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 depends where you go and at what time of day or night. The London night trains and buses is what i was thinking of.

@Themsthebrakes it depends. I've had older neighbours & they are great in my view. As they keep an eye on everything & know all the gossip, but in a good way, eg tradesmen, bin rules, etc. I think as long as you move somewhere that's not too small you're less likely to be the main topic.

Tbf it's been a long time since i've been on a night bus or train!

I definitely wouldn't recommend it! 😅

When I could no longer afford rent on a small two-bed flat as a singe mum, and I was making £70k a year in my early 30s.

Moved abroad to a tax-friendly country.

This thread is fascinating as I'm planning to move into London myself. The thread is stress-testing this plan for me. My grandparents lived in London but left in the 1950s for my granddad's health - he had tuberculosis. Not the most up to date anecdote, granted, but air pollution in London is still a problem and a good reason to leave I would think for anyone asthmatic (although maybe ulez zones are changing this).

Are the night trains and buses good or bad please? I couldn't tell from the context.

These references to public defecation, crackheads and Street crazies make it sound as if you're talking about a city in the USA ☹️

We're in Catford and really like it - moved a few years ago from v.expensive Brockley. It's still classed as an affordable area for people moving from Camden or Islington.

OP, I often wish we could move to the coast, but having being brought up by the beach, I know how depressing it can be in the winter, and how busy in the summer. We'll stay while we're still enjoying the public transport, work opportunities, galleries and shops, although we don't go into town as often as we did pre-Covid. We spend a lot more time locally in our parks and woods now though.

It's not my impression of London at all.
And though bad incidents for sure happen you have to bear in mind the population.
I think the thing about Londoners being unfriendly is also something of a cliche/generalisation - not really true.

Pearlsaminga · Today 11:44

These references to public defecation, crackheads and Street crazies make it sound as if you're talking about a city in the USA ☹️

it’s not a London that I recognise from my time there that’s for sure.

I adore London, would move back in a heartbeat but DH doesn't want to live there.

We moved out for a few reasons. I'd been to look at the local primary and the teachers' work was riddled with mistakes. (Eg on open day some paintings on the wall with a sign from the teacher: 'Yr 3 enjoyed they're art project.') Then someone was shot at the top of our street. And we wanted a bigger garden.

i still massively miss where we used to live.

Funnily enough I never had asthma in London. I got it when we moved to the countryside as it is triggered by tree pollen which is far worse out of town. I breathe more easily in cities.

We're in zone 3 north London. That's a pretty accurate description of it these days. You have to be in the seriously nice areas to avoid that.

you left because of bad grammar/mis-use of apostrophes?

>>and the teachers' work was riddled with mistakes
do you mean teacher's?

Er no - duh - we left because someone was shot at the top of our street and because the teachers' (correct punctuation of plural possessive) work was riddled with mistakes and yeah I didn't want my children to be taught by people who couldn't spell. To me that's hugely important. It's fine if it isn't to you.

Yep i saw the shooting thing. These things do happen. Someone not too far from me killed his mum. Chopped head off.
Plenty of bad grammar and semi-literacy all over the country in my experience. Quite often from folk you'd think were in quite elevated positions.

When we couldn’t afford a house, but could if we moved to Essex!

I was on the zone 2/3 East border. A fast-gentrifying and generally very pleasant area to live. The issues with crackheads and public defecation that I mentioned upthread were very real. Not a constant issue, but a regular issue nonetheless.

Another issue was the fact that anything could happen at any time, and quite regularly it did. Including drive-by shootings at 4pm on a saturday afternoon on the local high street. More stabbings than I can possibly count, several fatal. A gun pulled on a man who (politely) asked someone if they could control their feral dog next to a play area. A police car chase down our street where a shotgun was fired. Having to check the bit of the playpark where your kids were running around for discarded needles.

Several acid attacks, including one where the victim lost his tongue. On and on.

But despite all this, I love London and always will. I'm a very frequent visitor. The good vastly outweighs the bad.

However, I was out on a friend's boat on the local lake at 6am this morning. Had the place more or less to ourselves. Even in the busy periods (I'm in the Lake District) stuff like this is very do-able with very little effort.

No regrets about leaving, at all.

We had a murder-shooting in the house opposite a long time before gun crime was even considered a problem in London. Murders every few months in the local area. An utterly rubbish local policing team.

And yet, she stays....

Just yesterday, actually, a lady in the wheelchair needed the priority area. She was clearly tired and elderly. However, the young mums with empty pushchairs (babies in carriers) would not fold up their pushchairs to make space even when she pointed out her rights. The driver ignored it all. It makes me despair how nothing is considered outrageous enough to warrant intervention anymore.

Lived in South West London most of my life.

When I realised that I did not need to be based there for work and realistically unless you are driving somwhere between 11pm and 5am you will spend most of your drive to any location sitting in various traffic jams.

That’s so very true. I need to remember that.

When I realised that I did not need to be based there for work and realistically unless you are driving somwhere between 11pm and 5am you will spend most of your drive to any location sitting in various traffic jams.

Yes I can identify with this too. We recently wanted to visit a kids’ attraction on the opposite side of London from where we live. M25 was buggered (as usual) so the satnav directed us on to the north/south circular through outer London. Took us 3.5hrs (on a weekday, in the middle of the day) to travel approximately 20 miles - absolute gridlock everywhere. Poor DD ended up having about an hour there before we had to leave to come home again!

Yes driving around London is hideous.

I don't understand why so many Londoners drive - we don't have a car, rent one if need one and it's a lot easier. Ofc some Londoners need one for commute/work (e.g. tradesman) but the last electrician we had turned up on an e-cargo bike so maybe even that is reducing