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 don't go to galleries or theatres or gigs every day no, but every day off I have at least part of it is spent walking or cycling round bits of London I don't know very well, eating somewhere I've never eaten before and I love looking at historical photos archives (particularly of old cinemas) and then going and finding the places and looking at how they've changed. You can do the last one anywhere but you can obviously do it lots more where there's lots more buildings

I'm in zone three... I rarely visit central London. I generally go in school holidays when I might take my kids somewhere but not always. We go out locally to eat out.

It's a fucking stupid question no?

Ooh what is it about that city of millions of people that could possibly be exciting, 500 posts into a thread explaining what's great about London 😅

Oh come on, seriously. You don't even have to like London to acknowledge that it has more cultural institutions than elsewhere which would close down if they were of absolutely no interest to at least some of it's residents. i use them a lot - not everyday but several times a week. DCs have annual memberships to some of them.There is a lot going on. I am obviously not interested in all of it nor could I even manage to get round all of it but it's there, makes more interesting conversation. For those who don't like it, we also have the largest number of airports from which to escape so a lot of the rest of the world is much more easy to access from here too.

I know people (not originally British) who say they could ''never go outside M25'' or ''north of Watford'' but Heathrow and Gatwick are another matter!

My job. My husband’s job. Most of our friends. Nurseries, primary schools, parks, playgrounds, GP, dentist, optician, hairdresser, pharmacy, supermarket, children’s swimming, ballet, tennis, music, and nursery friends all within ten minutes’ walk. Very good hospital 20 minutes away. Lots of great walks within 30 minutes’ drive.

For me, I love living here. DH is from here and his parents live 5 mins from us. I grew up in the countryside and was desperate to leave. As a parent I can now see how nice a town it is, as a teenager I was bored!

I meet up with friends (not the same ones)after work about once or twice a week and we generally try out a new restaurant/bar, go see a play/exhibition or pop to a gig or something. On weekends, DH and I will ‘do a thing’, as we call it. Sometimes by ourselves, sometimes with friends. So, I’m generally doing something interesting two or three times a week.

Currently expecting our first, but looking Af our friends with kids, things don’t seem to have massively changed with their lives re meeting up during the week (they just schedule stuff and take it in turns) and the weekends just now feature kids as well.

Basically do the same things as people living all over the UK then.

I’ve lived here 21 years now. Moved when I was 23 and my heart skips a beat every time I pull into the station and see at Paul’s or Big Ben or London Bridge. I feel so so lucky to live here. My kids are so lucky. They have everything within 20 minutes of their house. We did move here for careers - husband architect, me in the media so it’s kind of a hub for that sort of thing. Every so often I’ve had that ‘should we move back to wales’ question enter my head but then I look at my nieces and nephews and how they react when they visit and see a big group of black or Asian kids walk towards them or how they snigger when they see a same sex couple being affectionate in public and I thank the lord my kids are being brought up in a cosmopolitan melting pot of a city. *disclaimer before I’m shot to say I don’t think everyone outside of London is a bigoted racist - but I’ve seen enough of it where I’m from to know it goes on. I bloody love London!

Just with more choices, like everyone is explaining

I quite like countryside to look at but I couldn't live in the countryside because I hate driving on those fast moving winding narrow country roads. There's lots of greenery in London to enjoy. So many huge parks. My ultimate dream would be to live near the sea. I'd feel so excited to be able to see the sea every day.

We managed to do art galleries, museums -science and otherwise - historical sites - castles, houses, places - theaters and visit London for some of the big sites. Almost certainly more variety than if we'd been based in London whole time rather than moving around the UK.

I do think London has a lot to offer and if you have enough money fantastic place to live but some of the comments about the rest of the UK do appear to be incredibly ignorant.

There's an intangible, centre-of-the-world quality to living in London that you don't really get anywhere else in the UK. In some ways it's an indictment of how unequal the country is, but there's no denying it feels like a global city.

Is it worth the enormous house prices all other things being equal? Almost certainly not. But it's probably a part of why a lot of people like it.

We went to the British Museum yesterday...

Son did a school trip to the science museum last week.

We went to the Bank of England museum last strike day.

At least once a month we do a trip up into central London to do something. It's so easy from us.

I'll admit we don't do much theatre at the moment.

More choices, better quality and diversity of choices. More international influence. Higher expectations.

There's lots to love about smaller UK towns and cities but, gosh, people are needlessly defensive if you mention that London just might have more/better stuff.

I can't talk, though, I was the same when I lived in Norwich. I used to tell people that it was "Like London, but there's only one of everything. What more do I need?". Oh, the lies we tell ourselves...

And of course it never rains in London and the people are all so polite.

@tywyll I do think London has a lot to offer and if you have enough money fantastic place to live but some of the comments about the rest of the UK do appear to be incredibly ignorant.

Can you give some examples? There are posters who grew up elsewhere and prefer London for xyz reason. Or posters who grew up in London, moved away, and moved back as they preferred London. Or didn’t move back and still miss it.

Aren’t people entitled to their experiences and reasons for liking/disliking places even if you don’t agree?

Why so you think it’s ok to label Londoners “ignorant”? I don’t see ignorance I see difference of opinion. Londoners would be lambasted if they labelled non-Londoners “ignorant” for comments about London they didn’t agree with.

Before you get your heckles up because you think mean nasty London types are calling your village "racist"...

... actually go back and read what posters from BAME backgrounds have written here about their lived experiences and worries. It might not be comfortable to confront experiences like that, but it's certainly a useful perspective and not one that should be brushed aside.

Because it's one of the most diverse and exciting cities in the world, with endless opportunities and cultural and sporting events. I wish I could afford to retire there, but sadly won't be happening!

Just like Manchester.....

We have friends who live in London. We live in the midlands, where we live is very multicultural, good for getting to other places and close to the countryside.

However, the shops are terrible (even in the nearby cities), and whilst there is culture and some nice places to eat, definitely not like in London. There’s not as much going on and although when they come and visit us they love all the space and how quiet it is, I honestly think they’d be really bored if they moved here.

Its not as easy to find well paid work in my field up here, but I’d be spoilt for choice in London and have the opportunity to work on lots of interesting things.

There are upsides and downsides to wherever you live. It’s not glam but on balance I have strong ties to the area I live in, love the proximity to the countryside and that’s what makes me happy. They compromise on space and quiet but the amenities, culture and food are much better.

Its all relative I guess!

@Mirabai - I'm not sure what you want - you can read the thread just as well as me and comments about fields and cultural backwaters about non London abound.

No where have I said people can't enjoy living in London or that it doesn't have it charm.

Why so you think it’s ok to label Londoners “ignorant”

I HAVE NOT DONE THIS.

I've said some of the comments people have made about places in UK outside London are very ignorant.

I have not labeled Londoners as anything - as IME they vary hugely - so wouldn't make such a generalisation.

I honestly can't work out if your reading comprehension really is this poor or you are deliberately misunderstanding because you desire some kind of fight.

jfc