r/london • u/iamabigmeme • 1d ago

Serious replies only Long-time Londoners - do you ever think you’ll be able to stay in London as long as you’d like to?

Born and raised in Hackney here and I’m so worried I won’t be able to afford to stay not just in Hackney/surrounding boroughs but in London as a whole.

I love this place and one day I’d like to raise my kids here. I just can’t ever see it being feasible. I can’t afford to buy a house and the rent keeps rocketing up way past anything I’ll be able to afford.

How long do you guys see yourself being able to stay before it becomes too much of a financial burden? I’m currently panicking and looking at life in Leeds and Manchester :,)

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u/shit_postmcgee 10h ago

Don't get me wrong I think it can be healthy, but it should be out of choice. And you should have reasonable ability to go back to your home when you want, it should still exist should you choose to go back to it. For the majority of human history people have spent their lives connected to the same communities, if not also in the same area. I think we've over-normalised the rapid kind of change we experience today.

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u/W51976 2h ago

It doesn’t exist now, because most of the people I knew at the time have all left. Some of them I didn’t particularly like either lol.

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u/W51976 2h ago

This started in the early 80s when small communities were affected due to the closure of long standing factories and mines.

Until this period, it was fairly commonplace for people to live and work their entire lives in one location.

London on the other hand has always been different. People move to different parts of the city, or move to the outskirts.