Fed up with everyone leaving London

[Arlington45]

My partner and I are both from London, both sets of parents are in fairly near areas to us. We have no intention of leaving London.

But so many people are. My son (6) keeps having to say goodbye to school friends. Is this going to mess him up, having no sense of security with friends sticking around? I hope at some point it will settle down but at the moment it feels like a mass exodus.

I don't feel pissed off with the people leaving, I get it. But I do feel fed up. AIBU?

I don't think there will be a complete switch to wfh just a lot more people will be doing 3 days wfh for example, it's going to have an impact.

Tons of Londoners have moved up to our village (NW) recently. While they're all perfectly pleasant, there does seem that be an assumption that we'd all prefer it if life up here was more like London, so they keep trying to start up schemes and projects to that effect and then people get pissed off with them. Maybe they'll move back in a few years when they realise we're actually quite happy with the way things are.

@SweetToffee

As soon as I can I’m off too. I bloody hate it. Lived here since I was 8 . 40 bloody years of grime and crap . Each to their own though , glad you like it . Others love it too. I’m just over it

This 👆

I am a born and bred Londoner.

Could not think of a worse place to bring up
My children hence we moved away years ago.

Place is a dump

@Frogsonglue we have that too... I mean I love the plastic free shop some incomers started, fab idea ! But someone started some sort of meditation yoga thing as there is a ‘real need’ for it apparently, also starting ‘eco’ walking groups like they’ve invented walking in the hills, the old fellas in the pub are slightly skeptical that they’ve been tramping about up there for years and it’s now Fashionable

randomer - I think it’s because London is essentially a massive cluster of what were once individual villages that have merged over time, each one with a distinct character and vibe. If you stand on top of Hampstead Heath you can see all the church spires that would have once marked each village community.

I came her in my 20s and never left. I’ve lived in Brixton, Bethnal Green, Spitalfields, Pimlico, Chelsea and now Barnes / Putney (to remain a bit vague). Areas constantly evolve and so they should. As I say, where I live now, I can only think of one person I know who was actually born here, but that doesn’t mean there’s no sense of community. Quite the opposite actually! If people move out they tend to come back as they find the suburbs too bland and the countryside too, well, rural . I need a bit of people life and buzz or I go insane!

When life unlocks more, I suspect the "move out of london as I can WFH" gang will soon discover that those who choose to work in the office will actually be the decision makers and also get the promotions. It's hard to really prove yourself remotely against those in the office. It's also very hard to train junior staff.
So I suspect WFH might be the new normal for a couple of years, but things will settle down, to either a hybrid life or back to the office.

What I would hate is to live in one of those “cookie cutter” towns or cities- the “clone high streets” with the predictable chain stores everywhere. I love the fact that in London, there are always new places to discover. There’s no single “centre,” just lots of mini ones around the main ones and everywhere has a totally different vibe and character. It’s not just bored teens in the same bland town centres.

I’m always surprised at the idea that the countryside is still white and straight. It might have been 30 years ago but less still now.
In my parents tiny village of 100 people there are two Asian families, one black family and a gay couple.

These ‘Londoners’ that are moving out all over the place, I’d put money on most of them being the sort that moved to London from small hometowns, failed at being as cool as they thought they were going to be, realised they were afraid of their own shadows (because proper Londoners do talk to one another, it’s a myth that we don’t), and ran away again citing ‘quality of life’

@catspider

This is the Governments fault. The only people who can afford to live in London are the very rich and those who get their rent paid for by benefits or have a council home. Everyone else has to leave if they want any kind of security.

I don't think that's really true (I'm certainly not very rich, nor is anyone I know who lives here) although it may depend to some extent whether you were able to get on the property ladder and aren't saddled with a huge mortgage or interminable renting.

I think a couple with reasonable incomes can have a perfectly acceptable quality of life in London (i.e. can afford to eat out, holiday abroad, carry out home improvements, etc.).

Anyway, I've no intention of leaving London for a good while, but I'll be very happy if a lot of other fuckers do.

I'm in a village near Bath, a house a few doors down from me went onnthe market on Tuesday, it was one viewing after Andy on Friday and Saturday. House is up for £105k more than it sold for in Nov 2018, they've hardly done anything to it.

Have chatted to a couple of people viewing it, both from London looking to get out.
Bath to Paddington is just over an hour, should they need to go in in the odd day one told me.

*after another. Dont even know an Andy lol

So I'd love to move out of London and I keep seeing and hearing about this exodus but I dont get it. DH and I both work with London based companies. Both still WFH full time and both employers have not announced a clear policy and the expectation for him is WFH indefinitely and me is hybrid in near future. However we still feel the need to have reasonable 1hr commutes into London, and maybe this is where I'm wrong. How do people afford to move to all these coastal, rural and semi rural villages or small towns well outside London? Nobody seems to be moving to the other cities e.g. Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh etc. I get that a number of formerly London jobs can be localised e.g. medicine, teaching, childcare, builder, own business... I also get that some are using this stamp duty free opportunity to bring forward their move to commuter towns. What I dont get is that most people are tied to the economic lives of cities. So aside from above cases, who are the people moving properly out of London? Are they seriously going to WFH 99% of the time in 5, 10 years time... from a cottage a la Kate Winslet house in The Holiday? When the dust settles, while working patterns might change, I suspect it's not the end of cities. Is this just played up or is there a statistically smaller number of 'de-urbanisation' migration flow than I imagine?

Quite a bit of London and Londoner bashing here! People have different reasons for staying or going. I grew up in the countryside moved to London for Uni and stayed for 15 years. Decided we should move out of London to a small rural countryside in 2011 for 5 years with a 3 and 1 year old, for more space and “better schools” - had some great times but ultimately we missed London. Moved back on 2016 and haven’t looked back since, even through the pandemic- variety of parks, tourist sites, coffee shops, take away options have been amazing. It’s our home and we love and would never leave again. Horses for courses!

Also at some point we will be back to offices and those that have moved might have an exhausting commute to deal with. I’ve done it myself and even 3 days a week is too much when you have an hour on a train with no seat!

also starting ‘eco’ walking groups like they’ve invented walking in the hills, the old fellas in the pub are slightly skeptical that they’ve been tramping about up there for years and it’s now Fashionable

Having had great success in such ventures as inventing Hackney etc they’ve literally moved to pastures new.

Is this is true, who is buying up the houses around here at increasingly expansive prices? I'm in the outskirts of London and every house is going for a fortune within days.
Yet we're all supposed to be leaving London? I can't see anything other than the usual folks who have always left the city.

@Twoblueblocks my neighbours have moved to Bristol, Edinburgh & Sussex & school mums have gone to Manchester, Berkshire, Surrey & Kent. The ones in the cities have moved jobs but the others are commuting a few days a wk.

blueeyedgirl sounds familiar....it's sort of sweet but also quite tone-deaf and patronising. I'm an incomer here too and I'm sure in years gone by I've been guilty of thinking "now what this place really needs is...", but these days it makes me bristle to hear how dismissive some newcomers are about what goes on here. It's a happy, vibrant community but it ain't Hackney for sure, that's kind of the point. Anyway most people are too busy farming to get involved in the sort of stuff they think we should be doing of a weekend.

But loads of people would have moved from elsewhere to London in the first place and they're just moving on elsewhere now from London so it's not like it only tons of born and bred Londoners making the move away again.

I’d put money on most of them being the sort that moved to London from small hometowns, failed at being as cool as they thought they were going to be, realised they were afraid of their own shadows

Ouch 😆

even 3 days a week is too much when you have an hour on a train with no seat!

I know plenty of people in London who have 1 hour commutes, my dh door to door is about 40 mins on average, it should on paper take half that time.

@TwinkleToesForever

Also at some point we will be back to offices and those that have moved might have an exhausting commute to deal with. I’ve done it myself and even 3 days a week is too much when you have an hour on a train with no seat!

Not to mention those who've moved out because their "current" employer is happy for them to WFH. What about when they want to change employer or are made redundant and have to find a new job? They may find that many/most alternative jobs do require presence in their City offices and have to move back again.

@Divineswirls

But loads of people would have moved from elsewhere to London in the first place and they're just moving on elsewhere now from London so it's not like it only tons of born and bred Londoners making the move away again.

Exactly, most graduate jobs are in London, so it sucks in graduates from regional home towns and universities. Any reversal of that trend has to be a good thing.

Blimey @indi0 you are selling it to me!