People who've never been to London

[Howardh]

Living in Bolton as a child, I was often taken to London for a day trip by car or weekend staying nearby in a caravan - and in those days there was no M25 so to get to Dover and beyond you had to drive through London; nothing surprising there, but I cannot recall ever going to Manchester, 11 miles away, the nearest we ever got was family in Worsley.

All that changed when, in my late teens, I became a member of Lancs CCC so had to go through Manchester to get to games!

 

[nw1]

I hope most city dwellers remain within their cities. Imagine what the state of the countryside would be like if they discovered just how nice it is?

"City dwellers aren't welcome in the countryside", sounds even more strident than the anti-immigration attitudes which the Government are constantly displaying. Even moving around one's own country is to be discouraged!

As for the original question, I first visited London at the very end of the 70s while primary-school age, so I can't claim to have not visited London. Haven't been for a few years now, though.

Drove up the A3 to Putney Bridge and then got the District Line into town, I remember that bit. I remember also seeing Putney station (BR) and being confused why we weren't using that one at first, until my parents explained it wasn't an Underground station.

 

[Trackman]

Living in Bolton as a child, I was often taken to London for a day trip by car or weekend staying nearby in a caravan - and in those days there was no M25 so to get to Dover and beyond you had to drive through London; nothing surprising there, but I cannot recall ever going to Manchester, 11 miles away, the nearest we ever got was family in Worsley.

All that changed when, in my late teens, I became a member of Lancs CCC so had to go through Manchester to get to games!

Did you not go anywhere on the trains south of Bolton?
I suppose pre-Windsor link days you would be routed via Wigan NW for places like London.

 

[david1212]

I would estimate that over 75% of UK residents have been inside Greater London at least once, because:

Lots of sectors are still centralised in the capital
It's a significant tourist draw
Most UK residents have a car and/or a railway station nearby
Half the UK population can reach London in half a day
The population beyond a full day's travel from London is low - mostly beyond Inverness and on some of the Scottish islands.

What do you think?

As well as reaching London there has to be time there for the visit to be worthwhile and affordable given both the travel cost and that staying one night is relatively expensive.

Where I was brought up as a child was from home to a London terminus about 2 1/2 hours and from where I live now a London terminus is about 2 hours away. From secondary school it was a very practical day trip by coach too. Hence by age 16 I had been at least 6 times. Since then I have only specifically been to the centre twice and one visit was based around an exhibition for work. Otherwise the two Old Oak Common open days and a couple of visits to the LT Acton Museum Depot followed by some time in the centre before a return departure early evening.

Had where I was brought up as a child been a much longer journey I think unlikely we would ever have stayed overnight. More likely would have been a day visit while staying elsewhere e.g. Eastbourne or the Cotswolds i.e. the equivalent of a day visit to Edinburgh from St Andrews or Berwick-upon-Tweed.

For children outside of a school visit there is also the interest of the parents e.g. art, architecture, history, sport etc. As adults the same plus the theatre and concerts. Of your hypothetical 75% I wonder what proportion might have been to Wembley, Wimbledon, Twickenham etc. but have never spent significant time in the centre so have not seen several of Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Whitehall, Tower Bridge & the Tower of London etc? When pondering a base destination for a holiday once London either as a series of day trips or staying at least a couple nights was suggested but to me there is no great interest. Once retired maybe the occasional day trip without a specific event being core but no more.

 

[Howardh]

Did you not go anywhere on the trains south of Bolton?
I suppose pre-Windsor link days you would be routed via Wigan NW for places like London.

No, we had the car and caravan so bypassed Manchester!

 

[Trackman]

No, we had the car and caravan so bypassed Manchester!

I was thinking more of yourself being interested in railways, if you were at the time.

 

[Statto]

I go to London a couple of times a year, mostly to travel on the TFL network, but couldn't live there, mostly as it takes an hour to get anywhere (by road at least), the Tube & Rail networks are rammed particularly in the peaks, then add in the cost of living in London, beer prices around £7 - £8 a pint (i can buy 3 pints in my local boozer for the price of a pint in London), & i have a coastline where i live too, i love walking down to the shore, particularly an hour before sunrise on a clear morning.

 

[gg1]

Schools are a great introduction to the "tourist bits". There can't be many school children in London who haven't been taken to a museum etc and quite a few of those children will then persuade parents/carers to take them along subsequently.

I would extend that far wider and say there can't be many people who were educated within a 3 hour coach drive of London who haven't been on at least 1 school trip to London at some point in their school lives. That's around a third of the UK population straight away.

I don't think the OP's initial estimate is too far off, I definitely think the figure would be closer to 75% than 50%.

 

[telstarbox]

Something I didn't mention in the first post is the long term trend for people to move into and out of London from other parts of the country - so they would all count too.

 

[Howardh]

I was thinking more of yourself being interested in railways, if you were at the time.

Not really then, the old man used to take me down to Ladybridge to watch the steam engines pick up water from the trough, and I didn't like steam trains at all. Dad, although never using trains until after retirement, loved having a ride on local steam preserved railways.

Also he enjoyed his birthday treats from me, first-class day returns to London in his retirement. Virgin, of course, wouldn't punish him with Avanti!

 

[dgl]

Living on Portland trips to London with school and later by train were a given, even more so when SWT had their cheap returns. In year 6 there was even a multi-day trip you could go on where we stayed at a university and went to a few museums in London plus a theatre trip, plus like a lot of schools we got to go to the Millennium Dome. Also we had family in Crewkerne and my Uncle's Church did some trips to London, one to the London Eye plus I got taken to London and the Science Museum by my Auntie.

As for people that you might not have expected to have been to London, my Grandad had been to London despite being from a sleepy Dorset village, primarily as he married someone from the suburbs and I believe they lived in Croydon for a bit with her Mother whilst there were between houses I even believe one of his relatives worked in London and used to take the train to Wareham.

 

[Woolos 22]

When I was in secondary school in 1967 there was a 4 night holiday to London going by train staying in Sussex Gardens..we did all the sights and also going to see 4 show. After going to the show we went to Paddington Station to use the vending machine to have a hot drink .

 

[sh24]

Something I didn't mention in the first post is the long term trend for people to move into and out of London from other parts of the country - so they would all count too.

That's a big trend. From my university friends I'd say 50% of them moved to London for work and then moved out again when they started a family.

I stayed - the countryside (e.g. anywhere outside Zone 3) is fine for a visit but always breath a sigh of relief when back in civilisation.

 

[urbophile]

I was fortunate in that, although we lived in Yorkshire with little money, my dad's brother lived in London so we had a family holiday there every year. From an early age I was fascinated by the Underground as well as the vibrant life of the big city, which was a big contrast with Bradford or Leeds, let alone our home village.

 

[75A]

I was fortunate in that, although we lived in Yorkshire with little money, my dad's brother lived in London so we had a family holiday there every year. From an early age I was fascinated by the Underground as well as the vibrant life of the big city, which was a big contrast with Bradford or Leeds, let alone our home village.

The first time I went up to London I was 10, my Father was taking me to see my first ever 'professional' football match,
After an hour and a half of travelling we arrived @ Victoria and allegedly I screamed and screamed because we were going 'underground'.
Here I am 54 years later still hating it, mind you I commuted for 20+ years from Woking to Bank via 'The Drain' and this was during time of 'The Troubles' so you were never sure if the Tube was running.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Wow. As a train-spotter I went to London at least 4 times per year. Then I went to University in London. I struggle to understand how so many people have never been to London.

 

[GusB]

Wow. As a train-spotter I went to London at least 4 times per year. Then I went to University in London. I struggle to understand how so many people have never been to London.

You have to bear in mind that the concept of "the big city" is all relative. When I went to university in Aberdeen that was the big city as far as I was concerned.

My first trip to London was to meet people I'd never actually met in person - I got to know them on this (then) new-fangled internet thingamajig.

It was quite literally, a different world to the one that I was used to, and it still makes me chuckle when I remember how annoyed people became when they'd just missed a tube train when there was going to be another one in another three or four minutes!

 

[Djgr]

Wow. As a train-spotter I went to London at least 4 times per year. Then I went to University in London. I struggle to understand how so many people have never been to London.

I struggle to understand how one can be interested in transport without travelling.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I struggle to understand how one can be interested in transport without travelling.

Well agreed - that too. However, I do understand travel costs money. In my early days I watched trains free of charge from the bottom of our garden.

 

[birchesgreen]

I would extend that far wider and say there can't be many people who were educated within a 3 hour coach drive of London who haven't been on at least 1 school trip to London at some point in their school lives. That's around a third of the UK population straight away.

Well i wasn't. The only school trip i remember was to Hereford. Luckily my family were no strangers to the big smoke so i was first taken by my parents in the early 80s. I found a photo i took back then awhile ago, was so interesting to see Big Ben all dark and grubby before it had it's clean up.

 

[Killingworth]

I'd never been to London until I got a job interview in an office just off Lombard Street in 1965. On my own on a steam hauled express from Newcastle I tackled the underground having received careful instructions from my father.

The interviewer asked what I thought of London - based on at most 2 or 3 hours experience. I recall observing how many bomb sites had still to be redeveloped. Walking around the City today I note some of the subsequently redevoloped buildings have been demolished and rebuilt again since then.

(Oops, I seem to have slipped into the "You know youre getting older when..." thread!)

 

[GusB]

I struggle to understand how one can be interested in transport without travelling.

One can be interested in transport without leaving a certain radius of your home as long as there's enough of it!

 

[75A]

Especially if like me you were born and brought up by the sea and now in retirement have gone back to it
The sea is within sight, and on clear days I can see the Isle of Man and the ferries from Belfast to it, 3 miles away is Ardglass which is a fishing port full of working trawlers.

 

[Statto]

Wow. As a train-spotter I went to London at least 4 times per year. Then I went to University in London. I struggle to understand how so many people have never been to London.

Because some people are quite happy living in their own circle, & they have everything they want on there own doorstep, contrary to some, not everyone wants to go & visit London.

I find it quite patronising & condescending questioning peoples decisions for not visiting a certain place, whether it's London or not.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Sorry. I did not mean to come across as patronizing. Just amazed that is all. London always was a spotters/rail enthusiast paradise in my day and this is a railways forum.

 

[gg1]

Well i wasn't. The only school trip i remember was to Hereford. Luckily my family were no strangers to the big smoke so i was first taken by my parents in the early 80s. I found a photo i took back then awhile ago, was so interesting to see Big Ben all dark and grubby before it had it's clean up.

The exception that proves the rule

I went on two 'proper' school trips to London in the 80s, to the National Gallery (where I was bored senseless) and to the Houses of Parliament (which I really enjoyed), plus two trips organised by one of the teachers to see a pair of England football matches at the old Wembley. I also went a few times with my older sister as a child, I never went with my parents although they had visited London a couple of times before I was born.

 

[Falcon1200]

I would extend that far wider and say there can't be many people who were educated within a 3 hour coach drive of London who haven't been on at least 1 school trip to London at some point in their school lives.

Indeed, my first trips to London were when I was primary school age, so pre-1971, albeit with Sunday school. I also recall going to Bristol (for the zoo) and Hereford, all by train from Oxford. Imagine the haulage I must have had (and failed to record!)

 

[dangie]

I’ve been to all corners & extremities of the British Isles. However less than 40 miles as the crow flies from my house are the city‘s/towns of Nottingham, Leicester, Derby & Telford. I’ve never been into the centre of any of them. Added to this can be Shrewsbury & Coventry to which I think I’ve only been once.

Only a little farther afield is Sheffield & Manchester. Never been to either.

I visit the places I want to, or need to. In my 72 years I’ve never needed to visit those places.