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

[rosarosa]

Grew up in Yorkshire countryside, moved to London alone at 19, stayed for 16 years, and just moved to Bristol. Hugely mixed feelings. I love London with an intensity that I’m not sure I’ll ever feel about a place again, but I don’t think I will ever go back there to live.

I love the buzz, and history and anonymity of it. It makes me feel quite at peace being among so many different people, but it’s also enlivening. You can find pretty much anything there. I also never felt like an outsider in London, whereas I did where I grew up. That said, you do develop a different way of existing (e.g. how to navigate crowds) and I think this is why Londoners seem rude to outsiders. You need to disconnect a bit or it becomes too overwhelming.

The public transport is amazing and opens up so many possibilities, but I don’t enjoy getting on crowded and dirty tubes. Bristol public transport is absolutely shite, it’s genuinely a problem, and I’d rather have an unpleasant tube journey than be reliant on a car for everything.

I do like having proper countryside on my doorstep where I am now. Also don’t miss the pollution.

Ultimately we left because it’s too expensive. I’d love to settle in a Zone 2 neighbourhood, where it still feels like ‘London’, with a family-sized house and a garden. We concluded that we cannot afford it. Both my husband and I work in the City and we also benefit from generational wealth, but unless we want to spend the rest of our working lives in these careers (and we don’t), it’s just not an option for us. I really feel for people who have grown up in London and face the same dilemma. Rent / property prices are making it inaccessible for a lot of people, which I think is really sad.

But yeah, I think I will always love it.

 

[Aliali23]

Always glad to see Trees when I get home from London

 

[caterday28]

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!

In terms of buying, you can get a decent one to two bed flat in and around the centre for around 250k. For rentals you will want to pay at least 800 per month for a one bed, if you want something that isn't too bad/not mouse infested. Not cheap but much cheaper than London and still cheaper than many southern cities (e.g. Bristol, Oxford).

 

[Sunflower91]

I grew up in the north and first went to London in my early twenties. I’d grown up being told it wasn’t safe and there was no real need to go there. I have to admit that my first trip I was a bit terrified. I constantly felt lost and was scared on the tube and I’d really not done enough research to work out how to do things. I even got yelled at for standing on the wrong side of the escalator.

My second time was much better- I met a friend who was from London and had a much better experience with her so when I got offered the opportunity to work in London I took it. My third trip was to hunt for a flat and then a month later I moved there. My opinion has drastically changed. I loved living in London for the most part, the perception of it being unsafe went away. The only thing I found difficult was how lonely it could be at times. Covid was the straw that broke the camels back and I’ve since moved back to the north but will always be down in London for visits. It’s one of the first places that felt “me” and like I fit in.

 

[House of Tea]

I love London but to visit, not to live. There's a fantastic buzz about it but a weekend is enough for me. Have had some of the best times of my life there so will always come back for visits. The water is absolutely shocking though, hard as rock

True about the water. If I am away my hair always looks cleaner for longer and softer. Get back and my hair is greasy in a day and feels dry at the same time.

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

The main thing I love about London is that there is always something to do. There’s loads of places to walk, shops to look around, sights to see, museums etc etc… where I live there’s basically nothing to do

 

[Tatooine_legend1]

It's interesting looking back at history that Winchester and Colchester were both capitals of England at one time, yet it was London that became today's capital. I do wish that London had a smaller population. 4m instead of 9m, would be far, far better. It still blows my mind that London has a larger population than Scotland and Wales combined. Insanity.

 

[Tublet83]

Love it for a weekend and then can’t wait to leave couldn’t justify the property prices, awful commuting time/cost. Would love it if I was rich but I’m not

Also think generally people are much ruder and unfriendly. If you attempt to strike up conversation with a stranger people look at you like your a serial killer

 

[WilmaHun]

I love it! I can spend so much money in the M&M shop, my fav I like the fact there's literally every shop you could think of! I come from a tiny town with awful transport links, so I love the fact you can just hop on the tube and be the opposite side of London in a really short time. Whereas to get anywhere from my tiny town it's single carriageways for ages and at least an hour and half to the motorway, so being in London with good transport links is great to me. It's so different from where I'm from, but I really like it. You can see so much in even just a day!

The only downside is how expensive it is, but I guess if you lived there then your salary would reflect the cost of living. My wage wouldn't last me a week

 

[MissRabbit]

I'm a Brummie who loves London and pre Covid would have a weekend away there at least once a year. I haven't been for over two years and have missed it so much. I couldn't live there, but love staying somewhere different and plan to do something different everytime I go. I must say though, my American cousin came over five years ago and I first took her to London to see the usual tourist sights, Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, etc. She was bored to death she was happier when we got to Camden Market though, and even more so when she experienced her first proper pub crawl.

 

[Saddlesoap]

Nice to visit, but couldn't live there or anywhere near it. I'm a country girl and I like the fresh air, the sea, and the fells.

 

[YetAnotherObsessionx]

I agree! I live in London too and can happily walk home at night and not feel scared but I’m from here. Anywhere I’m not from I feel more scared at night!

It's funny isn't it because yesterday I went for a walk by myself (well, with the dog), around the very rural fields and lanes where I live, and I saw 1 other person in 90 minutes, and I always think how I feel so safe doing that here and I've never felt like anything bad can happen when there's nobody here. I guess that's because this is my comfort zone. I always think you'd have to be a pretty persistent criminal to hang around in some bushes here, cos nobody might walk past you all day! And the other thing I love is that if I do see other people out and about, it's usually pensioners or other women walking their dogs. It's lovely, for me - but others would find it scary or boring!

 

[Kaylarina]

I love London and it’s definitely my favourite place to visit for a couple of days, however I do get more scared when I’m there. For instance if I’m walking down a street and it’s just me and a stranger (a man usually) then I do find I get more worried than I would at home … though I still worry at home tbh

I've lived in London my whole life but when I was 18 my grandparents moved to the countryside. I went to visit them in the first December they were there and popped to their local shop at about 4pm when it was already dark and I've never been more terrified in my life - but I'll happily travel home from work on the tube and walk down a London street in the dark. I don't know if its just what I'm used to but the country side scared me a whole lot more but I can totally get why walking down the street in London, when you're not from there, can be completely intimidating.

 

[JLXRD]

I love London and it’s definitely my favourite place to visit for a couple of days, however I do get more scared when I’m there. For instance if I’m walking down a street and it’s just me and a stranger (a man usually) then I do find I get more worried than I would at home … though I still worry at home tbh

 

[Patsy Stone]

We try and go for a few days every year and do all the touristy bits. I love it, always find new things to see - whenever we go there’s always places we’ve run out of time to see! I do like the hustle & bustle of it all as it’s so different to where I’m from but I agree don’t think I could move there permanently. It’s expensive, everyone seems to be in a rush & buried into their phones! I live in North Wales so only an hour away from Manchester & Liverpool, my roots are from the North West so I feel more an affinity to them - it’s like I’m home

 

[emm]

I went down to collect my sister from work today. There was a girl who had been in my class throughout secondary school and I haven’t seen her in years. I didn’t smile at her or say hi either because we weren’t even close.

Random guy walking with his dog (rufus) today which stopped to look at me got a hi back because his dog was cute and so was he .

I think with dogs/pets in general people are just more friendly, I know most of my nieghbours (that I do now) as a result of my pets (I live in London) and whenever I have had to take my cats ot the vet etc on public transport people always make conversation about them
ETA not that people who own pets are more friendly, but when people see people with animals they are

 

[Phoenix Lazarus]

I moved out 23 years ago and even then London was not full of Londoners, but from people all over the world and from all over the UK.

Aren't they Londoners by virtue of the fact they live in London? Doesn't having a cosmopolitan citizenship make it a more interesting place?

 

[Segotia]

I absolutely LOVE the place. It seems that every corner you turn, there something interesting/beautiful/exciting to see.

 

[Mimble]

Good God!

I like to highlight the important things

 

[Prefrontalmedialcortex]

Not from London, moved to the city for about 5 years. Found it STRESSFUL. Have sinced moved out of London but still commute in for work. I appreciate it so much more as a city since moving as I can escape the hustle and bustle when I come home, but I am also only a short train ride away if I ever want to visit.