What moment did you realise it was time to move out of London?

[Queeva]

Did you have a particular moment where you realised you'd fallen out of love with the city?

It is still seems pretty hip in Shoreditch. There are generations of young, rich kids making it their own and relishing all of the pub and bar events and popping in and out of their block of flats and finding outlets for their creativity which are lovely (but not paying their bills like mum and dad are). I think it may be age-related and I'm not even that old yet 😂

I love London and will likely stay but I did feel my first twinge of 'hmm, maybe we should leave' when we stayed with family who live in a quiet close knit town recently seeing how much more freedom they could give their kids - their 8/9 year olds walk home from school on their own and go to the playground with their friends. There is absolutely no way mine will be able to have that much freedom in London.

That was being said as far back as the nineties.

Well as a young person in London in the 90s I think nowhere was comparable!

@Themsthebrakes i'm in the suburbs (z3/4) & spend most of my time there!

Well I've met more native Londoners in Manchester than I have in actual London, make of it what you will.

OP there's a massive difference between those who bought in London as recently as 10 years ago, and the last few years. Like the PP who got a council house (and bought it).

I never 'fell out of love' with London, it's amazing. But it's too expensive. I knew I wanted to buy eventually. No family help, everyone around me constnatly going for drinks/meals out etc.

I have a fair amount of family in the suburbs and they definitely do feel more positively about London life. I don't think they could handle the 'livelier' parts and they do seem to express prejudice about those areas (I know it can work both ways!).

I moved when out of London at 26. I was beyond sick of flat sharing, but not sick of London itself.

London is massive. It's silly to compare say, Manchester or Liverpool to London. When the equivalent size would be both of them put together.
These places have everything London has. Just less. Maybe London has 50 japanese restaurants, Mancs/Liverpool 10. etc.

But unless you are the sort constantly seeking novelty you realise that after a while you just want peace. And to be away from the rat race.

I'm in Manchester now and do much more as a working adult because I don't have to worry about money, not constantly on the career treadmill, etc. In fact when I do pop down to London I can afford to splash out.

Of course you will get people saying museums galleries blah2 but I never really cared. Food , theatre and performance are my things. But unless you're a student, can book waaay in advance or queue even those got too expensive for me when I actually lived in london.

It was the day we decided to get in the car and go scope out other places to live just as an idea for the future. We arrived in Welwyn Garden City and that was it for us.

I always used to trot out the line "I love living in London because I can pop out anytime of day and get a pint of milk".

I realised after 8 years (87-95) that I'd never actually needed milk at 3am...

We did that in the past when we owned a car pre-kids. We visited various places in Herts and Hampshire known for being nice. We enjoyed them as days out but never felt anything beyond that. I keep on going through the 'what ifs?'
What is we had moved regardless because we knew that it ticked the right boxes even if there was no emotional reaction? At least we would have tried.

I passed through a place called Totteridge once which felt nice with a lot of green spaces and spaced out houses.

On top of all the usual reasons it’s 22£ cocktails that made it for me. Plain ridiculous.

>>Now that everybody seems to be WFH for most of the week, the buzz which set London apart from the rest of the UK has almost muted to a distant hum and doesn't seem to matter anymore

I thought some recent transport for london figures showed that passenger numbers were now getting close to pre-covid levels. Plenty of folk on the tubes - and what about all those folk on the Elizabeth line - not all Italian tourists?

I just realised I wanted to live by the beach. People I knew had moved to Brighton and it seemed like a great idea.
Later I realised it was better to be in London than by the beach and moved back.

@AscensionToCheese I think the 90s weee easier for young people. I could go clubbing on £10.

Been in London for the best part of 25 years. No longer live in the centre but out in the suburbs. I have always been a firm believer that if you pay the premium of living in London then make use of the place insofar as attractions/eating out/exhibitions/music/theatre etc. I love visiting family in the country and enjoy the space and walks but I could never live in a rural area, I would go mad.

more sand on london's thames beaches? :)
tho do like brighton.

I know it's not the question asked but there are lots of lovely towns and villages within an hour of London by train.

You really can have both.

When a man grabbed my arm on a busy high street. He wanted money. I think he was new to London, not quite all there, and didn't realise that grabbing people is a bad idea. Felt sorry for him, but realised I wanted to live in a more peaceful place.

7 years ago now. Nothing to do with house prices. It was a tube strike in hot weather that really made me think “fuck this”!

Wish I'd never left. Moved to London at 18 for uni, stayed for work. Bought house in Herts when I was 25. 20 years later....wish we'd bought a smaller flat in London and stayed. So, to answer the question I never fell out of love with the city - we just wanted to buy a house rather than a flat.

I lived there for about 15 years in a housing association flat when I was in my mid forties I realised that myself and DH would never be able to afford to buy a flat anywhere in London. We moved to the midlands and bought a lovely house in a small friendly town with trains to London taking 90 mins.

Also I didn't fancy growing old in London I used to see elderly people no family or friends looking old and worn out by life stuck in little pokey flats

Love this thread. So interesting to read the different views.

I always assumed I'd move out when I had children, but we're lucky to have a nice house in a really nice part of (west) London, and the longer we stay, the less we want to move.

I honestly can't see myself ever wanting to leave London now. I've been in my part of town for well over 25 years, and it's like a village to me. I know nearly everyone in my street, which is really friendly and inclusive, and know literally hundreds of people in all the surrounding streets thanks to my children having been to the (excellent) local state schools.

Perhaps if something awful happened, I'd change my mind. But right now London is home - easy, packed with friends of all ages, and fun. We are lucky.

I'm a Londoner born and bred. But I met a man from the North East. We did the long distance thing, then he moved to London and we lived here for 10 years, but I always knew he'd want to go back up North and when we had our DD it seemed like the right time. We lived in a very nice part of east London (often recommended on MN for families) we were lucky to get on the housing ladder in 2012 when things were still cheap and traded up and could have continued to be v happy but we were in a black hole for primaries because we weren't willing to pretend to go to church to get into the one at the end of the road. We were in the process of moving when the pandemic hit so managed to string out my London job a bit longer, although now I've got a job up here I've had to take a huge paycut, and I would say disproportionate for the cost of living.

No regrets per se, we have two DC now, and we're near family (I have a v small family and what little I had have also left London). Many of my friends have left due to house prices but I do miss it. Not in this heat though.

Moved there with work when I was 33. Moved out when I was 40 and the cost of living there had gone up so much I didn't have any money left to save at the end of the month. Inheriting half a house up north when a parent died sealed the deal, and I bought my sibling out of the other half. Miss it, but living in the countryside with walks and bike rides out of my front door and an alloment has softed the blow.