To want to leave London

[CactusMactus]

Just that really?
Would I be so unreasonable to want to leave London even though DP's office is central London?
I WFH.
School aged kids... have no idea where we would go!

Left London for the coast and never regretted. There are obvious benefits, but what stands out the most to me is how everything from getting nails done to car valet is almost half the cost. Nicest cocktails in our area (with literal gold leaf) are £13, happy hour two for £8. Last time we went to London for a show it was £20 per cocktail, eek!

Sorry, the above post was a quote fail.

I meant to respond to the OP saying:

We both have driving licences. I don't love driving though...

I should have also said, most of my friends have moved out of London. We have local friends in our area but everyone I grew up with / went to college with have scattered in all directions!
Brighton, Bristol, Wales, Cornwall, Oxford.... Only DP's single-no-kids-mates are still in London.

I think it depends which part. Where we live in N London just outside zone 2 feels very safe. It’s not super posh or very poor which is probably the best balance. Friends who live in wealthy areas like Primrose Hill and Hampstead experience more burglaries.

We lived in London for 20 years (zone 3, nice enough area with great primaries, however no real secondary options).

We decided to make a big move north when DC were in reception and nursery, but many of our friends moved out to more affordable areas with easy access to London. There's a group on Facebook called Life after London which has lots of ideas.

I think living in London if you don’t love it must be tough. The cost, the crowds etc. I absolutely adore it here, as do my kids. So we can cope with the negatives. Everyone will have their own pros/cons list and it’s very personal.

Okay so you've got lots of examples of how it's been done and where to potentially move where you'll know someone. Have you visited any of them? Caught up on how they're feeling? As they've all moved, have you and DH discussed doing the same?

I grew up in Islington in the 90's and it was chaos. Muggings, burglaries, drugs on the street. Rich kids in £5m houses selling drugs to kids on the estates and then being robbed... lots of guns and gangs. Whole areas you didn't walk through....

Visited all of them. They all love the move and rave about how they would never come back! (but is that because they can't???)

Lived in Z2 & Z3 London 30+ years, we adored the place and still do, but in our mid 50s we were fed up with the general ASB/dickheadeness that we used to find sort of edgy and 'Londony'. Got a nice shock when the house got valued, sold up and moved to very pleasant small town up North.

Loving it. Don't miss London at all.

Where does your dh have to commute to and what would your budget be?

Do you still live where you grew up

DH commutes to Tottenham Court Rd. Budget £800k - need 4 bedrooms.

Where I live in Essex we have a lot of incoming Londoners. Probably be invaded by more now they got the Elizabeth line going as far as Shenfield

No, we moved to a more suburban area when the kids were little.

I did think about Essex - I feel like it's a bit under discovered! When ever we drive though we're always surprised how green Essex is...

Don't go to Brighton. It's London on Sea but with weirder, more self absorbed people. Almost as expensive, filthy, druggy, dodgy, noisy, anti-social behaviour a problem, and it's heaving. You can't park anywhere. The shops are shit unless you are a tourist, the council is shit, the beach is shit.

Oxford is not much better but at least they aren't quite so obsessed with gender identity and trans ideology as they are in Brighton. Their school system is practically run like a cult. Cambridge is truly lovely but eye wateringly expensive considering how far from London it is.

I'm not sure the only way is Essex cast and crew would agree its undiscovered

You could live happily in Brighton without a car

I don't fancy Brighton (no offence Brighton folks)...
Maybe I should watch "The only way is Essex"?

Just don't lol. I live about 3 miles from Brentwood and sick of the shite stereotypes that program has caused

We moved from zone 3 out to East Kent. Office is central, near King's Cross. My commute, door to door, is aboit 75 mules compared to the 10 miles it ised to be. It is more expensive than it was but takes the same amount of time. Totally worth it.

Essex is absolutely lovely and very civilised, much to the surprise of many people who've only ever been to Lakeside and know the reputation of the dodgier parts of places like Grays and Basildon. It's a very, very underrated county. But like anywhere, there are some areas better than others.

You can buy 4 bed houses for £800k in London. We're zone 5 in a large 4 bed semi with a huge garden worth roughly £800k. Fast trains to Euston take 14 minutes and to Marylebone 11 minutes. Within a 15 minute walk we have 5 different train lines to choose from. Crime rate is 2nd lowest in London. Good schools and plenty of green space around.
Because you've always lived in London you might actually find it difficult to adjust to a small town. I would be very cautious and it could be nigh on impossible to move back to the city once you've left.
I moved to London in the 80s for university, from a very rural part of East Anglia and I certainly wouldn't go back. I would possibly consider Cambridge or Norwich but that would be it.

And I also want to point out that the vast majority of Essex and the people in it are NOTHING like TOWIE.