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.

I can totally see why having the county as part of the general advertising is helpful yes. Still means the precise address is different. And I still think when people are looking up businesses then the general location is initially most useful and the precise address then separate information useful when you have decided it is somewhere you want to go.

So counties retain their usefulness and appropriateness but postal addresses remain correct. Everyone's a winner!

The opinion seems to be that if you get a vote for who will be mayor of London, you live in London.

Postcodes and dialling codes don't really matter as I live in Aberdeen and the whole of Aberdeen city and Aberdeenshire have an AB postcode and use 01224 as the dialling code yet Aberdeenshire in under a different council and isn't Aberdeen city. Aberdeen city is clearly defined on the map and there's lots of signs upon leaving the city to say 'welcome to Aberdeenshire'. The actual city is split into areas as well, just like London is split into 'boroughs'.

The OP here is right. Postcodes don't define where you live. Kent is merely a borough that belongs to the city of London

Kent is merely a borough that belongs to the city of London

I think that level of concern for the location of Kent puts Londoners and Southerners firmly in their place!

It is no longer an administrative area, but the place that people are talking about when they refer to Middlesex still exists.

So does the area the Romans called Londinium. But no one calls in Londinium anymore, unless they are bonkers, or possibly Jacob Rees Mogg.

I don’t think we need to go back as far as the Romans. People who say they live in Middlesex are only those who live in pre-1965 Middlesex, rather pre 1989 Middlesex. I wonder if people who lived in Hackney or Hampstead still said they lived in Middlesex in 1943. I expect the JRM equivalent would have done so!

But no one calls in Londinium anymore, unless they are bonkers, or possibly Jacob Rees Mogg.

I am 100% sure that there are people who say things like "Just popping off to old Londinium". You might want to punch them, but you will also know where they mean.

The "City" of London is the Square Mile.

The West End is "Town."

The whole thing is the Metropolis.

The West End is "Town."

And that makes as much sense as any administrative boundary if people know what it means.

"The 'City' of London is the Square Mile."

But even that has changed its borders. Back in the 90s it rationalised it's very wobbly border lines and in he process expanded. This was annoying to history geeks and pub quiz fans because it not only meant that the "Square Mile" became just over "1.1 Square Miles" and because the City now included a "road" for the first time.

But there you go, another change of borders. And that's the only constant definition of "London", that it grows and changes.

Over 1,000 years ago King Alfred ordered people to move back inside the old city walls,. A Saxon could have stood at the Western Gate and looked down at the pretty much abandoned settlement of Lundenwic and thought, "that'll always be the old settlement, Ealdwic, it'll never be a part of Lundenberg like where I stand." Now it's Aldwych, would any try to claim that it's not London.

I still can't really envisage how a web search for anything, that always includes a map, can give you better information by providing a county but it obviously matters to you.

Well in the exact situation of looking for a certain plant. The website of the nursery that came up didn’t have a map but at the top was the address including the county which is how I realised it was near my mother.

But no one calls in Londinium anymore, unless they are bonkers, or possibly Jacob Rees Mogg.

I am 100% sure that there are people who say things like "Just popping off to old Londinium".

But they don't include it as part of their bloody address.

Now it's Aldwych, would any try to claim that it's not London.

Some idiot will because it hasn't got a tube station.

Well in the exact situation of looking for a certain plant. The website of the nursery that came up didn’t have a map but at the top was the address including the county which is how I realised it was near my mother

Fair enough. And ideally they would also have a contact details section separately which I closed phone number, email and postal address without the county!

All these people who claim they live in Barking Essex, Bromley Kent and Stanmore Middx, I assume when you get to 60, you'll be turning sown your London freedom travel pass, as you aren't in London??

No.......thought not.

"Some idiot will because it hasn't got a tube station."

But if it's "once in Kent always in Kent" then would it be "once covered by the tube always covered by the tube"?

Now it's Aldwych, would any try to claim that it's not London.

Some idiot will because it hasn't got a tube station.

Yes it has. Albeit closed but maintained and mostly used for filming. You can see the entrance on The Strand at the bottom of Kingsway.

Isn't central London technically two cities? The City of London (with dragon boundary markers) and the City of Westminster?

Yes it has. Albeit closed but maintained and mostly used for filming. You can see the entrance on The Strand at the bottom of Kingsway.

I know. It was my feeble attempt at a joke, because it's London's most famous disused tube station

Isn't central London technically two cities? The City of London (with dragon boundary markers) and the City of Westminster?

It was for a while. It's been many things over the years, but is now made up of 32 London boroughs. None of which are in Kent, Surrey, Essex Herts, Bucks or Middlesex

"Yes it has. Albeit closed but maintained and mostly used for filming. You can see the entrance on The Strand at the bottom of Kingsway."

It has, and the track is functional. There is a dedicated train that drives up to Holborn and back. It's used for filming and testing things.

"Isn't central London technically two cities? The City of London (with dragon boundary markers) and the City of Westminster?"

I believe so. At least some of the dragon statues, the ones at the bottom of Grays Inn Road are no longer on the boundary due to the City's expansion.

"It was for a while. It's been many things over the years, but is now made up of 32 London boroughs. "

One of the boroughs is the "City of Westminster". You can also get granted the "Freedom of the City of Westminster", which probably gives you the right to do something with sheep crossing a bridge.

Isn't central London technically two cities? The City of London (with dragon boundary markers) and the City of Westminster?

This is only true if you think Seven Dials, the British Museum and Tottenham Court Road tube, among many other things, are in north London.

All these people who claim they live in Barking Essex, Bromley Kent and Stanmore Middx, I assume when you get to 60, you'll be turning sown your London freedom travel pass, as you aren't in London??

Freedom passes have been around since the 1970's. Royal Mail didn't decide that Postal Counties like Middlesex were optional until the 1990's. There is still a part of London that has a London Post Code that isn't in a London borough. Boundaries have always overlapped.

It's clearly wrong to say that post codes are the only indicator of place - postal counties, postal towns and post codes have always been more about sorting post - as pointed out earlier, whether or not you think that Kingston is in Surrey, plenty of places that aren't in the borough of Kingston have a KT postcode.

However, you can't just enforce a sense of place by changing an administrative boundary - if you could there would be a lot less war in the world.

But they don't include it as part of their bloody address.

I am sure that people exist who address post to Londinium, and I'm sure it reaches its destination.

"However, you can't just enforce a sense of place by changing an administrative boundary"

Not by the change of boundary alone, you also need time.

No would would say that Aldwych is anything other than London, but the only difference between it and places like Richmond is just the amount of time since London expanded and consumed it. Even Westminster, which was consumed later and still maintains a sense of its separation with the City of Westminster name mentioned above, is seen as firmly London.

In enough time people will be arguing that Brighton isn't properly London, unlike Richmond which is.

Well life we pay part of our council tax for Ken Livingstone's walnut whip priced Olympic fund so I am hoping for my freedom pass.

We are near an underground station in a London borough but I will still maintain my Middlesex connection

Fair enough. And ideally they would also have a contact details section separately which I closed phone number, email and postal address without the county!

Why would I need their postal address? If I’m going there I don’t need to write, if I needed to contact them then I would email.
What a waste of time it would be to include their address twice when the address with the county will do the job even if it is technically incorrect.