What, to you, is the extent of London?

[A Dashing Blade]

Don't you mean west of Brick Lane and east of HIgh St Ken Tube?

Doh! (tbh, always had a problem with East & West)

Plus your North of Elephant definition mean that almost nowhere South of the river is included, neither is parts of Chelsea, Fulham and the Isle of dogs.

Yup.

 

[xes]

Anywhere south of Watford.

 

[Xanadu]

London isn't just a place. It's a state of mind, maaan...

*drools*

 

[lang rabbie]

Not strictly the A-Z, but the Geographer's A-Z Map Company Master Map of Central London formed my childhood mental map of "proper London".

Anything outside this could probably get away with calling itself, Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex or Surrey, as I denounced it unseen as boring suburbia.

I've only just realised how south London-centric it actually is, with the Surrey Oval as the centre of the Universe, and Stoke Newington being some sort of Ultima Thule.

 

[Azrael]

I'd define it by borough, but knock off some of the outer-most boroughs like Havering. Havering was transferred to Greater London in the 1960s, before then it was the Royal Liberty of Havering. Perfectly good tradition of its own before some daft Victorian rezoning made it an "urban district". (Awaiting assimilation, presumably.) Few historical connections with London that I know of, and much as I love the mad city-of-villages, it has to stop gobbling up the countryside at some point.

Plus it would sever all connections with Romford.

 

[EastEnder]

London is anywhere that's on a tube line, or at a push, less than 10 mins on the bus from a tube stop.

 

[Orang Utan]

How far did the original counties go into London? For instance, I know that Charlton and Woolwich used to be in Kent and Walthamstow was in Essex?
How far did Surrey go in? Did Brixton used to be in Surrey?

 

[HackneyE9]

London is anywhere that's on a tube line, or at a push, less than 10 mins on the bus from a tube stop.

Upminster's in London??? Have you ever been there?

 

[Dubversion]

if we're talking about my mental extent of London, it's not fixed, i think it very much depends on what the context is. I guess I wouldn't count Croydon or those areas of Kent and Essex that have been slowly absorbed by London's sprawl as part of London.. But I certainly don't have a fixed barrier in my mind

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

My personal choice is postcodes. When you get to somewhere where there isn't a London postcode it's usually stopped feeling like London to some extent. I was brought up in Pinner where the postcode is HA and it never felt like London: my mother always talked about "going into town". Mind you it's different when you're a kid, it felt like miles just walking to the shops.

I disagree though. I grew up in Hackney and my mum always said the same thing "going into London", even though Hackney is E5, when we went into Central London.

I lived out in Gants Hill for a while, which is another area with a non-london postcode but is a London borough, and it did feel different, although whether it was not a part of the London conurbation is somewhat debatable, as you are always driving through city to get there, unless Wanstead Flats count as countryside.

 

[EastEnder]

Upminster's in London??? Have you ever been there?

The question was: What, to you, is the extent of London?

That is how I define London.

Strictly speaking, anywhere I can't get to on my zone 1 & 2 travelcard is outside London.

 

[TeeJay]

The M25 encircles London. Therefore it is the boundary of what is London and what isn't. Well at least to me.

But in some places the M25 goes right out into the countryside - for example out here in Surrey.

Driving out of London down the A3 there is a clear break after Kingston - you hit the Green belt and suddenly it switches from built-up area to fields and woodland, at the same time you leave the London Borough. There is a good 10 miles before you finally hit the M25.

 

[TeeJay]

How far did Surrey go in? Did Brixton used to be in Surrey?

Yes.

Surrey used to go all the way to the border with Greenwich (ie then part of Kent) iirc.

Edit: Map of Surrey from 1646

 

[PacificOcean]

I live in Zone 6. Have a funny phone code (01992), according to the Post Office live in the non-existant Middlesex, can see rolling Essex countryside from my bedroom window and Herfortshire from the other bedroom.

Yet I am in the London Borough of Enfield.

So, I say the London boroughs are the guide.

 

[Ackland]

...according to the Post Office live in the non-existant Middlesex...

Really? According to the Post Office, there are no counties at all. It's always:

Street Address
(Sometimes village or area name)
POSTAL TOWN
Post code.


You tend to get people putting their county into the address as a form of snobbery - because they don't like the postal town they've been assigned (even though it just means you live near that town, not necessarily in it).

If you type your postcode into the address finder on www.royalmail.com I would be surprised if Middlesex (or any county) was returned.

Would love to hear if there are postcodes we can try which disprove this.

 

[gaijingirl]

My personal choice is postcodes. When you get to somewhere where there isn't a London postcode it's usually stopped feeling like London to some extent. I was brought up in Pinner where the postcode is HA and it never felt like London: my mother always talked about "going into town". Mind you it's different when you're a kid, it felt like miles just walking to the shops.

I say "going into town" if I'm going anywhere in the West End area. (That's travelling from Brixton). Town to me represents a very small bit of central London. Russell Square isn't town, neither is Bayswater. Oxford St/Soho/Charing Cross/Victoria are (in my mind of course).

 

[PacificOcean]

Really? According to the Post Office, there are no counties at all. It's always:

Street Address
(Sometimes village or area name)
POSTAL TOWN
Post code.


You tend to get people putting their county into the address as a form of snobbery - because they don't like the postal town they've been assigned (even though it just means you live near that town, not necessarily in it).

If you type your postcode into the address finder on www.royalmail.com I would be surprised if Middlesex (or any county) was returned.

Would love to hear if there are postcodes we can try which disprove this.

Indeed you are right. I just assumed that because whenever you give your postcode to say a bank or something over the phone, it comes up with Middlesex on the address.

 

[Orang Utan]

It's 'Specific Ocean', you wally - http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=191670

 

[Kanda]

I say "going into town" if I'm going anywhere in the West End area. (That's travelling from Brixton). Town to me represents a very small bit of central London. Russell Square isn't town, neither is Bayswater. Oxford St/Soho/Charing Cross/Victoria are (in my mind of course).

Yet the *City of London* is East a bit from these places

 

[dash]

Don't think London can ever have clear universally-agreed boundaries in people's minds, because it is more a place than an object. The identity of places is loaded towards their centres. Objects are more defined by their boundaries or surfaces.

If everything in Zones 3 and 4 were demolished, London would still exist. If everything in Zones 1 and 2 were demolished, London would probably not exist.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Croydon is one of the suburbs which is trying to claim that it has a distinct identity, which is why the Council keep applying for City status!

Despite the fact that Croydon is in London, it still has a big enough town feel of its own for me not to bother going into central London. I think it should be considered separate, it's bigger than lots of cities.

 

[Maggot]

How far did Surrey go in? Did Brixton used to be in Surrey?

Surrey used to play at the Oval, so I guess Brixton was in Surrey. If you go back far enough, I guess all of London apart from the City was counties.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Surrey used to play at the Oval

"Used to"?

 

[Maggot]

OK they still do. I'm clearly not an expert in cricket.

How come their home is nowhere near Surrey?

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Because they've never moved there.

 

[Streathamite]

Surrey used to play at the Oval, so I guess Brixton was in Surrey. If you go back far enough, I guess all of London apart from the City was counties.

it sure was, until the creation of the LCC, IIRC. Thus, forest hill and New X were in Kent, middlesex still 4existed and spanned shoreditch to southall...and surrey included kennington

 

[TeeJay]

OK they still do. I'm clearly not an expert in cricket.

How come their home is nowhere near Surrey?

Even better than that, the HQ of Surrey County Council is not even inside the county - it is still up in Kingston upon Thames!

 

[William of Walworth]

Voted London postcode. Riddled with inconsistency, but no time to argue the poont.

 

[Streathamite]

if it's a london borough, it's London, as that's how they drafted the original green belt provision, to start where the boroughs stopped

 

[Thimble Queen]

Voted London Borough. I now live in deepest darkest New Malden, yeah I know.. WHERE??, my attempt to convince myself that i still live in london... Not for long tho, roll on June!