To ask what you love most about London?

[Lopsidedlou]

Decided to take the bus instead of tubes home today just because I had some time and like looking down from the top of a double decker and was just reminded of how much I love the city.
I’d say I love (apart from the typical attractions and museums and parks) the sense of just ‘coolness’ around the place- real sense of style with lots of the people you see. And Morley’s (south )

I love the fact that you have the world in a basket. Go to Southall, there are women in Saris sweeping the streets. Get off at Streatham, it's like being in Africa. You have Arabs out on the streets smoking their hookah pipes on the Edgware Road, a few miles up the road in St John's Wood, there are Orthodox Jews in full outfits. And everyone just gets along, linked with a common spirit.

That Morleysorless insta feed is pure gold! Thanks for that @EssentialHummus!

Everything is on my doorstep. We live in central London and it's less than £10 in a black cab to theatres, parks, best shopping, museums. Parks and restaurants are a short walk away.

There's always something to do and I never feel lonely. We have 2 DC and will never leave for the sake of "more space".

Getting the train home

Yeah, I'd have to agree. But I'm a die hard northerner

The history. Thousands of years of history, right there at your feet. I miss it so much!

Things I love most (will try to keep this short)

1. That anyone can be a Londoner. All you have to do is move there. You don't have to have centuries of ancestors born there to be accepted.
2. That people can be who they want to be. I love the peacock hair, the men kissing each other, the buskers, the city suits, shy teens breakdancing in Leicester Square
3. How it's constantly evolving - the restaurants and cafes, exhibitions, market stalls and shops
4. The parks. Especially Victoria Park but Hyde Park and St james are lovely too.
5. It constantly surprises me. I lived there for over twenty years but still discover new pockets of it, from tiny museums to gorgeous coffee houses

I'll stop there but could carry on for pages and pages.

It's too busy and cramped for me and I'm afraid of the tube. But the folk are nice. That's the main thing really.

Driving over any of the bridges and seeing the Thames twinkling below. So much life and history. My favourite is the pink Albert Bridge lit up with tiny white lights in the evening and the sign asking troops to ‘break step’ when matching across the bridge. Can see for miles- Battersea Power Station, house boats below, the London Eye, a thousand cranes in the distance. My heart soars every time.

Born in Paddington, lived in Putney and Hammersmith then family moved up north. I moved back to London at 18 and would never want to leave. I love parts of other cities/towns/ country but there always seems to be a component missing like low cost travel or limited restaurant choices or little diversity.

My favourite place is Greenwich - has it all - beautiful park, the river, the market, the street food, the free museums, festivals etc and that's just one small place in London.

If I win the lottery I would have a second home in London ( my main home would be where I am now). I love the pubs , the history, the busy lifestyle, the diversity of the people ( I love people watching).
Maybe I could house swap with someone for a week!!!

@WorraLiberty

"Getting the train home"

This was post #9 !!

It's far away from where I live.

Leaving it. And showering when I get home.

People are friends with other people of all ethnicity and class.
Honestly. Rural England is like a sea of white middle class people/ then another sea of white poor people. And never the Twain shall meet. It’s suffocating

I love everything. I love how I can walk down the same area over and over and still see things I've never seen before.

I love the multiculturalism and the fact that it never gets stale. I love the change in fashions move faster than anywhere else in the U.K. when I go elsewhere or have lived in different cities in the U.K. this is the main thing that strikes me when I return to London.

I've recently moved into a village and now commute weekly. My village almost stands still in comparison. Which is nice in its own right but the fast pace when I step off the train still does it for me

The people who make "witty" comments about how much they hate it: you realise they've all been done on page 1 already, right?

No one cares if you dislike London. That's not the subject of the thread.

@BurtonHouse @Phipho and others, I'm looking at you.

There's life everywhere and history everywhere. And there's pie and mash.

Nigel Slater lives in Highbury and Nigella lives somewhere in central London. In their cooking programmes on TV you often see them shopping locally for their ingredients. These shops seem to sell an amazing variety of foods from every continent. I’m so envious. In the town nearest to where I live they don’t even know what quark is. Having lived in London I know where I would rather be.

I love the atmosphere, the sights, the restaurants, the tunes etc
I visit at least 2/3 times a year. Made easier with a sister living in uxbridge but we always stay in chiswick and tube it in every day.
My favourite city!

The freedom.
The acceptance.
Being part of a community that is almost a living thing in itself.

Loveislovely, just answering the question, in the same way that there is more than one response saying London Bridge etc.

Am a foreigner and moving to London shortly and was feeling a bit nervous about starting a new life in my late forties, but this thread has made me feel very excited! I will say, having lived in many cities, that it is by far the most interesting city in the world. I love the museums, the libraries, the parks, the architecture, the history, the West End, and above all, the Tube.

It’s the only place in the world where you can’t be surprised that someone defended the public from an armed terrorist with a narwhale tusk.

Getting the train home

I was going to say the same :)

I'm not a big fan but sometimes it's a glorious day and I'll be walking over Waterloo bridge and think the skyline does look fairly impressive.

The parks are good and there are always lots of little nooks and crannies to discover, I used to work 5 mins from Seven Dials and didn't know it was there until two weeks before I left that job (it was close to Holborn station which is horrible, but you hardly have to go any distance at all to get to nice streets) and yesterday I went to a meeting in Chancery Lane and walked through Clifford's Inn for the first time.

Taking a boat to Greenwich is a fun thing to do. About three years ago we had friends visiting and had a public transport themed day - went up on the train, tube to Bank, DLR, then the cable car, then the tube again and then boat back to Westminster with various stops to do things.

I like going for a run along the river, too.

Outside Central London places like Bushy Park and the river by Surbiton are a revelation. And the Green Link in south east London.

That you can pretty much do what you like as long as it harms no-one else. People leave you alone; they are too busy to be nosy, but are generally friendly if you want to engage.

For example, I was upstairs on a bus the other day on my way back from a run to Regents Park and I spied a lady in her 60's at a bus stop just doing her sun salutes, stretching and enjoying the morning as she waited for her bus. No body bats an eyelid!