I’m just back from my holidays, and generally having That Sort of Week, so I’m going to be honest: this is another of our more spurious episodes. It’s also one that’s almost literally designed to generate angry letters reading, “Not everyone lives in London you know!”
Here’s the premise. Both my colleague Stephen Bush and I grew up in east London. But we didn’t grow up in the same east London. He grew up in the proper, undeniable East End of the city, in Tower Hamlets; I grew up 10 miles and three boroughs further out in Havering, the last place you come to before falling out of official bounds of the city altogether.
So – did we really both grow up in London, or just Stephen? Where does the city end, and something else start, and what defines it? Is it transport, commuting patterns, culture, what?
There’s only one way to settle this. Fight.
Some reading, should it be of interest:
- Where does London end?
- The threat of Hexit: could the London Borough of Havering really be about to secede from the capital?
The episode itself is below. You can subscribe to the podcast on Acast, iTunes, or RSS. Enjoy.
Jonn Elledge is the editor of CityMetric. He is on Twitter as @jonnelledge and also has a Facebook page now for some reason.
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