Pros and Cons of Living in London 

So interesting hearing your perspective! I am British and moved from London to Toronto so am doing things the other way round. A lot of the things you mention as cons are things I miss most about home haha. The fact that tax is not included in advertised price makes me feel like everything in Canada is SO much more expensive than UK! Plus after 2 years in Canada I still find the tipping culture confusing and always forget that your bill is actually going to be 18% more than you expect. The cost of groceries in Toronto astonishes me every time! In terms of things to do, London will always win over Toronto, but I guess the size of the cities is not really comparable... I miss the museums and galleries and markets and parks. We are often stuck with nothing new to do here, but I'm sure that's partly due to covid. And you are so right that the rental market is much more renter friendly in Toronto. Although it's still pricey here, you feel like you are a bit more protected and not having to pay a deposit is great!

I love your videos Monica! I want to move to London next year and your videos have sooo much useful info in them and make me so excited to move!

I’m a Canadian moving to London in September for my master’s, your videos have been so helpful to prepare!!

Thank you Monica. I have started watching your videos today and am finding them very informative. I am moving to London later this year from South Africa and I am enjoying your personal tips and views. It’s been very helpful. Well done and keep on posting your videos. Thank you so much.

This is so accurate and good. This has been exactly my experience moving from Toronto to London about 3 months ago :)

I’d recommend visiting Loon Fung for your asian groceries! idk what area of London you live in but they have huge grocery stores in Alperton, Tottenham and Colindale, and a few other locations😊

Thank you!! Your videos are informative and super helpful.

Thank you so much for sharing, i really appreciate it.

super helpful! i just moved to london from the us and found the apt hunt to be so different from nyc!!

London also has Whole Foods grocery store you can go check out for more of a variety and if you like to try different types of cultural food, try Greek! There is an Athenian grocery store in London you can go to and shop there. I am not from London or live there but I have been doing so much research of London since I want to move there in a few years!

if you wanna find good Korean food go to new malden! it is kind of far out south west (maybe 10 mins from Wimbledon) but its got the largest Korean population in London, there's a huge Korea foods supermarket there and loads of Korean restaurants (for much cheaper than central too) there is also a Korean restaurant called bibida in Notting Hill that's new and soooo good and pretty good prices. and the staff are really friendly and sweet

Really interesting and helpful vid, thank you 💜💜💜🔥🔥🔥

Council tax is rarely included in rent in the UK because council tax is based on both the property value and the tenants. For example students are exempt from council tax. And some councils have discounts for households where there is only one adult eligible to pay council tax. That's why it's not included in the rent - because the amount and whether you pay it at all depends on your circumstances.

Your makeup is PERFECT. You’re so pretty! For me, I’m fine with London because I like clouds and rain. People call that bad weather and to me, that’s perfect weather. If you’re cool with rain, if you’re a trust fund baby/Powerball winner, and you’re willing to put yourself out there to meet people, you’ll do fine.

I agree about hard water. I felt that my skin was so dry that my favourite moisturiser couldn't keep up with it and teeth got scalded very easily as I never ever did before when I lived in other countries. Also bedrooms are very tiny if you don't live in a master bedroom - there is room for one bed, night tables, wardrobe and that's it. First place where I lived was cold and damp. Every morning I wake up in a room so humid that when I got dressed I felt like all my clothes were wet. And water runned down from the window. Second place was ok, but it was one of the most expensive flats in that area. They didn't fix the elevator all year when I lived there, the carpets in the hallways were always dirty. Don't put carpet if it is hard to clean. It was a good standard in that apartment, but not the top notch or something compared to what you could get in other countries. I feel like there is not good planning and design for even new and high price apartments. Most of them come without a dishwasher, without a built-in fridge, without warm floors or walk-in showers. That should be standard for every renewed home.

Super helpful as always Monica! Thanks for including one of my questions from a previous video too and glad to know i'm not the only one who wonders the same things. On London/UK salary, I'm in the comms/marketing field and find your experience with salary to be very in line with mine. It converts to about the same/slightly higher than Canada, but it doesn't quite offset the high cost of living here. Wish they'd change that!

I do love these kind of vlogs. Here is a tip, best place for cheap veg and fruits is south asian market. you can get a bowl of fruits for like a £1. Supermarket wise, Aldi and lidl are you best friends. Asda is good and morrisons but Waitrose is just crazy. As for like the meat, its bet to go to a local business as it would a great price. With renting in London, many people avoid paying tax as they feel confused as where it goes. Oh I wanted to mention, I am living up north from london, the salaries here is little lower than london as london is capital yet everything else from renting, shopping etc is cheaper. P.s love your channel

Planning a move to London from the US at the end of the summer for a job opportunity. Your videos have been a big help for me as I plan my move!

Great video, really informative :)

The reason for a lot of Indian food is because there is a very large south Asian community in the UK because of colonisation. Also the UK national dish is Tikka Marsala is a result of this

the point about deposits is super interesting i’m from BC Canada and we do the same process as the UK i didn’t realize it was different provincially!

Asian food is even bigger in London than where I am from in NYC. From mainstream high street stuff like Itsu, Wagamama, Wasabi, Kim Chee to Go etc to the mom and pop spots in Chinatown, Queensway, Earl's Court etc. They have every variety of Asian food from Malaysian to Thai to Vietnamese. They even have a Din Tai Fung, which we don't have in NYC. Plus Chinatown is probably the busiest part of London. It is always absolutely packed with people. Then they have all of the Asian superstores and grocery stores. I think it will only grow in popularity as people get exposure to Asian food from RU-vid, Instagram etc.

Seems like London is very similar to Australia, well, Melbourne or Sydney. Work starts at 8 then ends at 5, but with one hour grace period so shift becomes 9-6. Long breaks are very common as well. Most of our clients will take break on December and comeback by the end of Jan.

Just to continue the council tax thing, it's normally not included in rent as the person living in the property is the one who is legally liable to pay it. If it's not paid the council will pursue the occupier for the debt, never the landlord, even if you've paid the landlord on the assumption that he's paying the tax for you. Generally if you see someone advertising "council tax included" then avoid! (Unless it's an HMO, that's a different scenario where the landlord is the one who legally has to pay).

Definitely more work life balanced. I got 7wks pd vacation 1st day on the job!

im going to be living in london from nyc for a few weeks and greartly appreciate the insight :')

Woo girl I hear you! I crave good Asian food the most when living here 😭 I see the Asian chain lunch places and am like no haha. But as a Korean American, I can definitely say that there's wayyy more decent Korean food now 😉

I moved from west coast US to London a few months ago. I actually found London has more good Korean food. One of them I’ve to recently called Bi Won. There’s also a Korean town called New Malden which I heard has really nice Korean food and grocery store. It’s a bit far away so I haven’t been there yet. But I hope you will also find some Korean restaurants you enjoy!

interesting hearing your thoughts 👀🤓

The term "Drugs" or saying "drugs are cheaper" when you compare to Toronto definitely has a different meaning here :D I would probably use the term "medicine" or "medical products" instead.

Sainsbury & Tesco = Loblaws/Sobeys you need to find 1 of the bigger stores not a Tesco metro at the tube station.

Council tax is paid by the person who lives there by law as opposed to the landlord. Home owners also have to pay council tax themselves.

Prescriptions are subsidised by government to your income . I am an Reg Nurse & worked in London.

Amazing as a fellow Torontonian

There’s massive Asian superstores but they’re in the outer edges, so like wing yip in cricklewood and Croydon etc

I love your channel I'm from London and used to live in Toronto back in 2012 when rent was cheaper lol. Toronto is such a great city. But clothes are so expensive in Canada 😑 I think it's easier to get a job in corporate London when you first arrive. In Toronto I had to do a lot of networking and after that things became easier for me. No one can get an appointment to see their GP right now. It's crazy.

especially cheese lol when I saw brie was like 1.75 pounds I told my friend I usually pay like 9-12$ for brie in Canada! lool

As an Ontario girl in London, I feel seen 🥰 I’ve been living in London for 5 months and the hard water was so tough on my skin/hair that I bought a shower-head with a filter in it and just replaced it with the one in my flat 2 months ago. Either it’s a placebo effect or it actually worked but either way 10/10 recommend! And on groceries, I definitely agree there hasn’t been good Asian selection - I always struggle to find Jasmine rice it’s basmati everywhere haha and yes I can’t believe places close so early here… and most pharmacies are closed on Sundays?? Quick question, I noticed you have a Dyson Airwrap and I miss mine so much (wan’t able to bring it from Canada because it’s not compatible here). Where did you get yours? I find that they’re always out of stock here but you find that they ever go on special?

Get a TIME OUT for things to do. Noting Hill & Bricklane markets are awesome

I’ve always wanted to move to London so I LOVE watching these! Did you find it hard to meet new people there? Or did you find people to be pretty welcoming to foreigners?

🇬🇧🏯🏠🏠🏘️🏘️ that was so cool, thank you.

Hey i am choosing between canada abd the uk. I am not too optimistic in both places. I found north americans are friendlier nit necessarily canada per se. But uk is less friendly.

Interesting perspective! I’m a British born Londoner and appreciate your views. I don’t think some of your assertions are correct (e.g. the pound is actually very weak nowadays, and you need more than £100k to live in Central London) but you’ve done a very good job. I think you need to go to a Chinese supermarket like Loon Fung or Wing Yip instead of a small local place. If you need any advice in tHe future, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me

Alright is the same as wassup!

haha omg I died at the slang con - babe! 😂

I put 2400 miles on a rental car in 1 month, touring with my mum.

I think you should rather tip. we always leave some cash if there is no option when paying by card. I feel stupid if I dint have a cash on me and it's rather annoying now with COVID and all (I dont like to touch cash).

No Dryers!?

Maybe it is worth mentioning London is a much bigger city than Toronto when comparing London and Toronto. Also many cons seem common in European cities based on European lifestyle, not just for London…

seems like a nice place to live , tho

NOPE! No AC no dryers electricity costs way too much