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 😬

Im with OP , i cant understand the attraction of living in London.
DH has worked a lot there on and off in the past 10 years and we have rented a flat when we needed to so Iv spent quite a bit of time there,,and hated it.
Dirty,noisy and expensive Loads of . unfriendly people,Bars filled with office workers who are up their own arses and feel the need to shout every conversation.

There were some highlights ,,,afternoon tea at the Savoy and great christmas shopping,,,,,but thats it

Green space isn't just parks. Near me there's Hampstead Heath, Highgate Woods, Ally Pally, Parkland Walk, Woodberry Wetlands, Tottenham Marshes..... They aren't quite the same as rural expanse, no, but they do help when you're feeling a bit urbaned out

We live in Surrey, fast trains are 20 mins into Waterloo from our local station so it's easy to get in. I have friends who Have moved into central, friends who have moved to the country or coast and friends who have stayed put! Different things suit different people! I personally couldn't live in the middle of the country I would feel too cut off, although I do enjoy breaks there, but I also couldn't relax being right in London all the time either so we have a good compromise I feel. I do love going into London, seeing the sights and there is so much to do it's ridiculous! I don't think we could afford a London lifestyle though (we can barely afford a Surrey one)

My son is moving to central London in September for university and I am extremely jealous. I am a city person and currently live in one of the "cooler" northern cities but I would love to be starting out my young adult life in such a vibrant, exciting capital city.

London is wonderful if you are young, or wealthy, or both. Being poor and old in London would be tough - not that it would be a barrel of laughs anywhere.

My neighbour sold her flat a couple of years ago to go and live the good life in West Sussex. She told me she massively regrets it, and now can't afford to move back. I think the fear of that happening is what keeps a lot of us here!

We're not British and recently moved to London from an affluent small city elsewhere in the UK.

Pros:

More activities for the children in SPADES - sports, creative arts, languages etc. It's beyond compare.

More compressed neighbourhoods = more local friends for children.

Better sports facilities, locally. In our old city, the sports centres were outside the ring road and impossible for us to access in under an hour without a car. In London we are within walking distance of about 3 swimming pools, one of which is less than 5 mins from us, never mind all the other sports.

More choice of schools - in our old city we were in the catchment of one school. Where we are in London (zone 2), about 8 primaries and maybe 3 or 4 secondaries. Obv the most desirable have tiny catchments though.

Better, cheaper public transport. The tube is £££ but the bus & overground are cheap.

Better entertainment for us as adults. It's barely more expensive than the massively expensive city we moved from.

More babysitters. Infinite babysitters! It was a nightmare before.

Waaaay more to do at the weekends and half term. We can walk along the canal to fab street markets, cafes, exhibitions etc. With a couple of well chosen memberships like the Royal Academy or the V&A you have free exhibitions all year. We're 25 mins from the Natural History Museum. Half terms are a positive JOY compared to the boredom in our old city where once you had done the one museum that was kind of it. Here in London you can pack every day with brilliant, diverse fun.

It doesn't take a million hours and £££ to get to the airport.

Jobs have higher pay and there are more jobs, with greater diversity of choice etc (i.e. if you want flexible working etc), and commutes for those high salaries are shorter (unless you are unlucky).

Cons:

Property prices/rent.

I don't know about London not suiting the old and poor. Life is tough for the old and poor wherever but many older people have greater independence and quality of life than they do in very isolated and remote places. And most older people have their housing sorted. It's younger people who suffer more from the housing crisis and that's my big worry - London becomes a playground for the very rich and those who inherit property, interspersed with social housing. That will kill the vibrancy. Luckily we have an economic meltdown heading our way to stave off this reality. Every cloud eh?

Oh yes - green spaces are fab where we are. We're only a few stops from Hampstead Heath, and very close to some fab zone 2 parks which are brilliant year around. Also the playgrounds are fab.

I definitely think London living is ‘all that’.

I’ve been here nearly 2 years and have never been happier or fitter. My closest green space is Greenwich Park, Central London is 13 minutes away (I’m just into zone 3) and live in much the same place as the OP - who for some reason people are doubting

If you’re not in a gang or wandering the streets in the night or carrying your mobile in your hand in West London then you’re unlikely to be a victim of crime - that’s incredibly unlikely statistically.

I’ve lived all over the country and I concur with a lot of posters that green space can be hard to access - I used to have to drive for 20 minutes to walk my dog properly when I lived in the Home Counties. I’m out in the 200 plus acres every day here.

I use all the galleries, the cheap theatre tickets, the free stuff pretty much every day. Last week I saw 2 plays at the National (£15 a ticket) and visited both the imperial war museum and the national gallery.

Public transport is amazing and cheap - I get buses a lot (£1.50). Food is much cheaper because of competition- I was in Greece a few months ago and it was dearer than London for food.

The worst part must be travelling in rush hour - which I never have to do so I don’t.

I don’t think anywhere is better for me than London. My work is unpredictable so when I have free time there is always something to do - unlike when I lived elsewhere and had to schedule classes etc.

There's quite a lot of hidden London. Because each community has its own stuff going on you find out on the grapevine about theatre workshops or mini festivals or free sports etc. There are lidos and cricket clubs and nature reserves that you just stumble upon and I love that. Visitors wouldn't appreciate any of that stuff because they'd always say "yeah, and, you get cricket clubs outside London" but it's this sense of discovery that I love, and don't find elsewhere. Whenever we visit relatives in other cities, some of which I adore, we do tend to visit the same places. When my family visit me we always do something new. I'm not blind to London's downsides, they are quite stark, but there is something unique about London. That said some of your lives sound amazing too but as inaccessible to me as London living may feel to you. Those of you who live rurally but have well paid and fulfilling jobs that don't involve a massive commute are pretty privileged you know. Most of us would be swapping our London life for something significantly more humdrum.

I think I will be bucking the trend here but I was born and bred in London moved away for uni and haven't lived there since my parents moved at age 20 (now 32).

Growing up I thought it was amazing, night buses everywhere, any type of food or ingredient that you wanted, chinese soup at 3am and 24 hr lifestyle any gig, show, play you could want etc.

Then I went to a small town uni and realised that what I had experienced growing up with wasn't normal if you didn't live in London. Being held in school because there was a stabbing at the bus stop (respectable school in SE London). Most people I knew had been mugged at least once. The number of yellow police incident boards on the way to school. Rival school attacks were common. People walking past incidents too worried about the consequences of stepping in to help and genuinely ignoring most people.
Dodgy people on the tube - lost count of comments/my bum being pinched or groped.

I realised that actually I preferred living in places where you could say hello to passers-by without people thinking you were crazy and although I don't get the food choices the friendlier more relaxed pace of life is far better. Not having to take 2 hours to get out of London if you wanted to go to the beach, not expected to work until at least 6/7 every night and a commute of at least an hour etc.

I have lived in Scotland for 8 years and actually hate having to go to London for work.

Live in Zone 3 in a 4 bed house. Terraced. Small garden. Love it.
Love the atmosphere, there is both community and anonymity. Diversity. So much stuff to do. Plenty of parks.
I find the countryside too quiet. Too dull. Too boring. Beautiful scenery is nice but I would rather have museums and plays and theatres and a vibrant public life. My sister lives in the countryside and loves it. I find where she lives too boring for words. She finds London too fast paced. I love the pace of London. Suits me perfectly.

If you have money then its great to be able to go to restaurants and bars all the time. It must be amazing to live in central London and walk to everwhere..

When I work in London I love the architecture in the City, it is SO beautiful. I also love being around Westminster, again the architecture, the feeling of being in the centre of everything. I walk everwhere and you see so much more than beingbpacked on the horrible tube.

I hate the grimy urban bits of London though. I much prefer living, as I do, 40 minutes out and visiting the centre.

I moved here just over a year ago and I do love it. There is never a lack of things to do, free or not.
The restaurant scene is incredible - a huge range of prices and pretty much every cuisine in the world.
The parks are beautiful and a very nice day out and all of the shops stay open late year round.
Public transport is cheap compared to the north and I have the option of tube, overground, train, bus or boris bike 24/7 so never have to pay for a taxi.

Cons- the air is gross, compared to where I grew up I can feel the pollution and it can stink when it is hot.
Traffic is bad if you choose to drive and parking pretty impossible.
House prices are obviously insane (my 2 bed flat in a bad area was £615k).
Dependent on your job the wages don't always make up for the price of living.
It can be intimidating late at night.

@stevie69 speak for yourself, where I'm from up north there were no open shops nearby between 10pm and 8am, bars shut at 11pm and cabs tripled in price after midnight.

Lived there in my early 20's pre DC for 5 years in Central and North London. Loved it at first having moved from a South Coast seaside resort.

Hated it in the end especially riding the tube. So many people up close in your personal space but no eye contact. Soul destroying on a daily basis.

The stink, the rude people and the sheer amount of them, the sound of the buses braking , the intimidation by gangs of young men, the hurrying even though you didn't need to, the black snot......

As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I hotfooted it Hertfordshire! Still had to commute in for work for years and so appreciated stepping off the train at my home station. Even now when we drive in to visit family, I get down as the landscape changes from green to grey and the tower blocks and run down streets emerge. Hate it and can't understand families living there by choice. My nieces and nephews all love coming out to us. Get quite concerned about the teenage ones every time a stabbing is reported.

I love that you can always get a cab, a takeaway or a pint of milk when you need one

So can I and I live in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere.

I'm glad I moved out, was fine for a few years but I was glad to get out.

How often do you need a pint of milk or a takeaway at 3am really?

This is exactly the level these threads always descend to. So bloody annoying. Someone asks what someone else loves about London and then everyone spends the thread telling those that love London how wrong and deluded they are and how much better it is outside London. Smug and tedious.

It's the possibilities I like. Somewhere you haven't seen or something you haven't done despite how long you've been there. It's always evolving and anything goes . What I don't like is the crowds (but it's easy to avoid crowds) and the pollution and the pace of central London (I'm zone 4 in a relatively quiet area) . That said I can't imagine living any where else. We are staying in the countryside at the moment and tbh I find it dull, claustrophobic and lacking in opportunity. The local city is lovely and pretty much has everything London has on a smaller scale. But I'm pretty sure I'd find I'd seen it all within a few months.

Smug and tedious

To be fair the “oh the history and culture” brigade that usually arrive on these threads are equally as tedious.

On the last “London vs elsewhere” thread someone piped up that they couldn’t imagine living elsewhere because of the Tudor history in London

To be fair most people acknowledge that it’s simply a personality thing. But then I don’t feel that people saying “I couldn’t live rurally” is a personal slight - I love it, that’s all that matters!

Exactly! I actually think living rurally might be quite fun, but it'd be a total change. But even those who hate the countryside don't shudder "it's ok for a while but I could never bring my children up near all those chemicals, dangerous machinery and drink drivers" and everyone nodding along about the poor deprived kids. It does make me bristle, I will admit. Those who downright hate it for its own sake I totally get! And why shouldn't people enjoy the history and culture of London? I do. I often have my lunch in Westminster abbey cloisters or wander along st James's and imagine I'm a regency gent. You can eyeroll about the tedium of that and think it doesn't compare to vistas and birdsong, but I like it. I don't see what's smug about that.

@longestlurkerever the OP asked for the positives and the negatives......
That's what all replies I have read no one is being smug just giving their opinions on both!
I don't get bothered by people saying rural life is dull to them!

I BLOODY LOVE LONDON and will raise DC here.

I'm lucky that we live quite centrally so everything is a cheap taxi or bus ride away - museums, galleries, the west end/theatre, the south bank, tourist attractions, winter wonderland, shopping (selfridges, harrods, etc.), there's something to do every night in London and pre-DC I was out 4-5x a week.

I love that I can get McDonald's delivered to my door at any time. The other day I ordered a single hashbrown because I was craving one (pregnant) and it came within 15min.
I love that I can get Amazon prime same-day service too.
I never wait more than 5 minutes for a train.
I never wait more than 2 minutes for an Uber or I step outside and a black cab is bound to come within the same time too.
Everything is just so convenient.

We live opposite a big London park so I don't worry about pollution really. When I walk ddog there it doesn't feel like I'm in London at all!

I have baby DD and No.2 on the way and can't wait for them to be a little older so they can do all the fun stuff London has to offer.

This is exactly the level these threads always descend to. So bloody annoying. Someone asks what someone else loves about London and then everyone spends the thread telling those that love London how wrong and deluded they are and how much better it is outside London. Smug and tedious.

Goodness, you're taking this very seriously! The OP asked for positives and negatives, (though I haven't seen anyone being smug) don't take it so personally. Some people love London, some don't. Big deal.