Why do people live in London?

[Waahaawoowoo]

This thread is inspired by a thread where people where explaining how a £100k salary doesn't go far in London. Examples were given of mortgages costing £25k pa. (This is my salary). Childcare bills for 2 kids costing £40k. Our joint salary is £55k pa.

I live in NE Wales. Our house costs us £12k pa for a 3 bedroom semi. Wraparound Childcare used to cost a maximum of £12k pa. But we no longer pay due to age of kids and me WFH. I cannot get my head around DH and I being significantly better off than a couple who earn double what we do.

The logical answer to me would be to move from London. So why do people stay? Is it family? The type of work you do? I'm curious more than anything about what keeps people there when they could possibly have a better standard of living elsewhere.

I'm not a fan of London but, to me, this is the most appealing account of it on here. Written like that, your life sounds lovely.

No it wasn't, we were very happily married, it was me that was the problem - i yearned for wellies and dogs and country pubs and tight-knit communities, he didn't. We are still the best of friends however and he is still in London.

It's so cosmopolitan, people are much more tolerant of each other and friendly, there are lots of opportunities. Lots of culture, brilliant restaurants, amazing parks, and lots of villagey bits, compared to some other major cities it is quite good value for money and the quality of things is quite high. Everything is accessible. If you are better off it has some of the most amazing private schools in the world too.

This is true.
London is an amazing city.

Ah ok, you’re offended as you’re Welsh. I don’t think anyone is saying that all Welsh people are exclusionary and hate English people, but that poster experienced that and I have experienced that while visiting family. It’s not your place to deny those experiences because it offends you. Tonnes of people are tearing strips off where I live and I’m not offended, people have different experiences and different ideas.

I lived in London for many happy years, its an amazing place to live (as long as you have enough to live in a decent location and have some left over for leisure imo). So much to do, relatively easy to travel around, great job opportunities- the list goes on. I absolutely see the appeal. The people I feel for are those born in London who have been systematically priced out over the years :(

Depends what your into.

We live an hour outside London so are lucky to be able to visit easily to do all the fun stuff and are lucky to be able to afford public transport to get there and theatre tickets a few times a year.

While neither DH or I have ever lived in London we have had extended stays of a month at a time, wandering around, bars, cafes, restaurants are amazing. Loved it, everything is so close. I can see the appeal. If you like the buzz, the people watching, being part of a scene you cant beat it.

But we are also very happy to come home where we eventually hope to have a big garden, we live by the water and enjoy sailing, kayaking, cycling, long walks and cozy pub lunches.

If your a city folk you will be happiest in the city, if your an outdoor country type you will prefer the country. If your lucky you might be able to get a bit of both.

Because the best jobs in my sector are there. Amazing food, theatre, culture, architecture, museums - a lot of them free. Diversity of people. If you buy a property, it's always a good investment. Plus family and friends. Don't need to run a car.

The smug Londoners on this thread are a bit insufferable though aren't they? Most of my from-London friends were terrible about leaving their own bit of London "oh can't possibly go to a party in Greenwich, too far from Angel" so I don't know that they particularly took advantage of the culture aspect to be honest. Think we have the best of both worlds having friends and family to visit there regularly, but living in a large Northern city so cheaper property. There's not lots I could do in London that I can't do here, although obviously London is better for gigs and I do miss that about living there.

Because I wouldn’t to be stuck somewhere like NE Wales 🙄

If you were born there and your family has lived there for generations then why would you tolerate random non-London people making incorrect and offensive remarks about your home city?

Most art galleries and museums are free, though the special exhibitions aren’t and can be pricey, but, yes, I go all the time. My income isn’t large but there are lots of free events all over the city year round, concerts in churches, events in parks, there’s always something to do. I was looking yesterday at events in bookshops and found some talks by authors I like and I signed up to for £8 and that includes a glass of wine. The point being there is a lot of choice. You don’t get one author a month or one exhibition a month but dozens. That’s the beauty of London for me. A lot of it depends on your interests. Some people don’t do any of these things but it is there if you want it for not very much money.

Every weekend?

We go to museums most weekends. It's amazing as they are free we can nip in and out when we want - British, natural history, science, etc.
before it closed for relocation the museum of london was a staple to do with school topics - stone age, romans, fire of london

and before people think I am forcing the kids they want to do it... kid1 can go into shut down from going to the shops or a new activity but asks to go to the museums

Horses for courses, I guess

I went to school near there, couldn’t get away fast enough. I’d lived somewhere less deprived before, and Wrexham came as a shock. I mean, it’s not Connor’s Quay, but it’s not nice. Shite public transport as well, and bugger all for young people to do. I am back in the county regularly for extended family, but I’m glad I moved to where I did for raising my children.

With regards to the benefits of London specifically-
I have Turkish relatives. When redundancy meant they had to leave Stoke Newington they were unhappy for years, cut off from the vibrant Turkish community they’d been part of, and had racist insults shouted at their children in the new school. They’d go back in a heartbeat if they could afford it.

Also all this tight knit local communities stuff outside of London is a bit often over stated. If you are an outsider it is tough in these small places, my parents in law moved to Scotland, and although FIL who is from there was instantly accepted. Poor MIL had an awful time and was never accepted despite doing loads of voluntary work and making a huge effort. She would invite people over and they didn't reciprocate. It was nasty and insular.

Lots of people move when they have kids for this very reason.

Those that don’t it’s often because they are in a sector where there is more work here than anywhere else, or more opportunities to move a career up.

Or all friends and family are here, and obviously if you are from a minority and don’t want to live in a very white area your options are limited.

Also kids are only little for a short time, once childcare is out of the way if it’s just about dealing with a smaller house, you can get used to that.

There are a lot of positives to living in a world centre of art and commerce, transport links are good, lots of stuff is free. If you are in a half decent area it’s a great place for teens.

Even if one half of a couple is happy to move, the other might be very emotionally attached to London.

I could imagine living in a smaller city (wouldn’t because of work) but I couldn’t stand a small town or the countryside - I grew up somewhere rural and I love to visit, but god I would be bored if I lived there.

Your London costs are really accurate

but earning power can be higher than double your salary which is a pull for many

but in our case we work in London because our jobs only exist in London (finance and law related)

with kids we have moved to suburbia with quick access to what seems like the whole world on our doorstop but wr have a bigger house and garden so it does seem like a good medium position

also our friends and family are local which is lovely

also in Greater London people don’t always live like goldfish - there are large houses and plots the more you go out towards the m25

but for me as Samuel pepys once said - to tire of London is to tire of life

Because it’s one of the best cities in the world. It attracts some of the best arts and culture anywhere, the restaurants are interesting and there’s always new ones to try. The music scene is fantastic. There is a greater range of job opportunities. Need I go on? I’ve lived all over the UK but nowhere is as interesting or as vibrant as London.

I grew up on the Welsh border and live in London because my industry is based here (and nowhere else in the UK). My kids were born here and our friends and community is here. I won't be moving until they are adults because this is our life and the schools in my part of London are brilliant.

London has its positives and negatives - while there is more multiculturalism I think London is incredibly class-conscious compared to other places. School cliques are defined more by money and social background than race/religion. Londoners definitely like to segment you into what type of person you are - to make sure their tribe is the right kind of people - in my experience. I think my sisters living in small towns have much more diverse groups of friends.

These threads would be more interesting if people looked at where they lived and acknowledged there's pros and cons everywhere and it all depends on your personal experiences and circumstances. Rather than "London is a shithole" / "North Wales is a cultural wasteland". I've lived in the home counties, in big cities in the north, in smaller cities and in London. All of them have their pros and cons. I love Wales and would love to live there if the moment was right (though west Wales, not north!).

Every time I go to London I leave feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, broke, dirty and grateful to be sitting on a train putting miles between me and it. No number of museums, theatres and nice restaurants could tempt me to move there: utterly grim. I can access the "good" things on the odd occasions I want to by catching a train (1hr40mins). The rest of the time, give me my fields, open spaces, clean air, nice people, good pubs, simple transport and parking, affordable housing, good employment prospects .... London. No thanks!

I’m 52, lived here in SE London all my life. Mortgage is around £10,000 PA. Family, friends and work keep me here. We loved the free things to do when the kids were growing up. My teens are musical buffs so love the London Theatre. When I visit elsewhere in the uk I don’t find it any cheaper, in fact I find transport more expensive (buses) when I visit family up north. I love the peaceful dog walks in local parks, river banks and woods.
love that I can get to London Victoria in 17 min on the train. I think it depends when you got on the property ladder, your lifestyle and work but all my friends are working class people like us getting along just fine (except of course for the now COL).

My DH is Welsh and I love visiting his family, they live in an absolutely stunning place, it's beautiful but have to say I've never been overly welcomed (aside from his family who i get on well with). Its very small community minded and I definitely have been treated like an outsider, did gain some respect though when they learnt I can speak a fair bit of Welsh! I don't really blame people for being frustrated by people from outside Wales snapping up holiday homes though, it does ruin communities and makes it harder/impossible for young people to buy places. There's lots of info and insight into this online, lots spoke candidly about it after Dr Alex but 4 holiday homes there. Not that I'm condoning setting fire to them...

I don't relate to the idea of needing a huge six figure salary to live in London.

see below

We live in zone 3. Our mortgage is about £500 a month. Our house isn't worth millions. It's prob worth 450-500k.

What 500k house would have a mortgage of £500 if you were buying today?

You mean the setting fire to holiday cottages…

Apparently some but not all Welsh people didn’t like the fact that some English people bought holiday cottages in Wales (north).

I couldn't really live anywhere but London (or a very similar city). I grew up in Norfolk and moved to London in my mid twenties.

I love the culture and just how much there is of it. Yes, other UK towns and cities have art galleries, bars and restaurants, but they all seem to shut early, and the lack of surrounding competition means the bar for quality is (often but not always) set much lower. In London, I feel like I'll never have "done" it all, and that's so liberating.

I love how people feel more comfortable striking up conversation with strangers here, but at the same time there's a culture of "leaving people alone" if they're doing their own thing. I love seeing people using London's public parks to exercise alone, or start a tightrope walking club, or just sit and read - back where I'm from, they'd have people yelling insults at them for daring to be there.

I also love how age culture seems totally different - In London you're considered practically an adolescent in your thirties!

I mean no disrespect to people who live elsewhere, but I feel like living in London makes you a different kind of adult. I think people who've had to tackle London life are just that little bit more clued-up, resilient and self-reliant. When I go to smaller cities in the UK, I just feel so slowed down and frustrated.

I hope this doesn't sound like I'm being a London snob - I did a good 25 years outside of London so any criticisms I have of those places (there are plenty of nice things about them too) are from bitter experience!