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 sure really. Friends in London aren't able to experience the amazing experiences as they can't afford it. I have a much more 'cosmopolitan'experience living in Leeds

Same would be true for someone struggling with money in Leeds though surely. London is more expensive to live, but it's not the case that most people can't afford to do anything (lots are free anyway) any moreso really than elsewhere. I didn't have a tonne of spare money but we had an absolutely blast, always plenty to do even just before payday when living off of pennies.

Ahhh I miss London!

I used to work behind Buckingham palace and could watch the royal helicopters take off.

Because the cost of living here is so high that it's impossible to build up savings for a deposit. And then because most of your income goes on rent, council tax, insurance and travel, your credit is shit. It's too expensive to live here, but it's too expensive to leave.

Pay is London weighted and my borough has the second lowest council tax in the country. Saving for property is a fucker though, but prices are in line with the rest of the SE.

@bibbybox you seem obsessed with the issue of owning and/or driving a car in London. As I am sure you know, it is allowed as long as you pay,

You want one, I don't. Those people who want to drive a car in London will probably have to pay for the privilege and I won't. That is their business and nothing to do with me.

I am fully in favour of that for many reasons - chiefly my lungs and being able to cross the road and having a cat who I'd like to be able to cross the road without being squashed too. And I care a bit about other people who are not my pets who want to be able to breathe and cross the road safely too.

You can tell me why you think it is a bad idea but I am unlikely to agree. If he wants to stand I am going to vote for Sadiq Khan again.

Cities like London need to phase out private car use

I have very recently left London (zone 4 so not central). I miss is it terribly and I don't really know why. I loved being so close to it, to have the option of all the restaurants and culture and theatre etc, but in reality, I never went to any of it.
Once we had kids we tended to visit local parks, local cinema and they have sports clubs and friends locally.
Our local area was more of a town in itself and didn't really have the London vibe everyone is referring to, so we were paying high prices to live in a part of London that felt quite soulless. We moved to another very liberal city, but I can't help feeling waves of nostalgia and regret that I'm so far away. I'm not part of that bubble anymore.

Love London… could I ask - all those people saying they live in City of London etc. Are you renting or did you buy?

I went to uni in Brighton and lived in London briefly afterwards but then got married and moved (very far!) out. I wouldn’t choose to raise children there just down to lack of space, crime etc, it’s probably different if you are extremely well off.

My brother lives in East London because he earns more there than he would in our home city which is true. But he can’t afford to buy, can’t drive and is suspended in what seems to me like a perpetual 25 year old lifestyle even though he’s almost 40 which he is a bit sensitive about sometimes although other times he seems to view London as the centre of the universe. It’s not for me but others seem to like it. Difference makes the world go round.

All the people saying ‘but you can’t drive in London!’ should realise that for a lot of us that’s a very definite positive. Agree with previous posters that private car ownership should gradually be phased out in London.

During / after covid me and DH thought we wanted to move out of London. Couldn’t work out why we couldn’t find somewhere we could commit to. The rest of the UK is simply nothing like London, and no it’s not the same as travelling in for the day to attend an event. It’s in your bones. And totally agree it’s where all the interesting people are. We stayed thank god.

There are interesting people everywhere. I have never understood why people have to pigeon hole everyone. I've lived all over, cities, rural, coast and they all have pros and cons. It's arrogant to think one way of life is superior to all others.

I rent! Christ, my flat is worth more than a ten bedroom detached mansion in my last home town (should there be one) 🤣

Me? I love the place. I might have said Dagenham isn't very nice, but it isn't.

I live in South London and have spent most of my working life in central London, the majority of my friends live in East London and I go to mile end several times a week after working in bermondsey.

I wasn't born here though, or even the UK, but it's my home and I wouldn't really entertain living somewhere more quiet or with less on offer

It's not a question of superior it's just what suits you. I can tell you what doesn't appeal about living rurally, it's not a criticism of those that do enjoy it.

People can live up a tree for all I care

I rent! Christ, my flat is worth more than a ten bedroom detached mansion in my last home town (should there be one) 🤣

What's your house like? I'm picturing one of those tucked away brick houses with the sash windows, behind a super modern office! Your description of life sounds fab.

My only worry would be pollution but it's so unusual to live in the City of London, it's worth it for the experience definitely

Well you said flat, but you know what I mean! @SocksAndTheCity

Actually it's in a conversion of an old building on one of the small medieval streets (although not that old, since I'm close enough to Pudding Lane that most of it burned down in the biggest of the many fires). The flat is modern, but nothing else is .

The City corporation has made traffic so pointedly unwelcome that there isn't really much pollution either. But it's a bubble; there's no doubt about it.

It's great fun in your 20s, but it's not great once you've got kids IMO unless you're very well off and can afford a home in a leafy borough with less air pollution and can send your DC to private school.

The work-life balance is tougher there because of the length of most people's commute.

However, I know some folk who love it there, with kids, so it's different strokes for different folks, really.

I love North Wales. Maybe you went at the wrong time.

It's 10pm and I'm just about to walk to the shop to get some milk and return some parcels. I feel safe. I regularly travel around late at night/early morning. There are areas I will avoid, but on the whole I feel much safer in London than the town I'm from or the countryside.

I had a lovely time in leafy north London and my kids went to excellent state schools. Sorry to ruin your picture.

Kvothebloodless, I would have thought if you lived in London, the commute is not bad at all