Writing About London Without the Romance

Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat

The Difficult Truth About Living in London

Monday morning, North London, writing about a city that most journalism romanticizes. What I’m learning as a journalist covering London is that actual London—the lived experience of people who actually live here—is very different from London-the-brand. The city marketed in travel guides and Instagram is not the city people wake up to every morning.

Actual London is: expensive. Crowded. Exhausting. The tube is delayed. Your flat is overheated in summer and freezing in winter. You spend more money on rent than you can afford. You never see your friends because everyone is geographically scattered and travel takes forever. You make decent money and still feel poor. You work constantly and still feel behind.

What Tourism Misses

Tourism journalism presents London as this magical place. Castles and museums and beautiful architecture. And all of that is real. But it’s about 5% of the actual London experience. The actual experience is: navigating a broken tube system. Dealing with housing insecurity. Watching neighborhoods get gentrified and lose character. Feeling exhausted constantly.

What I’m trying to do as a journalist is be honest about this. Not to say London is bad. But to say that living in London is harder than the brand suggests. That people who live here are tired. That the city works great if you have money and terrible if you don’t. That there’s a real quality-of-life crisis that nobody talks about.

The Class Dimension

What’s not discussed in London journalism is class. London works great if you’re wealthy. If you can afford proper housing, you’re fine. If you can afford to eat well and take holidays and have some leisure, it’s fine. But if you’re working class or even middle-class trying to live on a regular salary, London is increasingly impossible.

I’m documenting this. The reality of living in London as an ordinary person in 2026. The choices you have to make. The compromises. The constant financial anxiety. The way your entire life is shaped by housing costs. The way you can’t actually afford leisure. The way work doesn’t leave you with energy for actual living.

Honest Journalism

What I believe journalism should do is document reality. Not the romantic version. Not the brand. The actual lived experience. Which is: beautiful city, impossible to actually live in, especially if you’re not wealthy. That’s the honest story about London.

And I’m committing to telling that story. Not bitterly. Not to discourage people from living here. Just honestly. This is what it’s actually like. This is the real experience. This is what you should expect.

For cultural analysis, read The Poke.

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/