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 live in a green, leafy, fashionable, village-y , expensive part of London (born here too) but I no longer enjoy it. i would go tomorrow but I really don't know know where to go. I am likely to fit in less rather than more anywhere else. So I am still here.

@lonelyapple

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'm a Londoner and I find your comment really objectionable and not the city I know. If we described a northern city in the same way, or somewhere on the coast, people would be up in arms but it's okay for you to be so nasty?

@Heronwatcher

LOLing here about the idea of a “leafy village” in London! There are some great things about living in London but leafy villages are not one of them, unless you’re an estate agent!

Hampstead, Chiswick, Richmond, Barnes, St John's... there are plenty of areas that are exactly like leafy villages.

I moved out of London a number of years ago and have not regretted it. I have access to good schools, great countryside and some great restaurants and bars. That being said, London is a great place, and my job is still based there. There may be personal reasons why you would opt for either. Often moves are driven by economic need, or opportunity. I would never disrespect someone else's view to the extent I see on this thread.

@MrsTrumpton like which actual village? Where? They are lovely places, very like each other, I totally admit and I have absolutely nothing against them, but they are not villages unless you define “village” as “place in a city with some very chi chi shops where only millionaires can afford to live”. I am lucky enough to have lived in some of those places but also a number of actual villages and they bear no resemblance to each other!

@Soffit

I live in a green, leafy, fashionable, village-y , expensive part of London (born here too) but I no longer enjoy it. i would go tomorrow but I really don't know know where to go. I am likely to fit in less rather than more anywhere else. So I am still here.

Interesting I'm a lifelong Londoner and used to love it

Now I hate it, .i thought it was overcrowded twenty years ago! I did imagine that if I lived in Hampstead etc I'd feel differently but maybe not.

EmmaH2022 - I suppose that try to emulate village attitudes so they smile more and are more polite than elsewhere in London. It doesn't seem to rub off.
I have truly loved London especially during my late teens and twenties and enjoyed all the wonderful things it offers many times over. I have had a thorough look elsewhere - not just around the UK but pretty much everywhere realistic around the world - but I haven't found IT. I have considered that I am not looking for a place but a state of mind. however, i think it is a combination involving both

As a Londoner born and bred I really would like all London haters to piss off, in fact I’d like all non Londoners to piss so so I can’t stop being pushed further and further out (zone wise).
As for 700k houses, here you go people:
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119692331#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/107581664#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/81544806#/?channel=RES_BUY

I'm a Londoner. I moved away years ago to where my husband was born. I still miss London and wish I'd stayed there!

“There are villagey places within London though eg Dulwich, Hampstead, Wimbledon, Barnes, Highgate”

As nice as these places are they really are nothing like living in a small village. My children have a lot more freedom than they’d get in London and there is a strong community feel.Plus you’d be paying at least double for property size versus somewhere in the Home Counties.

If I had 5 million for a house in London in the ‘leafy’ parts then fine but most people (even high earners) have got a much better chance of getting a nice family property living out.

I’m not one to say London is shit and dirty. If you’ve got money you can have a brilliant lifestyle but there are plenty of places I’d hate to live with children.

Only two of those aren't London

I don't know what Charlton is like

soffit I'd give a lot for more manners and less spitting in the street. Manners are so important.

@buddylicious

I'm a Londoner. I moved away years ago to where my husband was born. I still miss London and wish I'd stayed there!

Have you visited recently?

@Bunnycat101

“There are villagey places within London though eg Dulwich, Hampstead, Wimbledon, Barnes, Highgate”

As nice as these places are they really are nothing like living in a small village. My children have a lot more freedom than they’d get in London and there is a strong community feel.Plus you’d be paying at least double for property size versus somewhere in the Home Counties.

If I had 5 million for a house in London in the ‘leafy’ parts then fine but most people (even high earners) have got a much better chance of getting a nice family property living out.

I’m not one to say London is shit and dirty. If you’ve got money you can have a brilliant lifestyle but there are plenty of places I’d hate to live with children.

How do you measure community feel?

We have a fair bit that means our area feels like a community - street stuff, know each other and do drinks, dc parties, church hall stuff, fairs etc

What’s missing?

London is great to me, esp for dc but I haven’t lived in a town for years

Not all of us want a house with a garden or to grow our own food. I am happy living in a small flat with a park 5 minutes from me and fantastic museums, galleries and theatre. Leafy village it may not be but I would be bored in a village.

Different strokes for different folks.

I am sick of the traffic tbh & I work locally now as got sick of the crowds.

What is one person’s dirty smelly city, is someone else’s vibrant, eclectic
locality- wherever it is.

I live near a town that everyone is rude about. Granted, the town centre isn’t great, but all the surrounding villages are, it’s close to the sea, open countryside and if there were still town centres, that too.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers
With all due respect you are clueless about london- south east London, zone 4, 20mins into central, 20mins into gorgeous kent countryside- 700k would buy you a fabulous house!

Could you suggest an area that could get a fabulous house (min 3 bedrooms) + 20 minutes to central London? Not possible from my research….

And I mean actually 20 minutes total. Not, a 20 minute walk/bus or 10 minutes drive + parking and THEN 20 minutes on a train to a central station. If you’re doing that you may as well live in a commuter town…

Perhaps 1.2million was a slight exaggeration. But centralish location (actual 20 minutes to the very central areas) + nice 3 bed house = £1 million quid + from what I’ve seen.

[quote supermoonrising]@OnlyFoolsnMothers
With all due respect you are clueless about london- south east London, zone 4, 20mins into central, 20mins into gorgeous kent countryside- 700k would buy you a fabulous house!

Could you suggest an area that could get a fabulous house (min 3 bedrooms) + 20 minutes to central London? Not possible from my research….[/quote]
Bromley, beckenham, sidcup

I used to live in London so have a real soft spot for it. Couldn’t afford what we have now in London. However describing it is a shit hole is wrong. Now Bradford, Slough, Luton
parts of Birmingham definitely fit that description

@supermoonrising

And I mean actually 20 minutes total. Not, a 20 minute walk/bus or 10 minutes drive + parking and THEN 20 minutes on a train to a central station. If you’re doing that you may as well live in a commuter town…

Well you’re being a tad ridiculous, my train is 20mins into Charing Cross, I walk 8 mins to the station, and walk the other side. No my whole commute is not 20mins but the train journey to get from my area to central London is 20mins!

I'm going to sound utterly spoilt but a 3 bed terrace is not my idea of a fabulous house.

These are fabulous houses

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/112905722#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118877435#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110181332#/?channel=RES_BUY

Well you’re being a tad ridiculous

Tbf it does annoy me when people say my journey is 15mins or whatever. I would never count my journey as just the train or tube time.

I know a few people who have moved recently- I don’t think due to covid/wfh but more than we are in our thirties and settling down and wanting kids so a cramped 1 bed flat above a chip shop in Clapham wasn’t cutting it! Moved to ‘home’ wherever that is (Devon, Bristol and Hertfordshire) or to a more affordable city (Manchester and Leeds). All loving life and happier where they are but that’s largely due to much more space and disposable income than london not being a great place. I’d live in london if I was very wealthy. Otherwise no.