To think I’ve missed out on an exciting life by never living in London?

[uuuuup]

Just that really. I can’t get it out of my head. I’ve lived in a large city and loved it and it makes me wonder how much I would have loved London. I’m all settled now with a child elsewhere. I feel I’ve missed out on so much?

It is pretty awesome.
You dont need money to visit all the amazing museums and galleries.
Don't need a car because public transport is v good and affordable.

I love London. Two young toddlers and despite what non Londoners say it’s a great place to live with kids. We walk everywhere locally so are always bumping into people and able to make adhoc plans. Every sunny or dry evening our little high street (2 min walk) is packed with kid and parents from the local nursery and school all having a glass of wine and a juice, standing about chatting, kids going up and down on their bikes, toddlers chalking on the ground, it’s a really lovely atmosphere.
I love that we don’t drive everyday. We have several large parks near us so a nice mix of city and outdoorsy days for the kids.
Quiet one way street so no traffic noise.
Plus less than 30 mins door to door commute to the city.

This week I have been to Lidl AND Aldi, we know how to live it up, here in London.

I have also walked through Kensington Gdns and Hyde Park, enjoying watching a family of herons close up - first time I have seen a young heron. Been to a wonderful exhibition (Free) that gave me so much to think about and lots of conversation with my older teens. Had cocktails (extravagant) and an early set menu dinner at a Michelin listed restaurant ( £25 for 2 courses - a birthday. ), been for a swim in a Lido (free with my gym membership) a walk across a common with a lake, a meeting in Brixton Village, such a buzz, off tomorrow to a W End show on cheap tickets, last weekend was at a community run festival, … most weeks are like this,

Born in London. It's shit. Unless you live in zone 1-2. Everywhere has been pretty much destroyed. It's not what it used to be.

I stuck it for a few years after uni. I'd never move back.

But I hate cities. I live in the kind of place where the the harvest starting is worthy of comment.

I’ve lived in London for twenty years and absolutely love it. Can’t imagine ever wanting to leave. If you pick the right spot, it’s a great place to live with kids - loads of free stuff to do, good schools, parks, everything in walking distance, good community and neighbourliness, great public transport and cycle routes. Makes me angry though that the price of housing is driving people out, and that landlords are massively profiting.

Genuine question from a 30 year long zone 3 dweller - what do you mean by this? What has been destroyed ?

I've lived in several capital cities and London is my favourite by a long way.

It's a fabulous city but if you aren't tempted then fine.

If you are, give it a go!

i feel like this too! Never have lived in London and slightly feel like I’ve missed out. But there’s so much to like about the city where I do live and I have so much more house and a dreamy commute.

I would love to retire to central London! Great public transport, especially if I need to stop driving. Excellent healthcare, plenty of trials should I need them. I could downsize and have something small and central. Wouldn’t matter about school catchments. I’d be retired so not rushed off my feet working and I could enjoy the stuff and watching the world go by, I’d be somewhere sexy enough for the kids to want to visit… just need to get DH on board!

The community.
The area.
The safety.
The air.
The cleanliness.
The friendliness.
The sense of belonging.
The care for other people.
Everything.
The language. Many kids today just make noises, they don't actually speak.

YABU. I lived in London for 13 years. It’s fun and you can obviously do a lot of theatre/gigs/restaurants etc - BUT - living there is SO expensive. It basically delays the development of your life as you stay living in shared housing for years, pay all your money in rent and can’t get on with buying a house or having a family.

We married at 30 but rented until 36, before buying our first home (outside of London). All while watching people I was at school with buy properties in their mid 20s. Most have traded up twice, and many have bought decent cars, camper vans, you name it.

Make an effort to go there with your DC for weekends and outings, and go more as your DC grow up, but you haven’t missed out - it’s different, not better. And I personally wouldn’t have wanted to raise DC there. You’ve not missed anything.

Not my experience.

Except for air quality. But that was always horrible.

It's a difficult question OP. I'll just share my experience.
tl;dr - it depends on how much money and free time you have really.

There's no other city like London, except for maybe New York. It's a metropolis. I still feel the buzz stepping off King's Cross. Lived there for uni and a few years after. My student life (and first job) in London was great! I was skint but made the most of everything on offer. Student discounts, daytime trips to blissfully quiet museums etc, free poetry readings, queueing up in the morning for West End day tickets for a tenner. All the little secret places.

However as I got older, it was no fun working crazy hours to get ahead, moving between shitty rentals. Met lots of new people but didn't make any lasting friendships. Most people around me were happily spending... meals out and drinks. 'Free things' often rammed and in any case, I seemed to be the only penny pincher in my social circle. Uni friends and I drifted apart, spent a lot of time commuting anyway.

I was drained by the time I left for Manchester. I intended to return to London but surprisingly found myself very happy here. Married with a home 20 mins away from the city centre by public transport, lots of friends and social events, and £££. I eat out , travel etc a lot more 'cos all my money isnt' going to a landlord.

It's what you make of it really. Things that sound great on paper may not be so in real life.

Who knows? I may return to London one day. In fact I go there for work sometimes, so did my DH. But unless I suddenly become career driven enough to afford what I have now within an easy commute... probably not. LOL. Maybe when I retire I'll sell up for a little London flat.

I have friends in London and they've not availed themselves of what it has to offer. It's just 'there'. I know what you mean though. x

I’m retired and living in outer London and absolutely love it! Mind you I am a born and bred Londoner and can’t imagine living anywhere else although I have travelled extensively.
We have free travel with our Freedom Pass and there are so many free things to do, museums, concerts, galleries, exhibitions, markets -always something to do and personally I love the diversity and believe it or not if you avoid the tourists it is very friendly!!

It’s the best place in the world to live if you earn £48K+ a year. Otherwise, not so much. I’ve lived here for decades and you never run out of things to do. There are so many green spaces, weird little museums, a huge variety of restaurants comedy, shoes, history cultural events and architecture.

I've lived in London and I loved it

I love where I am now too

You haven't missed out at all by not living there

I’ve lived in London for 28 years and I love it, I used to live in the Midlands which was pretty good but there’s just more of everything here. It’s changed a lot since I moved in, some good, some not so good but it’s still amazing. Anything you want to see or do you can which I imagine would be harder in different cities. Housing aside (which is extortionate), you can do things pretty cheaply or for free if you look around. Not necessarily top restaurants, or front row stall seats at the theatre but so much is available. Sometimes I think it might be nice to have a bit more physical space, but there are plenty of parks around. I also sometimes wonder how it would be to live by the sea and have a more relaxed pace of life, so there is also the ‘what if’

Oh I preferred Amsterdam or Prague or Lisbon by far!

The main thing I’d forgotten about- the black snot!

I cycle commute, and used to do so in London. It was only 25 mins or so but it turned my snot black! Grim blowing my nose once I got into work.

i now do roughly the same commute in Leeds and was very surprised that my snot remains a normal colour 😂

Well I haven’t lived in London, but I have visited a lot and my general impression is that London is a wonderful place to live IF, and only if, you are wealthy and move in wealthy circles.

I've lived in London for many years and I love it also. I love the people, the busy streets and the different character of the various boroughs. However, my first year here as a new professional was a hard, broke, lonely time.
Understand how you feel though. Recently I went to New York and wished I'd had time to live and work there pre kids.

I remember having a conversation with a colleague who worked in the London office when was working in a regional office.

His point was that he couldn't imagine living anywhere other than London. When asked why he said access to the theatre, museums, opera etc. I then asked how often he went to the theatre (once a year), museums (three times a year), opera (once every two years).

I then explained that on that frequency I could go on a day trip to a West End show, easily fly to Paris or Amsterdam from local airport for museum and fly to Milan for opera.

I don't agree that you need money to live in London. If you have it - there's loads to spend it on, but if you don't there is so much to do anyway. More than any other city, it is packed with free stuff and cheap stuff. Proms tickets from £8, world class art - free, loads of free talks and author events, free concerts, stunning parks, very good value food. Had dinner with DH the other day in a Japanese restaurant off St Martin's Lane - £10 each.