[Theodores]

If you work in the West End and want to go to the pub with your workmates, you soon find that one lives in Greenwich, another in Twickenham, another in St Albans, another in Brighton and everyone 'blows you out' because of their fiendish travel requirements. So everyone goes home, no Friday night beer with the workmates, clients and locals.

This used to be a real problem before TfL put on night buses and late-night tube trains. The centre of town would be a deserted wasteland before a normal town centre would get started with nightlife. The city and Westminster are even worse, not helped by 'absentee landlords' that own luxury properties that are empty with no lights on.

I don't think London suburbs are much better, you need a regional town if you are to meet friends or do things with workmates, after work. However, in a regional town, there is the assumption that the grass is greener in London, with London the only place that gets top quality gigs and whatnot. This might be the case, but the inevitable geographic dispersion of people you know makes it unlikely that you ever enjoy much in the centre of London.

[mvc]

Hehe, grass is always greener on the other side.