Page 3 | Leaving London

properg · 2021-07-17T11:15:51+00:00

Don't get me wrong I know as secondary schooling approaches many people leave London but has anyone noticed it's more prevalent than usual? Lots of neighbours & friends left over the last yr but this week another 4 of my dcs classmates are planning to go over the summer & 2 are good friends of her/us. I think that makes 9 from the one class & only 1 has an sibling approaching secondary school. It's making me feel a bit insecure for some reason & questioning whether we should be looking to go to?

Beachmum23 · 17/07/2021 17:22

I live in Devon and have been saving for years for a house deposit. Just about to buy our first house and prices have risen £60k all new people moving into the village are all from London. It's driving me insane

zafferana · 17/07/2021 17:23

I'm not surprised at all - I think the pandemic has accelerated a lot of people's decision-making when it comes to making a big leap to move somewhere where they can have more space or be closer to family. A lot of people now are facing WFH permanently or only going into the office two days a week and if that's the case, why not move further out and get more house and a bigger garden for your money? I have some friends who live in a nice area of London. Their home is worth about the same as ours, in the home counties, but ours is twice the size, has a proper driveway and a garden that's four times the size. There's nothing like 18 months of everyone being stuck within the same four walls and trying to enjoy the same postage-stamp sized garden to concentrate the mind!

Original poster

properg · 17/07/2021 17:28

SW London

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Wilkolampshade · 17/07/2021 17:32

@properg ahh, don't really know it tbh I would imagine your rather leafier than us?We're proper grimey. 😊

Original poster

properg · 17/07/2021 17:36

It's changed an awful lot since I was young but dramatically in the last 10 yrs.

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Davros · 17/07/2021 17:42

@properg

just me then

Yes. It's always happened, especially among people who didn't grow up in London themselves

User135644 · 17/07/2021 17:57

@Letsallscreamatthesistene

Arent people just deciding they dont want city life anymore? I think the pandemic has bought that about. Is their reason for leaving secondary schooling?

The problem with London is space. Single people in their 20's/30's it's not much of a problem. Once they start a family they want something bigger than they'd be able to afford in London.

Itscoldouthere · 17/07/2021 18:27

@Wilkolampshade I’m moving back not that far from where we used to live (can’t afford the same area) slightly more gritty but better transport Enfield/Haringey border.
However I won’t be living there full time (at least to start with) as DH currently works abroad, so we will split out time.
Don’t get me wrong I loved my actual house in the countryside and lots of people were surprised we sold it (especially considering what we are now buying instead a very bog standard Victorian semi) but village life wasn’t really for me, we would have been better off in a market town but when we moved it didn’t seem like the right option, so we went for a village.
I also think it means we will see more of our children as they want to try and work in London when they finish uni, they wouldn’t have move back home to our countryside house as they wouldn’t have been able to find much work.
When I left London I didn’t think I’d return, I really thought I was done with it, I’d lived there 27 years, but you never know, sometimes your priorities just change.

Dongdingdong · 17/07/2021 21:38

I don't want my DC getting mugged on the way to school everyday.

@BrilliantBetty your children got mugged on the way to school every single day? Gosh, how awful!

Dongdingdong · 17/07/2021 21:41

I agree, that's what's driven out the families we know. Although at least two of the parents are now buggered work-wise because their firms have backtracked on full-time WFH and want them in the office at least 60% of the week, so they're now looking at 3-hr-plus daily commutes because they moved quite a way out.

I genuinely can’t believe that anyone in their right mind would have sold up and moved hours away from London on the “promise” that their jobs would be fully WFH from now on. If anyone is truly that naive/stupid then they only have themselves to blame!

Dongdingdong · 17/07/2021 21:43

A lot of people now are facing WFH permanently

I don’t know anyone who is “facing WFH permanently”. Unless that’s a euphemism for getting the sack.

Original poster

properg · 17/07/2021 22:01

The people I know who moved have had any wfh changes written into their contract.

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Katekarate · 17/07/2021 22:10

The people I know who moved have had any wfh changes written into their contract.

All very well if they are staying in the same job forever and their company doesn't go bust or relocate abroad etc

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 17/07/2021 22:13

@Katekarate

The people I know who moved have had any wfh changes written into their contract.

All very well if they are staying in the same job forever and their company doesn't go bust or relocate abroad etc

@katekarate those are the same worries for literally any job in the private sector, regardless of wfh or not, no? If anything, working remotely would be better if the company relocated abroad.

Katekarate · 17/07/2021 22:15

The point being if for any reason they want to move or don't hang on to that job, it's possible they may be more restricted by the new location.

Dongdingdong · 17/07/2021 22:17

The people I know who moved have had any wfh changes written into their contract.

Are they older people who are close to retirement? Because I don’t know anyone middle aged who could categorically say now that they want to stay in their current job for the next 20-30 years. And even those who do recognize that few jobs these days are guaranteed for life.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 17/07/2021 22:18

@Katekarate

The point being if for any reason they want to move or don't hang on to that job, it's possible they may be more restricted by the new location.

Newstflash - jobs are available outside London.

Dongdingdong · 17/07/2021 22:19

The point being if for any reason they want to move or don't hang on to that job, it's possible they may be more restricted by the new location.

Quite. It’s a lot easier to get a new job in London than it is in the arse end of nowhere.

Original poster

properg · 17/07/2021 22:19

those are the same worries for literally any job in the private sector, regardless of wfh or not, no?

Exactly plus in most industries there are similar "benefits" across companies. The vast majority of people I know except for those in medicine & teaching all had an element of remote working pre covid. It's not new just increased.

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Katekarate · 17/07/2021 22:26

Newstflash - jobs are available outside London.

I know. It's just that if you're doing something quite specific and let's say you moved to a remote part of Norfolk, then lost your job, it might be more challenging to find a new one in your specific sector, given that you now have to wfh. Or have to move. Not to say you'd have to move to London but you might need to move to a city. Obviously that might change if working remotely becomes the long term norm, but it's a gamble isn't it.

Original poster

properg · 17/07/2021 22:30

Are they older people who are close to retirement? Because I don’t know anyone middle aged who could categorically say now that they want to stay in their current job for the next 20-30 years. And even those who do recognize that few jobs these days are guaranteed for life.

Why would moving mean you have to stay in your current job forever? If you work for say the Big 4 or a MC law firm the flexible working policies are similar. My brother has worked in tech 95% remotely for a decade.

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Travielkapelka · 17/07/2021 22:30

Nope I don’t know anyone who has moved away, not ever I don’t think, don’t recal anyone leaving London where we are. Having said that most of us are born and bred here and have family here

Dongdingdong · 17/07/2021 22:34

Why would moving mean you have to stay in your current job forever?

See posts above. But in short, it’s far easier to get a new job in London than it is in the middle of nowhere. Especially if the WFH movement doesn’t last forever - which it almost certainly won’t. Surely that’s just common sense?

Also, if your brother has worked remotely for a decade then he’s presumably been able to live outside of London long before the pandemic struck, if he so wished.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 17/07/2021 22:35

@Dongdingdong

Why would moving mean you have to stay in your current job forever?

See posts above. But in short, it’s far easier to get a new job in London than it is in the middle of nowhere. Especially if the WFH movement doesn’t last forever - which it almost certainly won’t. Surely that’s just common sense?

Also, if your brother has worked remotely for a decade then he’s presumably been able to live outside of London long before the pandemic struck, if he so wished.

Yes but theres a middle ground between London and the middle of nowhere, isnt there? Its not either/or

Jangle33 · 17/07/2021 22:36

Lots of people have definitely moved out of London as they don’t anticipate being in the office 5 days per week. Often those senior folk (think law firm partners) who know they get to decide their new working patterns, now that the worlds attitude to wfh has changed.

Though to OP just because you’ve got wfh in your contract doesn’t mean they can’t change it/another job in the future will allow it.

I personally think moving significantly out is pretty punchy. Understand why edge of suburbia is v desirable though. Best of both worlds.