Would you stay in the UK if you were me?

[DozensOfRoses]

Looking for honest thoughts: should I stay in the UK, and if you were in my shoes what would you do? I'm late 20s, recently single and in a very decent professional career.

I've been a Londoner for a decade and consider it home, however I struggle to recognise the place I fell in love with. I feel like I work nonstop for a low quality of life and I'm not sure I can see any perks anymore. It just seems everything is in terminal decline here. I thought I would feel some hope with the new government but honestly after the last month it just feels a bit like they've given up too?

The quality of housing and transport is just so bad, it makes everything a pain on a daily basis. I'm lucky to own my own (tiny, mortgaged) one bed apartment within 45 minute commute, the kind of place I'm thrilled to have but anybody outside of London would consider appropriate for a student, not a highly paid professional. I feel like I'd lose the will to live if I had to commute any further, given the cost and regular disruption to commuter services.

I feel like I'm being robbed by utility companies (when I compare what I pay to anyone I know overseas, they are shocked). I can't see anything I get in return for my taxes (work pays for private health insurance and I've given up even trying the NHS doctors). I don't feel safe on the streets of London anymore, this might in part be due to getting older but I've seen so much crime recently and very little interest in doing anything about it. I want to have a family in the next few years but childcare here is shocking and I'm not sure I would be happy with the quality of non fee paying schools in many areas.

When I visit friends abroad I am stunned by the quality of life they have and I feel almost...gaslit? into my low expectations after 10 years in London.

I'm originally from another English-speaking western country and in terms of visas in a very privileged position (would be highly mobile). I work in a very internationalised professional service (think consulting, banking, trading or corporate law) where I can move around a year from now to a role earning from £100-200k (and which would pay the same or more abroad). Obviously moving would be a pain and I would be starting over in terms of my life, but I'm not sure I see a future here anymore. I think the last few years I have been waiting it out to see if things will get better but I'm losing hope.

Honestly: what would you do in my position? Can anyone see things getting better? And those who have decided to make the move, how has it gone?

Move

Go

Move either up north in UK or somewhere else x

Move in a heartbeat.

Hey - if there’s anywhere else you feel drawn to overseas I’d go for it. I was drawn to moving somewhere when I was young and talked myself out of it, and regret it slightly
London is quite specific within the uk though. Other cities have a very different feel, if your work can be centred there.
Won’t change the utility/gvt issue though!
But costs of living are much higher in London

I'd move overseas. It doesn't have to be a permanent move but make the most of the opportunity while you can. You won't regret it and who knows what could happen.

I was in a very similar position a decade ago (except only had a UK passport) living and working in London but was increasingly fed up with everything. So I got a transfer with work to Paris for 6 months and after that I accepted a job with another company in Asia (I was headhunted) where I ended up working for 3 years. Eventually came back to London and fell in love with London all over again. I don't regret a minute of it. It really changed who I am and my perspective on life, and it also did wonders for my career.

I would go. Unless it’s the USA.

Almost any region in the UK is better to live than London, if you want to move to another capital city however you may face similar problems just in another country

Go to Dubai or Hong Kong or Singapore - you're only 29 if you don't like it just come home but you'll love it!

I'm not sure I could see myself living somewhere in the UK that isn't London. I want more of the international and big professional sector feel, with the kind of culture you get in London but a higher standard of living (and a feeling of hope that things will grow and get better). I'm not sure there is anywhere else in the UK where I could get that feeling. I'd consider it on cost grounds if moving abroad wasn't possible, but then I'd have the bad UK services without the lifestyle I want, albeit with a lower cost of living.

I feel like I could see myself moving up North in the UK if I were already settled down or if I had family here to stay close to. But I'd just be moving there alone 😖

The thing I don't understand is just how downhill London has gone. I've loved this city for 10 years, I can't tell if its me or if the city has lost its spark. But everything is (even more than it used to be!) overpriced, dirty, unsafe, closing early and just...depressed? Other capital cities don't seem to be faring as badly. Friends in Paris in lower salary areas of work live better than many London bankers I know.

Other people in this position and able to go, are you moving? I hear so many rumblings from people but it's hard to tell who is serious and who is just complaining.

Yeah, I think that might be what I do. I'm at an odd position in life in terms of timing, because of my goals in terms of having a family I feel like I need to make my mind up fairly quick. I feel in a limbo until I make this decision, I don't want to date or make any big commitments.

I'd move and rent out my apartment, but I've caught snippets of the current rental reforms and I'm not sure that would be possible when these come in. But selling my apartment and going abroad feels like a nuclear option and it's hard to see how to come back after that

Yeah I don't think I would see myself going to the US, NY and some other parts are lovely but America has so many problems of its own

Moving abroad takes time. Decide on a location. Start the process. You can always change your mind. 🤷‍♀️

Keep your place here and rent it out and move! I would, and did multiple times when I was in my 20’s and it made for a very rich life. I moved ‘back’ to London ( not from here originally), got married and had a family but still wonder if we should move ourselves to give our DC other opportunities.

You don't mention any positives about staying, so unless there are some personal to you which you've not mentioned it sounds like you should go.
I'm also a Londoner and I do find your analysis more depressing than mine. Two months is not long enough to see what the new government will do and everywhere is recovering from the economic after effects of COVID (so a down turn in most countries)

Move in a heartbeat. The financial sector is Sydney is right on the harbour if you’re looking for English speaking locations. And close to beaches and wine country!

Move

Where do you want to move to? If you can give some examples you may get the less rosy view to help sway you, or not.

I know several young professional people who have moved to Dubai and they are very happy. Go for it.

It's hard to tell how much my feeling is reflective of reality, so really good to hear your thoughts and that you're more positive about things. Are you at a similar stage to me in terms of life here or are you more firmly settled down?

The positives about London are that I love the city, I have an amazing network of friends and spent a decade thinking of it as my forever home. I loved(d?) how international and buzzing it felt. I don't know whether the city is depressed or whether I am! 😂

I don't recognise this description of London and I've lived here over 50 years.

If you're not happy with your life, move on.

That's a good idea, thank you. I have friends in Paris, Switzerland and Dubai who are really happy with lovely lives and enjoying a great standard of living. Canada, Australia, Brussels and Luxembourg too.

My bags would already be packed if I was in your envious situation OP!

I think you have to love London to live there, and be someone who either really loves drinking and drugs, or else someone who really loves going to events/exhibitions/shows every few days...otherwise you start to notice too many of the horrible bits!

But if you've lived in London over 50 years are you in the same place in life of trying to buy a home and set yourself up? Costs here are just insane, it's depressing to be in what should be a "good position" but feel like your life doesn't match. It seems to be the constant talk among all the young professionals I know in London