me nothing that I can’t get where I am now.

Which of course isn’t a slight on London at all.

I agree Pinkprincess although undoubtably you will get loads of responses saying that nowhere is the same as London, therefore the other places are shit and do not count and you know nothing anyway.

Of course nowhere is the same, there will always be different, but Londoners just make themselves look ludicrous citing examples like river walks, museums, country parks, restaurants that vary in price and cuisine and theatres as something that is only any good in London. There are plenty of all these in and around every city in the country, plus people on average wages can afford to buy houses.

All the people saying that London is the only place worth living must be very well off, because all the free galleries and museums in the world can't make up for spending all your income and then some on rent and never qualifying for a mortgage despite earning several multiples of the national average wage.