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.

@Tigerstotty If you talk to someone on the underground they think you are mentally ill, squirm in their seat, pretend they can't hear you by pointing at their earpods and look at the floor or put their books up to their face. The only time people were openly polite & welcoming to me and my family in London was in 2012 during the Olympics, and most of the greeters were from elsewhere!

It’s not impolite to not strike up conversation with a complete random family on the tube. They are probably just trying to make their way home from work, thinking about what to pick up from dinner and wondering if they have time to do that before or after the school run.
It seems pretty self absorbed to dislike a city because normal people there wouldn’t suddenly start taking to you while you were on holiday.

Your DC went to the ‘best London day schools’ and there were no Africans? No Nigerians? Really? What schools? As what you’re saying isn’t applicable to Westminster School, Dulwich College, St Paul’s, Godolphin & Latymer and others I could name. Westminster’s head boy is currently Black.

Also, the ‘average middle class family’ isn’t sending their kids to those schools. They can’t afford to.

London is multiple cities. Dozens, possibly hundreds. Intersections of class, race, culture and a gazillion other factors. If you somehow managed to live in a culturally homogeneous bubble for work and play, that’s no mean feat. And says rather more about you than it does about London.

The Bloom exhibition and the Roman altar would suggest the Leicester area. You know - where people are thrown off buses if they won’t talk to strangers.

What’s your point, here? That your kids are racist? Or they just didn’t have black mates? As there are black kids in those schools.

Also, I’m pretty sure that friends from the Continent, Asia and Middle East are a multicultural group? So, how does this illustrate London lacking actual multiculturalism?

And what does All of those friends however were the children of hospital consultants or successful businessmen have to do with anything, please? Is it surprising that people whose kids attend expensive schools are well off? How else are they meant to pay the fees? Why the ‘however’?

More work opportunities (including for jobs you can do anywhere like teaching)
Good public transport (no need to drive)
Free parks, museums, art galleries. Loads of interesting history everywhere.
A wide variety of good quality international food. In walking distance I have an Italian bakery, Japanese bakery, an English bakery, loads of great indi coffee shops, several Italian restaurants, Sri Lankan, North Indian, keralan & Nepalese restaurants, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese & Korean restaurants, loads of decent chains (like wagamama, nandos etc), around 10 decent pubs.
I'm not that keen on it but family like the theatre. There are great opportunities for the kids.
It is expensive and frustratingly packed at times, and there is more worry about crime but I do love it here.

@AlmostaMamma our dc are 28 and 24 now. I am not going to put the schools' names here but can assure it was the case at the time but I am.soeaking for 15byears ago, not now. There was one mixed race lad in DS's year and he was sick of being photographed for the brochure. One girl in dd's year.

I do agree that London is a collection of villages and cities. However I don't recall The Hurlingham Club as particularly multicultural, or the RoH or Colliseum although I grant you the performers are more diverse now.

To all the rabidly anti-London folk - you know we’re not asking you to live here, right? We like it here, but we’re cool with you living wherever you like. The vituperative comments are wholly unnecessary. 😂

I don’t see why you won’t share the schools, it’s hardly outing. But, alright. And I can’t speak for 15 years ago - but, tbh, the relative diversity of schools a decade and a half ago has zero bearing on Londoners’ current lived reality.

The Hurlingham Club has absolutely nothing to do with the reality of the average middle class family referenced in your comment. It’s a small club, with a few thousand members, where Jeffrey Archer can be racist in peace. Lots of different demographics have different social clubs. And? What does that have to do with the topic at hand?

And how can theatres and opera houses not be multicultural? If you’re referring to attendance, both of those draw mixed crowds. Ditto if you’re referring to performers.

No you're self absorbed to think I would talk to you on the underground unless I needed help in some way - jeeze. But to ignore an emergency, point at your earpods, put you're book to your face. Not one person in the whole carriage? We were not on holiday, we were visiting for the day.

Yes, I'm fine, are you?

What sort of emergency?

@WalkingOnTheCracks - ha- I'm with you!! I don't live in London now but certainly would be happy to do so again- within certain parameters.I don't get the hate, unless it's people who've never lived there, have only ever lived in crappier bits or been on day trips and only hung about the west end etc !

London is worth every penny and more to me. It's an international city, and one that has a living history going back to Roman times.

The diversity of people, creativity of ideas and culture are unbeatable. The people are mostly progressive, open-minded, educated and erudite. It's like the polar opposite of narrow minded.

The place crackles with energy and positivity, and is always improving. It's full of opportunities to have new experiences, both at work and leisure. And you can never run out of places to go. My husband and I go into London every weekend and by the time we revisit anywhere it's usually changed. It's a whirlwind of colour, style and ideas. Every district has its own architectural style.

My kids have grown up surrounded by people from all over the world, bringing their varied cultures, which usually have some favourable aspects to add to ours (all different but some examples: work ethic, liking of science, study discipline, kindness, public service ethic, spirituality).

They are well rounded, open minded, progressive. They have never had to put up with racism or homophobia, or judgement of people with disabilities or neurodiversity. I'm actually scared by some of the narrow minded stuff I hear from family in the Shires.

We have relatives and friends all over the UK, and I love this country, but for me the best of it is in London. It really depends what floats your boat.

@AlmostaMamma

That’s nice; thank you. You’d love it here. We don’t just have fallen trees...

I’m sure I would. By the sounds of it, you’ve got rather lovely people!

Because I was born here, and this is where my family is.
Because my kids dad is here.
Because my career is here.
Because I felt it was (then) the best place to raise mixed race kids as a lesbian mother.
Because it's where my friends are.
Because my eyesight isn't good enough to drive, and in London I don't need to.
Because I don't have money to give my kids, but a home in London may be a real asset when they start their own careers.

I'm not set against moving out, though. Will probably consider it once the kids are launched.

Oh, and in answer to pp: I live in zone 6 and am a single mum of 2. I definitely don't need to drive.

I love London, I live in social housing so rent is affordable, there are many others like me who don’t pay crazy prices for housing. I’ve been here for a while, I know it’s much harder now to get social housing in London but for those of us who have it, there is no reason to leave.

I’d like to be able to afford living in London.
However you have to be extremely rich or on benefits.
it’s really a sad city everyone is busy.
Overall I enjoy visits but can’t say the people are friendly.
I don’t think in London there should be benefits, Local Authority or Social Housing. If you can’t afford to stay there then don’t.
Id like to live there but it’s not in my budget. So I’ve had to a nicer affordable town. I’d like a Rolls Royce but I can’t afford that either.

Because Brits are travel phobic and some people prefer the big city buzz to having space or clean air.

I know people in European countries who would consider a 4 hour commute into their capital cities for work as 'reasonable' or who would regularly travel 12+ hours via train to see family and friends. Here anything over 30 mins to work is seen as a long commute or over 2 hours for family seen as a long journey, so I guess people value time differently here.

I lived and worked in London until a few years ago and enjoyed the night life, culture etc..., but I lived in an affordable way as was saving for a house. Now living in a 4 bed detached house with a large garden for £15k-£18k mortgage a year (depending on inflation) and can get to London 40mins to 1 hour by train. Cleaner air, more space, better work life balance so it was a no brainer. For the same amount in London I'd be stuck living in a shoe box in a smoggy-aired city!

I personally consider this having the best of both worlds, but different strokes for different folks I guess...

Entertaining thread!

i am amused by the comments about access to shops after 5pm though. As if they only exist in London!

Also ‘outside of London’ can mean anything from a rural village to large Northern city.

Because we like it?
My whole family is me and teenage DD so we have no childcare costs and do not need a lot of space, - we have a one bed flat and it is affordable on my one salary and fits us perfectly.
(Mostly because we both hate housework and its easy to keep a small place clean).

We both like cities- so would always choose that over someone suburban or rural. Thats just personal preference- I could work anywhere.

I like that dd can manage her own social life- she doesn't need me to drive her to friends and her school was two tube stops away so she could either use it or walk l. She found a part time job quickly, and again its close to our flat.

We have lived in different places over the uk, and I don't think london is a better place to live than most others in the uk, but you have to live somewhere and it had more positives than negatives.

I'm with you on this. I am London born and bred. Was there for 40 years. Moved out as needed to buy a home. The town I now live in there is lots of prejudice and narrow-mindedness.
Not all places outside London are like this. I was 5 years in Brighton and loved it. But basically I loved London for people's creativity, chutzpah and education. As those are my values too.

You are, what another described quite eloquently as ‘rabidly anti-London’. But as she also pointed out, we’re not trying to get you to live here, we don’t really care where you want to live. But we were asked why we live here.

You seem extremely angered and threatened by those of us who do, though. For some reason.

Am 60. Weekends away if I need a change. Have an secure tenancy. Tried buying back in the late 80s, run down small one bed, 85k in a then dodgy part of hackney. Mortgage held back 30%til work done couldn't afford it. After 3 children definitely thought about moving out, so glad we didn't, so they travelled out to better secondary schools. All adult kids love it here too but unlikely to be able to buy. Saying that, my 21year old (on £40k)can get into covent garden in 9mins. Of course there are big down sides, stabbings etc. Muggings are high. The grass is never greener, anywhere, even if it looks like it is. Suits us now, day at a time.