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 😬

Proof food is cheaper?

I actually love it. I don’t look at the dirt and crime though - you get that in every city. I actually love the people. The majority are lovely AND the city is beautiful (a bonus) with all the buildings and things to do. Sorry I’m so biased but I love it.

oh, restaurants, yes. but I meant food to buy for home. When I stay in a flat that someone kindly lends me in London, I can go to the local Turkish 24 hour shop and buy freshly baked bread for about 70p, and mineral water from the fridge for 60p for 1.5 litres....

just a small example. Honestly, country shops are a rip.

and in fact (warming to theme now) standard breakfast in a 'spoons is invariably cheaper in London. OKOK I know that the 'spoons isn't fine dining, but still...

I buy most of my fruit and veg from stalls that sell big bowls of things for £1. My relatives from the North often stock up on these on their way home as they are great value. Ditto the Turkish supermarket for yoghurt, olives, hummus etc. I only buy tins and cleaning stuff from the supermarket really. Restaurants can be very reasonable too. There are loads of places in my neighbourhood with set menus for £5-10, and street food is less. Competition I guess.

here

Yes but I've never met anyone who buys their regular food shopping in a 'country shop' (or a local Turkish shop). Of course buying food in small quantities in independent shops is expensive. That's why we have supermarkets. And they have thosr in the country, amazingly. According to the list on my link it's even cheaper in supermarkets in Manchester than in London.

I just said I do my regular shopping in the Turkish supermarket among other places. I have a supermarket delivery about once a month and it doesn't include fruit, veg, fish, meat, international food, coffee, tea etc.

" I've never met anyone who buys their regular food shopping in a 'country shop' "

well I do, I don't have any choice..:)
Guess what, people live in the country!! (and when I say 'country' I don't mean, for example, Lewes)

I know people live in the country - I'm one of them! I live in a reasonably rural village in Cumbria and drive to my nearest supermarket. I've lived in London. I found food more expensive.

not everyone drives though...:(

True. If I didn't drive, I would get supermarket deliveries. I can't imagine food shopping for a family of 4 from a little local shop. That would be far more expensive than paying for a supermarket delivery.

60 p for 1.5 litres of water doesn't sound especially cheap. You can get that anywhere in any supermarket.

Even more so, in most of the rest of the country, perfectly nice drinkable water comes out the tap for tiny fractions of pennies per litre so bought bottled water is a totally unnecessary waste of money.

We have local Turkish shops, and Polish, Latvian, Pakistani, Chinese and pretty much any other nationality shops in Leeds too. I don't know how much their bread is, but if it's more than 60 pence, we'll just use the savings from buying entire houses for £100/200k to put towards slightly more expensive bread.

Apart from the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace, 99% of all the 'but London has' comments, also apply to Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, Edinburgh etc etc.

The very odd occasional thing migh be cheaper in London, but eating out, drinks in restaurants and bars, childcare, tradespeople, taxis and probably many other things certainly aren't, and when housing is taken into account, the extra cost is not covered by London weighting, for the majority.

We get a LOT from turkish shop. I know plenty of people who do their whole shop there. The prices often change depending on who you are tbh. And I have never seen a Turkish shop outside of London as good as Green Lanes. Ever.

Do those cities have the British Library and the British Museum and the V&A...

Theatre shows are better too. Those cities get the “touring” version.

Don’t even get me started on Aberdeen - grey, grey and more grey

That'll be why they call it the granite city, it's all built out of.... granite. This is the city that had 2 universities when London had none (in fact the whole of England only had two) so you can hardly claim it's lacking in culture.

Heaven forbid you ever go to Oxford, I can just imagine the comment: 'don't even get me started on Oxford - yellow, yellow and more yellow'.

I've probably bumped into you pickle! No one has suggested that overall cost of living is cheaper in London. People generally live in smaller places rather than spend vast sums on accommodation, which is where yesterday's thread began. London weighting doesn't really make a dent but that doesn't account for how many more opportunities there are to progress in London. It does mean salaries are on average higher as well as like for like jobs paying slightly more. You are convinced other cities offer everything London does. Good for you. Other people say there are things they would or do miss.

Theatre shows are better too. Those cities get the “touring” version

But that’s assuming people want to see the West End shows. If you’re interested in other types of theatre London isn’t essential.

Theatre shows are better too. Those cities get the “touring” version.

That just sounds like snobbery, pure and simple. Have you sat through the same show in London and Sunderland or Durham and identified all the qualitative differences? Did those differences affect your enjoyment of the show? Or is it just that you paid more or think you saw it first?

But that’s assuming people want to see the West End shows. If you’re interested in other types of theatre London isn’t essential.

I have a choice of over 100 plays to watch this evening. I wonder what’s on in Finedon et al tonight?

The Royal Ballet. The Royal Opera House. The last night at the Proms?

It’s not snobbery, its choice, options, opportunity. That’s what Londoners are paying for.

IAmPickle you are so small minded i live in a city of 500,000 people and we have at least 50+ ethnic shops that sell turkish, pakistani, african, chinese, japanese, vietnamese, caribbean, algerian, french, polish food/goods etc

also have the worlds biggest arts festival right now

probably more like 100+ come to think of it *

I live in (outer) London and like it but I am pretty sure most food and other prices are higher. We even get an inner and outer London difference for things like hair cuts. And then when we are in places our family are from like Sunderland, Halifax there are noticeable differences.

People can just choose where they want to live - there will be pros and cons anywhere. I just read a court judgment about a couple who split up, all property in name of boyfriend and clearly was his and she was just a live in lover etc - in terms of what is relevant to the thread, it goes through all their personal and working lives and because they'd bought this place in the country he kept having to work abroad or up in London for periods and she had to compromise on jobs on the very few around in that area, trained as a driving instructor etc. Whereas in London she would have had more choice of jobs (but not the nice country area)

North London has the highest proportion of Greek and Turkish Cypriot diaspora. That’s why it’s the best for Turkish shops. It’s competitive and they know you could just go somewhere else easily if they don’t have the best olives or bakery.

I’m not saying London is the best for everything. If you like Nordic walking and beach combing, look elsewhere. But for what it does do, it does well.

“Heaven forbid you ever go to Oxford, I can just imagine the comment: 'don't even get me started on Oxford - yellow, yellow and more yellow”

Actually, I love the golden stone in Oxford and the Cotswold area. It’s beautiful. I can’t cope with grey slate cities though, the weather in Northern Europe is grey enough as it is. Especially in winter. God knows how they cope in very grey places like Glasgow or Aberdeen. It would finish me off.