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 don't like London at all and I would hate to have to live there.

Then I’m very glad you don’t have to live here, @OonaStubbs.

I live just outside Bristol too which is not an insignificant City!
We too have museums, parks, shopping centres, theatres, cinemas, restaurants, hospitals and the river but none of these compare to London ❤️
The transport system is shocking and The Centre is a concrete eyesore!
The graffiti has to be seen to be believed 🤒 and as for Broadmead!
I’d live near London in an instant 😀

My grad daughter misses her time at Bristol. Even the joys of Cabot Circus ;-)

Because I genuinely believe London is the best place :)
when I leave to all the typical “lovely” places outside of London I am bored. The slow pace genuinely makes me feel depressed. I’ve actually googled it and some peoples brains genuinely thrive off the dopamine hits of being in a busy area seeing lots of different stimulus. When they leave the lack of stimulus can lead to feeling depressed.
Everyone is different!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jv13yk8j7o

I think people who have only lived in London 2 this. But as a Brummie I feel just as comfortable in Birmingham as I do London (Manchester too.)

Don’t get me wrong I LOVE London. Just wish it were cheaper to live here!

You've missed the point again, access to airports outside of London aren't all equidistant to Londoners. Indeed, for that to be the case you'd have to be in central London which is not many people. I can access all of those options within 90 minutes and 20 minutes and I'm not in London. It is therefore not a unique London advantage.

Do you honestly think that people outside of London do not have choices of buying food from Butchers, Bakers and Candlestick Makers! Have you ever actually left London or rather your London village bubble?

I'm not in Reigate, like I'm not in Crouch End, like I'm not living on the North Circular, these were all examples as I pointed out. Wherever you live in London may be nearer to Heathrow than someone in Reigate but to use these examples again, Crouch End IN LONDON is a 51 minute drive to Heathrow, 1hr 27 on trains. Reigate NOT IN LONDON is 38 minute drive, 1hr 19 on the train. So access to 'London' airports is NOT a distinct advantage to living in London.

Yes! I grew up on the outskirts of London and I can't drink water in the Lakes or North Yorkshire. Tastes likes something's missing!

My DH travelled abroad all his working life so we lived in west London with good access to the right underground line. Really no alternative for him, unless he wanted to spend hours getting to airports and risk missing planes.

Obviously I can only speak for the pocket of London that we’ve chosen to live but:

• incredible schools - teachers are paid more in london so quality of teaching is fantastic
• small waiting times and fantastic doctors - doctors are paid more in london so tends to be higher quality level of medical staff. My GP is same day appt only and my local a&e is top 5 shortest waiting times in the country.
• loads of outside space (marshes, parks, forests) within walking distance. Lots of my friends in the country have to drive before going on a walk. My kids go to forest school and live a very outdoorsy existence
• its proven that teens take fewer drugs in the city as they are less bored
• endless amounts of things to do for the kids, they love eating Korean bbq in Chinatown then watching a west end show. Equally in our area we have a load of free adventure playgrounds that are epic for kids.
• Lots of friends have stayed in the area from uni so we have a fantastic ‘village’ alongside school parents. You can go to any playpark or pub in the area and see at least one family you know.
• work opportunities for me and DH
• diversity of cultures and general exposure to a variety of cuisines and experiences
• Limited Reform councillors and flags on roundabouts

We love it so much. The only reason we’d need to move would be if we wanted more space but doing ok with a 3 bed Victorian terrace.

You’ve made your mind up to hate London and I doubt anything will change your mind. Our street in London is extremely quiet (much quieter than the aircraft noise spoilt area of Surrey we left), we have a house that is right sized for us, with incredibly good transport links, a double garage, beautiful parks on our doorstep, doctor and dentist ten mins walk, major museums and art galleries 15 to 30 mins on tube, a wonderful sense of community, we are in zone 3 and previously lived in Berkshire and Surrey and twickenham so have experienced other areas.

The London area we decided on was chosen carefully and the house is valued at less than £800k so no that different to Home Counties or Cotswolds. But none of that gels with OP’s prejudice.

Seriously, what is wrong with you?

I answered the question. PPs were talking about London supermarkets and I weighed in that one of the things I like about London is not needing to go to the supermarket. My life. My neighbourhood. My preferences. My answer.

If you read that to mean I believe that people outside of London are ankle chained to supermarkets, you have interesting reading comprehension. But, yes, in my experience those amenities are not as easily available, within walking distance, in many places outside of London.

If that disturbs you, you might need to seek some help.

Because a warm sunny day in London is the best place in the world to be. I’ve travelled all over but London has something special.

I loved being a London kid, and am happy my kids are having London childhoods.

No, it's you who's missing the point.

You've taken issue with people who live in London saying that a benefit of living here is good access to multiple major airports. That's in comparison to the majority of the country, not each and every individual town in the Home Counties.

No one has claimed that they're all equidistant to all Londoners. Nor that they're all within London boroughs. Nor that the access suddenly evaporates if you cross the border into Surrey.

Simply that it's a benefit of living in (and in some areas near) London.

That's literally it. No one's taking your airports away from you. Or claiming you don't have easy access to them. Just that it's one of the many benefits that has led some of us to conclude this is the right place for us compared to the vast majority of the country.

I'm trying to figure out what motivates people to get so worked up about some people in London having numerous positives about where they live and reasons for choosing to live there.

The desire to tear it down/say other places are exactly the same/provide exactly the same lifestyle. The specious argument that if your own lifestyle and reasons for choosing London aren't universal across 8 million Londoners then they're not valid reasons. It's so angry and weird.

What is it that makes people so unhappy with the idea that people might positively choose to keep living in London?

Fight for a place in a traffic jam instead?

Because. That’s why.

Cardiff has one of the oldest multicultural societies in the UK.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/07/multiculturalism-ethnic-diversity-butetown-cardiff

I have started skipping over the airport posts, sorry 😳😂

No traffic jam where I live

I’ve never lived in London, wish I did though.

I’ve been to different cities and major cities in America (lived in a major city there for 7 years), in the UK, and Europe but Newcastle is the only city that I’m not keen on and my DH is from a village 10 minutes outside of it.

Jobs/wages.

I work in digital media and there is naff all that pays much above minimum wage equivalent, even though i have several years of experience, outside of big cities.

I did used to do a 90 min commute each way for a while to save on housing. But I decided my time and sanity were more valuable, and peak time trains are expensive!