To wonder why people choose to live in London?

[Cantbloodyrememberthenameonthread]

I always wonder. And reading a recent thread prompted me to ask the question. Why do people do it by choice? People complain about the house prices (rightly), ulez, nursery fees, cost of everything being more expensive, commutes, tubes etc.

if you’re not absolutely tied to London for work or health or I guess family. Why do you choose to live there when there are so many cheaper easier lifestyle options in the country?

I lived in London but had to move far away to get on the housing ladder. It was the best city ever to live in. There are so many interesting and exciting things happening, interesting people all over the place, and so much opportunity. For example, famous comedians often have tiny gigs testing material at random venues, you can pass huge celebs in the street (or live near one- I lived near Tom hardy, David Attenborough and many others), or work as a runner for tv/films/celeb events.

It’s so hard when your DH is opposed to moving. I feel your pain

Population of 3000. There is a disproportionate amount of schools (but thats Private, 2 Primary, 1 Scondary and a sixth form college covering a massive area.

But its not unusual for villages to have several churches, shops etc. And tourist attractions have to be somewhere.

I grew up in London. I dont recognise half if what people say here because they are talking about their bit of London. For example long commutes to Secondary school or work due to traffic, spending hundreds of pounds annually of public transport and a car, having to rely on parents for lifts as the transport isnt safe in the evenings etc.

But im happy people are happy living in London. Im happy not living there now.

A bit of woodland and a green park holds absolutely no comparison to the Yorkshire Dales, Peak District or the Lake District!

I retired to London, choosing a flat-share so I could afford it. It is the best place in the world for me. Here are some of the reasons why:
Everything I might want to do is within walking distance, and I get free tube and bus travel.
I can get a train to anywhere in the country, so I don’t have the costs of running a car.
Buying food and stuff for one person is easy and cheap because of local street markets etc.
I could eat my way around the world by cuisine without leaving Zone 1.
I’m close to hospitals, GP surgeries and NHS dentists.
There are theatres, big and small, close by, also concert halls, museums and art galleries. I get cheap tickets - never spend more than £20 on a ticket.
There are parks, river walks and open spaces.
I get a subsidised gym membership at a local council-run gym, and the local park has outdoor gym equipment.
It’s safe at any time of day or night because there are always people around, and public transport runs through the night.
There are loads of ways to connect with other people if you choose to.
Almost everyone I know comes to London at some time, and we meet up when they do, so I have a steady stream of old friends visiting.
I am never bored!

I think London is definitely a good and affordable place for an older retired person.

Agree

But for some reason it is highly controversial to say that none of the museums out of London compare to the London museums

Even though both are absolutely true

I much prefer a good museum to the countryside

Because it’s the best city in the world and there is so much to do and explore. I live in commuter outskirts now but if it wasnt for DH i’d live in zone 2. Our plan is to downsize and move back in later on. The food, culture, parks, shopping - to have it all at your finger tips and accessible, makes life very exciting!

Because it is fun, exciting and so many things are easily available.

one day at work me and my friend had never had Colombian food so we decided to walk down Holloway Road and found 3 Colombian restaurants. Whatever you want to try you can in every sense of the word.

There is so much free and cheap stuff to do museums, art, the parks are huge and gorgeous, each part of London is so different and it is so easy to hop on the tube.

An Italian woman I once knew said she loved London because you can walk down the road looking however you want and noone will judge or bat an eyelid. I think that is true. Whatever you are into you can find other people into it there. I moved out of London to raise my daughter as we could not afford to live in an area we wanted (and with kids we wanted her to have stuff like a garden, cleaner air etc). But the September after she turns 18 I will be heading straight back to London! Give me that pollution and elbows in your back on the tube any day!

Yes, those places are wonderful, and spectacular, and awe inspiring and majestic. and when I want all those things I know where to find them , just as I know where to find sea views and beaches .

But remind me again, how many theatres, cinemas, restaurants, museums are there in the .Yorkshire Dales,Peak District and Lake District?

As if there are that many!

London has more restaurants, museums, theatres, and galleries than the rest of England put together (Just as Edinburgh has more than the rest of Scotland)

It is the second greenest city in the UK (trees/person and trees/km²)

(It also has the most reported ghosts/km² in the world 😁)

It has (mostly) 24 hour public transport, mainline stations with direct trains to almost every other UK city

Those who appreciate London do so knowing its drawbacks, and some of those are probably as ignorant of the advantages of country living as you are of all the opportunities only present in a huge city

Lived in London in my 20's had a fantastic time it's a great city, if you can afford it. Loved living there but it did have it's down sides which I was fully aware of via my work.
The reality was we couldn't afford the standard of life we wanted to raise a family in London.
By that I mean nice and safe area, house with garden and good schools. You can have all these if you are very rich in London of course but we very sadly are not!
So we moved out to commuting distance and have a very nice standard of living. Our children have had a lovely environment to grow up in and we just go into London as we want for museums etc.

None of which are uniue to london.

I grew up in London but left when 19. I would say many of the people I knew had the attitude why would you want to be anywhere else or would complain quite a lot about slow service, transport etc when they visited other parts of the UK.

You couldn't pay me enough to move back.
Yes the range of museums, galleries and theatres plus any cuisine you can think of is great but it's not enough for me.

I pick a more relaxed life by the sea where more then a 40 minute commute to work is considered bonkers and majority of people are very friendly, say hello to strangers etc.

If you want to freak a londoner out though just smile and say hello on the tube!

Ok I was born here so am tied by family. And there are many ways in which it pisses me off.

But I'd leave if I didn't love it. I love living amongst and meeting people from so many different cultures. People fascinate me.

I love the fact that there's a group meeting somewhere to represent every single random hobby/ cultural tradition/ event that you can think of.

I love the fact that most people are open minded and live peacefully and with tolerance. Obviously the news focuses on those who aren't and don't. But the sheer ridiculous size of this place and sheer number of it's inhabitants puts that more in perspective.

I love the fact there's amazing food from every corner of the world available whenever I want it, and there's always a shop open. There's just so much life and culture to experience.

I love the countless trees and parks and commons and heaths and the river. So much space and so many vistas.

I love the fact there's no one style or look. Everything goes, at whatever level of grooming you choose to bother with. Fitting in or standing out seems so much less of a concept here than in other places.

I love the fact that you can be anonymous very very easily. But when you look, you also find many different pockets of community.

Oh, and the diversity - all sorts, class, culture, religion, education, age, nationality, sexuality, gender. I lived in a white, middle class Oxfordshire village full of professionals with attitude. Just awful.

A zoo and “several” churches in a village? Didn’t happen.

I’m 100% the same. I love visiting London for a weekend but I don’t think I could settle there. I do live in a smaller city, but no where near as busy as London. I can totally see the appeal to live in London.

Oh come on! The breadth of cultural life on London is hardly equivalent to a town museum or theatre venue. I earn too little to live in London, but you can’t deny the vibrancy of all it has to offer culturally.

Well it sounds like you need to reorganise your life!
We spend weekends walking / playing in the royal park near us, visiting the various free museums, and usually eat somewhere new. Chores can be squeezed in around that!

I live in a leafy outer borough and love it. I love the fact that there is loads to do all in walking distance (theatre, cinema, shopping, eating out). I love the freedom it gives my 11 year old and how easy it is to get hold of everything at short notice. Personally I hate my commute as I have stupidly managed to live and work at opposite ends of town. I also find getting any work done to the house is unbelievably expensive.

Schools are great, we just got into one of the best state schools in the country and his primary school was fantastic.

I know our in-laws think we're mad - we live in a million pound plus house with no driveway and just a courtyard garden - but it works for us.

Because I don't want to start over somewhere else. Because I can get public transport to most places and don't need to run a car. Because there's just so much there - you can visit a new place every weekend if you want and there are so many shows, exhibitions etc.

If I had my time again I would likely move somewhere else after university, (because of house prices) but I didn't and I don't want to leave now.

I come from the deep countryside but have lived in London for 20 years and never plan to leave. I'm lucky because we bought 20 years ago in a dodgy area (still is a bit dodgy by some people's standards) and have a good sized house and garden - but could obviously live in a much larger house if we moved out. A few highlights:

• I almost never have to get in my car - I wallk everywhere, usually at least 20,000 steps a day.
• London has both an urban side and a green leafy side, and I can pick. If I go to one tube station, I'm in brilliantly noisy, busy, diverse multicultural London passing shops and buildings and noise. Go to a different tube and it's leafy park and tree-lined streets.
• I love to cook, and can buy almost any ingredient affordably within walking distance of my house.
• I travel a lot, and it's only 25 mins to the airport.
• I meet people from dozens of countries, and with diverse life experiences, every day.
• When I commute into work, I'm suddenly in one of the world's great cities with all its energy and buzz, but there's birdsong in my garden and a real sense of community in my neighborhood.
• I don't always do the cultural things, but they're there whenever I want them - and my kids get to have that experience.

I could go on. I understand deep countryside people, but suburbia leaves me totally cold - who wants to drive everywhere but still be overlooked by their neighbors? Different strokes for different folks...

I don't really get these questions, why do you live anywhere? Usually it's because that's where you happen to have your family or where you started your career and subsequent family perhaps?

For me it's a place to live and I do like it, wouldn't say love it with all my heart and I would be open to try somewhere else. But I do believe I would prefer to live here than say Hull or York or even Bath. It's what I am used to, where my children grew up, where our house is.

Uprooting your family and career because it is on paper cheaper somehwere else is not a thing you do easily. Very expensive to move, very hard work trying to get schooling if applicable, same job security? same networks? no

Youve never heard of churches of different denominations in one village?

And seen tourist attractions outside if a city? Most zoos etc are in the countryside as they are massive!