If you're not from London what do you think of it?

[hereforthememe]

It's shit. Overrated, people are rude and in a mad rush to get everywhere, everything is so bloody far away from each other, and the pints taste shit despite costing a fortune.

What can I say, I'm a Northerner and I love it up here

 

[klarakluckbag]

I do live in London, but on the outskirts and I travel in for work. I used to drive to work but they've shut so many roads off now that it takes me almost two hours to drive around 10 miles home, so I get the train instead.

I don't like being here, although where I live is quiet and we have a lot of green space. I've never liked socialising in central London, everywhere is so crowded and expensive. I've been to London nightclubs, and I was always surprised that they're as seedy and tatty as our local clubs, I honestly can't see the attraction. I've done the "tourist" stuff with my family when I was a kid, and later with my own son, we used to go to the fabulous museums during the winter when the tourists were thin on the ground. The Tate Modern is our absolute favourite, and I love the V&A and the Natural History museum too.

One thing I do love is the variety of food available, both to buy and to eat out. I shop in ethnic supermarkets for cooking ingredients (rice, oils, spices etc are so much cheaper than in Sainsburys!) And living in a multi-cultural environment is just normal for us, my son has friends from almost every continent on Earth, his girlfriend is Chinese/Caribbean, our friends and neighbours are Londoners of every colour and ethnicity, it's nice to shout out " Ramadan Mubarak" to my neighbour across the street, and she shouts out "Happy Christmas" to us

It's dirty, it's polluted, it's a dreadful place to be during a heatwave, but it's home for now, I guess. As my Cornish friends tell me, you can take the girl out of London, but you can't take London out of the girl!

 

[memoii11]

It's good for a weekend away, but could never live there.

 

[caterday28]

Positives:

I LOVE the diversity of it. I come from a small village in the countryside where everyone is white (literally, not a single person in my school was not white) and English - which is not inherently bad, but from my experience, can become a breeding ground for racism, xenophobia, and insular thinking (all of which I detest). I also love how many great places there are there, in terms of businesses, museums, coffee shops, attractions, etc. It has a really exciting "buzz" about it. There's nothing more magical than London at Christmas!

Negatives:

It feels dirty, especially compared to some other European capitals (e.g. Vienna, Stockholm). People can feel quite cold, quite busy, quite stressed. It is absurdly expensive. It can feel quite "scary" - this might just be me coming from a village, but even in other major cities I don't feel quite as fearful of being mugged/sexually harassed or assaulted/a terror attack as I do in London!

In all, I love to visit London but I would never live there. If I wanted to live in a major city, which tend to benefit from being diverse, I would definitely either live in Manchester or Edinburgh - the former of which is slightly better connected but much less pretty, the latter of which is beautiful but also expensive, though no where near as much as London.

 

[Peaches_xox]

I do love London but I’d never ever live there.

It’s a cliche but northerners are so much friendlier. Too much rushing in London and it’s true when they say nobody smiles on the tube!

Manchester over London any day for me.

I find it weird that people expect to be smiled at on the tube why would I smile at a random stranger who I don’t know

 

[justheretoread99]

 

[Shinythings]

I enjoy it for a day trip and shopping but really don't get the obsession with living there. There are much nicer cities and towns to live in that are less polluted and expensive.

I always get black bogies after visiting

 

[Ensay]

I don't mind the occasional visit, but I couldn't live there. I'm always glad when I'm on the train out.

My theory is the born and bred Londoners are more tolerant. It's the ones who've moved as adults who tend to be rude - e.g. pushing people out of the way on the Tube escalators - mainly because they think that's the 'done' thing among locals and want to be seen as part of them.

I did it once as a tourist (ran down the escalators past people who were stood waiting) but then it was awkward because I missed a train and had to stand on the same platform as all the people I'd passed.

 

[Gym&Tonic]

I like it a lot to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there. I’d imagine it’s a very lonely place if you don’t know anyone.

Manchester is very overrated IMO. Dirty and very rough in places. Liverpool is a much nicer, friendlier city and the waterfront is breath taking (I know saying that will REALLY offend people from Manchester as well but meh, it’s true )

 

[watermelon sugar]

I can confirm we have plenty of tree’s in London too

does London have you on commission for sticking up for it

 

[hehehe]

Edinburgh is beautiful, I don't know anyone that lives there but I imagine it's expensive too. Would take Edinburgh over London any day!

I live in Edinburgh (from Glasgow, which I love too) and I'm so grateful to live in my favourite city.

 

[Peaches_xox]

It's shit. Overrated, people are rude and in a mad rush to get everywhere, everything is so bloody far away from each other, and the pints taste shit despite costing a fortune.

What can I say, I'm a Northerner and I love it up here

Dunno about the everything is far away from each other. We literally have everything on our doorsteps

 

[Heyholetsgo]

Just a general musing as I'm waiting for the baby to go to sleep.

Have grown up in and around London all my life but wonder what you think of it if you don't live there and just visit for the day or something?

I've been to Manchester and loved it, not enough of my family there to move there but would love to live 'up north' one day

 

[Guitarwarrior]

I do like aspects of London. There’s one off shops I liked to visit and I love the V&A and the national gallery. I can’t get over how they’re 99% free (there’s sometimes charges for additional exhibitions but the core collection is free) and I do weirdly enjoy the tube but I’m a seaside northerner so a day or two maximum at a time and I’m done tbh. I’ve never found it an unfriendly place tbh it’s not like the north but it’s not as bad in my experience as what people make it out to be.

 

[Heyholetsgo]

Edinburgh is beautiful, I don't know anyone that lives there but I imagine it's expensive too. Would take Edinburgh over London any day!

 

[matchalatteuwu]

i’m not from the UK & when I visited London I was so shocked by how much y’all jaywalk just went at it like nobody’s business!

 

[Peaches_xox]

Always glad to see Trees when I get home from London

I can confirm we have plenty of tree’s in London too

 

[Heyholetsgo]

I wish I was a Northerner my dream is to move up north and people think I'm different because of my accent haha. Sad life I have here

 

[Calabria]

It’s a great feeling getting the train up from the coast for a day or weekend in London but it’s an even better feeling getting on the train to come home again

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

I really enjoy London, it’s much nicer than where I grew up… which was greater Manchester.

I actually really dislike greater Manchester/Manchester, it’s just rough as hell in most places and can be a horrible place. There are nicer places to live up north.