To be annoyed at people who live in a London Borough but insist they don't (i.e Im in Surrey, Kent etc)

[Rosehip10]

As in people in places such as Richmond, Kingston (insisting they live in Surrey) or places such as Bromley (insisting they are in Kent).

These places may used to have in a different county but have been part of greater London and a London Borough since 1965.

Is is snobbery? They usually drone only about postal towns which also no longer exist.

Why are you asking about duel citizenship?

Do you see why people from other countries her may not consider themselves British?

I see myself as a British but have citizenship of my parents country which I do relate too as all my cousins, aunts, uncles etc are still there. I have no other family apart from my mother & siblings in England. However I think I'm also entitled to a French passport through marriage but dont feel French but spend a lot of time there.

Do you see why people from other countries her may not consider themselves British?
eh, where did I say I couldn't understand that?

@rosetti

I use Middlesex

that's probably because they are British if they got citizenship

They don't refer to themselves as British either similar to my friends parents who will always refer to their birth country as where they are from eg India, Jamaica, Ireland, Nigeria, Romania, etc.

Apologies I read the above message probably half way through a conversation and took it as “they not integrating” and my mixed raced eyes got defensive 😬🤦🏽‍♀️

From the previous page... I think you have to be a little more aware of how to ask people where they're from, because "where are you from" can be taken by some people as exclusionary. "Where do you live" mostly suffices for London. Perhaps it's ok to do a "where's your accent from" if you know them pretty well and it comes up. "Where are you born / did you grow up / go to school / are you from originally" etc you should know somebody well enough to be sure they know you like them and are asking out of friendship.

right, that explains why I was so confused re the below!

PS being from multiple different cultures is a not mutually exclusive situation.

Thanks @Rosehip10

Conversation today:

Me: "They're based in Ashford."
Colleague: "Middlesex or Kent?"
Me: Middlesex. Well Surrey actually. Or it could be the bit in LB Hounslow.

I'm so over invested in this thread I checked my birth certificate. It says Kent. From the 80s, not pre 1965.

No doubt some mumsnetter is going to insist the registrar was just 'being snobby' and not wanting to put London... (Despite the fact that living in London would have much more social cachet!)

I'm going to stick with saying Greater London/Kent. Calling myself from London would give people the wrong impression, even if it's technically also true.

Greater London is not 'London'. In the same way Flying foxes are not foxes, and Northern Ireland is not Ireland (Eire) etc.

In my non-Londoner experience it’s always the other way round. People tell you they live in London when in fact they live in Essex (definitely outside of London) etc. Yes seems like you can’t win. In either case I guess it helps describe their location a bit better to someone who might not know exactly where they live?

but surely the rule of thumb could be - is it on the tube
I have lived in North and South London and neither was anywhere near a tube.

Shh, I was looking forward to the PP telling the people of Hackney and Stoke Newington that they don’t live in London.

This is very confusing.

I live in Kingston upon Thames so whilst I live in Greater London, my postal address is (according to Royal Mail) in Surrey and my postcode is KT not SW.

I don’t particularly care if I am considered to live in London or not but people in general who live in ‘London proper’ (as my grandparents and extended family do) definitely don’t consider Kingston to be London.

I have no desire to sound posh by living in Surrey, as an aside.

It's only London if it's got a E, EC, N, NW, SE, SW W or WC postal address. Middlesex lives!

Some people still refer to the South Bank as "the Surrey Side"!

It IS the Surrey bank. Don’t you watch the Boat Race?

@Lauriestory please check your address in the royal mail website. It will not include surrey.

@smellybelly1 In theory America allows dual citizenship but they make it really difficult to maintain it! My American daughter had dual but has had to give up her British as she visited New York on her British passport and got arrested and wasn't allowed to enter as she was an American citizen. She was then made to choose and report to the Embassy in Bern (she lives in Geneva) to swear allegiance to USA and now pays taxes to New York State even though she doesn't live there. So Yes but No!

I’m selling my flat it’s in a London Borough

But it’s not classed as London it’s still surrey as it doesn’t have a London postcode

Surrey on the deeds so it’s surrey

And surrey when you write down the full address

Not London Borough of blah blah

surrey when you write down the full address

Nope. No counties are part of any address

The post office is clear that you don't NEED the County if you have the Town and Postcode. There is nothing at all to say that you can't include the County if you want to. It is also implied that you should include the County if you don't have the Postcode or Town.

It isn't correct technically to address post to Kingston upon Thames in Surrey, but if you wrote Kingston Surrey then your post would arrive despite lacking a postcode, because the historical context means everyone knows where you intended to send the letter. If someone wrote just Kingston it could go to the Kingston in East Sussex, Kingston in East Lothian or Kingston upon Hull in East Yorkshire.

Well they are on the property deeds

And have written the full address numerous times over the last few weeks

I never write down London Borough of blah blah I’ve never seen it written like that unless it’s to the council

You don’t need to write down London either for he post office as it is directed by the post code

DA 6 = not london eg; greater london. It is not a London post code. They begin W,E,,S or N

I know someone with an S postcode and she lives in Sheffield!!
Buckingham Palace has an SW postcode, which isn't on your list, so is that not in London? The City is EC, also not on your list. Neither is Marylebone Station, which is NW.

So, here's the correct answer. If you live in a London borough, you're in London. If you live in a London borough, putting Surrey or Kent or Essex in your postal address is 54 years out of date. And just plain wrong. Middlesex hasn't existed for 54 years. It's dead. You might as well put The Kingdom of Wessex.

In fact, the correct postal addresses for the whole country now no longer contain counties. Just the city/town/village, and the postcode. Anyone who puts a county in their postal address is a dinosaur.