Am I utterly stupid and deluded to think I might ever live in London as an older person?

[figwine]

Just back from a trip there and as always I'm filled with a yearning to just stay there. I love travelling and love pretty much everywhere I go, but nowhere affects me like London does. I did live there for a couple of years in my 20s but then lived abroad for a while where I met exh, who persuaded me to move to the Midlands!

I would never uproot the dc (12 & 14), and certainly wouldn't be able to afford a family-sized home anywhere near anyway, but I have been wondering whether a small flat might be within reach in a few years. Obviously no one can give me an answer with regards affordability as we are talking about 10 years' time and if I can't afford it that will be the end of it. However, in theory, does it sound like a stupid idea?

As things stand I have no partner. I do have a career but it's one I could do anywhere and I would be coming to the end of it then anyway. I just feel the area we are in is so limited and dull, but obviously being alone and not massively well off in a big city might just be shit. I just wish I'd stayed when I had the chance, but that that ship has sailed. I have friends on FB who live there but I haven't seen them for years and couldn't assume I think that I'd be able to pick up where we left off.

Does anyone have any thoughts or relevant experiences? Perhaps I just need a shake!

I never understood how my parents friends would give up their big houses to move in to flats in the city once their kids left home (not London). Now that I'm 59, mum of kids in late teens I get it. We've just moved back to London (I am a born and bred Londoner, but have also lived in Paris, New York, and more rurally here). I love it, though that doesn't mean I'm down the west end every other day. I'm in zone 3 (would love to live more central but still need a house), ten minutes from the tube and hustle and bustle of restaurants and shops and just people. My neighbours have all been friendly and welcoming - far more than when I lived in a small town. In fact I think the transience of big cities means people are more accepting and open to new friendships.
So dream away, and work on a plan to make it a reality. That might mean putting a bit away to finance a deposit or whatever.
And don't stop because of your kids - they will take their own path and maybe have homes so they can host Christmas dinners or whatever.

@isthisareverse

Come on then @LarryTheLurker, don't be shy: explain to us who qualifies as "actual Londoners"

what do you think that could possibly mean?

Someone FROM London.

I spent years in London, still work there, 90% at least of the people are meet are not Londoners. Half are not even native British
You are not a Londoner because you 've rented a flat for 10 years, and you know that.

I guess the question should more accurately be… why should that be a disincentive to live there? Does @LarrytheLurker really think people love London for all the luvverly Cockernees they meet?

That was my fantasy for our post-kids life too, OP.

Unfortunately I’ve fallen so in love with my garden I don’t think I could do it now, but it’s definitely an attractive option.

It's my plan. We have a big house in Zone 6 atm and want to downsize to something more central in due course.

@Dramalady52

I win the lottery, my first purchase will be a garden flat in Kensington

I'm holding out for a win big enough to permanently engage a suite at the Savoy.

All the advantages of a flat in London, great lifts and mobility access with no maintenance required ever. Food and cocktails on tap, 24/7.

If I could afford to live centrally with like minded neighbors I would do it. I've always fancied a serviced apartment building.

When I stay in London my hotel is central but not noisy.

I grew up in London and moved out in my 30s to start a family. My plan is to retire in London - I really miss it and have friends & family there so makes sense. Even without that, I imagine it would be a great place to retire.

I live in a a 2 bed flat in zone 1 and plan to stay. I can't wait to retire and really make the most of the freedom pass, museums, galleries etc on weekdays...all the things I don't have time to do while I am working! Lockdown made me realise how much I thrive on the hustle and bustle of a big city.

I plan to retire to London if I can. I'll downsize from a family-sized home to a studio quite happily. Will depend on DD obviously, but it was always me and DH's plan and it remains mine now that he's died.

I thought about London then went for Brighton. I got a buy to let mortgage and plan to retire in 10 years when I'm 60.

Property prices are cheaper, the flat is in a good area, direct train to London, share of freehold and v low service charges and a large garden. Can't wait to move.

Very off topic to the thread, but I love the low, constant hum of noise of a living city and its inhabitants! Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Prayer” always encapsulates it for me:

“Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.

Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
in the distant Latin chanting of a train.

Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales
console the lodger looking out across
a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
a child's name as though they named their loss.

Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer -
Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.”

Sitting in my little south east London garden in the early evening, hearing the trains run past at 8 minute intervals a couple of hundred metres away; the happy activity of my neighbours as they live their own lives; traffic; the rhythmic vocals of the radio that the elderly and slightly deaf man who tends to his allotment at the bottom of my garden keeps on for company as he works. Or when I lived in my flat in Whitechapel, right next to the Royal London Hospital: lying in bed awake late at night after a party, hearing the burr of the air ambulance landing or taking off from the helipad; and the laughs and unintelligible conversations of passers by on their way home from the pub. Or my flat in Woolwich, awaking at dawn light on a summer morning and hearing, if the wind was in the right direction, the first planes taking off from London City Airport, and our block caretaker clanking his metal mop bucket on the terracotta tiles of the communal hallway. This is my happy place.

Op I was saying this exact thing to dd the other day whilst in town.

I want to retire to London and actually many people do retire there! Good transport links, so much going on, always something to explore

The only issue as possible said is neighbours, I wouldn't want to be wrestling with awful neighbours and noise whilst old, service charges... No freeholds etc only leaseholds.

And I love my garden.

I think when I last looked my house would buy a studio in notting Hill.

I live in the West of Ireland and love much about it but dream about having long stretches of time in cities like London when I retire. Moving wholesale would be neither desirable nor affordable for me but I do wonder if things like house-swapping (assuming someone would be willing to swap with me, I would only be looking for the tiniest flat), house sitting, pet sitting etc. might be a way to dive into the pleasures of great cities like London, Paris, Vienna etc without a huge investment. I fantisise about waking up in London with maybe a whole 3 or 4 weeks ahead of me thinking, where shall I go today?

Foolishly looked at one bed flats in a lovely block in Pimlico, as a follow up to this thread.

£900,000 would just about cover it.

One bedroom. And service charge. Ouch.

My friends' mooring fee on the Thames is over 20k pa before rates, maintenance, insurance, upkeep (hugely expensive), etc etc. Not too cheap for 2 bedroom, one bathroom digs.

We have a house in London (live abroad at the moment). Whilst we might not move back to London immediately we are trying to hold on to the house there so we can retire to London. So much free stuff to do!!

London is the best place to live as an older person. Small flat. Free buses. Great hospitals free museums, local community
Genuinely best place ever.

My husband and I run our own business and when our children leave home (about 10-12 years) we’ve decided that we’ll spend chunks of time in various cities and places. Airbnb had opened up so much opportunity and we’d love to live in New York for some time, Charleston, Paris, then maybe off to a Greek island etc. Still keeping our base in Sydney but the idea of living in cities as an older couple is very appealing as there’s so much to do.

Id definitely count London in that. We lived there in the early 2000s and really liked it.

I’m so glad to find likeminded people on this thread. After living in London for 13 years I had to leave before I was ready (DH’s job) and always thought we’d be back within five years. But I can’t uproot the DC, and I had my littlest when I was 38 so looks like I’ll have to wait until retirement to get back.

Still haven't decided whether I'll retire in London (where I live and got a flat) or Paris (where I'm from).
I also have loads of big central / eastern european cities to try between now and my retirement so don't need to decide now.
One thing is for sure: I'm a city person, have always been, and I will retire in a city flat.

@ChazsBrilliantAttitude

I never understand retiring to the country - surely you want to be near services and amenities as you get older. DH and I are in our 50s and live in London I like the fact that we will be able to do so much with out having to drive long distances. We have loads of public transport nearby but because we are in Zone 3 its not too noisy or crowded.

Go for it OP. You could always rent out your house and rent in London for a bit to try it out and decide if it works for you.

I feel the same.

I live in Zone 6, and love it. There is beautiful countryside less than a mile away, but also good public transport, shops and central London a train ride away.

I'm typing this whilst sitting in bed with a cup of tea. All I can hear are birds singing. No noise, crowds or dirt.

I wouldn't live in a flat though - nothing to do with London, more to do with service charges and leases!

I live about 30 mins from central london and think about moving closer but worry about hospitals and care. For some reason I think it would be better to be older in a smaller town where you are known rather than a big city. But I am torn between moving in closer or moving further away.

Friends are incredibly important as we get older, and you may find you are lonely in London.