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.

There are fewer underground stations in south London anyway because the chalk cannot be drilled. The London clay is better for this in the north, hence more tubes.

I'm really loving reading this thread!

I pay a lot of money to live in the leafy end of Surrey.

HTH

I grew up on the London-Essex border and now live on the London-surrey border.

I say I live in London. My area is urban and as far away from a leafy Surrey town then you could possibly get, even if my address is Surrey.

London has absorbed the outer London boroughs as it has grown and Londoners can’t afford to live in zones 1-3 anymore, so are being pushed out to 4-6 but still see themselves as Londoners.

Move to Upminster and try the following....

1. Look up your postcode on the Royal Mail web site. Will it say
   a) Essex
   b) Just Upminster

2. Look at your Council Tax Bill. Will it say
   a) Essex County Council
   b) London Borough of Havering

3. Protest loudly that you're still living in Essex despite 1, 2 and basic facts suggesting otherwise. The police attend, attend, they come from.
   a) Essex Police
   b) London Metropolitan Police

Borders change all the time. London expands, the counties recede. Once upon a time (before 1965) somewhere like Upminster was in Essex. Now it's in Greater London. Trying to argue that it's still Essex is like trying to argue that it's also a part of the Roman Province of Britannia or the Saxon Kingdom of Essex because once upon a time it was.

I live in London and have never given this a moment's thought. Funny old world.

Just to make it even stranger, the ancient county of Middlesex is both Enfield, and Hendon and as someone upthread said includes Twickenham. It doesnt really exist anymore as a county anymore because it was eaten up by the 1965 GLC change but people still use it as a geographical reference and put it on their addresses but it’s mostly a historical reference. Geography or phone codes or any other reference point doesn’t help at all here because the county is split in two, in two quite separate and different areas of London. The only thing that can really be used as reference is the GLC.

I was born at Kingston hospital and I've always said I was from Surrey, now I can say I was born in London.. yay

Depends if yo were born before or after 1 January 1965!

I used to live in hornchurch in the 80s it was n ever referred to as a london borough we always said we live din essex-i still class it as essex

Whether you said it or not it is still in the London Borough of Havering!

"I used to live in hornchurch in the 80s it was n ever referred to as a london borough we always said we live din essex-i still class it as essex"

I grew up there and was very aware that it was a London Borough. The Council had it's 20th anniversary in 1985 and we all got given special books to "celebrate".

It was London then, it's London now. Some people did it Essex, but some people still referred to Hornchurch as "the village", times change, boundaries shift.

@Meshy23 Kingston really isn’t in Surrey any more, and hasn’t been since 1965. Surrey CC has very well defined boundaries. Kingston is in the RBK, a London Borough.

I grew up in Spelthorne, which had lots of London services until the late 90s, despite being actually Surrey - although the least Surreyist bit of Surrey there is. I actually didn’t know Surrey was supposed to be posh until I went to Uni in Yorkshire.....

Traditionally Middlesex = north of the river, Surrey = south of the river.
But there are parts of Surrey that are now north of the river, but are still referred to locally as Middlesex and have Twickenham postcodes.

Twickenham is north of the river so Middlesex, whilst Richmond is south, so Surrey. Of course Middlesex no longer exists, and both are in London these days. Kingston is south of the river, so was Surrey, now a London Borough. Not sure what the earlier poster’s reference to moving county hall across the river was about, as (most of) Surrey is south of the river.

Middlesex does exist in non geographic ways,however, its cricket club being one example.

I really couldn’t care less.

I’m in Sanderstead and that is Surrey. When I grew up in Wandsworth common my postcode was SW...

Now it’s CR...

We moved from the London side of Kent House to the Bromley side and even though we only moved half a mile down the road there is a definite ‘Kent identity’ here. I noticed people talking about ‘going into London’, there seem to be a lot more people with local connections (grew up here, family in the area) and there’s a a greater sense of the area being a centre in its own right, not just a bit of London.

Waves to everyone from Kingston!

I work in Kingston and live in RBK and we often have this argument at work. We are marketed as a London office officially but with Surrey County Council offices nearby it really sets the cat among the pigeons! SCC are supposed to be moving out though just for interest for other locals - and I have heard in good faith that they are moving to Sussex. That's going to fuck the boundaries up a hell of a lot more!

Coldilox I wonder whether the Stockport thing isn't helped by the fact that chunks of Cheshire and Darbyshire have SK postcodes?

*Derbyshire. Thanks autocorrect.

Well I'll go to hell... For admitting defeat when my Welsh friends and those I know from abroad, say I live in/ come from London. When actually I'm in east Berkshire. But it is usually easier to describe where I live as 'near London' than try to explain what the home counties are, or for people to magically know where Berks is.

To be honest, I just don't care anymore. Specially when it comes to whether it's rubbed someone the wrong way I'd not. Not when I've too much serious crap in my own life to worry about some trivial bollocks in some posh wanker's life (I'm assuming it's the posh walkers who would have a problem, happy to stand corrected)

My partner, whilst Cornish born, was reared and lived his whole adult life in London.

I get irked when he talks about going into town and I think he means where we live but he's referring to central London.

Because when he lived in outer London, town meant inner London.

That'll always throw me

Nah, other way round. I've lived in London - SE1, E11, E3, NW6: definitely London. I later lived in Kingston KT1 and then further out, still within the M25 and with a KT6 postcode: both definitely not London, despite estate agents patter.

I agree, a London postcode is proper London.

Bexley and Bromley are in Greater London which is a conurbation/ceremonial county. Within it are the two cities - Westminster and 'City of' London. Government is responsible for setting the boundaries of the local authority areas. Postcodes are set by Royal Mail and as such have no bearing on whether areas are part of London or not. The modern postcodes were set between 1958 and 60s so most likely pre-date the 1965 boundary change.

I was born in Barking, which was classed as Essex back then and moved on to Hillingdon a few years later. Hillingdon was classed at the time as 'London borough of Hillingdon' but it also came under Middlesex.
I now live in Berkshire, which has no identity crisis.

Ask an older generation Londoner if where you live is actually London, they’ll soon put you in your place.

Bit like saying Manchester is in Lancashire