Bullshit, London hasn't been a good place to live in at least 20 years. You just hung around because you were used to it. London as good things (lots of money, lots of entrepreneurial people), but being "nice to live" isn't one of them.
Especially if you are comparing London from 20 years ago, I would have to say that it is much nicer than it used to be. I lived in London 2 years ago and also 20 years ago. I remember 20 years ago coming home and literally being able to draw pictures on my arm with the grime that accumulated during the day. Blowing my nose always resulted in black snot coming out. The Thames was filled with garbage. Those days are mostly gone now. Hell, tours on the Thames is considered a fancy thing to do these days.
The things I think are not quite as nice (and I'll brace myself for the backlash)... Culturally the city is kind of confused IMHO. 20 years ago it was vaguely European, but really English when it came down to it. You could still get a decent Sunday roast in any pub in London at the time. Now it is decidedly multi-cultural. I think young people will definitely prefer the London of today, and I won't blame them, but personally I miss the London of times gone by. These days you have to go further afield to get more of an English cultural experience, IMHO. Not necessarily a bad thing, but like I said, there will be people who prefer one over the other.
It also used to be that you would have chip shops and sandwich shops and cafes that would serve an english breakfast. Now you have chain espresso shops and ramen shops and sushi shops, etc (hey, I live in Japan and love Japanese culture, so I will stick to complaining about that so as not to appear racist ;-) ). When I'm back in London these days I have to go out of my way to find the kind of food that was around every corner 20 years ago.
As for pubs, chains like Weatherspoons (love them or hate them) have done a great job of maintaining and even improving certain things like the availability of real ale. They have worked hard to lobby for reduced prices for beer so that it is still (barely) possible to drink a decent pint and not go broke. But the good independent pub in London is a rare sight now, IMHO. 20 years ago the words "free house" actually meant something. Now you'll see "free house" on the side of Champions League football entertainment centre that serves nothing but InBev products.
These days the city never sleeps. It never has a day off. You can obtain any kind of food or experience you like, practically 24/7. You can easily find high quality European restaurants. You can drink fine wine in the shop on the corner. You can find italian fashions (and pay your entire salary on a single outfit). These are all great.
But it's hard to find a quiet neighbourhood pub. Piano singalong? Ha ha ha ha! Wait less than 30 minutes for a good english breakfast? Drink a finely crafted English pint with Fuggles and Goldings hops? Find a non-chain pub that serves bangers and mash? Eat a pickle and cheese sandwich (even on a train)? Be able to not be disturbed at all hours by rowdy drunks when you live near a pub? All of these things are getting harder/impossible to do because they have been supplanted by non-English culture. Which is fine in one way, but like I said, I miss London of 20 years ago.
Watch out. The air is still polluted, and it's a significant cause of death in London. It's just a different type of air pollution, and you mostly can't see it.
- pollution;
- poor quality in most housing;
- small apartments (shoeboxes really);
- high rents and difficult to buy;
- crowded (streets, public transportation, roads);
- both of which leads to people being pushed to the outskirts and taking a lot of time to travel when you want to meet with friends;
Personally I got a bit tired of it, loved it in the first few years. Lots of money to be earned, and quite a lot of facilities, but for me I just grew tired of the place.
London has half as many licensed music venues as in 2004. ([1] says 35% less since 2007, I can't find where I read half.)
Also, I said I'd leave the UK if UKIP got more than 20% (or 25%, or something) in the 2014 European elections, and stood by my word :)
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/20/save-londons...
- insane rent. i'm living in a single bedroom
- poor quality of houses. i can hear the steps of my flatmates outside my rooms
- crowded: neighbourhood in london are either shit, or if they're not they're so crowded you can't do anything. you go to a coffee shop and every seat is taken or if it's not you have to seat between two guys. on the street you can barely walk, bump into people all the time, etc
- travel time: this just sucks my soul away. there is no casual meeting someone, meeting someone is always a taxing excursion.
- Here's one that I've never seen mentioned: is it just me, or is there an abnormally high amount of poserism in London? It's fucking posers everywhere, trying to show you how they know THE BEST place to eat THE BEST food and drink THE BEST wine. Who gives a shit? Is your life so uninteresting that you spend it thinking about food?
sigh. After brexit I've started learning german, so maybe I'll try Berlin next.
I can see your other points - but this one seems kind of strange. I've not lived many places, but I'm pretty sure everywhere has people talking about the best restaurants, breweries, bars, etc. It's a part of culture - food and drink! It's a thing literally every human partakes in.
Beyond that - is your life so full of engagement and interest that you literally don't think about food? That just seems pretty exceptional to me. Not trying to judge - there's a reason that products like Soylent exist! Some people legitimately don't care, and I get that. But let other people enjoy whatever they want to - and try not to get upset if they share that with you (:
Those people suck. People who pull out their phones to take a picture of their food rather than their company tend to be showing where their interest lies. Meh.
Travel, expensive and required Rent, expensive and required Socialising, expensive and not required, but needed.
I used to cycle to remove the travel aspect but it's absurdly dangerous. I can't even begin to describe how much better my life is now- My girlfriend wants to go back but that's just because "London is the best place in the world", she can't even cite examples. It's just because it's well known and has landmarks I think.
Yes Brexit has put many of these things at risk and taken a shine off their appeal for many. And yes you have to be relatively rich to have a spacious, comfortable home here, to cushion yourself from the awful public transport, and to partake of all the delights on offer. But someone who's actually lived here and can't cite one example of London's special attraction is sleepwalking through life.
The Manchester Museum of science and Industry, part of the Science Museum group (though only since 2012), is a far more rewarding experience.
Perhaps find somewhere quieter, like a small or mid-sized town, in Britain, Germany, or elsewhere.
Exactly. My flatmate says this shit as well. He's someone who commutes 1.5hrs times two each day, and "London is the best place in the world". He doesn't do anything else with his life, because between a 9-5 and 3 hours of tube, the only thing you have energy for is watching tv.
I have come to the conclusion that people who say "London is the best place in the world" are small minded people disguising as worldly. My flatmate for example never lived anywhere else, but he knows London is "the best".
I guessed a possible route, and stuck it in TfL's Journeyplanner: Uxbridge to West Croydon, takes 1½ hours now (22:00), a bit faster during the day, but add on some walking. (Driving is 70 minutes at night, probably closer to 1½ hours in the day.)
A journey like this would be uncommon, I doubt it's worthwhile for many people. And people living in the 90% of the city that's less-distant than either Uxbridge or Croydon will laugh, and say those places aren't "proper" London anyway.
Also a huge drug problem.