Why Do Normal People Live In London

[Bubble&Squeak]

I think you're a little strange, to be honest

understatement of the week?

[jethrotull]

I remember a comedian on TV who did a sketch about visiting London. He said that you knew you were in London because when you blew your nose it came out black.

The old "black bogeys" jokes no longer work because the air quality has improved massively. The Congestion Charge didn't make any difference, it was the rising land prices that forced out industry that made the air cleaner.

[dhpcza]

The thing is, most of the good stuff about London doesn't require you to live there to access it.

I deffo "feel the electricity" as I step off the Train at Walthamstow Central and walk down Hoe Street to visit my nan haha. (My nan's not a ho, well, I don't think she is). Main areas of London I've been to on the regular are Walthamstow, Manor Park and Tottenham -- wouldn't want to live in any of these places; Norfolk is much nicer! London's nice to visit, but not to live imo.

[erranta]

London opens your eyes, London teaches you about others, London makes you humble and appreciative.

The 'SQUARE' MILE Streets are paved with ?

[Guest Barebear]

As someone that lived in the London suburbs most of my early life I made the collosal mistake of moving away because it would be cheaper elsewhere and I had a young family.

So I lived on the south coast , Littlehampton to be precise and what a nasty cliquey area it was. I was trapped there for 12 years straddling the last recession, in a house I couldnt sell. I went there knowing no one and I left knowing no one, but it wasn't for the lack of effort. I got very down going to the same pub time after time only to be blanked by people I had tried talking to previously. For a long time I thought it was me then I ran into someone else who experienced exactly the same treatment.

Anyone reading from Littlehampton. You are a cliquey little kiddy, to use their terminology.To use mine your a miserable insular w anker.

I eventually moved back to the South London area, where the blue is Chelsea blue, people speak to you and it doesn't take long to get to know them.

I'm so glad to be home. keep your cheaper areas, I'll pay premium London prices to be with premium upbeat people.

[jethrotull]

Housing benefit is what makes London affordable to most of my neighbours. For everything other than housing and housing maintenance (builders, plumbers, insurance), you'll find London is dead cheap. Everything is close together and there are lots of price points for most things you want to get.

It is the people I know in £1m council houses for £25 a week rent that have a great deal. They can get a £300k job in the City and just keep on paying £25 a week for the rest of their life.

The only people that suffer are the middle classes, which is why they commute. The people who are the bottom rung of houseowners suffer ridiculously high costs.

[Bubble&Squeak]

The old "black bogeys" jokes no longer work because the air quality has improved massively. The Congestion Charge didn't make any difference, it was the rising land prices that forced out industry that made the air cleaner.

You are joking?

Do you use the tube?

[erranta]

I remain in London as I resist having the lobotomy apparently required to live elsewhere ;-)

I've seen some great exhibitions (not counting C.P. ) at The "Picture Gallery"!

[jammo]

Because once it's under your skin you couldn't live anywhere else. The only city that comes close is New York and that still doesn't match the magic of London.

Given that London has magic (and fair enough, it does), is it a better magic than what might potentially be found elsewhere? How can the magic be quantified? I grew up in the country by the way, had acres of land which I owned as a kid, no boundaries, I was king of the castle. In London, don't you have to share that experience, hence dilluting it somewhat, with the postcode gangs? Perhaps if I was an extrovert, I would seek the city's magic instead, but don't know if it would have been a better magic?

[bearORbullENIGMA]

One of the main reasons i hate cities is that they attract the worst of humanity to them. I'm not talking about criminals, druggies etc. or people like that, I'm talking about pretentious twats with massive egos that seem to think they have some importance above that of anyone else.

You're right. They are the worst of humanity.

[bearORbullENIGMA]

I remember a few years ago the New Scientist magazine did a survey in major UK cities. They had people record the number of returned smiles. London was bottom of the list.

I've just been to the Isle of Arran for 2 weeks & nearly everyone I smiled at, smiled back at me.

It reminded me why I hate living in a town.

Living in a City must be hell.

[codeine]

I don't understand London. It's vast. How does anybody know where they're going?

[Fairies Wear Boots]

Top tip for quality of life in town - avoid public transport, get a pushbike. Best thing I've ever done.

I'll second that.

Why would anyone live anywhere but London in this country? If you're going to live in a city, live in the one with the most happening. The weather in this country is rubbish. If you want to live somewhere with the great outdoors, why put up with the low sunshine hours? You don't have to move somewhere hot either.

[the_duke_of_hazzard]

As someone that lived in the London suburbs most of my early life I made the collosal mistake of moving away because it would be cheaper elsewhere and I had a young family.

So I lived on the south coast , Littlehampton to be precise and what a nasty cliquey area it was. I was trapped there for 12 years straddling the last recession, in a house I couldnt sell. I went there knowing no one and I left knowing no one, but it wasn't for the lack of effort. I got very down going to the same pub time after time only to be blanked by people I had tried talking to previously. For a long time I thought it was me then I ran into someone else who experienced exactly the same treatment.

Anyone reading from Littlehampton. You are a cliquey little kiddy, to use their terminology.To use mine your a miserable insular w anker.

I eventually moved back to the South London area, where the blue is Chelsea blue, people speak to you and it doesn't take long to get to know them.

I'm so glad to be home. keep your cheaper areas, I'll pay premium London prices to be with premium upbeat people.

We had the same experience when we moved to Portsmouth from London. To Horndean, to be exact. If your family hadn't been there for three generations then you were nothing. It took years to be accepted as a person there, and there were lots of very strange families doing very strange things. It was very League of Gentlemen.

When our house was for sale we had a black friend (from London, natch) to visit. So we pretended he was looking at buying "Oh, this garden will be great for my parties!"

We got lots of questions from neighbours... "will that, er, gentleman be buying your home perhaps?"

We couldn't get back fast enough.

[Grime- skint wouldbe ftb]

As someone that lived in the London suburbs most of my early life I made the collosal mistake of moving away because it would be cheaper elsewhere and I had a young family.

So I lived on the south coast , Littlehampton to be precise and what a nasty cliquey area it was. I was trapped there for 12 years straddling the last recession, in a house I couldnt sell. I went there knowing no one and I left knowing no one, but it wasn't for the lack of effort. I got very down going to the same pub time after time only to be blanked by people I had tried talking to previously. For a long time I thought it was me then I ran into someone else who experienced exactly the same treatment.

I also moved to the south coast from London for a while, and it was the first time I started using the word "clique". I've never had the same issues anywhere else I've lived - being introduced to people on a night out who then basically ignore you. I've lived in several other areas in the UK to realise it isn't a London-good, everywhere else bad kind of thing. London is an amazing place where its possible to crash on the sofa of someone you barely know, and its impossible to go through the week without accumulating several invites to nights out and house parties but there are other parts of the UK where people aren't as horribly cliquey, insular and downright unfriendly as the south coast.

[Jister1]

Perfectly valid question, why do people who earn less than say £30k live in London when they could live for less anywhere else, what is the housing cost versus earning

Hey!

you.....you're not the real daddybear...you are an imposter...wheres daddybear with the great signiture gone?

forum police hve took him away? I knew that would happen one day... they guy had too much on you all!!!

[dude]

There is no place on Earth like London. You can feel the electricty as soon as you step off the train.

Well get off the other side, then.

One thing that is very annoying about London is that it attracts the rest of the country. I have the great misfortune to be forced to spend some time in London (but the good fortune to spend *more* time away from London). I came down last Sunday. It took me five hours -- the M6 and M1 become the commuter roads of choice for those that seem to have to get to London for Monday morning. And Friday afternoons are just as bad.

Now in fairness over the years governments have tried to balance this, with regional policies and pushing major government departments far out of London -- DWP in the North East, and DVLA to Swansea, for example. But so many people still seem to be forced into the South East. I hate driving in London, but I hate getting the train more.

Canary Wharf, where I was yesterday, is both amazing and apalling, both at the same time. I was up Canada Tower, or whatever it's called (the one with the pointy bit on top) and the views are amazing. Yet the number of people, especially at lunchtime, is horrific, and for me intollerable.

Still, a city I spent my yoof in, but one I can't wait to get away from.

[Austin Allegro]

The old "black bogeys" jokes no longer work because the air quality has improved massively. The Congestion Charge didn't make any difference, it was the rising land prices that forced out industry that made the air cleaner.

IMO it's the dirt on the tube that causes the black snot. When I commuted by tube, I used to get it and also a black ring around my shirt collar and cuffs. Now that I cycle, even though I'm surrounded by diesels etc my nasal excretions are the normal light green colour and my shirts would make Pauline Fowler proud.

Oh and by the way, those of you engaged in London-bashing should get the terminology right. It's 'that London' when referring to it from the provinces.

[bagsos]

I moved from Manchester to London 7 yrs ago and before I moved I thought like most of the non-London posters here - overhyped, overpriced and oversize. Having lived here for 7 years in all sorts of parts of town, I was wrong. It is fantastic. And you don't need money provided you qualify for social housing (about 40% do); there is so much to do here that's less than a tenner (free in many cases) its unbelievable, from going to see a live TV recording, galleries, theatre. Best range of restaurants in the country ranging from unbelievably cheap to fiendishly expensive, and if you get the right ones as good as anywhere in the world in my experience. And if you want to live in the country AND be on a tube line, there are plenty of options in Essex, if you can put up with the mockery you will face from those living in Surrey.........

[subsidiser]

Perfectly valid question, why do people who earn less than say £30k live in London when they could live for less anywhere else, what is the housing cost versus earning

Because its fun and exciting.

[subsidiser]

I've just been to the Isle of Arran for 2 weeks & nearly everyone I smiled at, smiled back at me.

It reminded me why I hate living in a town.

Living in a City must be hell.

They only did that because seeing another human being once in a while is an EVENT for them.

(Only kidding Arran)

(to some extent anyway)

[Guest Barebear]

I also moved to the south coast from London for a while, and it was the first time I started using the word "clique". I've never had the same issues anywhere else I've lived - being introduced to people on a night out who then basically ignore you. I've lived in several other areas in the UK to realise it isn't a London-good, everywhere else bad kind of thing. London is an amazing place where its possible to crash on the sofa of someone you barely know, and its impossible to go through the week without accumulating several invites to nights out and house parties but there are other parts of the UK where people aren't as horribly cliquey, insular and downright unfriendly as the south coast.

I've also lived in other parts of the UK. Suffolk , thick but kinda cute and Devon very thick and kinda incestuous. Also very briefly Nottingham where its getting to be oop north, oh and then Ilkeston for a week, lol talk about racism Ilkeston must be the capital of it, no takeaway indian lasts there for more than a few weeks.

Everything I want is in London not 2 hours drive away behind a tractor ( Devon ). Plus plus plus going for a day out to the coast now is a real treat whereas when I lived there the miserable locals never used the beach and for some reason saw it as a place only perverts go to so no one went for fear of the stigma.

F ucking strange sad place Littlehampton.

[Guest Barebear]

I moved from Manchester to London 7 yrs ago and before I moved I thought like most of the non-London posters here - overhyped, overpriced and oversize. Having lived here for 7 years in all sorts of parts of town, I was wrong. It is fantastic. And you don't need money provided you qualify for social housing (about 40% do); there is so much to do here that's less than a tenner (free in many cases) its unbelievable, from going to see a live TV recording, galleries, theatre. Best range of restaurants in the country ranging from unbelievably cheap to fiendishly expensive, and if you get the right ones as good as anywhere in the world in my experience.

And if you want to live in the country AND be on a tube line, there are plenty of options in Essex, if you can put up with the mockery you will face from those living in Surrey........

Does go back many centuries. Different tribes you see. We the Atrebates and them Iceni.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Barebear

[bomberbrown]

Perfectly valid question, why do people who earn less than say £30k live in London when they could live for less anywhere else, what is the housing cost versus earning

Two words:

TAX CREDITS*

*Not sure if this has ALREADY been mentioned in the 7 pages I haven't read yet.

[Muffy]

Perfectly valid question, why do people who earn less than say £30k live in London when they could live for less anywhere else, what is the housing cost versus earning

Easy, if you are a true Londoner it's very difficult to go away for any length of time without feeling that pull of home.

As a cockney (born in Stepney) working near Temple on the river (Londoners never call it the Thames, it's THE river), I feel immensely privileged to have been born here, and to live here (despite being on less than £30k - life isn't always about money).

I've lived abroad for several years at a stretch and always had that pull to come back, not for family but for the place itself. I couldn't bear to live somewhere like Australia where I would feel I was on the moon and couldn't get back to London.

It's summed up in an old London song

"Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner

that I love London so

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner

that I think of her

Wherever I go

I get a funny feeling inside of me

just walking up and down

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner

that I love London Town"

I've also always had this potentially dangerously arrogant thought at the back of my mind all the time that anyone who isn't a Londoner wishes they were, in the same way that citizens of ancient Rome thought they were the centre of the universe!!