People in London are increasingly insular and borderline anti-social because it's too expensive to socialise. Average evening out can set you back mad money.
I’m from Yorkshire and I lived in London for 13 years. I left when I was 36 and moved back to Yorkshire. The first few years in london were hell. I had no money at all, so I couldn’t do anything other than work. I made lots of friends (through work as you say) started earning more money, could go out more, go on holidays more. Still had nothing left over to save. But once your friends start meeting people and having children it becomes slowly more lonely again. Dating was a nightmare, so many oddballs and everyone had so many options, barely anyone was in a relationship. Even with a good salary and friends, I had a constant feeling of emptiness and loneliness. And you work so much you have little time left to enjoy London anyway. I gave up, moved up north, bought a house within a year and I am so angry with myself for not doing it earlier. Yes my salary is 8% less but that’s nothing compared to the overall money I save. London is SO overrated - I would encourage people to do as little time there as necessary. Just visit once or twice a year instead when you have time to enjoy the place
Thank you for saying this. I’m considering moving to Leeds after 5 years spent in a London and despite me not being happy anymore in London moving is always an exciting but scary option.
Which industry are you in? I would happily take an 8% cut, my work is an immediate cut of much more but the main issue is long term earning and progression - there are only 6 people at my grade or above which means I’d be the top 7 people if I were to move whereas I’ve been getting on a sizeable promotion (not counting the ones that are just superficial and title) on average every 2.5 years - it seems like it is the same for all the other workplaces in my field too 😢 have been looking for something where I won’t be at serious financial and career disadvantage even offsetting the low costs, within less than 3-4 years
I was born in London in 1980 and lived there until 2017. I spent stints around the country as a kid in the army. London is really only worth moving to if you are a professional and have a 100k+ job lined up. There is supposed to be what's called London weighting in the wages but it's no where near enough to counter the extra cost in living and be able to enjoy a relatively comfortable standard of living unless again, you're earning 100k+. In terms of London London (zone 1), you need to be earning more like 200k +. It's not possible if earning under about 60k and at that, you'd have very little left after living expenses. Even a 1 bed studio flat can cost 2-3k per month to rent. In terms of Greater London, most people will find that they have little left after living expenses if earning under about 40k. Then there's the social dynamics of cities. While they have massive populations, they're lonely places. You can live on a street for a decade and not speak to your neighbours once. It's a melting pot of different cultures and while some people like that, many will just find it a lonely and depressing place to live. The crime is an issue although it's definitely overhyped by the media. Most of it goes on underneath the radar like the drug scene. The most common kinds of crime you'll fall victim to in London are low level crime vehicle theft. Overall, the average person is just better off outside the cities. Both financially and socially/phycologically
Cities are great for people who just want a virtue signal the whole time. All the real Londoners left long ago leaving behind the wafty pretentious pricks
Yeah, I'd say even if you can earn 100k in London, it's kinda borderline. But it's hard to increase your after-tax pay beyond that point because you're in the 40% bracket getting into the 45% bracket. To take home £117k after tax you need a salary of £200k, but you're competing in the property market against non-dom billionaires who don't pay UK tax at all. If you can make £100k somewhere else in England, you can live a much better life style.
I am thinkinh of moving out of the UK as a whole at the moment. The economic crisis and the bad management of the government has made life for middle class income workers a nightmare. And I am not even commenting on low income families and vulnerable people. Although the crisis is now a global issue, I am sure that there might be countries out there able to cope with the situation much better, and of course providing support to its own citisens.
There is a general feeling that the best is over here in UK and especially in London. Lived here all my life and its just gone so much worse. Economic crisis, social issues, governance, general sentiment is horrible. Honestly, its so appealing to leave and get out to somewhere new.
Hey Cazedi✨! I totally agree with EVERY SINGLE ONE of these points! Especially the loneliness of London! I also just recently left London and am so happy about my decision. Hope you're enjoying your time up North!
I grew up in London and for sure the friendship groups are closed off. I have heard so many people say it was hard to make friends in London. Only way to build the network is through work.
London is very class based and can be very elitist as well. Especially amongst English people that have grown up there. There is a huge class divide also. I am somebody who moved away about years ago. It takes thick skin to survive and make it there.
It's a very insightful video you have made there. London is one of the greatest cities in the world if you have friends or a friend, and on the flipside, London can be one of the loneliest cities in the world if you have no friends. Sad fact.
I agree that London is a lonely city although I doubt the narrator would have a hard time meeting guys to date. Friendships may be harder to maintain. London is a very class and status based city and social groups can be very cliquey.
The general rule is if the place attracts more people it's going to cost more, be more dangerous, be more crazy and be more lonely... Try to find a job in a smaller town !!
I live in West Palm Beach, FL and the all the points you’ve explained are exactly the reason why I plan on leaving when my lease term ends. I’m glad I’m not the only one that feels like this.
There is a problem with this - I live in Manchester and the place is now swarming with people from down south - they are moving to Manchester in such numbers that they are beginning to seriously bugger up not only house prices, but rental prices too. I saw a flat I used to rent 5 years ago up for rent a few months back and it was exactly double what I used to pay - it still went in a couple of days. Locals are being priced out…..
London is a nice place to visit but I would never want to live in that London lol. Apart from being to expensive I find the culture of London quite pompous and I encountered mostly Rude people. Mind you London does do a banging Pie and Mash though lol. I'm definitely more of a small town kind of guy who prefers my own company. My ideal location would be a small quiet Alaskan cabin in a small town. I've never been a big fan of big cities.
As an East Londoner born in the 80s id say East Londoners to be the most down to earth, raw, honest, violent, but good for a laugh and hardworking people. I've lived all over London. Lived in West London by Chiswick (well in Chiswick), no thanks, can't stand that lot and their psuedo-village (when i saw people wearing wellies in the sun on the high street just to go to a farmers market i was like, nah no, no thanks, don't need people like that around me). North London, the slightest spit of rain saw me watching people wearing ponchos and with umbrellas up and i mean barely raining all fashion and pomp, nah, no thanks don't need folk like that in my life. South Londoners tended to be more down to earth (lived in Croydon which is kind of an in between place between South London and Surrey and very feral in parts) except when your talking Clapham, Balham, Southfields, etc...Which to me were up their own asses...I'd say for me it's either East London or get out...We are thinking of getting out to the villages and small towns...Forever blowing bubbles but, yeah a quieter scape is well worth it i reckon
I've come across your video by chance - most of your comments are on point and your manner of speaking does manage to entertain the viewer whilst avoiding superfluousness. I lived in London only for a couple of weeks but can definitely relate to your remarks though they certainly match the modern day urban lifestyle in general. The epidemy of loneliness is probably the price to pay for this ultra mobile liquid modernity globalised world. Even working and living in Brighton I would attend Meetups, book festivals, play football etc. None of that really helped - I knew many people but not many friends. Obviously the fact that I'm not from the UK didn't help, though language wasn't the issue. If you don't have a social circle in the city even before moving in or if you don't get along with your colleagues at work miraculously well you're likely screwd.
Thank you so much for commenting! You’re absolutely right- it seems to be the way everyone lives now. No one really has time for human connection as much. I found the same for my time in London- I knew loads of people but didn’t really have any friends or anyone I could really count on so you hit the nail right on the head there! I really hope things have gotten better for you and you’ve been able to find some people to call friends where you are ☺️
Good video. People not used to living in the UK should watch this. Nothing surprising about London in it for myself.. I got lost once in London on a motorbike pre -sat nav era. Yes I am old. and i felt like i was suffocating in a labyrinth of tarmac and concrete ugliness. When i eventually found the A1 north I punched the air with delight. Worse places like that in China and Thailand and elsewhere -not the worst by far. But I would never want to live there.
Yeah, you need a high salary to live comfortably in London - which you could find at banks or tech companies. In terms of making friends, I think you would find your crowd in Clapham. There's also the MeetUp app for finding people to hang out with.
This is brilliant. Really quite accurate too. I do not miss being in that dirty, crime-riddled, dangerous and heartless place. However, some of the g e n u i n e l y kindest people I knew were fellow Saffas like yourself but they left England for the reasons I’ve mentioned above.
Everything you say is true as a foreigner I find London cold in weather & culture both nobody is friendly even your co workers are not its like people tolerate each other no warmth no love maybe they have lost the human eotionl touch
London's not the most dangerous city in the world, but there are a bunch of safer cities! Copenhagen, Munich, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, the list goes on.
mate London is the safest big city in the whole planet, go to Paris, Berlin, LA, NYC then we'll talk about it...If you mind your own business no one is going to touch you.
Which city did you move to, hunni? I wanted to move to Manchester, but for time being "I'm stuck"-ish in Birmingham and it sucks big time. And I don't want to fall for London again....Is it Leicester, Nottingham? Please don't tell me Birmingham LOL
I thought London had a large SA expat community. I don't think it's hard for outgoing young people like yourself to make friends in London. I doubt you would struggle to get a Tinder date lol.
@@cazedialea When I first moved to London, I lived in a share house and it was all Aussies, Saffas and Canadians (I'm Canadian). This was over 10 years ago though, and the British economy hadn't crashed yet. Back then you could go in any random London pub and odds were good that there'd be some young antipodean staff behind the bar. I think things are pretty different nowadays.
For me, it's like Niort( in France ) just bigger. It's a city that for some historical reasons Insurance of Europe installed there. So people are commuting to work there or living there for work. And that's it. It's just a place people make money. If you have a wife and a family it's livable because you will actually speak to humans. Other than that. Everybody is in a "let's not be not politically correct, I have this to achieve". I was making money in London. I was not priced out. But I moved out. Money does not worth not having a life. #
London is not for those who want life. It is for those who want to have decent pensions when they have lower salary. London house prices increase much faster than any other cities in the world which means that if one has got the mortgage, it will be surely be doubled by the time a person retires I.e get 400k home it will be 800k in 25 years time. This means that a Londoner can sell his home at 60 take cool 400k inflation adjusted and capital gains paid profit (cut will be tiny for 25 year old asset gains) and retire in countryside quiet life and have another 400k as retirement money to splash out for. They don’t need to save 20k per year for rest of life to have 500k retirement money. Their house is retirement. This is the only reason why people life in London. Most people who don’t care about that have left London and live in beautiful commuter towns and villages.
The London homicide rate is only like 1.5 out of 100k people, which wouldn't even place it in the top 100 worst cities in America if London were in America. It's completely safe compared to literally 99.99% of big cities in the Americas. Coming from Johannesburg it is basically like Disneyland for you in terms of safety. Europeans have no clue about what a real bad city feels like as their crime rates are so low (second lowest on earth to Asia), so they think even London is bad, when it's nothing. This is coming from a New Yorker who has worked in London for 5 years.
get out of your bedroom, there are countless activities, reading-clubs, live music, sports to do, you can't meet people if you stare at your phone 24/7 without making the effort. I have been here for the last 13 years I have countless of friends and I am never stopping to meet new people.
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People in London are increasingly insular and borderline anti-social because it's too expensive to socialise. Average evening out can set you back mad money.
Not the Australians, mate. I think that London has got the best Ozzies.
i hate klondon and hate the people. im from the north. thats the best part of the uk
Yes but how to move out??? I don’t have much money and it’s so hard to get a flat anywhere once I moved in years ago. What to do???
I’m from Yorkshire and I lived in London for 13 years. I left when I was 36 and moved back to Yorkshire. The first few years in london were hell. I had no money at all, so I couldn’t do anything other than work. I made lots of friends (through work as you say) started earning more money, could go out more, go on holidays more. Still had nothing left over to save. But once your friends start meeting people and having children it becomes slowly more lonely again. Dating was a nightmare, so many oddballs and everyone had so many options, barely anyone was in a relationship. Even with a good salary and friends, I had a constant feeling of emptiness and loneliness. And you work so much you have little time left to enjoy London anyway. I gave up, moved up north, bought a house within a year and I am so angry with myself for not doing it earlier. Yes my salary is 8% less but that’s nothing compared to the overall money I save. London is SO overrated - I would encourage people to do as little time there as necessary. Just visit once or twice a year instead when you have time to enjoy the place
Thank you for saying this. I’m considering moving to Leeds after 5 years spent in a London and despite me not being happy anymore in London moving is always an exciting but scary option.
@@dianamazzella3486good luck with your move. My friend moved to Leeds too
Thank you for sharing this.
Which industry are you in? I would happily take an 8% cut, my work is an immediate cut of much more but the main issue is long term earning and progression - there are only 6 people at my grade or above which means I’d be the top 7 people if I were to move whereas I’ve been getting on a sizeable promotion (not counting the ones that are just superficial and title) on average every 2.5 years - it seems like it is the same for all the other workplaces in my field too 😢 have been looking for something where I won’t be at serious financial and career disadvantage even offsetting the low costs, within less than 3-4 years
I was born in London in 1980 and lived there until 2017. I spent stints around the country as a kid in the army. London is really only worth moving to if you are a professional and have a 100k+ job lined up. There is supposed to be what's called London weighting in the wages but it's no where near enough to counter the extra cost in living and be able to enjoy a relatively comfortable standard of living unless again, you're earning 100k+. In terms of London London (zone 1), you need to be earning more like 200k +. It's not possible if earning under about 60k and at that, you'd have very little left after living expenses. Even a 1 bed studio flat can cost 2-3k per month to rent. In terms of Greater London, most people will find that they have little left after living expenses if earning under about 40k.
Then there's the social dynamics of cities. While they have massive populations, they're lonely places. You can live on a street for a decade and not speak to your neighbours once. It's a melting pot of different cultures and while some people like that, many will just find it a lonely and depressing place to live. The crime is an issue although it's definitely overhyped by the media. Most of it goes on underneath the radar like the drug scene. The most common kinds of crime you'll fall victim to in London are low level crime vehicle theft.
Overall, the average person is just better off outside the cities. Both financially and socially/phycologically
voila out heading to bordeaux
Cities are great for people who just want a virtue signal the whole time. All the real Londoners left long ago leaving behind the wafty pretentious pricks
Yeah, I'd say even if you can earn 100k in London, it's kinda borderline. But it's hard to increase your after-tax pay beyond that point because you're in the 40% bracket getting into the 45% bracket. To take home £117k after tax you need a salary of £200k, but you're competing in the property market against non-dom billionaires who don't pay UK tax at all. If you can make £100k somewhere else in England, you can live a much better life style.
I am thinkinh of moving out of the UK as a whole at the moment. The economic crisis and the bad management of the government has made life for middle class income workers a nightmare. And I am not even commenting on low income families and vulnerable people. Although the crisis is now a global issue, I am sure that there might be countries out there able to cope with the situation much better, and of course providing support to its own citisens.
Where are you thinking to move to just out of curiosity?
I am looking at other countries as i write. Just wonder what I would do to make money other than teach English?
There is a general feeling that the best is over here in UK and especially in London. Lived here all my life and its just gone so much worse. Economic crisis, social issues, governance, general sentiment is horrible. Honestly, its so appealing to leave and get out to somewhere new.
How do I move out I don’t have much money what to do I’m so scared people are scary and evil and not much money
oomg so true!!!! I've lived in London for 8 years it's so lonely. they are so anti social it's not for me no more. it's a very lonely city!!
I’ve recently moved to London from Devon, you dare make eye contact with people in the underground 😂…
Hey Cazedi✨! I totally agree with EVERY SINGLE ONE of these points! Especially the loneliness of London! I also just recently left London and am so happy about my decision. Hope you're enjoying your time up North!
I grew up in London and for sure the friendship groups are closed off. I have heard so many people say it was hard to make friends in London. Only way to build the network is through work.
London is very class based and can be very elitist as well. Especially amongst English people that have grown up there. There is a huge class divide also. I am somebody who moved away about years ago. It takes thick skin to survive and make it there.
I live in London for 10 years everything you said was true.
I used to live in Tokyo; it’s a big city but things are much cheaper than in the london
It's a very insightful video you have made there. London is one of the greatest cities in the world if you have friends or a friend, and on the flipside, London can be one of the loneliest cities in the world if you have no friends. Sad fact.
"How do you friend?" Couldn't have said it better
I agree that London is a lonely city although I doubt the narrator would have a hard time meeting guys to date. Friendships may be harder to maintain. London is a very class and status based city and social groups can be very cliquey.
Mate . Absolutely perfect points . I live in london and has been here since last 8 months . My goodness , its so unfriendly and lonely
The general rule is if the place attracts more people it's going to cost more, be more dangerous, be more crazy and be more lonely... Try to find a job in a smaller town !!
I live in West Palm Beach, FL and the all the points you’ve explained are exactly the reason why I plan on leaving when my lease term ends. I’m glad I’m not the only one that feels like this.
Wow why would you wanna ever leave there. Live in the shithole of London for a week. You will be thankful
You are totally right! 2 years and it was just like that!
There is a problem with this - I live in Manchester and the place is now swarming with people from down south - they are moving to Manchester in such numbers that they are beginning to seriously bugger up not only house prices, but rental prices too. I saw a flat I used to rent 5 years ago up for rent a few months back and it was exactly double what I used to pay - it still went in a couple of days. Locals are being priced out…..
London is a nice place to visit but I would never want to live in that London lol. Apart from being to expensive I find the culture of London quite pompous and I encountered mostly Rude people. Mind you London does do a banging Pie and Mash though lol. I'm definitely more of a small town kind of guy who prefers my own company. My ideal location would be a small quiet Alaskan cabin in a small town. I've never been a big fan of big cities.
As an East Londoner born in the 80s id say East Londoners to be the most down to earth, raw, honest, violent, but good for a laugh and hardworking people. I've lived all over London. Lived in West London by Chiswick (well in Chiswick), no thanks, can't stand that lot and their psuedo-village (when i saw people wearing wellies in the sun on the high street just to go to a farmers market i was like, nah no, no thanks, don't need people like that around me). North London, the slightest spit of rain saw me watching people wearing ponchos and with umbrellas up and i mean barely raining all fashion and pomp, nah, no thanks don't need folk like that in my life. South Londoners tended to be more down to earth (lived in Croydon which is kind of an in between place between South London and Surrey and very feral in parts) except when your talking Clapham, Balham, Southfields, etc...Which to me were up their own asses...I'd say for me it's either East London or get out...We are thinking of getting out to the villages and small towns...Forever blowing bubbles but, yeah a quieter scape is well worth it i reckon
I've come across your video by chance - most of your comments are on point and your manner of speaking does manage to entertain the viewer whilst avoiding superfluousness.
I lived in London only for a couple of weeks but can definitely relate to your remarks though they certainly match the modern day urban lifestyle in general. The epidemy of loneliness is probably the price to pay for this ultra mobile liquid modernity globalised world. Even working and living in Brighton I would attend Meetups, book festivals, play football etc. None of that really helped - I knew many people but not many friends. Obviously the fact that I'm not from the UK didn't help, though language wasn't the issue.
If you don't have a social circle in the city even before moving in or if you don't get along with your colleagues at work miraculously well you're likely screwd.
Thank you so much for commenting! You’re absolutely right- it seems to be the way everyone lives now. No one really has time for human connection as much.
I found the same for my time in London- I knew loads of people but didn’t really have any friends or anyone I could really count on so you hit the nail right on the head there!
I really hope things have gotten better for you and you’ve been able to find some people to call friends where you are ☺️
Absolutely right, agree with each and every point. 😏😏😏😏😏😏
❤️🫶🏼
Good video. People not used to living in the UK should watch this. Nothing surprising about London in it for myself.. I got lost once in London on a motorbike pre -sat nav era. Yes I am old. and i felt like i was suffocating in a labyrinth of tarmac and concrete ugliness. When i eventually found the A1 north I punched the air with delight. Worse places like that in China and Thailand and elsewhere -not the worst by far. But I would never want to live there.
Yeah, you need a high salary to live comfortably in London - which you could find at banks or tech companies. In terms of making friends, I think you would find your crowd in Clapham. There's also the MeetUp app for finding people to hang out with.
This is brilliant. Really quite accurate too. I do not miss being in that dirty, crime-riddled, dangerous and heartless place.
However, some of the g e n u i n e l y kindest people I knew were fellow Saffas like yourself but they left England for the reasons I’ve mentioned above.
Everything you say is true as a foreigner I find London cold in weather & culture both nobody is friendly even your co workers are not its like people tolerate each other no warmth no love maybe they have lost the human eotionl touch
I also moved out. Don’t think I will go back
London's not the most dangerous city in the world, but there are a bunch of safer cities! Copenhagen, Munich, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, the list goes on.
mate London is the safest big city in the whole planet, go to Paris, Berlin, LA, NYC then we'll talk about it...If you mind your own business no one is going to touch you.
Liverpool, Leeds, north really ya best bet now a days
Which city did you move to, hunni? I wanted to move to Manchester, but for time being "I'm stuck"-ish in Birmingham and it sucks big time. And I don't want to fall for London again....Is it Leicester, Nottingham? Please don't tell me Birmingham LOL
Cazedi, would you be comfortable in sharing where are you based now?
sjhe is sooooooo pretty
I thought London had a large SA expat community. I don't think it's hard for outgoing young people like yourself to make friends in London. I doubt you would struggle to get a Tinder date lol.
Ahahah thanks 😭 I guess I was living in an area with no SA expats I met none 😂
@@cazedialea When I first moved to London, I lived in a share house and it was all Aussies, Saffas and Canadians (I'm Canadian). This was over 10 years ago though, and the British economy hadn't crashed yet. Back then you could go in any random London pub and odds were good that there'd be some young antipodean staff behind the bar. I think things are pretty different nowadays.
@@llms_react ahhh that sounds amazing! I think you still find saffas and other immigrants in London I guess I just didn’t happen to find them 😅
Cool hair. Reminds me of Rogue.
I have the same experience
For me, it's like Niort( in France ) just bigger. It's a city that for some historical reasons Insurance of Europe installed there. So people are commuting to work there or living there for work. And that's it. It's just a place people make money. If you have a wife and a family it's livable because you will actually speak to humans. Other than that. Everybody is in a "let's not be not politically correct, I have this to achieve". I was making money in London. I was not priced out. But I moved out. Money does not worth not having a life. #
London is not for those who want life. It is for those who want to have decent pensions when they have lower salary. London house prices increase much faster than any other cities in the world which means that if one has got the mortgage, it will be surely be doubled by the time a person retires I.e get 400k home it will be 800k in 25 years time. This means that a Londoner can sell his home at 60 take cool 400k inflation adjusted and capital gains paid profit (cut will be tiny for 25 year old asset gains) and retire in countryside quiet life and have another 400k as retirement money to splash out for. They don’t need to save 20k per year for rest of life to have 500k retirement money. Their house is retirement. This is the only reason why people life in London. Most people who don’t care about that have left London and live in beautiful commuter towns and villages.
great video & i like you😊
Love your video...
The London homicide rate is only like 1.5 out of 100k people, which wouldn't even place it in the top 100 worst cities in America if London were in America. It's completely safe compared to literally 99.99% of big cities in the Americas. Coming from Johannesburg it is basically like Disneyland for you in terms of safety. Europeans have no clue about what a real bad city feels like as their crime rates are so low (second lowest on earth to Asia), so they think even London is bad, when it's nothing. This is coming from a New Yorker who has worked in London for 5 years.
You have to admit people in city's are self centered and entitled I don't need all these people and everything I'm happy without it all
Lon-done
hello
youre just poor hunny
Hi baby i miss you london
You lost me at "Sex in the City".
U look older with that white hair. Sorry.
Mate . Absolutely perfect points . I live in london and has been here since last 8 months . My goodness , its so unfriendly and lonely
get out of your bedroom, there are countless activities, reading-clubs, live music, sports to do, you can't meet people if you stare at your phone 24/7 without making the effort. I have been here for the last 13 years I have countless of friends and I am never stopping to meet new people.