What’s it like to live in central central London?

[bridgetreilly]

I am probably moving to central London for work in a couple of months. Accommodation is provided within easy walking distance of work, which itself is just a few hundred yards from Oxford Circus. So it really is really central!

I wondered if anyone has any experience of living somewhere like that. How do you manage normal daily life? What are the advantages and disadvantages you might not realise until you actually try it?

AIBU to even consider it?!

What an amazing opportunity, OP. Sadly, not something I have any experience of.

My brother lives in Hackney. He never seems to do a big shop, not sure if it’s convenience or lifestyle as he’s on his own. If he did need to, I think he’d have to invest in a shopping trolley.

noisy obviously

stupidly hot for about 8 months of the year, heat bounces off concrete

Easily? Almost everything you could possibly need is in walking distance.

The back streets are much quieter than you might imagine.

What do you think will be so hard?!

The pros outweigh the cons though. So much to do, can pop in to stuff on way home. Lovely walks along the river, loads of brilliant gyms and spas. Masses of cheap places to eat, zero need to cook.

I lived in the area when I first moved to London 30 years ago. It’s a fantastic base from which to explore the city. For food, I’d go to the Marylebone High Street (Waitrose and weekly markets.) For walks/runs, Hyde Park and Regent’s Park are walking distance. You also have all the theatres on your doorstep. And if you want to escape to the countryside, you have Paddington Station and Marylebone Station taking you straight out of town. It will be fantastic.

Busy. I lived near Vauxhall and everything was in spitting distance which was cool. A 5 min walk to see the Houses of Parliament. However it was often a bit tricky to make the most of it as everything is very expensive.

Weirdly some of the best times were during Covid when you could walk to see Leicester Square, Buckingham Palace, HOP etc and you’d be the only person there. Especially at sunrise.

However I eventually left. Because as cool as it was it was also dirty, loud (the buses never stop and the motorbikes and the planes). Plus people constantly pissed on our front steps, a crazy dude would scream ‘baked beans’ or ‘slut’ every morning outside the windows and our parcels were constantly nicked.

Where are all the cheap eats?? Everything is crazy expensive at the moment. A Leon for lunch is easily £15 (and disappointing). It’s not the 90s sadly…

Can be very hot in summer.

Grocery shopping more expensive: Waitrose in the basement of John Lewis; M&S Food in the basement of Oxford Street branches; Tesco and Sainsbury's local stores are more expensive than their high street versions. There's a full sized Lidl at the top of Tottenham Court Road. Used to be a 'normal' Sainsbury's at the bottom of TCR but it was closed the last time I went past - can't remember if it had closed completely or relocated to another unit.

What a great opportunity from your work!

I live in central London, but more towards the city area than the west end. It just is normal life for me!

Advantages: I love being in the heart of one of the most wonderful cities in the world, there is an energy, a buzz. I can walk to most places I want to go. I love the diversity of people, food, shopping, sights. I love the mix of new and modern alongside old and ancient. Friends and family from anywhere else always want to visit me. I feel part of something big.

Disadvantages: Genuinely can’t think of any. I mean, there are things that other people think are a disadvantage, but that I happily sacrifice for the advantages. I don’t have a garden for example, I would enjoy having one, but I happily go without one for the sake of everything I enjoy about being here.

I often wonder about this actually!
As @MojoMoon says some of the back streets are quieter, say if you go towards Marylebone. I did have a friend who stayed in a teeny tiny flat in Marylebone while studying at one of the London unis (wealthy family). The location was so dreamy but the flat although lovely was a place where you really had to be disciplined and not have too many personal belongings or too much clutter otherwise you wouldn't have been able to move. I imagine most of the housing stock in that part of town is on the small and compact side unless you are super mega rich.
I think living CENTRAL central for a year or two would be such a cool experience though (she says wistfully, from zone 5) the

I mean, this is just an out and out lie

It’ll be wonderful OP

I’ve lived centrally a few times. It’s great in many ways as there’s so much to do and see, even a walk is fascinating.

But it is noisy, the West End seems posh but can be edgy for safety at night and I’d urge you to be wary about walking alone in streets you don’t know well.

You can spend a fortune on groceries in M&S as that’s your nearest shop probably. Get a supermarket delivery!

Just get a supermarket delivery. It's not hard. That's the only thing you'll need to sort. Otherwise, you'll be living the dream.

Leon is absolutely not 15 quid though is it, most of their mains are between £6-8

I live very centrally in another major global city, and it is absolutely fantastic!

Our block is closed off for filming (i.e. a film crew is here shooting for Netflix and the like) at least half a dozen times a year.

DH and I often say to ourselves that we’ll look back at this period of our lives and can’t believe we live where we live.

It’s iconic and kinda like living in a movie. 🥰

Enjoy!

Londoners are normal human beings too.

There is a big Waitrose and a M&S Food near Oxford Circus. There is even a Lidl on Tottenham Court Road so that's within a 15 min walk of Oxford Circus.

There are various NHS GP surgeries around.

There are a bazillion private gyms and fitness studios for everything from Pilates to hot yoga to boxing to spinning etc but if you want a cheaper council one then go to Marshall Street leisure centre and pool in Soho or Oasis in Holborn (has an outdoor pool even) . Both are run by Better which run many council leisure centres in London so get the Better app.

Nice library at Marylebone. Great charity shops of Marylebone high street.

You can be in Regents park on foot in 20 mins or get a bike and be there is 6minutes. Cycling is easier than you might imagine - get the Citymapper app and pick quiet cycle route and it will take you down backstreets and cycle lanes.

Go to the British Museum. The Wellcome Collection, The British Library, The Hunterian museum, the Wallace Museum and the Faraday Museum in easy walking distance and free. All the museums at UCL are on your doorstep.

Go and see various BBC TV and Radio shows being recorded on Great Portland Street. Go to cheap classical concerts - St James church at Piccadilly hosts many. The West End Arts Library has free shows.

Eat cheaply at Lidl. or the IKEA on Oxford Street has its excellent value canteen in the basement.

I ordered an Americano and a standard rice box (now smaller than they used to be) yesterday in Hanover Square, and it was over £15. Google it.

I lived in Central London as a student. Just near Tottenham Court Road. Everything in walking distance. It was brilliant.

floriaflan

which is a lie ? last year in November it was 15 degrees in zone 3 where I am, 23 on the Strand. So warm !

How the fuck is London too hot 8 months of the year? 😐

I lived there for 12 years and I would say we would have 4 months of warm weather in a good year.

Or is this the classic MN thing of thinking anything above 20 degrees is absolutely scorching?

Thanks, everyone! I am mostly very excited about it but don’t want to naively assume it’ll be brilliant with no problems. I don’t plan on staying more than 2-3 years. The main negative right now is that it’s probably not a sensible time to get a new dog.

What do you mean by manage normal daily life? Are there particular things you're concerned about? I used to live less than a mile from Oxford Circus and the only thing I found difficult about it was the actual moving in and out because parking outside my building was difficult.

Other than that I loved it -world class museums, shops, libraries, theatre, and restaurants catering to all budgets within walking distance. Great transport links if you want to travel elsewhere (in or out of London). Absolutely no need for a car. Wonderfully diverse population. Lots of choice of exercise classes or basically any kind of activity you'd like to do. I used to run along the Thames (Regents Park is also nice but I preferred being by the water) and loved going to free talks at the local museums - your locals are all the things that everyone else travel from much further afield to come to.

Depending on where you're living you could have to contend with traffic noise - personally it never bothered me despite living on a busy road, for me it's like natural white noise.

Yes, the accommodation will be small, but I am used to that, and I actually don’t need to leave my house, so I haven’t got to take everything with me.

We lived in Central London (the city) for several glorious years.

I loved it so much. We had a decent supermarket about a 3 minute walk from our flat, so that wasn't a problem. We just bought what we needed as and when as our kitchen was pretty small.

Only downsides (other than the obvious ones such as noise and dirt, etc, which you'd expect in the middle of a city so therefore can't complain about) was that because your local area is also central London and therefore where people visit for shopping, or tourism, or whatever, that sometimes detracted from a sense of local community or 'neighbourhood'.

Absolutely loved living in London. So much to do and see. We lived above a pub in Charlotte Street.. right by Tottenham Court Road. Really surprised reading some of the comments here that there's a Lidl there now!! Would have loved that back in the day.