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?

@Cinocino

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68144986

https://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2023/12/plummeting-enrolment-forces-closure-of-four-hackney-primary-schools/

“Generally, the oldest age group is the least diverse. Yet this is not the case in Lambeth and Hackney. In both of these boroughs, the least diverse age group is 25 – 34 years. ”

From the census.

I prefer Clarm, St Reathem and St Ockwell.

😆😆

There are also people saying things like no other place in the UK is worth living in. Chill.
If you live in the greatest city in the world why do you care what others say about it? Enjoy your TFl, amazing culture free stuff etc etc that other places supposedly don't have 🤣

There are loads of threads with people saying bad things about other places too

Agree with @LuubyLuu below your post, I've the kids are older you can still have that life if you really want it. We only get one, give it a try one day

@GettingAroundTown sorry I’m confused by your post to me. I haven’t mentioned foreign born young people with family wealth.

London used to be amazing. I lived there in my 20s and I'm so glad I did. It was truly a brilliant place to be young and working and having fun and making the most of all it had to offer - I had the best time of my life.

But I'm not sure it's like that now. I dunno - it seems very expensive and also dangerous. Street muggings are out of control and the police either don't care and simply don't have the manpower to deal with it any more, and that's worrying. London is lawless now, which is pretty terrifying.

Been to Manchester recently?
It and Liverpool have most of the things London has. Just less. Like maybe 20 Japanese restaurants instead of 200. But they still exist.

It's filled with London escapees and changed a lot in the past 5 years.

Oh so it’s not culturally or religiously at all? You have an issue with people having less children?

The birth rate across the UK is 1.49 and 1.39 in London. So marginally lower.

@Cheek2cheek London is lawless now, which is pretty terrifying.

Nothing worse than people who don’t live in London making up nonsense statements like this.

@Cinocino I made the point upthread that families were getting priced out hence my links & the quote from the census echos my opinion of the areas I knew growing up and how they have changed. What exactly are you arguing with me about?

Yes and no. I really enjoyed my time working/living in London at the start of my career / mid 20s. But it took its toll, mentally, physically and financially.

Abs tbh, I was mostly too tired to DO the good things.

Now we enjoy trips to London using the money we save by not living there, knowing we can go home after the weekend. Best of both worlds

@GettingAroundTown

Not in the same way there aren’t. People diss other places but you don’t get people who have been to Leeds, York or Inverness once or twice piling onto threads to inform others that they are “shitholes”.

People feel a compulsive need to put London down for reasons that usually have more to do with them than they do with London.

Or they went to visit their Aunt Doris once at St George’s hospital and saw some litter in the street and have concluded it’s “filthy” or read about a stabbing in Streatham and counclude that it happens every day.

If I went to Bath and witnessed someone getting mugged I wouldn’t dream of posting a self indulgent rant about how dangerous Bath is. Because it’s a snapshot and I don’t know Bath. But because it’s London everyone is an expert and everyone is entitled to an (ignorant and biased) opinion.

People can think what they like and of course not everyone has to like London but I wish people didn’t feel the need to be so bigoted about it.

@Cinocino what part of London are you from?

Thank you. Utter bollocks that London is “lawless”.

@Thepeopleversuswork the only time it annoys me is when people moan at DFLs moving to their area and ruining it.

I do agree with you about the generalisations though. Often people think you need a 1m budget to live in London but there are plenty of cheaper areas. They just aren’t fashionable or known because they don’t have a Gail’s or whatever.

Okay 'lawless' is over the top, but have you seen the stats for street muggings and knife crime? They're ridiculous. And while I no longer live in London, I live just outside it and go in at least once a week, so it's not like I moved very far away. My DS is often there with friends and he/they have all been victims of muggings/attempted muggings recently.

Yeah this!!!
I go sometimes for work ,stay a bit longer and treat myself :)

One thing I do notice is that London has a shitload more mopeds these days than it did 10 years ago. In some ways that gives it a feel of a foreign country as mopeds are something I associate with Asia and southern Europe.

Can give the streets a nice buzz but is also a convenient way to commit crimes.

Obviously this is linked to Deliveroo’s massive rise in popularity but there haven’t seemed to be many mopeds on the roads when I’ve been back to to Scotland to visit. Are there lots in Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool these day too?

I live in london and whilst i find it very fun I agree it's just the feeling of things you'll never do. You'll presumably never live in Tokyo or Paris, i had a feeling of sadness recently that I'll never live in New York.

I will also second that you need £££ to live in london

I've lived on the zone 1/2 border for 25+ years (and in other parts of London prior to that). I've never been mugged or stabbed. Neither have any of my friends, colleagues or neighbours. Actually, that's not quite accurate. My flatmate in Hampstead was mugged walking home from the tube. Back in 1993. 😋

Honestly the exaggeration by some posters on this thread is beyond ridiculous. "Lawless" London. 😂

Lived in London & Paris in my 20s. Dublin in my 30s. In the city centre of all of them. Loved it. Have a child now, living in the suburbs. Had a blast, no way I would have settled down younger!

I do love London but there are cities all over the world where there's more than 1 person can realistically in a lifetime. You've still got to actually go out and do them and sometimes being so overloaded with choice isn't always a good thing and leads to a kind of netflix/deliveroo type burnout where there's so much you almost want that you end up choosing nothing.

I've lived in 2 other capital cities and found that there's always stuff if you want to do it and are willing to find it.

You can fill your life full of interesting things anywhere, and there's interesting things you can't do here that you take for granted elsewhere.

I’ve not read through the thread but London is a fucking dump now.

London was wonderful when I grew up; I’m a born and bred Londoner with generations of family from there. It used to be amazing.

Not anymore.

Dirty, rammed, densely populated , extremely expensive and dangerous.

Nah. Not for me anymore. My husband and I made the decision 15 years ago to leave the place before we had children. Best thing we ever did. I would despair at having to bring up children in London now and would be genuinely fearful for them.

As well, London under Khan is even more fucked.

So in my experience and opinion, YABU

I don't know what you mean by 'the buzz.' How do you quantify a buzz?
There are plenty of theatres, good shopping, parks, but it's all very expensive and all these things are available in other cities.
To me it always looks dingy, overcrowded and lots of people look quite downtrodden.
There are the wealthy areas of course, but only accessible to the insanely rich.
House and flat prices are a joke.
Lots of areas in the UK can offer so much more.