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?

Same reason why people choose to live in Manchester or Somerset or Norfolk

Guessing the poster lives in Twycross/Whipsnade/Woburn or similar. All villages with zoos!

Not to menton many villsges are surrounded by other villages and small towns with other amenities.

Restaurants? Absolutely loads! Theatres and museums? Enough! And that was the point of my initial post, museums and theatres bore the tits off me, so London could have a million of them and they’d still be boring after one visit!

The uk is a large place
Yes there are some very non diverse place,s
But there are also.some very diverse place outide of London.

Again - there’s nothing in between London and a tiny village in the Cotswolds?

Having lived in London for 30 years I can see why people love it BUT the traffic is beyond a joke now....2 bridges closed to traffic-it's no fun if you need yr car. If you stay close to home great but whats the point in that? I'm moving out for a bigger garden and peace-bliss

I don’t hate it actually, but I’d prefer to live in town. If we ever win the lottery, we are definitely buying a pied a terre! On this we are agreed.

Eldest lives in a fabulous part of London and I can almost see dh mind swing, when considering the great London on the doorstep. One day it may swing my way enough, for a 1 bedroom studio!

No, but a) it's only one of many reasons why I like it; and I do think it is more prevalent in bigger places.

Not usually all within 10 mins walk though! 10 miles maybe.

I grew up in a village which apparently has a population of 4500, Wikipedia claims it’s one of the biggest villages in England. Small town really. And it can’t support 5 schools within ten minutes walk of each other.

I like London too, I wasn't born here but came to university at 18 and have lived here most of the time since. I did have a few years away in Bath, but the pull of London and my family defeated even that lovely city. At 74 I doubt I'd leave again unless my DD decided to move elsewhere to get a bigger property and asked us to move with her.

Also high crime rate.
London is about mid-table for crime rates in the UK. It's quite funny that you accuse Londoners of not having a clue when you yourself don't seem to have an informed opinion, at least on this.

I honestly think that most Londoners have no clue how much better they could live if they went "up North". They think we are all neanderthals.
Hate to undermine your theory, but I was brought up in the East Midlands, and I used to live in Glasgow. I'm not one of the 'They' (whoever they are) who think this; I've made an informed choice about where to live.
Your house sounds lovely, but is it a 20-minute walk/bus/train ride from Edinburgh or a 20-minute drive?
One of the reasons for my decision to live in London was that I didn't want to be someone who had to rely on a car.

Yes, I agree. However some parts of London would also be full of similar professionals with attitude. We lived in a lovely "village" in south west London for many years, but it is now just as you describe. Our first home, a 3 bed terrace, is now only affordable by two working professionals.

We now live in an unfashionable part of outer west London and much prefer it here, in a much more mixed, normal community.

I think the villlage i grew up in has two prmary schools it borders another village with another primary school on one drection and in another another village with two more primary schools in the other diection it wouldnt take long to walk around the area .

I was born and bred in London, lived elsewhere for three years for university, travelled extensively around the world in my twenties. I love London. Not once have I ever felt unsafe here - but I have in other cities. London is beautiful, we have wonderful big parks and the River Thames running through the city, lots of water activities and cultural activities, beautiful architecture, from Georgian to Victorian to modern. We have soo much choice of what to do on any given day or evening.

A more interesting question for me is - why do people keeping asking the question about London? Why doesn’t the same question and spotlight be put on other cities in the UK ? That’s what interests me. Perhaps they can’t take the scrutiny/criticism!

London is not like the rest of the UK. London is the best city in the world where all the best people live. The rest of the UK is ugly, boring and full of parochial xenophobics who give you the evil eye for speaking another language.

I may be exaggerating slightly for effect.

This.

Family (actually DH family), job. I moved here after uni as more graduate jobs here. DH always lives London

I may change my mind if I lived there, but I trained there and spent a week of each month for two years in the city centre and bloody loved it. I felt so incredibly awake. If it wasn't for my spouse who loathes London, I'd be there for a couple of years like a shot (but I'd miss the country and sea too much for it as a forever thing).

World class museums, galleries, theatre. Beautiful parks, loads of restaurant choice, interesting neighbourhoods and markets. Always something new to discover and I’ve lived here for twenty years. I genuinely love it.

Yes other cities have museums, but not as many. Same goes for theatre and restaurants. And I can go visit them on a whim, last minute tickets and I often go to museums if I’m just passing by or have a spare hour. I don’t have to plan.

it’s not for everyone but I love the hustle and bustle. I grew up in the countryside and I’d hate to live there again.

By no means as many. Pick a city and you'll find a couple of good museums and a theatre etc. London has many museums, galleries, entertainments, lots of culture. I grew up in London in the 60s and 70s and everything you could want was on our doorstep or a short bus ride away.

OP, I want to offer a slightly alternative perspective (if you can even call it that).

My dad is a native Londoner (now in his 70s) but was priced out in the 70s and so moved to an overspill town in Hampshire (if you know, you know!). I grew up in and around said town, but have lots of family in London still.

I never really had any desire to live in London in my 20s, but now I am in my 30s I really feel like I've missed out. I feel that it would have given me better career opportunities, better opportunities for my children, and just a more fun life!

Who knows. Maybe I'll win the lottery one day and we could buy a flat to renovate and live there 😆 I know normally by now people are getting fed up or wanting to move out of London for more space. But I feel the opposite - I moved to a smaller but major city, and I do enjoy city life. But I am feeling like I missed out in my 20s! And my dad would honestly move back to London in a heartbeat.

Well I suppose if you are squashed into a tiny flat with no garden there’s not much to do around the home. Personally I prefer a larger place and not having to work full time to find it.

But what do you do, sit in your house? Garden? In London I was barely ever indoors. What was going on outside of my flat was always way too interesting.

I find it unhelpful how people talk about London perhaps not realising that the areas of it are all very different. London is not one huge place that is all the same. Which bit of London is best?
Richmond is way different to Walthamstow etc.