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?

What exactly is your experience outside of your London village bubble. A majority of people living in London will find it neither affordable or easy to access independent foodie shops. The problem comes in with playing into and promoting the decisiveness of London and the rest of country. For what reasons only you know.

Decisiveness? As in trying to decide whether to buy from small shops or supermarkets?

But the claim is not that it's that it's on a list of things that stand out about London living but it's not unique to London at all. Not in the way that Londoners have access to an extensive number of world-renowned galleries and museums, or is one of the most diverse cities in the world and corresponding places to eat from the influence of this rich tapestry of cultures.

London Baby! It’s the best!!!

Devisiveness that should read.

The claim is all that culture, diversity etc AND the airport access as well isn't it? I actually don't know why you and so many others in this thread are so upset that people choose to live in London because they like it for reasons that they're prepared to talk about... When asked!

You do realise that the question was literally why do you live in London? I answered.

I am not obligated to answer a question that wasn't asked, although, actually, I can't even figure out what you're talking about. You seem so irrationally angry about a random stranger's life and grocery shopping choices you've stopped making sense and ended up spouting gibberish.

What is the decisiveness? Do you mean divisiveness? I'm not sure how me liking where I live for the reasons I've stated is divisive, although I guess it is decisive.

In a way I regret turning down the opportunity when I was 35. I was offered a brilliant job, more money etc just outside London and turned it down. Then today I walked through the valley I live in, the history (I can trace my family back to 1722 all in the west country), the beauty.Later today I went for a pint, the humour, wit and warmth of the people is unique. So I am glad in stayed but..

Everyone is different. For me it is about opportunities. Even in a bad economy there are jobs in London. You can move easily and if you move to a job in a new area you can discover a whole new bit of the city.

London is heaven if you have a short attention span. It changes constantly. It's changed more in the 14 years I have been here than my home town has in 40. There is so much to see and do. it's easy to be fit and healthy as you walk everywhere or get public transport. Kids get free school meals in primary.

The weather is good and you can be in mainland Europe in less than 2h on a train.

The Melting pot of people is lovely.

Ive lived in other uk cities and it saddens me how much London has / gets to be honest.

The figures for London come from local government research that found 60% of Londoners were within half mile and 93% within a one mile radius of a store for one of the top 5 supermarkets. The 20% within 15 minutes, based on a 3mph walk speed, came from statistical approximations done on that data. This does not include local corner shops or other smaller brands of supermarket.

To be honest I can’t remember where the 40% for the UK as a whole came from but probably the Leeds research on food deserts?

I didn’t add in train stations. I don’t know of any research that combines food stores and train stations, but given the density of London train stations and housing compared to the rest of the UK I can’t see how that could help your case.

edit to add- sorry forgot link: www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/gla_migrate_files_destination/retail_in_london_wpc_grocery_retailing.pdf

Where do you live? Let’s all have an opinion on that…

Sorry, late to the thread, but why live in London? Because that’s where your friends are.

That’s why I moved to London post-University, and that’s why both of our DC are there now.

We moved away before having DC, but it’s a great place to live in your 20s.

If the original post had been ‘To ask why people choose to live in Cornwall’ (for example) and people had listed things such as the beaches, countryside, people, restaurants, an accessible airport ’ etc.. Would hundreds of people come on and said ‘well we have beaches , great restaurants and accessible airports where we live too. It’s not just Cornwall’ ?

No they wouldn’t have. I don’t think people are jealous per se, they just don’t like London (fair enough) or don’t like the supposed mentality of people thinking that London is the best place in the world. I don’t but I do love it and can’t imagine living anywhere else in the UK.

Apart from anything else - People who live here have just literally answered the conversation that they were asked. It’s just their own opinion and their own personal experience and in many cases acknowledging it’s not for everyone.

We / they are not comparing London to where anyone else lives (ok well a few posters did but not many) …. Just saying what we like about living here. I don’t understand why so many people get angry. I have lived here for almost 30 years and I love many of the things that other people have said they do, but mainly I love my local area where I have lived for over 20 years. It’s in Zone 2, 8 minutes into Central London and a fantastic area but mainly it just feels like home.

I also think that quite a few posters have described something quite intangible / ephemeral. It’s an energy / a vibe that you can feel. It doesn’t matter how good the museums / transport links are elsewhere. I just don’t feel that anywhere else in the UK that I have been to. I feel in New York and have done in other places too. I can understand if some people just see a noisy, chaotic stressful place whereas for some that is an energy that they love.

This.

Dd travelled the country doing competitions with others from an ECA she did. They all got to know and make friends with other teens from other groups. It was the envy I noticed from other groups from outside of London. The fact that the children in DD’s group could just walk out of the house and meet up with friends somewhere in town or going to an event etc without any parental input was unheard of.

Of the ones dd has kept in touch with over the years, they all chose London uni’s and have never moved back when uni finished

As someone who lives up north, I have to disagree. Outside of London the only example of a city even remotely like it is probably Manchester but it doesn’t come close really. I’m not saying I agree with the London centric country we live in, I agree with David Cameron on this and think more investment should be ploughed in other parts of the country. It would be lovely to see the North East funded more for starters, or South Yorkshire but hey ho.

I think this exact thread was posted, someone wanted to move there. It’s a deeply impoverished part of the country.

@ClayPotaLot

But that shopping report from 20 years ago doesn’t say the below…

”Only around 15% of Londoners don't live within a 15 minute walk of a grocery shop”

And yet when you look for flights any airline and any flight search app allow to select all london airports and it includes Gatwick, Stansted and Luton 😹.

everyone considers them london airports (especially given it takes 30 mins on relevant express train from london) except some strange people on this thread 😹

Quite, its like saying we have pasties in other parts of the country

Why live in London? Because, if you are used to London, every other U.K. city feels boring and limited by comparison.

Obviously, 10 million or so people live in London (or is it more?) and their experiences vary dramatically. What are you even talking about OP? Someone who lives in a £20 million home in Chelsea will be living in a very different London to someone in a high rise in Catford (no offence to Catford)!

The weather is better in London and SE - noticeably so.

You do realise that London is not just the West End and places you are likely to visit on a shopping trip or whatever? London is a sprawl of hundreds of communities, like villages really. All have their own character. Some are green and leafy 'pram jam' communities. Some are streets of stunning stucco homes. Some are more 'hipster' with great markets, street food, etc etc etc. And yes, some are a bit grotty. But still, I'd take grotty in London to grotty in a northern city any day of the week. At least communities in London are always shifting and don't feel as 'stuck' economically or culturally in the way too many places in the U.K. do, sadly, Basically, London is a world city. It's exciting, diverse and always changing. If you can afford to live well here, why the hell would you want to move out, unless it was to another comparable city like Paris. The suburbs, or some boring village or smaller U.K. city would drive many people to depression, if they are used to London - for so many reasons.

I do like visiting other parts of the UK.

But London is home - in the same way that my sister can’t imagine not living near the sea or my brother the Yorkshire moors. We all have completely different tastes & they all work for us, which is just how it should be.

I guess that depends on how far you drive.

Well, Middle Eastern/South Asian/ Eastern European corner supermarkets would count as "independent foodie shops", so I'd beg to differ! The selection of fresh vegetables, spices and herbs at my local Turkish shop in Hackney would have made your average Waitrose shopper weak at the knees- and for much cheaper too!

I think if you were born there, grew up there in the 80s, 90s and have witnessed the shift to Global city post 00s you may have a more nuanced perspective on the City. That transformation has led to Londoners that were born there having to leave, has led to impoverishment, where stark inequalities exist and the universal celebration of living in London is not many people's reality. The London is the centre of the universe mentality alienates people that have had their social and physical connections to the city eroded. The current day London mania is definitely at the cost of many in the past and now and these threads tend to whitewash over that and make out to be some kind of utopia and if you live there you are the chosen ones, that don't have to use supermarkets, have an elevated sense of cultural curiosity that is not replicated anywhere else in the UK - don't you know! I think when you have firsthand experience of being a born and bred Londoner, work there, visit family there, you know that is frankly bollox. It is a reductive way to think about London and actually just helps promote divisions with the rest of the UK. I think you'll find many will talk about the downsides in living where they do e.g. living in Cornwall, Leeds, Birmingham nobody is peddling this utopia vision of their areas.