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i don't work in the part of London my home's in, i go out in other areas to where i live mostly. i interact with other areas as much as i do the area where my home is

My flat is in Wapping, but I work at London Bridge, and I drink in Shoreditch, and I eat in Soho, and I go for walks in Hampstead, and to plays in the West End. I don't feel limited to Wapping at all, though it's a lovely place.

because as we all know South London isn't really London at all.

Renting different places over a couple of years (as so many people in London, especially those who've moved to London, do) doesn't lend itself to feeling rooted in your immediate location.

Having friends/a significant other dotted all over the city, and with whom you tend to meet up at somewhere more central, or if you go out on your own to a lot to places with decent restaurants and gigs and the like, will make you spend less time in the area in which you live (unless you happen to live in Soho or Covent Garden or Dalston or something).

Working in a location that's not where you live, especially if it's not in the centre of the city, will have the same affect too, I would think.

it also depends where you're living. Somewhere cut off from the rest of the city because of poor transport links (eg Crouch End) could quite easily feel as self-contained or as remote from the city centre as somewhere like Bromley, especially if this isolation has allowed it to form a more distinct character.

At the moment, having bought a place up here, and having been working from home for six months, I would say that I live in Leytonstone, but I don't really go out here that much. There are a couple of decent pubs, but I still usually have to head somewhere else if I want to go to a gig, or if I want to meet up with people.

are getting me excited for moving there.

Muswell Hill
Don't know where that is?
Northern line
Eh?
W7 bus route
I've no idea what you're on about pal!!
You will never make me say London, Damn you!!

I'd imagine the decision of where you live in your head has a lot to do with lifestyle, age, work location and who your talking too. I lived in Turnpike lane when i first moved to london
and although at the time i considered it home i don't think it ever suited me. It was only on moving to Putney from Kilburn that i became more identified with my enviroment as a
true home,
as apposed to somewhere i just existed, moslty due to lack of finance and knowledge of what part of london would suit me.
i now live in Sheen and It's kind of telling of london in itself that people (that have lived in london for 10 years or more) won't know where Sheen is so it becomes
- well it's below Kew kind of in between Richmond, Putney and Chiswick. (they'll often reply with i once went or have been meaning to go to Kew Gardens)
Overall, I'd say it's somewhere in between for me, I live in SW London - I have friends in north west london so go drinking there fairly frequently and pop in to - the city - on occasion as well, but wouldn't consider those places my home.(turf)
But day to day activites are definitely south west based be it taking the kid to battersea zoo or kew gardens,
doing big shops in Kingston and cheap shops in Hammersmith, eating out in Richmond, and working every day in Kensington.

for sure.

I think we'd do well to view places beyond about zone 2 as almost separate cities in a wider urban agglomeration. It almost works like that anyway, as that's where the more major local centres begin to kick in.

Always thought it was really weird when I worked in Enfield and people there would talk about going out in Wood Green as "going to London".

When I lived in spitalfields and Limehouse, I felt like I lived in London rather than just those areas.

I would have liked to have lived in Camden or Primrose hill or maybe hampstead, as I think I would have felt like I lived in those 'villages' too. But i didn't.

Until recently I'd never really felt that districts were that discernible from each other, and would have definitely considered myself to be living in "London".

But after living in South London for about a month, I'm beginning to think that maybe that had more to do with the areas I'd lived in before. Where I live in South London feels a lot more geared towards day to day life in general - more residential areas, more supermarkets and small shops, and fewer transport links to the rest of the city. When I lived in Old Street and Mile End, it took about 10 minutes to get to a tube station, from which I could travel to anywhere in London with ease. Now that I live somewhere without the tube (Camberwell), I feel a lot more compelled to go out with friends closer to home, and to spend time exploring and enjoying my local area.

Basically, I think its quite easy to find yourself feeling like you're living in a little village in South London, as opposed to the North which is a lot more interconnected, and less "liveable" - if that makes sense.

Fucking love it here, bit gutted to be off. Felt much more like home than east London ever did.

I live in Stokey but bit bored of it and want to get a proper 1 bed place next year and still be able to afford to eat. Somewhere leafy, quiet, some nice pubs, a big park/woods, not too full of wankers.
Love Epping Forest area but it's a bit too far out.