i need to be convinced london is great

hey guys.
the wedding is drawing nearer and we're planning on a place to settle down. my fiance has drilled it into my head that we'd be staying close to his home, in the north. i've been really excited because i love it up there. recently though he's been dropping hints that we might need to go to london(more work opportunities). london is great to visit, but i've never imagined myself living there. all i can think about is how expensive it is and how we'd be struggling. any advice from any londoners? good places to live on the outskirts?

I can't convince you that London is great, although I am sure it is, or it can be, but I can convince you that the North is brilliant! Good luck with your decision.

haha. that didn't help much! i want to be in the north so bad.

IMHO, cities are either a wonderful exciting place to be, or a pain in the patoot. It's (sort of) fun to go to NYC, but I wouldn't want to live there. But by contrast, one of my best friends has lived in the same studio flat in Greenwich Village for nearly 30 years, and wouldn't be anywhere else.

I think London, like most cities, has a lot to offer, but if you feel you can't afford it, or just aren't a 'city person' it's difficult to appreciate. Me personally, even if I was a gazillionaire, I would live here in the north. But I'm an OAP, and don't want a 24-hour city experience at this point in my life. I like the countryside and the pace of life here; it suits me.

If you do go, just look for the positives. They are there, and maybe you will find that it's a life experience that you will come to treasure.

I'm not a city person either, so I'd never live in London - it's nothing to do with it being expensive. Personally, I'd only ever want to be in SW Wales or SW England. The countryside is gentler and more lush out here, the climate is generally better (let's not talk about this summer, though!), the accents are softer and the landscape is far less built-up. All pluses to me!

But there are plenty of people on UKY who live in London and absolutely love it! I do hope they chime in to give you their views.

I love London. I really like other parts of the country, but opposite to you, I love visiting but can't imagine living there! There is just so much to do here. I live near the Olympic Village, and it has really been built up around here. Granted, I'm not looking forward to the disruption to our lives (we're so close our road will be closed for foot traffic to the Games) but I love the life it has brought to this part of the city. Shopping centres, restaurants, so much more to do around here... I work in North London, which is completely different! It's got lots of greenery and has more of a quaint feel to it, rather than hustle and bustle... Honestly, there are so many little pockets of London, each with their own personality. There are concerts, musicals, and just fun things happening all the time, if you look for them.

At the same time, I live on quite a quiet street (usually, not during the Olympics I'm sure!), a 5 minute walk from a park. So we can have really lovely quiet weekends.

I was never a city person either, but I really do love it here. I hope that you do, too! Good luck.

I was never a city person either, but I really do love it here.

This definitely applies for me, too.

And I'd also echo the sentiment that you can find a very different "feel" depending on what areas you visit/live in. So you can do more leafy/suburb-y (and still be central), or you can be right in the thick of things.

OOOOKAAAAAYYYY...

I LOVE LONDON.

I am a city girl, born and raised in Manhattan, and London is an even more "liveable" city than NYC, because it is very green. I was pretty sick of NYC, and London is less urban!

There IS work in London. Even *I* found some work - LOL! And I was in Worthing and Brighton looking for work for almost a year! I found NOTHING. Well, I lasted 8 days at a call centre job... But, in London, I have found really good work, all contract positions. But, still, very well paid, and fun jobs!

Every weekend we go out to awesome places like: Camden Town, Borough Market, Shoreditch, South Bank... There is always something fun and cheap, or often even FREE, to do!!!

I find people in London very laid back, in general. No one makes an issue of where I am from, or that I am not English. There are TONS of Americans in London. There are tons of people from all over the world. I like that.

There are tons of places serving great ethnic foods!

We live in Zone 3, in South London, outside the city centre, and we have a huge front garden and an even bigger back garden, with foxes, and birds, and roses, and our apartment has big windows, and we have a huge, lovely, rather unique park right behind our flat... Actually, there are 3 huge parks very close by.

Our rent in NOT crazy high. It is much less than we would be paying in NYC and we get much more for our money.

I'm not bragging - I just want you to know that it is do-able. We do not have a ton of money, at all, but we ARE living well in London!

Ya get an Oyster Card for the train, and it costs less to travel. And, there are affordable places to eat out all over London!

I love the area we are in - it is chill, and safe, and quiet. People are so friendly! We know our neighbours! We have great transport links - we are on the overground, and we have Southern Rail. Both connect to several tube lines.

We even have a parking space with out flat! (Try finding THAT in NYC, in any location even close to Manhattan!)

London is great!

You might actually LOVE living in London!

(Oh, the north is fab too! No doubt! Just different!)

London is my whole life. It's amazing and surprising. It's always fun, it's full of opportunities, it never ceases to bring  cool new things or new people in my life, no where else would I end up at the same house party as a former Doctor Who or chatting to Simon Pegg whilst I waited for a street bagel.

London is definitely what you make of it though, if you're not the kind of person who wants to try weird stuff, then London might not be for you. There's things to do everywhere of course, but the wide variety in London is what makes it amazing for me. I can't sit around, and there are so many things are there for the taking that have really enriched my life, like supperclubs, the street-food scene, chasing London's best X, I go to a documentary film making group, the Prince Charles Cinema, I spend time playing board games,have butchery classes at the ginger pig, archery lessons, I am adicted to Pierre Hermes macaroons, pickle back shots at Southbank and Troy bar on a Friday night - but if you're not enthused by any of this, then it is an expensive place to live.

If you hate travelling, and are on a low income it can be a massive struggle in London,  to me it's worth it, also I feel like a lot of that situation will be temporary, the opportunities in London are so great that you find your wage will rise more quickly than they will in other parts of the country, (wages are higher anyway).

In terms of where you live, we live in a leafy suburb and it takes 30 minutes ish for me to get to Soho, however, we're moving into the city to be more urban and closer to the action because it's important to us right now. Just work out what's important to you, commute time, house size, restaurants, vibe and you'll be able to find a part of London that suits you.

I can't convince you that London is great, although I am sure it is, or it can be, but I can convince you that the North is brilliant! Good luck with your decision.

Heheheh  

Good luck beegriffy -I live a good 1.5 hour flight from London in the North Pole ,aka Highlands of Scotland, so I'm of no use, as I look at the sheep out my window.  I'm not a city girl in any way shape or form.  But I hope all these nice Londoners here can convince you of all that is good there. I like to visit London, there's sure a lot going on there!

i'm loving all this positive feedback. i'm not as scared as when my fiance had first brought it up. i'm actually getting a bit excited. what are some areas on the outskirts of london that y'all would recommend? i've got no clue which are the nice parts. i've only been to croydon and wasn't crazy about it.

Croydon is NOT London!

Don't move to Croydon. No offence to anyone who lives there, married someone from there, or loves it there - It is just... not... London. You will not got the "London experience."

Kate Moss is from Croydon. (Why do I even know that?)

Maybe start by looking around anything on the Tube map that says Zone 3, and researching the area?

That was what I did.

Croydon is NOT London!

Um. Actually, it is.

Yes, it surely is London, as much as Kensington, Chelsea, Harrow, and Camden are London.  Croydon is London.

croydon is not london like pensacola is not florida. it is but it isn't. pensacola might as well be alabama. i know what you mean though. i was not a huge fan. we stayed with my fiance's friend while we were there and he didn't like it either. reason enough for me to search for other places.