To wonder how anyone can live in London?

[Sausagefingers9]

I hadn’t been to London in years so had forgotten just how extremely busy it is. I’ve just got back from a trip there and feel like I need a lay down in a dark room!

How does anyone ever turn off when there is so much stuff, and noise and people everywhere? Everyone looked so grumpy and depressed.

Peckham has completely changed in the last fifteen years though - it's become aspirational and urban cool. It really really wasn't like that, and there are still areas which have clung on and aren't now street after street of Victorian houses owned by middle class people working in digital media 😁

I grew up in London and mostly spend my time with people who did, but we've all been pushed further and further out because that's where we can afford. We've gone from z2 to z5 - because I want my children to have what I grew up with and I can't afford it in z2. And there's still a community here, there are still societies and residents' associations and groups and people you see on your local high street every day.

(South all the way, by the way).

LBOCS2 totally agree with you. Same has happened in brixton where the non wealthy are being pushed further out due to increase rents and properties being bought up by those that can afford it. I lived in brixton and loved the vibe but even that has become gentrified. I have also lived between two estates and had my car damaged and burnt out so wasn’t keen on staying there! I am fortunate and that I know but I am older and bought when I was younger in the 90s.

I think I read somewhere that more younger people are leaving London & more & more not even bothering to go there in the first place.

cantfocus not sure that is true

I can well believe that. A number of people I was at school with have relocated out of London - Margate seems bizarrely popular, but to other Home Counties, some further north (Yorkshire) and one to Edinburgh.

I do think young people, saddled with £££££ in uni debts, are thinking 'why bother' with London. I must say I would not encourage DD to do a job like mine that ties her to London.

(I don't get the Margate love either, why anyone would want to live on the north Kent coast I can't think.)

Not everyone lives in the city centre. Doh!! I live in a lovely quiet part of London and have the vibrant city at my fingertips. Slightly closed minded to see london as purely the loud city.

We live central London but our road is quiet looking out at green spaces and I have a lovely walk through the park to work.

I love London. Was born in east London and lived there for 32 years until we moved to a rural village on the other side of the country.

It’s great there and I love going back to visit my family who still live there. But by god I’ve had enough after a week!

Well I do understand why people would choose to live there and it’s kind of necessary that they do given it’s importance but it wouldn’t be for me. I would only fancy it if I had loads of money to properly enjoy it and be able to live somewhere that wasn’t a bitch of a commute, but I don’t. I can imagine on low paid work it’s not a great place to live

Something that will keep the more modestly well off in London is inheritance (which neither I nor DH got!). I'm seeing a lot of people in their 50s + who are far from poor but suddenly have tax free windfalls

Davros exactly. DH and I own our house which is well beyond our salaries because I inherited money from my dad. I would say that most people I know in my work who were able to buy houses in their 30s did so for similar reasons.

London would be a lot shitter if I was paying through the nose for rent and living in a crappy part of town (and I hardly live in a desirable part if you desire something other than being a hipster!).

I’ll try & find an article but it was months ago as i’ve not bought a paper in ages.

anecdotally some friends & neighbours have swapped the traditional move to Surrey & relocated to Edinburgh, Manchester & Bristol.
I actually love the Kent coastline but wouldn’t commute. I guess a big factor in giving young people more choice to live outside of London is the rise of the tech industry & the flexibility that comes with that. My brother is only 5 yrs younger than me but all his friends have complete different working patterns to me & my peers. He went travelling for a few months in Europe & his company were happy to let him work remotely, he assumed he would hand in his notice. One of my DHs assistants has moved back to Germany & the copy have kept him on. it’s a whole new world!

I agree. DH and I could both do our jobs remotely, by and large - though he hates working from home. As it is, we're stuck here.

Work. It was the same in the 1930s when the tubes came out my way (outer London borough). People are here because there are jobs in London. People have aqlways commuted in of course - I worked in the early 80s with partners ( so fairly well off people) who came in from Brighton, Kent, Herts , even Cmbaridge every day for example. Others have been able to live closer to work.

I live in zone 5 of the tube zones, an outer London borough and I feel like the original poster if I ever tackle central London - it's nice to get back to my peaceful house and road, horses go by, wood opposite - yes you can get that in some outer London boroughs. My daugher live and work very happily right in the centre. My son bought ah ouse in Chesham which is in zone 9 of the tube zones (not everyone knows the tube goes out to a zone 9 - not that he works in London, though being on the tube even out that way is useful).

yes, there is a massive difference in your London experience depending on where you live. My mum in her zone 5 suburb could be anywhere, really - it's a very old village that was absorbed into London. It is nothing like where I live in zone 2.

In no way could Chesham be regarded as London!

I'm kind of meh about London tbh; born there and family still there but I have no desire to live there. I love cities though; have lived and worked in various cities (live in one now). There is plenty going on outside London, I don't know why on these kinds of threads ppl always compare London with a rural village, there's a lot i between those two things. Saying that, I do enjoy visiting London sometimes and I love the art galleries and the parks and so on. I wouldn't ever slag off where someone lived when talking to them though, that's just rude.

I suppose I have a different perspective as I love here and most of the DC leave London to go to uni but return. My eldest is in Leeds and is desperate to return. His friends have all returned to London and work here and live here. His girlfriend is looking for jobs here too. However I am sure he may be the minority as it is his home and he simply wants to return.

All my circle from uni (about10 of us) ended up in or around London for a few years in the late 80s. As did all of DH's crowd. Nearly all of us gradually drifted away.

Of my friends' kids I only know my DS who has gone and none of his close mates have. My DD has chosen to start life post uni in Manchester.

Is it jampacked? I have never felt like that except in Oxford Street or somewhere like that. Nothing compared to eg Tokyo/Seoul.

I lived there as a student and loved it.

However I now prefer to visit and come home. Each to their own isn't it? Some people like the vibe and all the stuff on the doorstep.

I already have a few plays booked in London for next year and always stay over - and am always glad to get home but it's more the busy station that gives me that 'can't escape quick enough' feeling.

People are chatty and friendly in London if you chat to them. I find.
I've lived here all my life.
People don't live in the middle of town op there are quiet residential streets.

There are excellent state schools, museums, theatres, music venues and it's a mixed place with people and cuisines from all over the world.

There are beautiful outdoor/ green spaces:

The Heath, Epping Forest, Alexandra Palace, Hackney Marshes, Victoria Park, Highgate Woods, the river, Crystal Palace, Wanstead Flats....this list is endless.

Very few UKIP voting brexiteers too - what's not to love?!