We are overly London-centric in the UK. It's important to remember that it's just one city, and it's completely different to the rest of the country in almost every way.
Inner London is different from the rest of the country because it’s the only part that looks like Western Europe. Starting in Putney, the UK is a giant periphery, with kilometres of houses and nothing to do apart from getting the train to Inner London. There’s more stuff to do in my grandmother’s village than in the entirety of West London after Hammersmith. At least, in that 1200 people village, there are 2 fully operational churches (one 1000 year old), a football field, 2-3 restaurants/cafes and a castle. Outside of inner London the density of foreigners drops dramatically, which in Brexit England tends to be a problem.
Why would anybody in their right mind go to Nowhereshire instead of going, say, to Berlin or Milan or even Perugia?
It could be that coming from central Italy I have very high expectations, maybe some form of Stendhal syndrome in reverse. But I haven’t had the same feeling when travelling in Germany or France. The UK outside of inner London is a distinctly ugly and boring place. Now it’s also the place in Western Europe with the worse supply chain disruptions and shortages.
Perhaps you were going to a Spoons or whatever Young's is by accident. Brilliant food all around the North - maybe check OpenTable or Google Maps and find some proper restaurants/street food vendors. I live near Glasgow and there's some excellent food in the area.
Yes, the weather isn't as good as London/the South. You learn to love it unless you're spoiled with the sun all the time.
p.s. we know Wetherspoons is microwave crap, but it's cheap and comes with a free beer. :)
I’m in Inner London because I have a very high paying job, that allowed me to buy a nice flat in a nice area and that allows me to fly to Europe even 5 times a month with my entire family, if I want. But I was very close from leaving the UK a few years ago, when it became evident that my 100K£ salary wasn’t enough to enjoy the same lifestyle of a friend of mine that lives in Berlin with an entry level s/w development job and 2 children.
Maybe your £100k salary would go (a lot) further if you moved away from London and to somewhere like Manchester - everyone knows London is stupidly expensive ;) I'm on like £40kish around Glasgow in a nearby town and quite comfortable - I'd feel like Elon Musk on your salary.
The West Country instead it’s a rainy non-place that gets flooded every other day, with 0 historical or artistic relevance. And nobody even know it exists outside of the UK.
I’ve never been in a more isolated, yet overcrowded and noisy place in my entire existence. The quality of housing is abysmal as everywhere in the UK. A car was required to go to everywhere, queues everywhere, traffic everywhere, everything cost a fortune and it’s just like a random place in the Roman countryside but without the sun and the olive trees and good food. There was this weird dinosaur park/thing, “children love it!” they told me, that’s the best way of getting a mental breakdown.
Didn’t you know that while all your statements might be subjectively correct, it’s only the Brits themselves allowed to moan about how much their country sucks, haha.
I’m here to spread the truth that everybody knows, I’m here to teach them.
> Didn’t you know that while all your statements might be subjectively correct, it’s only the Brits themselves allowed to moan about how much their country sucks, haha.
The UK is many interesting things, but it’s certainly not a beautiful place, especially outside of London. I prefer Inner London to my home town, by not for the beauty, that would be a no-contest.
I understand that if somebody never actually visited Spain or Italy or France, they may have no idea of what a beautiful city is.
I visited England and Wales for work and I went to Belfast a few times. I visited all the English cities in your list and they aren’t in the same league of random central Italian towns. They were so ugly and anonymous that I’d demand a premium of 50K to move there from London.
From your comments though, doesn't sound like the UK (other than London) is for you unfortunately. No hard feelings.
Here’s a list of random places I visited in Europe that would be the most beautiful place in the UK if teleported there: - Berlin - Paris - Krakow - Hamburg - Madrid - Barcelona - Palma - Aix-en-Provence - Avignon - Vienna - Random Greek island - Istanbul
List of places that would be the second most beautiful thing after Inner London: - Frankfurt - Cologne - Warsaw - Kassel
I can provide more if you need.