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 forgot about how much I love the Congestion Charge and ULEZ but that's because I don't have a car and don't need one. I'm sure it is a burden on people who want to drive in from outside but so is the presence of their vehicles and exhaust fumes where I'm breathing or trying to cross the road where I live.

Well, for me personally:

Diverse and multicultural (I grew up in rural Yorkshire - beautiful but racist, conservative and very monocultural, I'm so pleased to not raise DS there).
DS attends an outstanding state secondary school
Massive park on our doorstep
Incredible arts and theatre shows
Good group of local friends
Better/more work opportunities for me and DH
Amazing neighbourhood restaurants and cafes
7 mins walk to the tube
Don't have to drive anywhere
Commute to work under 30 mins for both of us

We even live in a 2 bed flat 😱but for us pros of living in London WAY outweigh the cons.

I think it's easy not to have a car in London. I'd hate to be driving everywhere I wanted to go. The car lifestyle just isn't for me.

Despite the perception, people are friendly. Helpful. We help people carry buggies up steps. We are happy to offer directions to list visitors. Everywhere I have lived I have known my neighbours and there has been a strong sense of community.

I always found this perception odd. I’ve been in London countless times and have only had one instance in a decade where someone was quite rude. People offered me a seat on the tube when I was pregnant, have small talk at markets with different people and when visiting museums or events. I’ve definitely felt that sense of community and warmth visiting different neighbourhoods and if we could afford to and found a good specialist school for our oldest, I’d move in a heartbeat.

The majority of my salary goes on nursery fees but as someone mentioned upthread Art, culture and education, job and social opportunities keep me here.

Excellent @Iwantmyoldnameback Please tell everyone you know this. You'll be doing the younger locals, who are really struggling to get on the housing ladder due to tourism a big favour.

Live in zone 1 and thrive on the constant activity around me. Tried villages, hamlets, market towns and suburbia, this is definitely the best fit for me.
I also work in the field of social care, having so many wonderful resources for support available enables better outcomes for the people I work with.

While I am sure it has much going for it, I wouldn't choose to live in North Wales. London is one of the world's great cities. It's why people gravitate towards it, if only for a few years, maybe moving for family reasons. It's a tremendous place to live.

Because they like it. For the same reason other folk live in the middle of nowhere with a pack of dogs for company and no shops.

Rural Wales isn’t the only place in the UK where excessive holiday home ownership is causing a problem - but people seem to have more of a downer on Wales than anywhere else!

So true. I regularly see kids on buses from my grandparents’ and parents’ schools, my grandmother was born a mile away, my parents met 20 mins away. It does ground you.

That's how I justified moving out of London.

Big Mistake & now can't afford to buy in London.

it's just NIT the same travelling into London to do something specific as it is walking out your front door & London being THERE, alive, vibrant... always, always something going on, or a walk along the Thames, the architecture, life!!

I wish I'd just bought the shoebox flat in London instead.

@Mangomingo I live close to Snowdonia and work remotely. A lot of people here work in public services. Health and care professionals, Welsh Water, Natural Resources Wales, Local Councils, and tourism. Everybody think it's cheap to go out by it isn't. Cafe prices here are as high, if not higher sometimes than the very centre of London.

The people bashing London really need to travel to other European capital cities in order to understand why they should be proud of having London as a capital city regardless of where they live. Very rarely will you find such racial tolerance, cheap transport, reasonable and varied food, free museums and cultural activities and so many great parks.

So I guess the ignorance is mutual?

This is spot on.

I have had a foot in both camps, and prefer the quieter rural life. I love visiting cities and going to art galleries, museums etc, but I also like to be able to potter in my garden in the warmer weather.

During last summer's heatwaves I was glad that I had some shady outside space to sit in (and an air conditioned car). We also didn't get the extremes of temperatures due to the heat island effect.

Personally - we love it. I've lived here since I was 21, more than 20 years, so can't imagine living anywhere else. Both our families live pretty far away with no prospects to do our specific jobs so no draw there. The kids love it too.

Great state schools, brilliant teachers
Diversity of culture, experience, food, people
Where we are, lots of nice parks, green spaces and sports facilities
We can nip to museums, theatres, gigs, whenever we like
Our jobs are here.

We are a bit older, so bought when it was cheaper. Our mortgage for a 3-bedroom house is less than 1k per month. (Zone 2/3 fringes, South)

@Londongal123 Careful....you're not allowed to say that. In the past, when I've declared my lack of enthusiasm for Sunday lunch (so plain steak and veg)....people have given me sour faces and gone quiet, as if I have personally insulted them. FFs....I'm British myself!

Me and DH moved out of London over 20 years and still regret it. We were both born in London and lived there for over 40 years. It will always be "our home".

We go back as much as we can, usually for at least 4 days but sometimes longer.

When we lived and worked there we were always visited the museums, the art galleries, the parks, the great vegetarian restaurants etc. So it's just not true that Londoners don't visit all the great things to see and do.

Rural-ish Cheshire.

Because it’s home. It’s where I was born went to school and where I have always worked. It’s where my grandparents lived and where my great grandparents immigrated to. It’s utterly multi cultural and pretty integrated and nothing can compare to the breadth of food, theatre, galleries and shops. Because in my opinion it’s the greatest city in the world and I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather my kids grow up.

It does depend where you live in London as it is basically as mass of individual little towns and villages all meshed together. I live here as I live in a London village. Everything is on my doorstep. I have shops 5 mins away, masses of green space 5 mins away. My daughter’s ballet school 5 mins away, my son’s football training 10 mins away. We have about 20 pubs within 20 mins walking Distance. I have a cinema 10 mins away and a great music venue 1-5 min bus ride away. We walk everywhere so I can easily cover 5 miles a day just doing errands. I know many of the people locally, the neighbours are very friendly. Kids walked a mile to school at primary level and now get a short train ride to secondary. They don’t have to rely on lifts anywhere but can navigate tube and buses on their own so are independent from a young age. They don’t think twice about walking 2 miles to get somewhere. I grew up outside London and I couldn’t go anywhere without may parents giving me a lift. I love the fact my kids have more freedom. But that is my part of London and it may differ from other bits.

If homeowner-londoners want a bigger house then they have a lot of options.

I used to live in London but I didn't own.

I did ''culture'' when I was younger and now I guess I want community and a bigger house. Pilates in the church hall is fine with me. Book club in the library. A friendly pub. That's all good for me. I'd still like a bigger house. It's a balance always, I wouldn't want to live anywhere further out so this small house is where I am. I could have more culture on my doorstep but from a one bed flat.

Well that’s absolute bullshit 😂

Some posters seem to feel threatened by posters who live and work in London saying they love it. These threads are always the same.

Totally agree with this!

I wrote a few replies further up the thread

Gave all the reasons why I am more than happy to continue living in London

Didn't need to slate any other city or region to justify my reasons for staying in London

Quite simply we're very happy here & it's our home!