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

[Hairbrush123]

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

Where I now live..

'Up town' means our nearest city centre.

The town we live in is split into lots of areas (its one of those, many villages grew too big jobs).. so the retail park near me would be 'down the retail' or the shopping area called xyz green would be 'in the Green' or the bit called TownName Link would be 'up the Link'..

I don't think (given I am an outsider having lived here only a decade), you'd say 'into town' or 'up town' if you were just going to the local town, but then that may be due to the scattered nature of the local town.

This did cause some confusion as when I lived in Manchester.. 'town' was the local town, and if we were going into the city centre we'd say were were going to the city centre. If not .. then we'd specify, Salford or Didsbury or whatever.

@Benjispruce5

I live in the suburbs of a town so town would only mean that town iyswim. If I was going into Birmingham from Solihull, I’d probs say Birmingham as Solihull has its own town centre doesn’t it?

Yes it does have its own town centre. I assumed everyone thought that way about going into “town” but evidently not!

@hugocat

I lived in the outskirts of London for 15 years , it was always 'uptown' meaning central London, I wasn't aware of the local shopping centre being called 'town' .

Actually yes we also sometimes said up town meaning into central London.

Where I live, going "into town" means going to a nearby city for dinner / drinks / dancing!

I use "going down the town" when heading into our small county town for the messages etc.

But "Going into town" means heading to the big shmoke for a shopping trip/for a meal/on the piss, or hopefully all three.

Going to the centre of whichever town or city is nearest.

I live in central London and when I say it, I mean going into the West End.

Prior to living in London, I used it when I was going to my nearest town centre.

It means walking down the road as I live near the centre of the town I live in. I also live on a headland that sticks out into the sea with a castle at its highest point.

nearby big city centre, as opposed to the actual (very small) town centre within walking distance.

when i lived in London going to Town was definitely the West End, but nowadays all the young 'uns go to Central.

City centre to the shops

@HoundOfTheBasketballs

"Into" town means going to the shops where I live.

"Up to" town means going to London.

Same

Going to central London

I grew up in SE and going into town would literally mean going into the town centre of the town I was currently in. I later moved to London and in one of my workplaces they found it strange that I said I'd be going to town later - they would phrase it as "I'm going to Greenwich later." this made absolutely no sense to me since I was already in that area so why would I say I'm going to Greenwich if I'm already there

I live north of Milton Keynes and “going into town” to me means going to London. Doesn’t happen often enough 🙃

I’m popping into town with DC this afternoon- means the local town.

I’ll be in town this weekend, or I’m visiting friends in town means London.

To me it means going shopping or drinking etc into the main town (or city!) Near to your home... for example for me its Chester but i live about 15 miles away from chester so definitely dont mean the closest high street..

Into the city if you live just outside London.

@Twowheelsgood what do you say if you’re going into MK shopping?

Central London.

Born in Bristol and now live midway between Bristol and Bath. For me, going to town is going to the Broadmead/Cabot Circus area of Bristol where most of the shops area. I never saying it with regards to going to Bath, even though I have worked there.
People who were born in our small town say going to town meaning the single street of shops in our small town.

Going ‘up’ to London is convention as all train lines to London are called the ‘up’ line and those out are called the ‘down’ line. Going into town if you live in London doesn’t usually mean zone 1 as that covers so many places. It usually means the West End (Oxford St/Soho/Leicester Sq/Covent Garden etc.).

Local town centre, about a mile walk for me, those in surrounding villages would drive in and park in town.

Means Going to the city centre.
I live between a city and a town.

If my family say it = London.
If DH's family say it = local (rubbish) high street.

My family are from an outer London borough. DH's lot are from just outside the M25 near the same London borough, which isn't a million miles from London. It has always puzzled me.

Into town means city centre or town centre shopping if you are outside of London.

I'm suburban London...if you said you were going into town, it would mean central London. We don't really have a town centre in our part of London...I have about four main shopping areas I could go to locally.