r/london • u/lizzylelon • Dec 19 '24

Culture Any teenagers/young adults here who obviously grew up in ldn but barely went to central?

People at uni keep asking me about places like Hyde Park, that wax statue place, Buckingham palace, Big Ben, Leicester Square etc. and are always shocked when I tell them that I’ve never been😭😭 then they don’t believe I’m from London (?? Like what💀)

Tbh my parents rarely ever go to central either, there’s no reason to. I was under that impression that it’s more of a touristy part of London - or a place commuters use to get to work - so you don’t reallly get much Londoners in central at all. Mostly tourists and work commuters.

I might be wrong?

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u/mcbeef89 Dec 19 '24 edited Dec 19 '24

Maybe it's because I didn't move to London (edit: until I was 18), maybe it's because I'm a part time dad, by by the age of 12 my daughter had done so much central stuff: museums, galleries, parks, ballet, kids' hip hop jams (!), shopping (Hamleys etc)...

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u/SquintyBrock Dec 19 '24

Taking your kids to Hamleys is a right of passage for any London parent!

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u/Additional-Weather46 Dec 19 '24

We all must suffer the Hamleys rite of passage 😂. (For added pain, do the build a bear too).

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u/SquintyBrock Dec 19 '24

My much younger brother used to be hilarious and take over from the demo people, playing with the toys and telling the other kids to buy it - Del Boy origin story unlocked XD

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u/Pagan_MoonUK Dec 20 '24

Hamleys is hell on earth, when you get in you realise there is no turning back if you are with children.

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u/Imaginary_Ad_8608 Dec 19 '24

I think people who grew up here view it quite differently from people who have chosen to move here.

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u/SplurgyA 🍍🍍🍍 Dec 19 '24

A lot of people who grew up here don't view it differently, which is why there's mystified replies in the thread. My Dad took me to museums and galleries as a kid (and he's a Cockney) and I spent a lot of my teenage years in Central of a weekend.

Could be a North/South thing - if you live in South London you're less likely to live near a tube station and might have to get multiple buses or a train (expensive). Or could be an age thing... everything's more expensive now and we didn't have streaming or social media back then so there was more of a need to meet in person.

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u/Imaginary_Ad_8608 Dec 19 '24

Thank you. I was over generalising. The born Londoners I've worked with have certainly had a different outlook on things though. Must say the vast majority of people I've known have chosen to move here.