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 lived in London for years and loved it. Diverse , cosmopolitan, lots to do. I’d hate to live in NE Wales so it’s horses for courses. A pretty stupid question.

Me too.

^^this

Lived in London for over forty years now...been a victim of crime twice.

We were burgled when I was a teenager
Our car was broken into last year

Generally I feel pretty safe

This too. My DD x2 wouldn't want to live somewhere that wasn't diverse.

As others have stated, it’s perfectly possible to visit London, if there’s something specific you want to do, but I wouldn’t want to live in such a noisy environment ever again.

@Ireallycantthinkofagoodone did you ever try living in central London? It's quiet as the fucking grave here most of the time and I bet I have a shorter commute when visiting the specific things you mention on your visits.

I moved to a London suburb 20 odd years ago for a job, from north wales. I love London, Saturday afternoon I can go and watch a show, watch the military at the palace, chill in the park, walk along the south bank. North wales is beautiful, but depressingly dull.

I think a big reason I live here is because I'm an immigrant. And no matter how hard people protest, most of the UK outside big cities is xenophobic. I've tried living on smaller towns, but it's awful.

And I live very comfortably in London as a single parent earning much less than the £100k that apparently doesn't go far here 🤣

There is so much free culture, art, entertainment etc. Really great public transport, so no need for an expensive car. Great opportunities for DC no matter what strange thing they are interested in - there's a club nearby to cater for it!

I've thought about moving out, because I love the outdoors and active lifestyles. But the xenophobia makes it very unappealing.

Quite a lot actually!

We can be in the centre of London in less than an hour very cheaply on public transport. We regularly do museums, galleries, theatre, and we eat out a lot (great variety of restaurants). Plus local to where we live there are cinemas, cafes, quirky shops, nice parks, loads of kids activities all within a very short distance and usually walkable. My teenager loves it because she doesn’t need lifts and can meet her friends and do fun stuff without relying on us.

We do have a car because we have a lot of family and friends who live outside of London so need it when we are visiting them.

I grew up in a town in the north of England and could never go back. I just love the vibrancy of London.

The other thing that is great is travelling to other countries - Eurostar from St Pancras connects you to loads of places in Europe. The train to Paris is fantastic.

Not the poster you asked, but I feel safe, yes.

I don’t live in ‘the whole city’, though. Like anywhere else, there are nice bits, sketchy bits and places in between. I wouldn’t feel safe wandering around Newham at midnight (random example), but I have no reason to be wandering around Newham at midnight.

Tell a lie. Every weekend in the summer we get the noise of police helicopters monitoring demonstrations by people in Parliament Square, Whitehall and Hyde Park. It lasts at least 12 hours a day but just because I live here I would never be parochial enough to deny fellow citizens their right to travel from all parts of the country to protest in London at the Mother of Parliaments.

I sometimes treat them as an addition to my visits to London's centres of culture and join in. Otherwise I do what Mumsnet tells me and put in earplugs.

Ah yes. That reminds me of something I dislike about London. Helicopters hovering in the evening. Where we live it only happens once every couple of months. But I dislike the incessant droning above. Maybe it happens in other cities too, I don’t know.

If honest people told you where they’d feel more safe; it most certainly wouldn’t be London.

@Meandfour If I told you I feel very safe where I live in London and much safer than my friend who lives in Essex would you think I was not being honest?

We meet at least once a month for a film and dinner in Soho. At about 10.30pm we part on Oxford Street which is busy with people like us, taxis, buses and shop workers finishing up or dressing the windows.

She goes to Tottenham Court Road station and I go to Oxford Circus.

I walk five minutes' home from a busy station on a bus route along well lit roads lined with shops and restaurants which are closed but still have a few people in them and the final minute past houses which like mine are on the street and still have people up.

Her 10-minute walk from the station is lonelier because fewer people go out and the residential roads are dark.

She still does it, as would I if I lived there. We can't live our lives in fear. But having lived in a place like that I know what is safer on the way home late at night from the station and so would anyone else if they were being honest.

Family, both sets of grandparents being there, amazing facilities and attractions on the doorstep, great job opportunities and work experience etc for DC, better than average (and some truly exceptional state schools), some people can’t imagine living anywhere else.

We lived there 13 years, couldn’t afford to buy but also wanted to move out of London with our DS for clean air, low crime, better schools and access to countryside/coast/my family. I don’t miss it.

Great for young people starting out in careers or being able to go to the theatres and restaurants etc, but it wasn’t where we wanted to raise a family. Perhaps if we could have afforded a home of a decent size in a nice bit of the city it would have been different - but who can manage that nowadays? 😂

Ah yes. That reminds me of something I dislike about London. Helicopters hovering in the evening. Where we live it only happens once every couple of months. But I dislike the incessant droning above. Maybe it happens in other cities too, I don’t know.

@WhereIsMyRefund it's terrible. Almost enough to drive me out. But not yet. I'm so glad to have reminded you of another reason to thank the Lord for wherever it is you live now.

Coz its one of the most exciting cities in the world and you get paid well. Some people like one horse towns and green views. I do not. Work in media.

Huh I live in London and love it. But I dislike the helicopters. Is that ok?

They dont hover in the evening
They come in to land.
They only circle when there is a big event on
You dont usually hear then inside

Loads less since the queen died and the royal family moved out of Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace. Loads less police convoys as well.

I love it.
When I hear them I have a quick look at what on and decide if the dog and I are going for a little walk/protest. He has a bandana for most events.

I live in the City of London, which is probably one of the safest places on the planet when it comes to street crime. It's extremely clean and doesn't smell, and my street is so quiet that the birds in the tree outside wake me up in summer when it gets light early (although I do hear the helicopters .

l also work out in East London regularly and travel back and forth from Mile End, Poplar, Blackwall and so on at various times of the day and night - I've never been bothered and only time a stranger stopped me was because one of my earbuds had fallen out and they were giving me it back.

You seem to have a real chip on your shoulder about the place, @OneTC . Why is that?

Oh, and this weekend I'm going to my local independent cinema for the afternoon tomorrow (and will eat there too then do the food shop on the way back), and on Sunday I thought I might have a ride out to Kew, since Spring flowers are my favourite 😊

If I can't be bothered with the journey I can walk to the Tate Modern in twenty minutes and look at the cherry blossom at St Paul's on the way back.

Huh I live in London and love it. But I dislike the helicopters. Is that ok?

@WhereIsMyRefund of course it is. I am deeply sorry. There are so many London-haters on here I went on the attack. I should have checked.

The helicopters annoy me a bit but not much. In summer they are a constant topic for debate on my local NextDoor page where some people boast that they are in talks with the local Tory MP to ground the police helicopters and some people who live outside the area in a slightly less salubrious area of central London and so are deeply resentful taunt us.

It gets quite lively sometimes.

I don’t mind helicopters. They remind me of heat and summer. They’re not that often though

When I hear them I have a quick look at what on and decide if the dog and I are going for a little walk/protest. He has a bandana for most events.

@NorthernDrizzle are you my friend Jane? Nah! There's probably more than one funny little dog in London with a bandana on protests.