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?

The food choice is a main plus for me. We love eating out. That’s the one thing I struggle with when I visit other fantastic parts of the country. Maybe we are just greedy pigs ;-)

I studied and lived in London for 10 years - Streatham, Brixton, West Norwood, Ealing. There were good sides, the ethnically diverse community and the fact I could get just about any nationality food within 5 miles. And the job opportunities.

But it was dirty, crowded, expensive, noisy and had a much darker side. I made very few friends and was glad to leave. If you've already lived in a large city in the UK, I doubt you've missed out on much.

I sort of get what you mean, I moved to London almost by accident in my early 20s. When I was child free, living centrally with my best friend it was amazing to just be able to do what we wanted when we wanted. We lived like that in summer 2012 and wow, what a time to be in London with the Olympics and the Jubilee!! 10 years on I'm in a 4 bed, married with a child in zone 6 in a beautiful part of SW London but commute into London for work a couple of times a week and yeah, I can see that now we have a ridiculously small house for it's value and we'd be much better off moving north to where our families are from, but I also want my son to benefit from being in London when he's older particularly in terms of ease of transport, not needing to rent if he wants to do an unpaid/low paid internship etc and finding it normal that we can go to major cultural/sporting events easily, as it was always a major expensive operation to do that from where I grew up. I've always said that I'd quite like to move more centrally again once he's flown the nest and we are retired as it'd be good to have instant access to everything as a retiree, but we will see.

In fairness, south London is a hole.

But London north of the Thames is nirvana and people shouldn’t disrespect it.

@FinalCeleryScheme that's funny because Dulwich Village is in the dreaded South London and that's a very very posh area.

@TheYearOfSmallThings my parents were attracted to that part of London because it was what they could afford. I haven’t said all change is bad, I just think it’s not a good thing that areas are less diverse and families in social housing are being forced out of London. Some people do think that’s a good thing though.

@FinalCeleryScheme

I have lived in South London for over 25 years. How much time have you spent there?

What can you tell me about Brixton Market or the Great North Wood or the Horniman Museum or Borough Market.

Thought not. You are talking out of your arse.

And as a near life long South Londoner I am really tired of listening to this sort of ignorance.

I lived in London for a few years but did every little of the cultural stuff - the cost of living was high, and there was literally no money left for theatre and concert tickets (which are eye-wateringly expensive) or eating out. There were lots of positives - the great public transport, the beautiful buildings and parks, the huge shops… but on balance I enjoy it much more visiting as a tourist but living elsewhere. I think it is a very different experience if you are very rich though - one of my relatives had a job in London as a management consultant earning loads, and had a fabulous time going out and partying and enjoying the best of London without worrying about money.

Asking this question on MN will always always flush out a million London-haters.

I bloody love it and am still here in Zone 3 with a husband and primary aged child.

I love cities though, have lived in London, Hong Kong, São Paulo, Paris, Mumbai and New York.

All my holidays are city breaks to other cities!

I’m from a small town in Scotland. Grew up amongst hills and woods. Bores me rigid. I love theatre and feel massively privileged that I have so much choice within 45 mins of home (tickets funded by my London salary of course). Having travelled so much I love how multicultural London is and how “foreign” certain areas feel, and the range of food. You don’t get that anywhere else in the UK (it’s more subtle than Chinatown or curry mile).

The idea that London is one homogeneous group culturally, religiously and socioeconomically is pretty blood farcical!

It is and something I never said @Cinocino

Sure, but nice parts of South London are very few and far between. And they’re difficult to get to and from.

If you go far enough west the division by the Thames matters less too.

You sound very similar to me, I think we should hang out when we both retire to Clerkenwell!

Suppose it depends on what part of London you live in. Years ago I spent 10 years living in London. Taken in as teenager due to Dad's work but left once I had DC as I didn't want them growing up there.

Community? The local alkies and druggies hanging about in stairwells of flats maybe. Good schools? Well no way would I be sending my kids to any of those near where I lived. Parks again a hangout for those up to no good

I believe they tidied up a bit for Olympics etc ( I was in Newham) but would take a hell of a lot of improvement. I have work colleagues from Whitechapel and isle of dogs and from what I hear those places are not great either

One thing that is worth bearing in mind is that I understand why London may feel overwhelming to people who have visited. It makes a huge difference being here when you have your own home to retreat to, all your things around you and lots of time to take in as much or as little as you need over weeks and months and years. You absorb the city experience while doing mundane things rather than trying to max out on experiences.

I was really just having a friendly dig. It’s a London thing.

(Borough Market, the Globe, Tate Modern and Bankside are as near North London as it’s possible to get while still being south!)

Sure, but nice parts of South London are very few and far between. And they’re difficult to get to and from.

What are you defining as nice? Only places like Dulwich Village?

Oh so by saying London is more homogeneous now vs 20/30 years ago you somehow didn’t mean that it was more homogeneous?
Its a statistical fact that London is more diverse culturally, religiously and even socioeconomically due to the increases the extreme ends of the spectrum.
Your anecdotal opinion doesn’t reflect reality.

Zone 1&2 is where the fun is at. DH and I live in zone 4. It's kinda shitty with toxic people but it's we have good tube links to central.

No, I actually don’t like Dulwich or Greenwich very much.

I prefer Clarm, St Reathem and St Ockwell.

@Cinocino Again saying something is more homogenous doesn’t mean it isn’t still diverse. The areas I grew up in eg Brixton & Hackney are definitely less diverse in a number of factors now vs back then.

@FinalCeleryScheme

Sorry sense of humour bypass on my part. I am really chippy about this. 😀

I do think the way people talk about London on here is small minded, vindictive and prejudiced and I will continue to call it out even if I start foaming at the mouth about it.

👍

@Towelmode
It's extremely difficult to move to the UK legally now unless you're loaded (refugees excluded). Otherwise, you need a student visa (the fees for international students are triple that of locals) or, a visa sponsored job which are like hen's teeth.

The foreign young people staying in London and having families that you mention are almost certainly in this category. Professionals or independently wealthy. Also probably have a chunky house deposit from parents or the sale of property in a foreign country. Unlike the immigrants of a decade or so ago, or similar or PP's parents.

So you and PP are saying the same thing. The foreign young people are the gentrifiers. Flats even in 'poor immigrant' areas with good connections cost a bomb now anyway ordinary people can hardly afford them

OP, if you have the money central London is an amazing place to retire to. Free transport, no need for a car, the buzz keeps you young. I live in zone 2/3 now but am planning on moving back to zone 1 as soon as we no longer need a family home. So you haven’t missed out by not doing it when younger- you just haven’t done it yet.

I stayed there for a month with work in my 20s. What shocked me was loads of the people I was working with never went into central london and hadn’t been to lots of it, they were all from london.
They came to work and then went home to zone 4. It was all on their doorstep but they just weren’t interested.