Anyone find London a bit overwhelming?

adam cool dude said:
Manchester and Birmingham do not have the same effect on me that London does whilst both being also large cities.
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Mate you went to Park Royal what do you expect? :p That whole place is a horrendous industrial estate, there’s nothing else there!
HangTime said:
I can't really explain it as it isn't logical, but travelling somewhere in London for 30mins on the tube feels like less of a journey than travelling 30mins between towns on a train
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There’s truth to that. Being in London with the transport network is quite freeing. Knowing you can go anywhere you want practically within the m25 on a whim. Whereas on the flip side I have family in LA and it’s perfectly normal to drive 1hr or more to dinner. That sounds like much harder work than jumping on a couple of tubes to do the same here. And you might get shot :p
 
Scam said:
Mate you went to Park Royal what do you expect? :p That whole place is a horrendous industrial estate, there’s nothing else there!
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I was just using that as an example as it was in recent memory. It is pretty much exactly the same in 80-90% of area's bar the nice little enclave of Chelsea, Fulham, Kensington etc. Whether you go north to Enfield, west to Wembley or all the way east to Erith, Belvedere etc. Park Royal has plenty of housing in it as well (You can see new flats being built in my picture) but that just shows my point. Nowhere else in the country would you really find masses of housing slapped inside a huge industrial area. Just stack em like sardines.
 
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adam cool dude said:
Nowhere else in the country would you really find masses of housing slapped inside a huge industrial area. Just stack em like sardines.
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You definitely get residential mixed in with industrial in other cities (just look at ports like Southampton where they have built apartments overlooking the water alongside Docks etc) but the scale is bigger (like everything else in London) - so taller tower blocks etc. Plus gentrification is kind of the only option when space is at such a premium.
 
it’s simple - Would you rather live in a £1,000,000 1\2 bed flat rubbing shoulders with crack dealers whilst ingesting metric smeg loads of pollution in Kensington or would you rather spend your £1,000,000 on a six bed detached house with half an acre on the edge of a beautiful historic town in the midlands or similar (for example) surrounded by countryside - theoretically.

I know which I would choose. I currently live in ‘Greater London‘ and right on the edge of the M25 in a highly affluent and contextually quiet Surrey town but because of my wife’s pesky job - we can’t get away yet.

as soon as she opens the door even a crack, I’m off. To the countryside. To freedom, space, less stress, less pollution, less noise, less cost, less people, less cars, less crime, happier and and more cohesive communities, and room to breath both physically and psychologically.

you don’t have to live in a city to have everything you need right on your doorstep and England and it’s gorgeous countryside and many many villages and towns offer all you need - London is (to me) a complete turd basket that has become utterly alien to most people and horrifically over populated.

last time I was there, within 5 mins of walking through St James’s park I saw someone get mugged and then 2 mins later a taxi driver having a fist fight with a moped rider. About 10 mins later I was asked if I wanted to buy any drugs from a gentleman of questionable character and barely a word of English (other than - ‘want smoke my friend?’) and all this was whilst I was walking with my 3 and 7 year old towards a theatre to watch ‘Blippi The Musical’ - which cost a fortune.
everything stank and the dirt and filth was off the scale.

Its a dump and I’m not going back.

weirdly my wife loves it. Guess it’s how you are wired.
 
Born and bred Londener here, rush hour to get home from work pre-covid still haunts me but by far, the biggest plus for London is the sheer diversity.

You can be in a conversation at the pub with people from all different backgrounds, countries and languages and you wouldn't even notice/ care and its completely normal. Going go more rural areas of the UK I almost felt like I shouldn't be there! (Thats in addition to the damn spiders which freak me out).

It's flawed, expensive and yes definitely a rat race but I love the diversity and how normal living amongst people from all across the world and different races is. I'm Indian but born and bred in the UK and I felt really out of place/ unwelcome in some of the countryside areas.
 
fastwunz said:
it’s simple - Would you rather live in a £1,000,000 1\2 bed flat rubbing shoulders with crack dealers whilst ingesting metric smeg loads of pollution in Kensington or would you rather spend your £1,000,000 on a six bed detached house with half an acre on the edge of a beautiful historic town in the midlands or similar (for example) surrounded by countryside - theoretically.
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London, Give me that crack. Countryside is where old people go to die :p
 
fastwunz said:
it’s simple - Would you rather live in a £1,000,000 1\2 bed flat rubbing shoulders with crack dealers whilst ingesting metric smeg loads of pollution in Kensington or would you rather spend your £1,000,000 on a six bed detached house with half an acre on the edge of a beautiful historic town in the midlands or similar (for example) surrounded by countryside - theoretically.

I know which I would choose. I currently live in ‘Greater London‘ and right on the edge of the M25 in a highly affluent and contextually quiet Surrey town but because of my wife’s pesky job - we can’t get away yet.

as soon as she opens the door even a crack, I’m off. To the countryside. To freedom, space, less stress, less pollution, less noise, less cost, less people, less cars, less crime, happier and and more cohesive communities, and room to breath both physically and psychologically.

you don’t have to live in a city to have everything you need right on your doorstep and England and it’s gorgeous countryside and many many villages and towns offer all you need - London is (to me) a complete turd basket that has become utterly alien to most people and horrifically over populated.

last time I was there, within 5 mins of walking through St James’s park I saw someone get mugged and then 2 mins later a taxi driver having a fist fight with a moped rider. About 10 mins later I was asked if I wanted to buy any drugs from a gentleman of questionable character and barely a word of English (other than - ‘want smoke my friend?’) and all this was whilst I was walking with my 3 and 7 year old towards a theatre to watch ‘Blippi The Musical’ - which cost a fortune.
everything stank and the dirt and filth was off the scale.

Its a dump and I’m not going back.

weirdly my wife loves it. Guess it’s how you are wired.
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It is like an abused wife who is under control from her Husband. You become accustomed to it through the years and think "everyone must live like this".

15-20 years ago London was the place to be no doubt because of what it offered but people still cling onto that old ideology. Whereas the true reality of 2023 is that you can get 1gig up and down internet in the countryside and everything that a city has to offer thanks to the the immense logistics industry that we have today. The wages do not even compensate either as a 300k house in the midlands is 1 million + in London.
 
adam cool dude said:
It is like an abused wife who is under control from her Husband. You become accustomed to it through the years and think "everyone must live like this".

15-20 years ago London was the place to be no doubt because of what it offered but people still cling onto that old ideology. Whereas the true reality of 2023 is that you can get 1gig up and down internet in the countryside and everything that a city has to offer thanks to the the immense logistics industry that we have today. The wages do not even compensate either as a 300k house in the midlands is 1 million + in London.
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But then I'd need to deal with Midland accents ;)
 
flibbage0 said:
For context I don't live out in the sticks or in a sleepy village but every time I go into Central London (which is probably only a handful of times per year) I find it quite overwhelming, I sort of like the experience as it's so different to a city like Birmingham although I'm sure it can be tiresome if I had to deal with the hustle and bustle on a daily basis.

It's the combination of how busy it is and the sheer amount of money flying around, the only way to describe it is take the average price of something in the UK and double/triple it, this goes for food, houses, clothes and everything. I remember my first time I got the train during rush hour out of London and I remember hearing a phone conversation of gentleman next to me that had a new BMW E92 M3 on order and a couple of other blokes talking about their recent watch acquisitions from Rolex. I think also the sheer amount of shops and restaurants, nationalities, cultures makes it interesting. In addition to this some of the people are ridiculously good looking which probably ties into the mix of different nationalities

All in all I leave after a day feeling like I've barely scratched the surface and I'm missing out on a lot but then on the other side you hear about all the crime.

It's a strange one, wonder if anyone feels the same?
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If you think London is busy, try New York. Jesus but that pace is hectic!
 
Lopéz said:
I was thinking more along the lines of Bangkok. Also, head to the Bund of an evening in Shanghai and tell me Chinese cities aren't chaotic and packed :D
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Shanghai is literally the only Chinese city i haven't been yet, but i plan to on my next trip
 
I lived in London for 6 years, a couple of years in East ham and 4 years in maida Vale.
I now live about 30-40min train ride from euston, in a small very middle class town or in countryside of Hertfordshire.
I don't find London overwhelming per se, but I do find it increasingly unpleasant. I think it is partially because my tolerance has gone down and partly because objectively, London has got more *****! It has definitely lost its excitement for me.
I go into meet up with friends about once a month, and also to visit my sisters who live in South London.
Things I don't like:
- Homeless people everywhere
- It's filthy, especially the tube
- places that used to be OK, such as Oxford St are now really run down
- can be a bit of an edge/risk of violence that simply doesn't exist for me out in Herts. E.g I passed through Westfield shopping centre on the way to a West ham game, and there were groups of youths running around in masks. One youth, who was about 6 4, shoulder barged me as he walked past. I am not surprised if youths are violent to each other,
But I was surprised to experience that kind of aggression towards myself.
-it is expensive, but only a little bit worse then where I live now tbh
 
I would imagine the amount of people can be overwhelming and create an atmosphere unlike any other place.

I'd be interested to see what London's population is compared to other capital citieis. I bet its up there in numbers.
 
I love it as a tourist and go in several times a year. Also worked there for 12 years, the last 7 in "the city" and the last 12 months or so were just soul destroying. Thankfully I got made redundant and I've never thought of working back there again and never needed to. Plenty of work outside the m25 Just hated the commute. The , basically theft, of the train fares, the hordes on the street. The only place I've been where , on a packed pavement, you get utter tools walking against the stream with golf umbrellas reading a book! Then they give you a mouthful when you clip them. The train ride out of there on the last day, i could just feel the weight lift from my shoulders.

But like i say, as a tourist i love it. So much to see and do. Just one day every few months :)
 
fastwunz said:
it’s simple - Would you rather live in a £1,000,000 1\2 bed flat rubbing shoulders with crack dealers whilst ingesting metric smeg loads of pollution in Kensington or would you rather spend your £1,000,000 on a six bed detached house with half an acre on the edge of a beautiful historic town in the midlands or similar (for example) surrounded by countryside - theoretically.

I know which I would choose. I currently live in ‘Greater London‘ and right on the edge of the M25 in a highly affluent and contextually quiet Surrey town but because of my wife’s pesky job - we can’t get away yet.

as soon as she opens the door even a crack, I’m off. To the countryside. To freedom, space, less stress, less pollution, less noise, less cost, less people, less cars, less crime, happier and and more cohesive communities, and room to breath both physically and psychologically.

you don’t have to live in a city to have everything you need right on your doorstep and England and it’s gorgeous countryside and many many villages and towns offer all you need - London is (to me) a complete turd basket that has become utterly alien to most people and horrifically over populated.

last time I was there, within 5 mins of walking through St James’s park I saw someone get mugged and then 2 mins later a taxi driver having a fist fight with a moped rider. About 10 mins later I was asked if I wanted to buy any drugs from a gentleman of questionable character and barely a word of English (other than - ‘want smoke my friend?’) and all this was whilst I was walking with my 3 and 7 year old towards a theatre to watch ‘Blippi The Musical’ - which cost a fortune.
everything stank and the dirt and filth was off the scale.

Its a dump and I’m not going back.

weirdly my wife loves it. Guess it’s how you are wired.
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WTF.. Born and lived in London almost my whole life and not seen anything like that :cry:

Never thought of it as overwhelming either.
 
London puzzles me with its contradictory appearance. It can be picturesque like a small neighbourhood, but then again overgrown with chic shops. Compared to New York, however, I was less impressed by the city. What strikes me is that Paris, Vienna or Berlin are much more energy-sapping. To me London is somehow a great place to drop in between.
 
adam cool dude said:
I can raise you. This was a delivery in Park Royal a couple of months ago. I had to show my missus because she wouldn't believe me.

MGoJKyS.jpg


Everything in one picture. The smog in the air, the over crowdedness, the filth everywhere. That pile of rubbish has been there for months. The 25 minute journey time to go just 4 miles. The state of everything.

Everyone loves to think of the touristy bits etc but the vast majority of it is a dump like no other place I have visited in the country.

Do I find it overwhelming? No. I just feel disappointed as when I get on M1, A1 or M11 Northbound I instantly feel cleansed and you realise that London isn't even England anymore.

Manchester and Birmingham do not have the same effect on me that London does whilst both being also large cities.
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I live in the best part of London, I just cant stand going out. Skips everywhere, crap all over the roads, the re-design of the roads are insane, drivers that do not know how to drive, moped bikers that I like to kill. People in the shops are rude. Even the shops look run down, everything take a serious effort, nothing ever gets done right.
 
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I did the whole east coast. Ontario Canada all the way to Florida. Washington DC bar the museums and New York were the most soulless places ever. Florida was just all plastic and hurricanes. The most interesting places for me were North, South Carolina and Georgia. They just felt the most "American" and honest. I guess the same applies here comparing London to the rest of the country.
 
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