People who moved out of London/ SE during 2020/21

[escapethecountry]

AIBU to think that there are quite a lot of people who are now regretting their decision to move out of London/ SE in the last couple of years? There seem to have been lots of office workers who were able to WFH who took the decision to move away, either to enjoy a larger house/ better quality of life or because they thought WFH would be permanent. I know a couple of families who moved away and are now considering moving back already. Have others moved/ know others who have moved and are now considering going back?

I doubt if it is as many as it may seem, and some of those probably would have moved anyway. Those I know who have moved are under five years from retirement.

Havent people always done a stint in London then decamped further out when they wanted space for a family? I guess that a lot of moving further out plans got put on hold for the last couple of years so there is catching up to do.

IME people who have always lived in one place can be a bit insular and assume that everyone wants to live where they are.

Strangely enough not everyone wants the same thing. Not everyone wants to eat out regularly or go to museums/art galleries every weekend. If these things arent your thing then the idea of moving somewhere else is far less frightening.

We moved and don’t regret it at all. Much better standard of living, bigger house, nicer area, closer to friends and family. Work still gives me a connection to london a few times a month which is enough for me.

I must get offline now but I am going to look for those £700k houses later. Am in a flat half the price but just curious!

We moved from London to the north-west mid-pandemic. Our lives have been improved immeasurably - we still have great places to eat and drink, interesting things to do culturally and we’ve more money left over at the end of the month (and a massive house instead of a very small flat). I only wish we’d done it years ago.

I think that over the next five-ish years we'll see some people realise that they rushed into a move without properly considering what their lives might be like in Norfolk/rural Wales/whatever. Not just jobs/commuting, but lifestyle, children etc. But the pre-primary decampment for space was always a thing. It's not cheap raising a family here.

And I absolutely live in a z2 London village (not one of the ones named!) and it is glorious.

This just tells me most posters don't have enough money to live in these parts of London.

No shit! You needed this thread to be told that most people don’t have the income to service a seven figure mortgage?

Property price is undoubtedly going to have been a big factor. Where I live a 3 bed semi in a decent area is £260k. Central London is a 2 hour commute away. Manageable if it is only a handful of times in a month.

Many companies have changed to a hybrid model with WFH the majority of the time. Companies were already moving in this direction and the pandemic just booted it further down the road.

I work with a couple of people who have moved, one to the north west and one to Yorkshire. I don't think they are regretting it as such but are up in arms that their mileage/train costs won't be covered by the company and that they won't get any travel time back.

The Yorkshire one is having to pay around £250 per return journey and they are needed in the office twice one week and three times the other. Lots of complaints that getting to the office will cost over £2500 a month! Also on the office days, they're out from 5am until getting home around 9pm. They don't want to stay over as their office days aren't together.

I'm really not sure what they expected.

Agree some people who went far from London didn’t think hard enough or read the terms of their contract before they did so.

We’re a large London based employer and new working pattern will be three days in the office a week, two set by the company so you spend time with your team.

Some have gone 2-3hr commute away and are complaining. But all the contracts we signed require us to be in the office 5 days a week, so any improvement on that is generous.

London hating: agree it’s ignorance. If you’ve never lived here you have no idea what it’s like. And I can imagine occasional day trips (with the kids) can make it seem expensive and gruelling trying to pack it all in.

We live just outside zone 1 and we’re regular visitors to the big museums and the zoo. I see families traipsing around looking exhausted and assume they’re out of towners. Trying to see ‘everything’ and have ‘a great day’ and making it exhausting and too pressured.

We go little and often, to see the T Rex or the Whales or the space ships or the butterflies. Or whatever are exciting the kids today. When we’ve had enough we go to the park or go home.

I never worry about whether I’ve had a chance to see what I want - if there’s something I want to see I go back on my own.

Our part is like living in a small
Town / village. We walk to school and all after school stuff. We know our neighbours, people in local shops and cafes. Lovely warm community feel with lots going on and all of ‘big London’ on our doorstep.

I love it and wouldn’t dream of moving anywhere else.

No shit! You needed this thread to be told that most people don’t have the income to service a seven figure mortgage?

😆

less people who enjoy having deep chats and debates about life and question the status quo.

Oh, do give over. There's lots to love about London and Londoners but comments like this...well, the irony of you apparently believing everyone outside the M25 is 'narrow-minded' is really quite something...

'Deep chats', lololol. I used to come out with stuff like that when I was 15.

just had a friend drop something off & she is also looking to move 😭. They have a big budget & have fallen in love with an amazing place. She promised me last yr she would stay put forever 😭😭😭

I love London but moved out so we could buy a bigger house and have access to better schools. I have to commute in twice a week - 90 mins each way. I would

I don’t regret it because I always get a seat on my commute so I work during it and make it part of my working day, so I leave later in the morning and come back earlier in the afternoon. Just make sure calls and meetings are only booked during the middle of the day.

I don’t think where I am now is “better” than london but I do think it meets the current needs of my family better. We are in a nice town with good schools, nearer to family and much nearer countryside etc, where we spend our weekends.

I did it. No regrets. I only have to commute in two days a week now and I've exchanged a small 2-bed in a dodgy part of south london for pretty much my dream house in a cathedral city. I am so grateful for the improvement in my quality of life and the better life it will give my DC.

I live in Cornwall and had lots of people move down in the pandemic but are starting to regret it now that life is getting back to normal and they realise there is hardly anything fun to do here.

I was applying for jobs and in all of the interviews I was with people planning to move down. I’ve now been contacted by many of those schools asking if I’m still interested as the person has decided to move back home.

Exeter is around two hours from Paddington.

Exeter is about 3-4 hours away from London.

@Poetrypatty

You are joking. London is a violent, dirty, expensive shithole with a mostly transient population due to unaffordable housing and getting worse every year. Imagine what London is going to be like in 10-20 years!

I always think it bizarre that on MN people think it's fair game to be rude about London, yet if the same was said about any other area of the country, people would be up in arms!

True people really go for it in a way that’s not accepted about other places

I’m any case I don’t think it’s true

Well I am glad all the London haters on this thread have moved out to their dream commuter towns and other greener pastures. Nothing worse than listening to a person in London moaning about house prices, crowds and house prices again. Just go and let us enjoy it.

@Catsstillrock. We go little and often, to see the T Rex or the Whales or the space ships or the butterflies. Or whatever are exciting the kids today. When we’ve had enough we go to the park or go home.

That's the thing we love about living in London. There are so many things to do either within walking distance or a short tube or bus ride. And you don't need to pack them in or 'make the most of it' since you can always come back. But the sacrifice is space.

@WonderfulYou

Exeter is around two hours from Paddington.

Exeter is about 3-4 hours away from London.

Exeter is around two hours from London Paddington.

@HunterHearstHelmsley sorry I thought they meant by car.

Love the London bashing yet again! Never Manchester or Glasgow, just London.
What is everyone’s problem?

For what it’s worth, prices keep going higher in my area of suburban London and I have direct notes in my door to sell every couple of months. But no-one wants to live in London apparently

I moved in 2019. Never once regretted it. I go back to see my mum and think thank fuck I don't live here anymore.

I’d love to live in London and many people must like living there else the house prices would be lower.