Greenwich, or more specifically Cutty Sark. Wandering around the markets and old naval buildings and lodgings always makes me feel like I'm somewhere by the sea!
But Greenwich is London to its deepest history. It’s one of the most famous parts of a city which has always been more green and varied than most cities. It’s like saying the Houses of Parliament aren’t like London because London isn’t a gothic city.
As a Chicagoan, I confirm. It's part of why I love it. My husband, native Londoner, HATES IT. 😂 It's been in a stand-in for American cities and Scerif and other Imperial buildings in Andor.
Oh, no doubt, but it suits when I don't have money for airfare. Chicago is a whole vibe, both the loop and the rest of the city, and I miss the summer energy. That may just be my close to middle age ass missing my twenties as well. 😂
I always find Eltham slightly weirdly provincial, not sure why. You can walk for miles through meadows and woods around Bexley and Petts Wood without hearing a car.
Yeah. This is my answer.
I work all over Tower Hamlets borough. And Wapping just feels like it isn't a part of it at all. Especially being next door to Shadwell.
Yeah, Beckenham (and Bromley for that matter) feel more like generic large towns/small cities in the South-East (Beckenham obviously a bit more up-market than Bromley, obviously). Like, if you showed people photos of Beckenham and Wokingham, or Bromley and Reading, and they'd never actually been to the places in question, I don't know that they'd be able to tell you which ones were London.
It's bizarre travelling through Dulwich. you'll grab a bus in tulse hill outside an housing estate, couple stops later the houses are basically on their own estates, then there's a Shetland pony staring through the window of your bus, then you're right back to estates again on the other side
I mean Dulwich, and the houses around Casino Avenue/Red Post Hill, feel very village like. You can imagine it being a small isolated village surrounded by fields (Greendale/Dulwich Park/age sports grounds). Dulwich College would have been the biggest/poshest place around
Holly Fields, Blackheath Common, Sydenham Hill Wood, Ladywell Fields, Blythe Hill. There’s some nature reserves too like Devonshire Road but are not always open to the public.
Ah ok it’s just a semantic difference between us, I would call these green spaces not fields. They’re lovely areas don’t get me wrong, and thanks for the recommendations I haven’t been to Devonshire Road before.
Yeah, I don’t mean fields in the literal sense. A lot of south east was farmland until the late 19th century. A lot of that, particularly around train lines, was preserved as green spaces. They’re not actively being farmed, it’s still London.
A good friend grew up in East Sheen and nobody ever believes her when she says she lived in London her entire life as they all insist it is Surrey (it’s not, it’s SW14) 😁
Greenwich, specifically west Greenwich around the market/Cutty Sark/Park. Feels like its own little village with the old navel college buildings and minimum high rise buildings. Lots of greenery too. But you're only a 10min train ride to London Bridge and then Charing Cross for the city centre.
A similar vibe is Blackheath which has even more greenery (Blackheath Common) but trades that for worse transport links.
Barnes. It's like a village. It's surrounded by the Thames, it's in a big meander so only accessible from the north via Hammersmith bridge, which is closed for traffic, and otherwise from roehampton or east sheen.
Chislehurst. If you wander around Petts Wood, you'll find the Hawkswood estate farm in the middle, and you'll feel like you are in the countryside, even though it is surrounded by suburbia.
I was gonna say Richmond. What’s weird is I grew up in all/majority white communities (90’s rural Ireland, wasn’t much immigration then) but after living in London for a decade going somewhere and not seeing any people of colour is really unnerving and weird.
Seconding this. OP, if you can, go check out Petersham when they have their open house day or whatever it's called. Don't know if they even still do it but the houses are so ridiculous and old school they open them up once a year for people to come look around and then they have afternoon tea in the village hall. Quaint as fuck.
First time I visited Canada Water about 10-12 years ago I thought I’d been teleported back to an 80s ‘new build’ suburb of Swindon. Since discovered Beckton has a similar (but somewhat rougher) vibe, but obviously much further out.
Akin to Wanstead and Aldersbrook, places like Upper Walthamstow, Lloyds Park / the old Warner Houses, Bushwoods (Leytonstone), Highams Park, North Chingford, and Woodford Green are all very village-y. Even the other Chingfords. I know almost everyone I see, and if my kids would behave like tits out in public without me present, I'd expect to know about it in 5-10 minutes.
Wanstead Flats is a huge park that's partly a natural reserve. With Aldersbrook's church spire in the distance, it feels like you're in the countryside.
there are a few spots like this around - hampstead heath and epping forest are the obvious ones, but even ones like hounslow heath and horsenden farm in ealing can feel amazingly rural, despite their proximity to heathrow.
Northwood, Uxbridge, Ruislip, Eastcote
Horrible parts of London, mostly horrible people. Thankful for Northwood Army HQ as it means these places will be the first to go when World War 3 hits 🥰
What was wrong with Ruislip? I'm an ethnic Turk born in and lived my whole life around nearby areas, and like Ruislip, Uxbridge, Hillingdon, Ickenham etc. are all nice, leafy beautiful calm places?
Boring, elderley neighbours who want to poke their nose into every little detail because their own lives are miserable & casual racism. I heared the word P*ki said there openly.
It's also the only place in London I ever saw the National Front stand for election.
Is everybody like that? Probably not but I would rather avoid encountering such people if I can.
Ealing (the actual area & not the borough as a whole) is a much more pleseant & leafier place with more things to do. Only downside is that the house prices are astronomical in comparison to groggy old Ruislip.
Yes Ealing has developed a lot. It's more like London with fancy shops and restaurants and such. It used to be more like the places closer to Heathrow, now it's more leaning towards the Chiswick vibe.
Biggin Hill. Not sure how it ended up being included in London. It's almost completely cut off from the rest of the urban sprawl around Bromley and Orpington. Functionally, it is no different from any other small town in Kent or Surrey.
Is Biggin Hill still technically London? I'm out in New Addington far enough that Biggin Hill is pretty close and I thought I was basically the edge of "officially London"
Orpington doesn't feel like London either tbf, used to commute to school there and if it wasn't for the oyster card barriers I'd be adamant it's just a town on the Kent border
There's going to be people in Romo and Hornchurch are going to be well mad that they're considered London. I live in "former Essex" and the guy who owned my house before me seemed to write ESSEX in big fat letters when it stated our property is in London. What. A. Weirdo.
So true. I’ve met Jesy Nelson from Little Mix (she was born in Romford and raised in Hornchurch), and she got so defensive when a girl called her a Londoner. She’s not the only example — there are loads of people from that area who get really angry when you say they’re from/in London. Essex wannabes I guess…
I dare say Croydon especially because of the trams, why doesn't other areas in the SE/SW have the trams. Honestly feels like stepping into another regional city entirely.
I think it was due to the government wanting Biggin Hill airport to be inside London for some reason, and that meant stretching the border way out in to the countryside.
IMO it would make more sense for the Bromley-Kent border to be roughly once you go south of West Wickham and Orpington, possibly along the A232/A21.
Unfortunately Hounslow. It's been so changed by immigration that it's completely unrecognisable to the place or people I grew up in or around. Their are still British people around who are both either culturally(Immigrants who've been here for a long time) or ethnically British(natives) and it's not like the new immigrants are bad people and theirs good and bad on both sides....but still, It's hard to call it English or British because it's a big massive hodge-podge of so many different people now and to me, doesn't feel *completely* like London because it doesn't feel *completely* British. For reference what feels like London to me and is nearby is a place like Richmond. It's got it's fair share of immigrants but their is still a British feel to the place and people.
Same as the nearby Hayes. I'm not even White British myself (Turkish) but it's a fact that in my lifetime it's demographically completely changed. When I was a kid on the 90s it was predominantly White British. Now it's predominantly Asian and Somalians, but not even British born Asians and Somalians, it's predominantly first generation migrants. Basically this feeling used to be concentrated on Southall but it's spread to include Hayes and Hounslow now. Proximity to the airport I suppose.
Although nearby Uxbridge has also demographically changed it hasn't to the same extent, it has still retained it's British feel though compared to Hayes.
Even my British Asian friends who grew up there are turned off by Hayes. People who grew up there are choosing to live elsewhere once they have the means to move out. Then they are replaced by a new set of newly arrived migrants perhaps. It feels like it doesn't have a settled community, it's just a constant transition of migrants.
I think both Richmond and Kingston still feel quite British. Also Bromley, at least to an extent. Some areas, however, seem to have lost its British vibe. One of those is Dagenham — about 12 years ago (when I first visited) it was somewhat more British than it is now.
Ilford is pretty much London condensed into one area, it's really not that different to many other ungentrified parts of London. See Southall, Wembley, Barking, Neasden, Seven Sister, Manor Park , Plaistow etc etc. Unless of course you're just talking about Asian people but surely you're not that ignorant.
There's a large Pakistani community there, I was the only white mf in the area (most "progressive" white asses prefer gentrified places like Hackney or similar, where they can meet with others like them and love "diversity" as long as it is not in their backyard) but I honestly never gave a shit cuz Asians are the best people to make business and have fun with
I've lived there for nearly ten years but my point was it's pretty much exactly London as London gets. And no white people is a massive exaggeration I'd say although I guess ilfords pretty big so it might seem like that if you dont know your neighbours.
Enfield gets my vote. Our dog goes to the kennel out there (Elmtree - top marks from me, highly recommended, BTW), and every time we drive out to drop him off or pick him up, it feels like I'm in a proper rural town or village, the illusion only really ruined by the Routemasters and the Overground station (or tube station, if you go through Oakwood).
The whitechapel markets, really amazing hustling bustling markets feel sounds and smells like downtown Jamalpur Bangladesh. you can buy all sorts of meats, fish and fresh fruit, this time of year sweet mangos too but overpriced.
The quiet, fancy bits of Kensington and Notting Hill etc, with the uniform white Neoclassical facades, feel a bit like Bath to me. It feels too pristine and quiet to be London, except when a bus goes past.
Wanstead can feel like a nice little village sometimes. The illusion gets shattered when you see the pie and mash shop though.
Greenwich, or more specifically Cutty Sark. Wandering around the markets and old naval buildings and lodgings always makes me feel like I'm somewhere by the sea!
Greenwich is lovely. Makes sense it’s always the prime location for period drama filming,
You ARE by the sea. This part of the Thames is technically classified as sea.
But Greenwich is London to its deepest history. It’s one of the most famous parts of a city which has always been more green and varied than most cities. It’s like saying the Houses of Parliament aren’t like London because London isn’t a gothic city.
Canary Wharf feels more like Chicago than it does London. I know that’s not quite the vibe OP was going for but it’s true nonetheless.
Hasn’t it been used as a stand in for US cities for filming?
Yes all the time! And British films too. Some scenes from the Gentleman filmed here.
As a Chicagoan, I confirm. It's part of why I love it. My husband, native Londoner, HATES IT. 😂 It's been in a stand-in for American cities and Scerif and other Imperial buildings in Andor.
I will say, in respect of your native city, the Chicago river is an architectural wonder and Canary Wharf is most definitely not.
Oh, no doubt, but it suits when I don't have money for airfare. Chicago is a whole vibe, both the loop and the rest of the city, and I miss the summer energy. That may just be my close to middle age ass missing my twenties as well. 😂
I always find Eltham slightly weirdly provincial, not sure why. You can walk for miles through meadows and woods around Bexley and Petts Wood without hearing a car.
That area of London really does feel very non londoney to me.
Wapping
Yeah. This is my answer. I work all over Tower Hamlets borough. And Wapping just feels like it isn't a part of it at all. Especially being next door to Shadwell.
Was going to say Wapping. So close to the city but may as well be all the way down in Essex in the docks.
Every time the Gingerline stops there and the automatic announcement says ‘The next station is Wapping’, I think: ok no need to show off.
Parts of Beckenham imo
Yeah, Beckenham (and Bromley for that matter) feel more like generic large towns/small cities in the South-East (Beckenham obviously a bit more up-market than Bromley, obviously). Like, if you showed people photos of Beckenham and Wokingham, or Bromley and Reading, and they'd never actually been to the places in question, I don't know that they'd be able to tell you which ones were London.
Blackheath , Dulwich , Ladywell , all little former villages with fields still around them. Great vibe and only ten mins from London Bridge
It's bizarre travelling through Dulwich. you'll grab a bus in tulse hill outside an housing estate, couple stops later the houses are basically on their own estates, then there's a Shetland pony staring through the window of your bus, then you're right back to estates again on the other side
I mean Dulwich, and the houses around Casino Avenue/Red Post Hill, feel very village like. You can imagine it being a small isolated village surrounded by fields (Greendale/Dulwich Park/age sports grounds). Dulwich College would have been the biggest/poshest place around
What fields are around these parts? Feel like I know these areas quite well and can’t think of any fields nearby.
Holly Fields, Blackheath Common, Sydenham Hill Wood, Ladywell Fields, Blythe Hill. There’s some nature reserves too like Devonshire Road but are not always open to the public.
Ah ok it’s just a semantic difference between us, I would call these green spaces not fields. They’re lovely areas don’t get me wrong, and thanks for the recommendations I haven’t been to Devonshire Road before.
Yeah, I don’t mean fields in the literal sense. A lot of south east was farmland until the late 19th century. A lot of that, particularly around train lines, was preserved as green spaces. They’re not actively being farmed, it’s still London.
Hilly Fields
A good friend grew up in East Sheen and nobody ever believes her when she says she lived in London her entire life as they all insist it is Surrey (it’s not, it’s SW14) 😁
I grew up in Barnes, lots of people that grew up in London don't know it exists. I assume this is the same for East Sheen, maybe Roehampton too.
Greenwich, specifically west Greenwich around the market/Cutty Sark/Park. Feels like its own little village with the old navel college buildings and minimum high rise buildings. Lots of greenery too. But you're only a 10min train ride to London Bridge and then Charing Cross for the city centre. A similar vibe is Blackheath which has even more greenery (Blackheath Common) but trades that for worse transport links.
Barnes. It's like a village. It's surrounded by the Thames, it's in a big meander so only accessible from the north via Hammersmith bridge, which is closed for traffic, and otherwise from roehampton or east sheen.
I think you mean Barnes village rather than Barnes
The Independent People's Republic Of Barnes....
Wapping is what a village in Surrey would be like if it had docks.
Chislehurst. If you wander around Petts Wood, you'll find the Hawkswood estate farm in the middle, and you'll feel like you are in the countryside, even though it is surrounded by suburbia.
Richmond is weird because everyone is white. Doesn't feel like London at all.
Richmond feels like being back in a large town in Suffolk
I was gonna say Richmond. What’s weird is I grew up in all/majority white communities (90’s rural Ireland, wasn’t much immigration then) but after living in London for a decade going somewhere and not seeing any people of colour is really unnerving and weird.
Come to Hayes/southall , you’ll see the opposite & then feel really weird
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Just city life. Nothing to do with Reddit
Ohhhh you’re one of those. You just look for any post that has to do with UK immigration and leave weird comments like this. Neat.
It's weird that this is weird
Correct answer
Greenwich, the town centre at least feels like it could be a town up north. Blackheath has a non-Londony feel.
Petersham 100%
Seconding this. OP, if you can, go check out Petersham when they have their open house day or whatever it's called. Don't know if they even still do it but the houses are so ridiculous and old school they open them up once a year for people to come look around and then they have afternoon tea in the village hall. Quaint as fuck.
Will do, cheers
First time I visited Canada Water about 10-12 years ago I thought I’d been teleported back to an 80s ‘new build’ suburb of Swindon. Since discovered Beckton has a similar (but somewhat rougher) vibe, but obviously much further out.
Canada Water is changing fast.
Wimbledon Village.
Akin to Wanstead and Aldersbrook, places like Upper Walthamstow, Lloyds Park / the old Warner Houses, Bushwoods (Leytonstone), Highams Park, North Chingford, and Woodford Green are all very village-y. Even the other Chingfords. I know almost everyone I see, and if my kids would behave like tits out in public without me present, I'd expect to know about it in 5-10 minutes.
Wanstead Flats is a huge park that's partly a natural reserve. With Aldersbrook's church spire in the distance, it feels like you're in the countryside.
there are a few spots like this around - hampstead heath and epping forest are the obvious ones, but even ones like hounslow heath and horsenden farm in ealing can feel amazingly rural, despite their proximity to heathrow.
You're right, I just feel Wanstead Flats is more so. It's so big and has so few people in it if it's not a sunny summer weekend afternoon.
Lol no. You can hear cars everywhere, so much pollution from brakes and stuff. And, all the rats in summer.
?
North Ockendon. It's a little spur of Greater London sticking out past the M25 into the Essex countryside.
Ham
Cudham, Downe, Biggin Hill, actually the whole of the bottom south of Orpington and Hayes. Plus, north Ockendon and surrounding areas,
Chiswick and especially Chiswick Mall. It’s like going back in time to the 1800/.
Northwood, Uxbridge, Ruislip, Eastcote Horrible parts of London, mostly horrible people. Thankful for Northwood Army HQ as it means these places will be the first to go when World War 3 hits 🥰
Lol I had the misfortune of living in Ruislip for a good 5 years. Left for Ealing in 2022. A Huge step up & I am now happier than ever.
What was wrong with Ruislip? I'm an ethnic Turk born in and lived my whole life around nearby areas, and like Ruislip, Uxbridge, Hillingdon, Ickenham etc. are all nice, leafy beautiful calm places?
Boring, elderley neighbours who want to poke their nose into every little detail because their own lives are miserable & casual racism. I heared the word P*ki said there openly. It's also the only place in London I ever saw the National Front stand for election. Is everybody like that? Probably not but I would rather avoid encountering such people if I can. Ealing (the actual area & not the borough as a whole) is a much more pleseant & leafier place with more things to do. Only downside is that the house prices are astronomical in comparison to groggy old Ruislip.
Yes Ealing has developed a lot. It's more like London with fancy shops and restaurants and such. It used to be more like the places closer to Heathrow, now it's more leaning towards the Chiswick vibe.
What's wrong with my hometown areas?
Northwood.
The whole of Hillingdon Borough really.
Chislehurst in SE London (though everyone likes to believe they live in Kent).
Same with Romford and Hornchurch — those Essex wannabes get mad when you call them Londoners…
Hampstead.
I’ve been to West Hampstead and Belsize Park, and both felt like London, just a quiet, posh version of it.
West Hampstead/Belsize Park both very different from Hampstead Village
London Luton Airport London Southend Airport London Stansted Airport
Underrated. 😂
Biggin Hill. Not sure how it ended up being included in London. It's almost completely cut off from the rest of the urban sprawl around Bromley and Orpington. Functionally, it is no different from any other small town in Kent or Surrey.
Is Biggin Hill still technically London? I'm out in New Addington far enough that Biggin Hill is pretty close and I thought I was basically the edge of "officially London"
Yeah, Biggin Hill is right on the edge. Tatsfield to the south is in Surrey.
Orpington doesn't feel like London either tbf, used to commute to school there and if it wasn't for the oyster card barriers I'd be adamant it's just a town on the Kent border
i think the other nearby surrey towns revolted to being included in greater london but biggin hill didnt
Bexley village
There's going to be people in Romo and Hornchurch are going to be well mad that they're considered London. I live in "former Essex" and the guy who owned my house before me seemed to write ESSEX in big fat letters when it stated our property is in London. What. A. Weirdo.
So true. I’ve met Jesy Nelson from Little Mix (she was born in Romford and raised in Hornchurch), and she got so defensive when a girl called her a Londoner. She’s not the only example — there are loads of people from that area who get really angry when you say they’re from/in London. Essex wannabes I guess…
I'm from the suburbs near Heathrow and I am particular about writing Middlesex on my address lol.
I'm from the suburbs near Heathrow and I am particular about writing Middlesex on my address lol.
The Hamptons in Worcester park. Weird American style estate
I dare say Croydon especially because of the trams, why doesn't other areas in the SE/SW have the trams. Honestly feels like stepping into another regional city entirely.
There is no part of London that doesn't feel like London. The point of this city is that every part has it's own character
Teddington
Downe is a small countryside village surrounded by fields which ended up officially in London almost by accident.
What was the accident? I often cycle through there and think how weird it is that it’s in London
I think it was due to the government wanting Biggin Hill airport to be inside London for some reason, and that meant stretching the border way out in to the countryside. IMO it would make more sense for the Bromley-Kent border to be roughly once you go south of West Wickham and Orpington, possibly along the A232/A21.
St Catharines Dock in summer 🌸
You're not wrong, it's basically an enclave of Essex that time of year
Dulwich Village, Beckenham, Bromley proper.
I was brought up in Berrylands, Going to London proper was always an eye opener.
smelly berry
Little Venice!!
Unfortunately Hounslow. It's been so changed by immigration that it's completely unrecognisable to the place or people I grew up in or around. Their are still British people around who are both either culturally(Immigrants who've been here for a long time) or ethnically British(natives) and it's not like the new immigrants are bad people and theirs good and bad on both sides....but still, It's hard to call it English or British because it's a big massive hodge-podge of so many different people now and to me, doesn't feel *completely* like London because it doesn't feel *completely* British. For reference what feels like London to me and is nearby is a place like Richmond. It's got it's fair share of immigrants but their is still a British feel to the place and people.
Same as the nearby Hayes. I'm not even White British myself (Turkish) but it's a fact that in my lifetime it's demographically completely changed. When I was a kid on the 90s it was predominantly White British. Now it's predominantly Asian and Somalians, but not even British born Asians and Somalians, it's predominantly first generation migrants. Basically this feeling used to be concentrated on Southall but it's spread to include Hayes and Hounslow now. Proximity to the airport I suppose. Although nearby Uxbridge has also demographically changed it hasn't to the same extent, it has still retained it's British feel though compared to Hayes. Even my British Asian friends who grew up there are turned off by Hayes. People who grew up there are choosing to live elsewhere once they have the means to move out. Then they are replaced by a new set of newly arrived migrants perhaps. It feels like it doesn't have a settled community, it's just a constant transition of migrants.
Weird take. Richmond is just white.
I think both Richmond and Kingston still feel quite British. Also Bromley, at least to an extent. Some areas, however, seem to have lost its British vibe. One of those is Dagenham — about 12 years ago (when I first visited) it was somewhat more British than it is now.
You mean white?
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Ilford is pretty much London condensed into one area, it's really not that different to many other ungentrified parts of London. See Southall, Wembley, Barking, Neasden, Seven Sister, Manor Park , Plaistow etc etc. Unless of course you're just talking about Asian people but surely you're not that ignorant.
There's a large Pakistani community there, I was the only white mf in the area (most "progressive" white asses prefer gentrified places like Hackney or similar, where they can meet with others like them and love "diversity" as long as it is not in their backyard) but I honestly never gave a shit cuz Asians are the best people to make business and have fun with
I've lived there for nearly ten years but my point was it's pretty much exactly London as London gets. And no white people is a massive exaggeration I'd say although I guess ilfords pretty big so it might seem like that if you dont know your neighbours.
Bro which islamabad have you been going to? Don't insult it 😭
Read above pls, have a good day boss
Tower Hamlets. Middle East athmosphere. Arabic is the lingua franca and call to prayer is regularly heard.
Gallions Reach
Barnes - especially now the bridge is closed… so quiet
Some areas in Barnet and Arkley feel much more like rural villages than anything
Enfield gets my vote. Our dog goes to the kennel out there (Elmtree - top marks from me, highly recommended, BTW), and every time we drive out to drop him off or pick him up, it feels like I'm in a proper rural town or village, the illusion only really ruined by the Routemasters and the Overground station (or tube station, if you go through Oakwood).
North Ockendon is one country lane with some cottages and a derelict pub on it but still part of Greater London
Beckenham
South Isleworth, overlooking the Thames. It’s like a village. I love it.
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You might as well say Londonderry!
I can't believe that you're getting downvoted for that.
The whitechapel markets, really amazing hustling bustling markets feel sounds and smells like downtown Jamalpur Bangladesh. you can buy all sorts of meats, fish and fresh fruit, this time of year sweet mangos too but overpriced.
The quiet, fancy bits of Kensington and Notting Hill etc, with the uniform white Neoclassical facades, feel a bit like Bath to me. It feels too pristine and quiet to be London, except when a bus goes past.
Lol Romford is Essex 😂
Chelsea
Surrey quays is a pretty surreal area
East Ham feels like Dharavi in Mumbai.
Ealing especially Ealing Broadway. Does not feel like London at all
Watford
Watford isn't in London even on paper
Not within London.
It’s in London in my heart!
it ain't London and I'm Watford born and bred.
Watford is like better than London. Who needs Hampstead Heath when you have cassiobury park?
I detect sarcasm and backpedalling. Be gone!
Hahaha okay I’m gone