If you lived in Central London, do you find it boring where you live now?

[reew]

We currently live in Central London, have been living in our current flat for 2 years and for 5 years before that we were in various spots of central (all 'zone 1').

We are thinking about moving elsewhere for a change of scenery. Could be another UK city or potentially a few niche places overseas.

We like the cultural opportunities London has eg classical music, gigs, art exhibs, all sorts. We also really like the kind of people we work with - all very driven, all bright, and interesting people.

Slightly concerned that if we moved out then we might miss all of this.

Sorry that should have said "work and socialise with".

My point was that where I grew up there were very few people who shared our interests - each to their own. But it's important to be around your crowd.

Not at all. I enjoyed London when young. Now I have nearly all the benefits in the north without the disbenefits.

I lived and worked in London for many years (worked in the city from age 16) and I absolutely loved it! But as I’ve got older I want different things from life & now live quite rurally. Both have pros & cons but I personally enjoyed the bright lights more when I didn’t have many responsibilities, and I wanted to bring my children up in the countryside. But when they are older I would definitely encourage them to try city life with all the opportunities it brings! If you don’t like it you can always move back!

Well I think it depends on how much you actually utilise the cultural opportunities around you. Do you actually go or is it more that you like knowing you could if you wanted? I think there are a lot of other cities with a buzz about them - I used to live in Nottingham and I like the feel of Liverpool when I’ve visited. These places will have cool stuff but it will be on a smaller scale than you’re used to. The ballet company you like might not go out of London. The art exhibition might be at the Tate Modern but not the Tate Liverpool so you need to figure out how important all that is to you. There’s lots of benefits to living elsewhere if your work allows it. ( personally I would not go to the countryside - I grew up in the countryside and you have you really want to live that way).

We are in zone 1 and have stayed here once the kids were born (eldest now 10). We have thought of moving out a few times but ultimately felt that we didn’t want that change in lifestyle. Our jobs are in central London and would always need to travel in - country walks on our doorstep sounds great in theory but wouldn’t be right for us every weekend. We are happiest around the hustle and bustle here and the arts and cultural stuff on our doorstep.

Yes we have a lot less space, but there are a huge amount of opportunities for our children, and we don’t have long commutes.

What I would say is choose your area carefully - our children initially found the transience of our previous area difficult as they made close friends who then moved away. We have recently moved and found much more stability in the people around the area we are now in.

No, but we have a young family now so our needs are different. I think I was ready to have more space and a garden (I'm an older Mum). We are still in London (just the suburbs), with good transport links so can get in for work and leisure v easily if we want. To be honest it was just so noisy with the constant building works- fine before covid when working in the office, but being at home with kids or WFH would have been a bit much!!

I moved from London and while I loved it, there’s definitely benefits to living in a smaller city. That being said, I moved to Edinburgh where there is still quite a lively “scene” if you like. I suppose it’s partially a case of where you’re thinking of moving to?

We moved out of Zone 1 to a small University city less than an hour from London. We still have all the things you describe, the difference being it’s a gentle walk through parkland into town to enjoy these things, and a far nicer environment for the kids to grow up in. This was far preferable to me than moving to a grotty London suburb to get more space, which financially was the alternative.

Also plenty of likeminded people in our neighbourhood, and actually a bit more variety in the professions, interests and backgrounds because it being very international / the University. I was in a bit of a clique in London, and find things are a bit more mixed here.

You can mix with 'driven', 'bright' and 'interesting' people everywhere OP. I say this as someone who grew up in the back end of beyond, lived in central London for 15 years, then moved to a town in the SE.

My husband had the same view as you which is why it took us so long to get out of London, his biggest regret is not doing it five years earlier. He realises what absolute nonsense his view of life outside London was.

I moved from central (well, just outside zone 1) to the outskirts of Cambridge (ie the sticks). I struggled massively initially for the reasons you listed and was really homesick for London.
But then I had kids, and suddenly all was good. Still bloody love London, though

I lived in zone 1 for 35 years, then moved out to zone 2. It's still quite a buzzy area as it attracts a lot of tourists, but there's less in the way of big cultural institutions within walking distance and I do miss that. I used to have events happening, things being filmed, promos happening just walking between home and the tube. Still have lots of culture within easy reach but it's a few more tube stops away, and not much we can walk to.

I do miss parts of central London living, for us the move was driven by schools and housing stock so it was right for our family.

I'm not sure I see the point of moving within the UK simply for the change of scenery, although it sounds nice to try living abroad. Would you be keeping a property in London?

We lived in zone 1 for many years and then moved to the country and embraced dogs and horses etc. Absolutely love it and would never go back. Gave our children the most fantastic childhood.

Now our children are working in London I love meeting up with them there and going to the theatre and galleries etc. They do come home regularly and all want to ultimately bring up their eventual children in the country.

We do live within striking distance of a major university town so no shortage of theatre, music and interesting people.

I loved London all through my 20s but felt a strong pull to move back up north in my early 30s.
We moved to a town that is only 30 mins from Liverpool & Manchester, so we had the best of both worlds, a slower pace of life, more space, cheaper but easy links to the city for our jobs, shopping, socialising etc.

I found that once dc 1 came along, I didn’t really need the city anymore, I started to find them too noisy, grey & big & whilst the free museums/galleries are great, realistically how often did we actually use them?
That pull I once felt to a city was dwindling & we craved a slower pace of life with more of a community and nature.

We now live on the coast (still up north) with our 2 dcs & life is good.

We go on city breaks with the kids a few times a year, I love visiting London as a tourist, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow are fabulous too, but after 2/3 days, we all look forward to returning to our little home by the sea.

I don't, but I left because I felt negatively about London (the cost, the crowdedness, the pollution). The people I know who are happy to have left London all wanted to go because they were fed up of living there.

Those who did it because they felt they should tend to cling to the idea of it and refuse to move on mentally. So they're never content (but also never seem to make moves to return, oddly).

I lived in London in my 20s, moved abroad into the middle of nowhere in my 30s.

I don't miss it at all, I visit London and do as much of the cultural stuff in a week or two as I used to in a year when I was living there. And definitely don't miss the commuting, the noise and the cost of everything!

*The people I know who are happy to have left London all wanted to go because they were fed up of living there.

Those who did it because they felt they should tend to cling to the idea of it and refuse to move on mentally.*

I agree with this.

A lot of people I know moved out of London because they felt it was what they ought to want with young children and miss it a lot but are priced out of returning.

Equally I know people who loved London for a few years but were then all done and never look back.

I moved back to London three years ago. I love London and would like to live more centrally where I could walk to everything but can't afford to, so I'm in a very nice neighbourhood in Zone 3 (I have a kid at home plus another who visits and four pets so have a house).
But my daughter pointed out that we might as well be living in a small town for all the use I make of it. She's in the city every day for college and goes to exhibits/concerts/lectures most weeks, but I don't. But still. I just like it better here. My neighbours are much nicer and it's more of a community than where I lived 70 miles away. And I like the possibility of going to a show/exhibit if I wanted to.

I was born in zone 2 and have lived in London all my life. I'm 54.

We are moving this week to the south coast. I've just had enough of the city. We live in south London and crime, noise, pollution and awful neighbours just reached tipping point.

We don't earn enough to be able to go out a huge amount but are relatively comfortable. I'm looking forward to visiting as a tourist, but I am also looking forward to enjoying a slower pace of life and more time for hobbies.

I absolutely rinsed the city of fun in my 20s and 30s but London just isn't the same any more.