People who’ve moved from a small rural village to a big city in the UK like London or Manchester (or vice versa), what was the biggest change you noticed ?

[-]

jaymatthewbee@reddit

Used to live in rural Lancashire where was woken at 5am by birdsong or a cockerel, moved to a city centre flat in Manchester where I was woken at 5am by loud diesel bus engines. I really struggled to sleep in the city.

[-]

NotoriousP_U_G@reddit

It almost counterintuitively is easier to be isolated in a city rather than a small village.

When you live in a village you know your neighbours more, there are fewer places for people to congregate so, you see the same people over and again building relationships.

In a city, you can become isolated whilst surrounded by people

[-]

jaymatthewbee@reddit

I lived in a flat in Manchester city centre and didn’t know anyone in our 20 story building apart from the guys on the front desk, moved somewhere semi-rural and now know basically everyone on our street and a large number of regulars at the local pub.

[-]

AnxiousTerminator@reddit

City is cheaper for cost of living, much better sense of community with a lot more to do in terms of clubs and hobby stuff, people are friendlier and it is wayyyy less racist and homophobic. Public transport is amazing, where I lived previously there were no buses on a Sunday, no trains at all, nearest supermarket miles away and only accessible by car. No taxis or uber available. Now I can get a bus multiple times an hour. There is a wide variety of restaurants and shops rather than just the one pub that sells only the same 5 meals it's been doing the last 50 years.

I guess some people might like the scenery better in the countryside, but I have hayfever and hate the smell of manure. Honestly once you've seen one field of waterlogged sheep you've seen them all, don't understand the desire to see them every day.

I spent a fair chunk of my life in shitty little villages and honestly would never go back. Pay twice the amount to have basically none of the convenience or things to do.

[-]

treeofoak@reddit

The scenery point is great, I grew up in a small town and there's genuinely nothing special about the scenery in the vast majority of towns and villages.

It really shouldn't be glorified as if youre waking up to the gardens of eden every day.

Even if the scenery is nice towns/villages are also racist and expensive with fuck all to do.

[-]

AnxiousTerminator@reddit

Literally, went back last year for a family member's birthday last year and the scenery looked really great daubed with spray painted red crosses and draped with st george's flags everywhere. We felt really welcome with all the scowling locals gawking at us and it looked really nice and classy /s

[-]

treeofoak@reddit

I'm Scottish so I cant relate to the flag shaggers lol but I'm so lucky that I was decently well liked in my town so if I go back I'm not labeled as an incomer.

I hate the term incomer because it just shows the us vs them attitude that a lot of people have and it doesn't matter if youre from a mile away or 100 miles away you still get shit for it.

I think it bleeds into the nimby attitude too. Whenever someone wants to develop a bit of spare ground they'll either find some miniscule detail thats wrong and say it shouldn't be built because of this or bring up that their great grampa took a shite on that field once so nothing can be developed there for the next 1000 years.

The stupid thing is that if you give it a year for them to adjust to the change they'll act like it was always there and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

[-]

ukbot-nicolabot@reddit

OP marked this as the best answer, given by /u/apeliott.

I moved from a village in Wales to Tokyo.

It kinda blew my mind that I didn't need a car anymore. It is noisier, but the convenience of being able to just walk to so many places is addictive. Shops, bars, restaurants, gyms, clinics, dentists, government offices, swimming pools, department stores, parks etc. All on the doorstep.

And employers pay all the commuting costs.

It's great.

^(What is this?)

[-]

apeliott@reddit

I moved from a village in Wales to Tokyo.

It kinda blew my mind that I didn't need a car anymore. It is noisier, but the convenience of being able to just walk to so many places is addictive. Shops, bars, restaurants, gyms, clinics, dentists, government offices, swimming pools, parks etc.

[-]

LieSuccessful8813@reddit (OP)

!answer : the convenience of the city

[-]

Tall-Reputation-9519@reddit

Had that moving from rural Norfolk to Leeds. Car just sat on the road outside my house for weeks on end.

[-]

miIk-skin@reddit

Grew up in a rural town in Cumbria, a very quiet, peaceful lifestyle, later moved to Sheffield in my early 20's to attend university as a mature student. I know Sheffield is hardly "the big city", but to someone like me, whose days off were spent walking up and down hills and dreaming about getting to experience the debauchery and hedonism of BiG cItY LyFe, getting to live in Sheffield was a big deal.

This is going to be a deeply unpopular recounting, but my honest experience of what the biggest change was that there is a genuine and legitimate problem with immigrants from South Asian and Middle Eastern countries in the UK, and their attitudes and treatment towards women, and even with all the political discourse surrounding this subject today, I don't think this element is discussed often enough. I probably would not agree with me had I not experienced it firsthand.

I'm not going to go into it, but the sexual harassment was bad. Almost daily. For people that are familiar with Sheffield, my student accommodation was at the bottom of Netherthorpe Road, and there were often concurrent days where I couldn't walk up that road to uni without getting catcalls or sexual comments or kissy noises made at me by a man or men who was not native to the area. It got so bad that I actually started paying to get the tram up the hill every day to avoid it, and I stopped wearing skirts and dresses altogether.

I ended up transferring to Newcastle after a year, which was much nicer.

[-]

smudgethomas@reddit

Yeah London is like that in some areas... grim.

[-]

miIk-skin@reddit

It's hard because, I've had this really shit thing happen to me, something that's fundamentally changed me as a person, and I can't even talk about it with anybody, or even online, because people get a funny look in their eyes and write you off as some sort of racist, which couldn't be further from the truth, but it ultimately doesn't change the facts of my experience.

[-]

Pale_Goose_918@reddit

Big one for me was the lack of judgment and more privacy. I never quite fit in where I grew up, a small village near an average town. Everyone knew each other but I just didn’t share their interests. In London nobody cared and I could easily meet people to share things with if I tried.

[-]

Anaptyso@reddit

I grew up in a small boring town in a very wealthy part of the country, and then moved to a pretty run down part of London for university.

It was like a non-stop series of big differences at first: the poverty of the crap bits, the grandness of the fancy bits, the population density, the ethnic diversity, the public transport, the sheer vastness of the place.

In the end the balance came up definitely on the positive side, and twenty seven years later I still live in London. There's aspects to the quieter town I miss (the countryside being easier to access, the houses being bigger), and London definitely has its downsides, but the upsides of the city still make it worthwhile. Even after all this time I go in to the city centre and the small town kid in me still feels amazed at all the cool buildings and parks.

[-]

coffeewalnut08@reddit

Coughing and stuffy nose from the pollution. Also, the smell of weed and the general feeling of anonymity/unfriendliness. I didn't last long in the big cities.

[-]

folklovermore_@reddit

I moved from rural Lancashire to London 15 years ago, and overwhelmingly it was how cheap and plentiful public transport options were. Going from living somewhere where the bus to the nearest big town came every 15-30 minutes, cost £8 for a return and stopped running around 11PM, to somewhere where buses and tubes came every few minutes, cost a couple of quid and ran into the small hours was mindblowing.

[-]

Safarianon@reddit

Stress is visible

[-]

Maleficent_Public_11@reddit

Could you expand on this please?

[-]

Safarianon@reddit

I think you can see in big cities that people are not as relaxed at those in smaller towns.

[-]

AnxiousTerminator@reddit

That's so interesting and not my experience at all, I am way less stressed now I live in a city and don't have to cope with the constant racism and inconvenience of rural life. I've also made a good group of friends now I'm in the city because it's so much easier to meet people that like the same stuff as you. When I was in a village everyone seemed constantly stressed, negatice and in a horrible mood, people are way friendlier in the city and will stop to chat a lot more and generally just seem happier.

[-]

National-Incident-18@reddit

Grew up in a village of 300 and now live in a city.

I love Never driving anywhere Cycling everywhere Great transport connections Meeting like minded people and having friends Career development Events and gigs

I never really met people I gelled with in the country and there can be a lot of gossip and judgement. No way would I ever have got married if I'd stayed down there!

[-]

Jpmoz999@reddit

Well. I stopped (after the first four or five attempts at it) saying Good morning to people, unless it was the long walk home kind of early in which case you say it to each other so that you both know you’re not psychos.

[-]

ArcenPower@reddit

Few things

Noise at night People less friendly and chatty The pace of life Always something to do!!

Personally I get bored when I leave … even if it’s more relaxing

[-]

Delicious-Fee-6225@reddit

Moved from small town to London. No one says hello to each other in the morning. Don’t make eye contact with strangers (unless it’s the night tube and you’re both hammered then it’s fine!) The tube is hell on earth, hundreds of people crammed into metal cans that get unbearably hot during the summer. Flies everywhere in the summer. Sirens, so many sirens. Cars beeping all the time.

It’s the best thing ever tho at the same time. Loads of places to eat things to explore friends to make (once you break down them barriers, usually via work) - it’s great.

Biggest shock is that for somewhere so busy, it can be quite lonely.

[-]

Obvious_Flamingo3@reddit

It probably feels lonely because you don’t have your family and friends (or the ones you grew up with)

Like I moved from London to a suburb of smaller city that is famous for being friendly - and felt very lonely

[-]

ActualBrickCastle@reddit

I moved from Manchester to rural Scotland. The pace and stress levels halved. A trip to the shops is an amble now, even the checkout people in Aldi aren't under the same pressure to do everything at hyper speed. The sense of community is a massive change. In Manchester I had a lot of good friends and smiled at a few people in the street, but that was it really. Rurally you see the same people regularly wherever you go, so everyone becomes a potential friend and someone you'd help out in an instant. Most people recognise you, have an idea of who you are, where you live or who you are related to, so you don't worry about your older kids being out or walking home alone, and there's very little personal crime at all. No-one really minds if someone parks stupidly or takes ages being served, it's just how it is, life is less arrogant and more understanding. There is a lot more driving, taxis are a rare thing and home delivery take away for us has one option - but then I feel lucky we have that because people a couple of miles further away from town don't. We are on a 'busy' bus route, with a bus several times a day - we spent a year 10 miles further out and there was a mile walk to a bus stop and one bus a day - literally, in or out, but not both. All the young people learn to drive as soon as they are able, which scares me quite a lot, but I think in large part because I came from Manchester where none of the older kids drove until mid 20's. We don't have the choice of shops, everyone locally travels over an hour to get clothes and Christmas presents etc, but online shopping has made that a lot easier than it must have been in the past. I miss Manchester, but I love living here and it makes a trip to the big city a fun thing to do. 3 years and I still feel like I'm on holiday.

[-]

sb-sd@reddit

The loneliness surprised me most. (London)

At first the city feels exciting because everything is available all the time. Then after a while, if you don’t build a proper routine or community, it can start feeling very isolating.

You’re surrounded by people, but somehow it can feel less personal than a small village.

[-]

Imaginary-Can7999@reddit

Lack of racism

[-]

Melendine@reddit

I no longer knew everyone my age.

I grew up in a 1 secondary school town. So for 5 years I got to at least recognise all 200 people my age.

Now I’m in a city and whilst there are statistically way more people my age here. I can probably only name 3.

[-]

Automatic-Plan-9087@reddit

I moved from a city to a village between two cities. It’s around 7 miles either way to surround myself with strangers.

It certainly feels safer than the hell hole I lived in for 50 years (it wasn’t always thus, but the last twenty years has seen it fall off a cliff).

Folks round here actually talk to one another when out and about. It’s not as multi cultural but it’s also lacking in the casual racism I saw day in, day out. Pretty much a live and let live attitude to race, culture and religion. Not so easy going if you support the wrong football team though.

I do miss the convenience of city life, a veritable plethora of takeaways at the end of a phone line for instance. Here I get to choose between maybe a dozen Indians, the same for pizzas or a whole three Chinese. I don’t miss having to make sure all my doors and windows were locked at all times, or carrying an odd fiver in my pocket to give to the friendly local mugger to save my wallet.

[-]

Kvark33@reddit

I went from a small town in the country, to the city then back to a small town.

I do enjoy visiting cities, there is lots to do, but I prefer the country overall, it's quiet, I can drive 5/10 minutes to the local tesco/asda and only have to drive along single track roads, that are dead compared to a main road in the city. Everything is within walking distance in the town. There is a lot less people. If you have an emergency, you can realistically be in an ambulance within half an hour, A&E wait times are below an hour. It takes around 20 minutes to drive along a single carriage way, through the country and end up at a dog walk. When we visit my girlfriends parents its 20-30 minutes, but through the city centre and surrounding main roads. Quality of life is better

Some people hate not having things to do, but if you have hobbies, its easy.

[-]

Impossible_Deal_4086@reddit

Mentality, there was a lot of insular thinking, prejudice and an attitude of blaming everyone else for their problems in the small town where I lived the city was a lot more free but there was also a lot more pressure in many ways.

I feel like it changed me for the better.

Funnily I found more sense of community in the city while going to stays and plays, than in the town while everyone was focused on their families and had distrust for eachother, that was probably the more surprising.

[-]

ChristyCloud@reddit

Light pollution.

I miss it being dark.

[-]

yessuz@reddit

I lived in big city and moved to small market town. Best improvement on quality of life ever

[-]

barriedalenick@reddit

I moved from Lewisham in SE London to rural Portugal where Im remote but not isolated. One thing is that if you forget the milk or whatever then you go without until you go back to town. One great thing is cycling with in London was an ongoing conflict. Here I can ride miles without getting overtaken or having to put a foot down. I guess the main thing is something that you don't notice at first. Its kind of hard to put into words but the lack of micro hassle is how I would put it. No crowded busses, no nutters on the corner, no drunks or fucked up people asking for 50p, lack of hostile traffic, people bumping i to on the pavement etc etc. These things you hardly notice until they are gone and it is incredibly relaxing This is the view I wake up to..

[-]

Justme-scotland@reddit

As someone who went from a small country town to a larger area for uni I struggled so much with it being too busy. The campus had the same number of people as my whole region. I couldn’t cope at all it was too busy and I felt very isolated (strangely enough). I ended up going back home. It was right for me.

[-]

Forsaken1741@reddit

Being able to stay out late. In my village the last bus back home was 6pm.

[-]

Raventree321@reddit

I moved from a city renowned for being multicultural (which I thought was totally normal) to another city that seemed pretty white. I felt uncomfortable with how white it was and I had to remind myself that I am in fact White-British.

My husband is from a major UK city that now I feel pretty scared to walk around as I perceive it as ‘unsafe’ but it’s pretty similar to how I grew up. If 15 year old me could see me nervously walking around homeless/youths/in the dark they’d cackle.

[-]

GuelderRoseFruit@reddit

Tons of stuff to do within 20 minutes of where I am at any time.

[-]

iffyClyro@reddit

I lived in Glasgow, then Leeds and then London for a bit.

When I moved back to Scotland I bought a cottage in the middle of nowhere.

Main difference is you can’t order takeaway or get an Uber or anything like that and there’s barely anything within walking distance and even then is it really walking distance if it’s a 7 mile round trip.

[-]

When replying to submission/post please make genuine efforts to answer the question given. Please no jokes, judgements, etc. If a post is marked 'Serious Answers Only' you may receive a ban for violating this rule.
Don't be a dick to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
This is a strictly no-politics subreddit!

Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.