Are there any regular people left in London?

[Psychgrad]

I moved to London 6 years ago (from another country) and struggle to meet likeminded people. Currently I’m living in an affluent part of London but my lease is up soon and I’m open to living somewhere more normal. It seems most people I meet have grown up here, went to private school, followed all the social rules like going to university, focusing on career, getting married, having children in that order- as a result they all live very wealthy lifestyles now. I’m more of a floaty, creative person and as a result have had my fair share of financial hardships. I’m obviously aware that there is a lot of poverty here too but where are the regular people? What about the struggling artsy types who I always used to meet in my hometown? What about teachers and nurses who typically have normal income? I’d like to make some friends with people who had a similar upbringing to me. I grew up in quite a disadvantaged area, did well for myself eventually but still don’t earn anything compared to my London friends. There’s times when I’m broke and then there’s times I feel I’m doing well. As much as I love my friends here, I find it hard to be fully understood by them and would like to mix with more interesting people. Even the original working class areas in London have a huge rich/ poor divide and I think I’d still struggle to find people who are middle of the road. I don’t feel I fit in anywhere in London as I’m not ‘posh’ but I’m not really working class either. It seems people here either have crazy high salaries or they are really in poverty. Maybe I’m over generalizing but that’s how I feel. I have tried to meet people from all walks of life by volunteering etc but it seems so hard to meet people who are sort of low- middle income in London.

OP 'normal' is relative. If you want to find the areas with more creative types you could hang around the Islington / Camden area for a while and see if it has your vibe.

Maybe I’m over generalizing

You are.

Try moving out of Zone 1.

Central London is a different world to the whole of the rest of the country,

Where are you now?
Move to somewhere cheaper in Zone 3 or 4 (or beyond) and then you'll meet real Londoners going about their business. For example, going north, somewhere like Wood Green or Tottenham has much rougher, poorer but more creative edges and a better sense of community. (Walthamstow used to be like this but property prices have shot up so much in th last few years).

I’m in SE London now which is zone 3 bordering zone 4 and moved here because rent is cheap. Houses are very expensive in this area though. When I first moved here I lived in Brixton and found it the same, although it was much younger and ‘cool’ than here there were lots of rich people or at least they seemed rich to me. Of course I’m aware of the disadvantages here but it seems there’s not much middle-of-the-road people. Maybe there’s a reason I’m attracting people like this and there are probably lots of reasons it makes me uncomfortable to be around them.

I would love to live in islington or Camden but rent there is extortionate and again seems to be just for the rich unless you bought a bargain years and years ago.

Have you considered Walthamstow? It has a bit of everything, heavy on the floatiness.

What about Deptford or New Cross? Goldsmiths university means there are lots of arty types around there.

Likewise Camberwell.

That hasn't been my experience of London at all, I have a wide range of friends here and almost none like you describe. I also lived in Brixton, how did you only meet posh people there?? This makes me think the issue isn't the neighbourhood. Although you could try East London and hang out more Hackney way, loads of artsy people up there.

I'm also wondering how you managed to only meet "rich" people in Brixton. If you'd said Dulwich, fine, but Brixton?

There are lots of areas in London where you meet "arty" creative people, and most creative people are not exactly raking it in.

I've lived in London all my life and I don't recognise the London you describe. You say that you don't meet many people on "low to middle income" but how do you know what their income is?

My friends and family include the "ordinary" people you describe, like teachers and nurses. I know plenty of creative types too.

In London, wealth is not about how much your income is, but how much your housing costs are. You can have a very good income, but have little left over after your rent. Or like me, have a decent income but very be very stretched by a huge mortgage for a tiny house. If I'd bought my first home 5 year before I had been able to, I'd be in a much better financial position.

But I think I kind of know what you mean. Many (probably most) of the people I hang around with are in a better financial position than me (eg being able to work part time with young kids). I'd never pry into people's financial situations, but those I know well enough to know more about them are doing well either because they got lucky with house prices, or either they or their partner are in a high earning profession (of which there are probably more of in London than elsewhere). But I know that there are many, many more people really struggling financially in London.

Ps. Have you tried meeting people through the actual arts? Joined a theatre group, or an art collective? There are quite a few artists working in my very normal outer West London area.

Another vote for Walthamstow!

how did you only meet posh people there??

I think her problem is that she is neither rich (successful professional) nor poor (barely getting by, maybe no job, maybe social housing). I think this is quite common in London, and it is why public sector workers struggle to buy in places like Brixton now. Add to that the fact that she identifies as floaty/creative so probably not looking at places like Chingford or Enfield.

Although I agree, Brixton has always had plenty of struggling artistes in the past.

I work in the NHS. My younger colleagues are in flat shares in Streatham, Balham, Tooting, West Norwood, Gipsy Hill, Crystal Palace etc. They are on reasonable salaries but not like you describe (private school, wealthy etc) Do you live in a flat share or by yourself?

The rents in London are so high that people who would live normal lives anywhere else are experiencing poverty.
So I think there's some truth to the idea that Londoners are either raking it in or struggling.
I left a decade ago for that reason.
Took me months to adjust to the idea of people being able to afford things.

I’m more of a floaty, creative person and as a result have had my fair share of financial hardships.

Maybe get a non floaty job with a more regular predictable income???

I mean sure, Brixton has been massively gentrified in the past 10 years or so, but there's still plenty of regular folks there.

Yes that’s exactly what I mean @TheYearOfSmallThings, I’m not rich and don’t have a rich or even stable family to fall back on yet I’m not poor enough to have social housing either. I grew up in a council estate and did well for myself but it doesn’t seem like I’m doing well when I compare to the many londoners I meet. I guess I gravitate towards people who are quite middle class because they tend to be interested in what I’m interested in, travelling, reading, theatre but when we get down to the nitty gritty conversation you start to realise they had rich parents or even if they have normal jobs themselves (teachers) then their husband will be earning quite a lot so they automatically live more lavish lifestyles. Also rich people to me are people who earn 40k- 50k or more as that’s a huge huge salary where I grew up. For example, my friend lives in a northern city, earns 21k a year and has lots of disposable income, I earn more than that but have to pinch pennies. I don’t mind it, I get by ok mostly and am happy but just wonder if there’s anyone like me here.

There are over 3000 state schools in London OP - it seems strange to me that you've only met privately educated people. I've lived in London (at various times in Highgate, Bloomsbury,Camden, Hackney, and Richmond) for over 25 years and have always met 'normal' people.

Move to East or South London...or maybe you just need to hang out/socialise in different places and widen your circle of friends.

Or accept that there are interesting and crap people everywhere you go and stop focusing so much on how much money they make and their backgrounds...

I am an East London artist and charity worker so I don't make a massive amount of money. My best friend is a millionaire ex-banker and the man I am currently dating is a senior IT professional who lives in a posh part of central London. The point is there are still cool and interesting people and I never feel out of place with anyone...

“I find it hard to be fully understood by them and would like to mix with more interesting people”

More interesting?
Seriously?

Just wonder if there’s anyone like me here

Honestly, lots of us! Whole swathes of NE London (and probably other bits) are full of people living on their average salaries, with no family money or high income spouse.

It is worth considering that a public sector worker earning £35k and married to another person with a similarly average job has a household income of £70k, which greatly changes their standard of living. Being single in itself is difficult in London.

Is Walthamstow considered nice now? I lived there in the 90s and it was a total dive.

It is still a bit of a dive (I live there) but also considered a decent place to live.