Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

When someone says they’re going into “town”, what does that mean to you?

430 replies

Hairbrush123 · 01/03/2022 20:23

Having a debate with DH and wonder what this term means to other people? To me, it means going into the centre of the town I live in

OP posts:
NeedAHoliday2021 · 01/03/2022 23:41

In Surrey it means London but in south west it means your nearest town.

Chloemol · 01/03/2022 23:41

I live in a rural village, it means exactly what it says I am going into town, for shopping, to the vets, to the archives, whatever

Redleavesfalling289 · 01/03/2022 23:41

I've always said town to mean the centre of near where I live. I live in Surrey now, but I used to live in a London surburn & everyone used to say they were going 'into the city' if they were going to London tooon Grin

MrsMoastyToasty · 01/03/2022 23:47

In Bristol we also have the complication that one of the suburbs, Westbury-on -Trym, is known by the locals as the village. So going into the village means going to the shops in that suburb. Its not been a village since the 1800s as its been swallowed up by urban sprawl.

EuphoriaHigh · 02/03/2022 00:02

The nearest town centre. I used to live in Greater Manchester and the town I lived in was “town” and the city centre was always “Manchester”. Now I live in Manchester City centre and that is “town” and I call the place used to live by its name.

ShakespeareInTurmoil · 02/03/2022 00:07

I live rurally, but in one of the Home Counties and it means to go to into London for me. In saying that some local friends, who don’t visit the big smoke often, would not use it in that context and have been confused if I say so in passing.

CounsellorTroi · 02/03/2022 00:11

I live in a city. Going into town means going into the centre.

LondonQueen · 02/03/2022 00:13

Going into the town centre (usually drinking or shopping

frami · 02/03/2022 00:14

Into Town - the town centre to the shops.
Up to Town - going to London.

thehighsandthelows · 02/03/2022 00:15

I was about to say it obviously means going into your local town! But then realised I said this growing up when town was a city! These days I would just say the place name

Girlmumdogmumboymum · 02/03/2022 00:45

Me- the towncentre where I live or am in.
DH- London

mawbroon · 02/03/2022 00:59

Doon the toon = going to the city centre. Literally downhill from my side of the city.

Up the street was what you did in my small ish town growing up. Literally uphill from everywhere else in the town.

UnUdderOne · 02/03/2022 01:20

@shangelawasrobbed

It depends where you live I think. When I lived in a town it meant going into the town centre/high street. Now that I live on the outskirts of Manchester, it means going into the city centre (rather than going to the high street of our local area).
This.
SquirrelG · 02/03/2022 04:18

To me it means the centre of the town where I live.

Allthestarsabovemyhead · 02/03/2022 05:08

It means your local TOWN centre/high street surely?
I live in Surrey and I’ve never heard anyone in my life use it to mean going to London. Going to London, is just I’m going to London??
I know people have different words/phrases for things across the country. But this had made me question everything now!

StopStartStop · 02/03/2022 05:44

To go 'up town' is to go to Oldham, to the shops.
To go 'into town' is to go to Manchester.

Or was. In my mother's day. I haven't heard those phrases for years.

Redcrayons · 02/03/2022 06:17

I've lived all over the UK and Manchester is the only place I've lived where it's only the city centre that is known as 'town'. It's not even a town

It’s pretty common if you live close to a big city.
I live on the outskirts of Liverpool in an actual town and ‘town’ is Liverpool.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 02/03/2022 08:40

@Hairbrush123

Thanks all! DH thinks the term is too vague as it could mean any town - he just calls our town centre by its name!

@HunterHearstHelmsley where are you from? I live in Solihull so not far from Brum Grin but I wouldn’t call Birmingham “town”!

Equidistant between Kiddy, Wolvo and Brum... Its even weirder that we have decided Birmingham is town Grin
emmathedilemma · 02/03/2022 08:51

To the local town centre.

BellaElla99 · 02/03/2022 08:52

I would never say going to or into town when I lived in London. That sounds so weird to me. Even my London friends laugh now when I say I’m going to town (and I live in one now!) because they say it sounds as if I’m going into a little village high street.

Ikeatears · 02/03/2022 09:02

I worked in a small suburb on the outskirts of Liverpool. If they were going into their small town, they called it the 'townie', if they were going into Liverpool, that was 'town'.

SartresSoul · 02/03/2022 09:06

Into the town centre.

sodastreamer · 02/03/2022 09:06

@Hairbrush123
Depends entirely on context, surely ?

It could mean going into the town centre of wherever someone happens to live. If you live in Surrey it would most likely mean going into London. When I lived in outer London I'd talk about going into Central

saltnvinegarlover · 02/03/2022 09:08

To the city centre next to where I live

jellyfrizz · 02/03/2022 09:08

@SoberSerena

Town centre or into London for me (I live in a town near London)
This for me too.