To complicate this further, "The City" or "The City of London" refers to a small area in central London where a lot of banks and financial institutions are headquartered. London as a whole is called "London" or "Greater London", but not "The city of London".
In the UK, "The City" is often used to refer to the London financial industry, much like "Westminster" is used to refer to the central government.
"Town" refers to urban centres in general, not just London.
I just asked a member of high society (my current employer) as to whether 'Town' is used to refer to London. His reply was exemplary:
> Only obnoxious wankers from London will, small minded people [...] will also talk about 'their little house in the country' when they mean it is barely on the outskirts of a city!
As somebody from the true North (with family originating in the North of Scotland) the way people refer to places always intrigues me. I once had a friend who referred to Southport (population 90k), where he grew up, as a small town.
I think most people don't actually have a real concept of the hamlet -> village -> town -> city relationship and so the words are easily repurposed. However I do not think doing this is somehow bad, or incorrect.
I'm from Ireland. In the version of English I grew up with, we refer to the nearest big town or city - wherever the business, social and cultural life of the area is concentrated, basically - as "town." We would say, for instance:
- "I'm going into town."
- "Let's meet in town."
- "Is there anything going on in town tonight?"
When I lived in the south-east of Ireland, "town" referred to the central business district of the nearby city of 50k inhabitants. When I lived in Dublin, "town" was Dublin city centre. And if I lived in or near London, "town" would refer to areas of central London.
It really has nothing to do with whether the place qualifies as a village, town, city or what have you.
Which was my point. There are at least two different uses for the words, and they are more relevant to some people than others. Neither is 'incorrect'.
A Google Books search for "in town for the season" gives a result in Memoirs of a Peeress (1837) [0] which unambiguously refers to London. (The difficulty is not so much finding an example, as finding an example which explains which town is referred to, since it's "obviously" London)
Go read any of Dorothy Sayer's Peter Wimsey novels --- not only are they excellent, but they're an interesting insight into upper-class cultureof the 1920s. The main character says this a lot.
In the UK, "The City" is often used to refer to the London financial industry, much like "Westminster" is used to refer to the central government.
"Town" refers to urban centres in general, not just London.