[Closed] What's your favorite thing about London?

its 200 miles away.

Borough Market - but I could list loads of reason I choose to live here.

I both live and work in London

in summer, watching the office girls on my commute 🙂

It's at the other end of a different country.

The British Museum.

The lack of a requirement to plan things, there's always something to do, be it a gig, a show, an exhibition or just people watching.

Ex-Londoner, now trying to move back, turns out I miss it.

The M40 away from it, I ****ing hate the place with a passion!! And I'm married to a Londoner so I've spent far more time there than I'd have liked...

Right now, the fact I visit occasionally and enjoy it. When I lived there I was starting to get a bit fed up/jaded.

there's always something to do

There is way too much to do...its both great and frustrating! A whole lot of free stuff too.

Salt beef sandwich from the cafe on Bedfordbury near Covent Garden
The Harp (CAMRA POTY 2011) behind St Martin in the Fields
Knowing my way around Zone 1 by bike like the back of my hand, have been riding around london for nearly 15 years now.
My commute from Paddington to Trafalgar Square
Lunchtime walk in the sun around covent garden in Black Iridium shades...
All the hidden little bars and pubs I know in every corner of the town.

Being able to visit and leave knowing there is a whole other world out there

I love the fact that so many people are prepared to cram themselves into a flat, boring bit of the country, so we can have all the hills.

I do enjoy a day wandering about Londons Galleries. The Tate Britain's my favourite

agree with Stoner.....some nice little boozers.

jam bo - Member
its 200 miles away.

Right now, the fact I visit occasionally and enjoy it. When I lived there I was starting to get a bit fed up/jaded.

The best thing about London is not living there - I'm not saying that in sneery way, but the people who live there seem to mostly miss out on all the best things about London that are right under their nose. I've plenty of friends in London but I get to experience more of the good stuff in London in 3 or 4 days than they seem to manage all year.

For me the best thing about London is walking - we clocked up 16 miles on our last leisurely convoluted mooch from Battersea to Chelsea to Brick Lane and back along the river.

not being there and not having to listen to epic commute stories - like up the limpopo (standing all the way) but the native ticket collectors jolly unhelpful when i forgot my season ticket and it cost thousands etc etc

Not sure that i've got a favourite bit...i moved here from the country when i got married...much prefer living in the country.

That's a bit worrying - I can't think of anything I particularly like about the place in which I live. I suppose I've had some nice days out in London, but I'd still rather be a visitor.

Although TBH the Lamb & Flag by Covent Garden was a nice boozer if I was in the area. (thanks to CFH for poiinting that one out to me)

Ex-Londoner, now trying to move back, turns out I miss it.

best thing about London for me is the positive, dig-in-and-get-on-with-it attitude. We didn't change our lives after 9/11, neither did we after 7/7. Right now you wouldn't know there's an economic crisis. And I don't think that's some kind of god-given thing. London's full of people who chose to be here, so tend to make the best of it.
And the whole 'too many people' thing means I love being in the countryside at the weekend - the contrast is massive and very theraputic, more so than if I lived in the sticks in the first place

Stoner
Lunchtime walk in the sun around covent garden in Black Iridium shades...

for me
Nightlife -the clubbing- well, torture garden , antichrist and all the other stuff thats randomly going on after dark, gigs, stand up, new bars

Going back a few years - a melted brie and bacon baguette from a little cafe at the top of Chancery Lane. Good way to start the day...

going home 🙂

hate the place except for Upton Park 🙂

The best thing about London is not living there - I'm not saying that in sneery way, but the people who live there seem to mostly miss out on all the best things about London that are right under their nose.

Agreed on that. I always turn up at my sisters in London, with a list of exhibitions I want to go and see. She never bothers with owt like that, and neither do any of her mates. Yet when I mention whats on, they all say "oh that sounds interesting. In its own way, I find it, and its inhabitants, really parochial.

I love strolling down the South Bank on a sunny day to the Tate

Oh...how could I forget the assertive driving. Fearful and unforgiving if you don't belong... 🙂

I'm a visitor, mostly for work, sometimes a couple of times a week but never get bored of it, in fact it gives me a little bit of excitement!

- The constant buzz of activity and things getting done
- Pretty women
- All the history in everything, road names, buildings, you name it
- Walking round looking at the above (I tend to walk most places just to take all this in)
- Getting taken to interesting cafe's, pubs, bars by locals
- Pretty women
- All the diversity - people, language, accents, fashion
- Pretty women

The intricacy of the streets and the fact that wherever you look, there is layer upon layer of history. That, and the monumental architecture. There are only a few cities on earth that speak of 'forever' the way London does.

I love London. Wouldn't want to live there again but I wouldn't wang to be too far away by train either.
What do I like about it best? Well, the fact that ANYTHING (legal) goes. You can do what you like when you like. Dress how you like, whatever, and nobody is fazed by it. I love the history of the place. I love the buildings, pretty much everything really.
Sydney bored me rigid within 48hrs.

The odd things/people that cause hardly a raised eyebrow.
The ability to get anything at short notice.
The fact that it's very existence is a constant annoyance to northereners/sweatys/small minded provincial people
The ability to make the above mentioned people wander round with strange wide eyed half smile confused expressions on their faces while wearing outdated denim/sportswear and standing on the wrong side of escalators or blocking the pavement.
The food/drink and the variety available
More good coffee available per square mile than anywhere else in the country (especially near where I work)
Less obese people wobbling around (first thing I notice when visiting other parts of the country is the fatties)

Work there once a week,and visit once a month or so.
The Tate modern for me, after a few beers of course.
We are off weekend after next for traditional Xmas walk around Hampstead, then cinema and beers.
Cool place, but I am happy to get back onto train to Brighton.

1) it's only 2hours away when i want to go there, i can be in the centre of london before some of my friends who claim to live there.

(living inside the M25 does not count as living in london - imho)

2) it's a world away most of the time.

M1 northbound

The fact I have had a 10% price increase on my flat this year in Wimbledon - another step closer to my Country House!

agree with a lot of the above, bar the haterz.

in addition, Hampstead Heath, my flat, the bucket-load of friends I have around the place, near and far, that means there's always someone coming up with ideas for things do (including trips away from London) and there's always someone to say "why-not?" to mine.

We're not going to stay forever but, for now, I'm enjoying it very much indeed.

dinae miss the place, nice to visit on occasions, but as a way o life --no ta--

The fact that it's very existence is a constant annoyance to northereners/sweatys/small minded provincial people
The ability to make the above mentioned people wander round with strange wide eyed half smile confused expressions on their faces while wearing outdated denim/sportswear and standing on the wrong side of escalators or blocking the pavement.

I like the fact it keeps the more snotty, superior, self-absorbed, condescending and patronising members of our society all concentrated together in one place. The rest of the country really do owe you one for that 😆

I like the fact there are less 'biters' there

In one binners.

And to avoid editing was great fun popping into booths in media city Manchester to see how the refugees of the BBC were surviving

I thought I was right but it's nice to have it confirmed 🙄

In its own way, I find it, and its inhabitants really parochial.

I have two sets of friends there one in Black Heath one near Dulwich - 4 miles apart as the crow flies. We all know each other from before they lived in London - they've never met in London.

I was driving down to a party at one house from Inverness, so called the other friends and said "why not pop over and see us - come to the party if you can but I'll be there for a few days". They we're all "its two buses and getting a taxi back will be a nightmare" "Just to re-iterate, I'm driving through a blizzard from Inverness for a party 4 miles away from you"

They didn't make it over

I thought I was right but it's nice to have it confirmed

isn't it? 😆

The ability to make the above mentioned people wander round with strange wide eyed half smile confused expressions on their faces while wearing outdated denim/sportswear and standing on the wrong side of escalators or blocking the pavement.

ooh, thats me, that is!

ooh, thats me, that is!

and me 🙂

The view from Primrose Hill is stunning.
As is the one from Waterloo Bridge
And the one from the restaurant in Centrepoint
And the one from my bike when I commute across Westminster Bridge, past Parliament, Buck House and up through Hyde Park... historic, meaningful and just interesting...

Going to Mc Donalds at King's Cross St Pancras after a night out to watch the fight. Happens every weekend without fail.

Not having to sit in queues of traffic because you're on a bike.

Flipping off Addison Lee.

The girls.

The outdoor exercise area at Primrose. Followed by a jog to the top to watch the sunset.

Blackheath ,the southbank and some of the markets are the first areas that spring to mind.
Used to wear me down a bit living there (11 years), but I really look forward to visits now .
I know my way round ,so I feel like I am a super tourist 🙂

Standing on the left on escalators is just unforgiveable. It's the non-biking equivalent of stopping to faff and blocking the way in the middle of a great descent.

There is always something new to discover, and as someone said above there is a sense of great age (except in Docklands).

The British Museum & the Natural History Museum.

I've been obsessed by 'em since I was a kid.

Other than that... leaving via train for the west country. I can enjoy London [i]immensely[/i] for about 48 hours, and then I have to get the hell out.

Actually - my favourite thing about London is the tea hut on Blackheath. In winter.

How far away from me it is

Some cracking museums though

and we have a mayor thats also a kind of childrens entertainer

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I also love the diversity food, people, languages, dress styles, clubbing, markets, a transport system that costs a few quid to get from one side of the city 24hours a day
personal fav
the (dodgy)taxi ride home after a nights clubbing, crossing the river the sun coming up as you are coming down, brain processing all the craziness youve just seen

as i get older that stuff appeals less and the pollution is a pita, if theyd just ban cars it would be perfect

the pollution is a pita

Compared to when I first started riding in london in the late 90s I find the pollution has got so much better. Its almost unnoticeable. Only the plain tree seeds get to me know.

the (dodgy)taxi ride home after a nights clubbing

This. Lol our regular cabby Nigel (who is Nigerian) hence his nickname Nigerian Nige is a ****ing psychopath but he has been a source of great amusement and everyone loves him. Drives an ancient but absolutely immaculate black Mercedes.

You send him a text when your getting your coat / waiting a ****ing eternity for girls to get theirs and to go the loo and shit, and he will be outside the club within 10 minutes. Without fail. He used to take us from fabric (Barbican) to a bar in Tufnell park (North) called aces and eights for after drinks... in 5 minutes flat. I shit you not he would do 95 down a bumpy windy road through central London, and even faster on the main roads. He seemed to have a way with traffic lights too - they never turn red when he's driving. Maybe he just drives too fast for them.

Anyway, we always took our lives in our hands with Nigel but it was a fekkin awesome way to go home when you're sloshed and he was an amazing driver - had been doing it his whole life and would probably give the Stig a run for his money. Funny as, and you only get that in London I believe.

He once did The Roof Gardens (Kensington high street) to Tufnell park in just under/about 15 minutes.... It's 6 miles lol.

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It's where you get the train to Scotland

Will look even better when the 70's boil gets removed from the front.

Yeah. It's craneopolis there at the moment. Crazy.

Westminster Abbey

[quote=nukeproofriding] He used to take us from fabric (Barbican) to a bar in Tufnell park ...... Funny as, and you only get that in London I believe.
I think you may be correct.

Tate Modern

I think you need to catagorise the That London thing.
A) if you live in it
B) if you commute into it
C) if you use it for leisure
D) if you work & live in it

I've a place over Canary Wharf and I'd not like to live anywhere else except Hampstead way, but that's me init. I also have a place on the sarf carst ( which I call my home) so I'm very lucky, worked ferkin hard for both but then that's ok init.

If you live in some cramped, festering, noisy street, or live over a kebab shop I'm not so sure your enjoyment of the city will be the same as mine.
I rarely go into Tarn from where I am, CWharf has all I need and I know of a few bars n clubs up Clerkenwell that I frequent, Brick Lane/Spitallfields ain't what they used to be, all a bit lame now (but can buzz on a day) and some of the pubs local to me are a bit shite TBH but then that's why I go to other places. Working and commuting in the City can be ferkin tedious but then the preeeeety girls help pass the time away, annoying tourists with nowhere to go can be a PITA, but then they're enjoying life..
Driving in/around can be proper shite, the riding (bikes) can be proper shite too unless you use the time to play rather than hack everywhere.
The buses I hate, so too van drivers.

But it has a charm, something like discovering something new around a new corner or a well trodden one come to that. But I've been here a while now and I can honestly say, if I didn't have my retreat on the coast where all my toys are and the environment is better suited to my proper lifestyle, then I'd go mentalist.

So Larndarn ain't the answer, it's a means to an end.

All the free museums and galleries. The fact that you can just pop in for half and hour as and when. My kid is growing up with the museums as her playground.
I love cycling around London. Always find something new. It's so vast.
Love the parks, the river, Richmond to Kingston... Love Soho on rainy days - and all of London on sunny ones.
I really didn't care that much for it when I moved here but after 10 plus years I think it's the greatest city in the world. (ok.. one of the greatest)
There are quite a few things I don't like. But I couldn't live anywhere else in the U.K.

Lived there for a while - was still commuting in up to about 18 months ago... at the moment, I love the fact that I can enjoy it as a visitor on my own terms without getting jaded by having to do it. Haven't been for a while but looking forward to a weekend visit in the New Year.

I love the vibrancy, mix of cultures, architecture and the fact that it's still at heart a load of different villages joined together, all with their own distinct character.

The view from Waterloo Bridge and the South Bank at night, the fantastic pubs you can find tucked away in the most unlikely of places, free museums, Borough Market early in the morning.

There is no way I'd return to live or work there however - much prefer to enjoy it as an occasional visitor.

In its own way, I find it, and its inhabitants, really parochial.

I know what you mean by this - so many born and bred Londoners I know - all well-travelled, educated people for the most part - have virtually no knowledge or interest in UK life outside the orbit of the M25

HMS Belfast
Trafalgar Square c/w Nelsons Column
The hydraulic rams that operate the Thames Barrier.
Euston northbound at around 12:50 on a summers Friday afternoon

Big But Slimmer - window, top right of your pic. Used to be our office!

It's home and it's always great going back as it's got a certain feel that I love.

I don't miss travelling on the tube/trains at rush hour though 😀

....so many born and bred Londoners I know - all well-travelled, educated people for the most part - have virtually no knowledge or interest in UK life outside the orbit of the M25

Surely just another sign of their wisdom and enlightenment 😆

But seriously, just about anything that you'd need to leave London to experience & enjoy you'd be far better off travelling to Europe for than the provinces.......

But seriously, just about anything that you'd need to leave London to experience & enjoy you'd be far better off travelling to Europe for than the provinces.......

And in that one sentence you've neatly encapsulated all the reasons why , love it though I do, I'd never want to move back there...

Probably depends on what you are doing there in the first place, if you happen to work away from the touristy bits and find yourself dealing with some of the less friendly residents (of which there are many ime) then watching it fade in the rear view mirror at the end of the day.

But seriously, just about anything that you'd need to leave London to experience & enjoy you'd be far better off travelling to Europe for than the provinces.......

And in that one sentence you've neatly encapsulated all the reasons why , love it though I do, I'd never want to move back there...

Absolutly! He's also encapsulated, neatly and concisely, why the rest of us, in the 'provinces' are all more than happy for you oh-so-cosmopolitan sophisticates not to demean yourselves by gracing us with your presence 🙄

Running on the tow path from Kew to Richmond or Barnes. Kew Gardens. Taking the tube into town (though not at rush hour). Wandering around the streets. The restaurants in Soho. Some great pubs. The V&A.

Still, I live in a different country, and all my recent impressions of London are from shortish visits to see my parents, not sure what it'd be like when you have to get up early on a Thursday morning, it's pissing down and you've got to go to work. Suspect I'd be less keen then 🙂

I think it would be fair to say most of the 'brains' in London come from outside of the city, you only have to watch one episode of eastenders to realise this.

....so many [s]born and bred[/s] Londoners I know - all well-travelled, educated people for the most part - have virtually no knowledge or interest in UK life outside the orbit of the M25

This is a fair comment. Of all the folks I know in Town most have little interest in what happens in the UK "shires". SOme have families in the Shires and they only seem to want to know about that very small aspect of the Counties they have association with. I'd say most that I know know far more about the World and places they've visited to than thier "home" county.
It seems to me that it's endemic of the type of folks that I bump into that they know more about France/Switzerland/Germany/Italy/USA thatn the do about say, Kent.

I only ended up here thorugh work, I met MrsBouy here and we've carved out a very small niche for ourselves, but like a lot of folk I know, we're a bit insular, distracted by our own stuff..
Bu then put me back on the coast and it's hard to go back into Town, certainly the first few days of being back makes me crave for the Sea, but I don't think I'm alone, hence why most folks I know travel a lot out of the country.

We used to go to Saddlers Wells masses, I mean loads, right up for a bit of modern Dance we are, but this last year we've been once. Then saying that we were out on Monday in Camden watching some exceptional musicians playing in The Forge (another of our fave places) but we don't drink over there (in Camden) , bit too.. well... not us.

Secular, I think thats what they'd call us.

Binners, You need to look through the cockernee specks where everything appears bigger, better, faster in London, as perfectly illustrated in the example provided earlier;

I shit you not he would do 95 down a bumpy windy road through central London, and even faster on the main roads. He seemed to have a way with traffic lights too - they never turn red when he's driving.

He once did The Roof Gardens (Kensington high street) to Tufnell park in just under/about 15 minutes.... It's 6 miles lol.

Of course up in the provincial north 6 miles in 15mins would be a pretty rubbish time even on a bike considering it’s only a 24mph average, let alone in a cab doing “95…and even faster”

so many born and bred Londoners I know - all well-travelled, educated people for the most part - have virtually no knowledge or interest in UK life outside the orbit of the M25

so many born and bred Britishers I know - all well-travelled, educated people for the most part - have virtually no knowledge or interest in UK life outside the orbit of their home town/village.

....so many born and bred Londoners I know - all well-travelled, educated people for the most part - have virtually no knowledge or interest in UK life outside the orbit of the M25

I agree to a point. For me its either in the hustle of London or the middle of Dartmoor - not saying there is nothing in between but I don't find myself that stimulated by it.

There is a lot to love about it, to name a few:
Hampstead Heath, The Museums, London Eye, The Thames, Embankment Peloton, Commuting by bike, large number of new and different restaurants, The Theatre, The Griffin, Southbank, Hyde Park, Regents Park, Ease of travel, nightlife and variety of pubs, Hampstead, The busy working life, Brick Lane curry, Boris Bikes.

However, i'd sack all that off to live back up North, so wont be here forever 😆

Its 400 miles away, but would be nice if it was further.

I was walking through London with a friend who was talking about how great the city was (she knows I don't like the place) with particular reference to how multicultural the place is, pointing out all the people of differing ethnicities and backgrounds.

Right as a (black) bus driver, who was arguing with a (partially black) pedestrian came out with:
"You're not even properly black! Your mother must've been a slag!"

Such harmony in the capital!

it`s distance 😐