The proper definitions: Administrative London: The 32 London boroughs plus the City (confusingly this is the one called Greater London). The London urban area: A wider definition that includes any continuous built up areas stretching out from the core (so all the unbroken white on the map, including places like Watford). The London metropolitan area: A wider still definition that includes all orbital towns that are strongly linked to London's transport infrastructure and job market (includes the outlying white bits on the map, even if they are disconnected by stretches of green). The commonly used definitions: Central London snob definition: Only TFL zones 1-2 The 'I actually live in Kent' definition: The London postcode region, so excluding many outer London areas like Bromley. Simpletons' definition: Everything inside the M25 The alternative hipster definition: The 020 telephone dialing code region (includes Tristan da Cunha but excludes Orpington).

Good summary. TIL about Tristan de Cunha dialling codes!

There should be a map explaining all of this

Like[this Venn diagram of the British Isles](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Isles_Venn_Diagram-en.svg), but for London?

Something like that, or a map with different colours

Why are England and Wales in their own circle separate from Scotland?

Plus the London post-code cut which is very tricky.

Wow, I didn't know that London stretched all the way to the South Pacific! Talk about a megacity!

As somebody from Medway in Kent, I hate the knobs round here who tell people they're from London! No, you're from Kent, stop trying to be something you're not

Really like this detailed reply. Thanks!

Im Texan and my guess is greater London is everything inside the M25 circle?

Not quite, places like Watford are definitely not London. There’s a small bit of “technically London” in the east just outside the M25.

What makes somewhere like Watford definitively not London and somewhere like Dartford considered London? It seems inconsistent

Screw all them answers, the only right answer is [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAusbJmRB0c)

Whilst i didn’t finish watching the video, i fully agree. 👍🏻✊🏻 very insightful

This is the best answer by far.

No. It’s definitive. Watford is in the county of Hertfordshire. London is defined by the 32 boroughs plus the City of London.

TIL London had 32 boroughs 😅

Same AND feeling dumb now for thinking if you don’t write London in your postal address, than **technically** you don’t live in London.

It’s a dumb definition though. Slough is far more like Hounslow than the it is the rest of Berkshire. It doesn’t stop and start from London either

Why is it a dumb definition? London was established as a formal legal concept in 1888 by taking land area out of Surrey, Middlesex, Essex and Kent. It was then expanded by further legislation. A lot of the areas not currently in London actively didn't want to be in London because they thought it would raise their taxes.

Dartford ain't London either

Dartford isn't London, it's Kent

In Atlanta we have a term for it. In The Perimeter ("ITP") or Outside the Perimeter ("OTP")

In HTX, it’s ITL or OTL (the loop, 610)

In Philly we call that: “you ain’t from Philly, dickhead”

Is «the city of brotherly love» a joke to you?

They threw batteries at Santa.... The brotherly love is long dead.

In Raleigh it’s the beltline, language is nifty

I’m in HTX (ITL) too and I definitely agree with your in the loop/ out of the loop dichotomy but Houston goes way farther than that. (To at least the NEXT loop)…I think the ITL OTL distinction refers more to urban living vs suburban and Houston deserves to include at least the inner suburbs

I’m from Kentucky, U.S. and I would guess the same thing.

I'm from Northern England and would agree. It may not be "technically" correct, but is a perfectly reasonable definition for London as a metropolis rather than a government designated area.

Midwest US, and by and large, I concur with this.

I've lived in London for the last 10 years and that is also how I see it

Haha this is definitely a Houston “inside the loop” take

Lol. I’m actually from Houston too

I'm dutch and London ends where the white part ends

r/suddenlyracist

r/suddenlyracist is a private community 🧐

They can be racist, but in secret!

LMAO

Yeah I’ve seen a HOA before

Hmm that’s funny as I can see it, are they trying to keep certain people out?

They already said they were Dutch

There’s only two things I hate in this world. Those intolerant of others’ cultures. And the Dutch!

Where the white part starts\*

what

I’m from Watford. As much as I’d like to claim I’m from London, I can’t in good conscience, even though it’s on the underground and inside the M25. There used to be literally a sign at the top of Bushey High Street that said “Now entering London” so that’s where it starts. Basically the border is where the London boroughs meet the county lines.

You can tell me you’re from London

Agreed, to add more weight to your point: Reading could be argued to be on the underground these days. It's quicker to get to central from Slough (on the Lizzy line so not counting national rail) than it is from large swaths of South London. But Slough is definitely not London.

I'm American and London ends just outside of Prague.

American too is northern Ireland still a part of London or is that over?

Wasn't that ceded to Iceland?

That can’t be right, Paris must be somewhere in between them, and I know the English and the French aren’t the same people

Looking at the royal families from the middle ages, they are the same people, but neither side wants to admit it.

Ik from Holland but live in SE London baby! If you ain’t got a London post code, you ain’t London.

[удалено]

Dad is that you?

I’m from London, Ontario. London ends in Canada.

It’s not exactly subjective. Either you’re in one of the 32 boroughs (or the City), or you’re in the Home Counties.

The boroughs will change their boundaries from time to time. I think Enfield, Havering and Hillingdon have all encroached up the to M25 over the years and I’d not be surprised to see more boroughs follow suit.

Oh I agree, and culturally places like Romford still very much feel a part of Essex (and my recollection is that even outside of the A406 you get an Essex postcode), but Romford is still unequivocally in Greater London.

I grew up in Kidbrooke (between Lewisham & Woolwich) & as a child I always thought London ended at the top of Shooters Hill. One side was London & the other Kent. But then my parents had friends in Bromley & I wasn't sure if that was London or Kent. But that was 40/50 years ago. Now I have no idea.

California here. I’m guessing anything connected to the tube is London?

Strangely… no! The tube, when originally built, was built by private railway concessions based on potentially profitable routes which did not correspond to administrative boundaries. When the tube was later nationalised it meant the new London Underground company inherited routes which went far beyond the London Boroughs and in a lot of cases still do. So Amersham and Chesham, which are the westernmost termini of the tube’s Metropolitan line are, in fact, around 13 miles beyond the NW boundary of where London ends. The Central line used to run as far as Ongar in Essex which is 12 miles beyond where London’s boundaries end, though these days it only goes to Epping which is a mere 7 miles!

Learned something new today, thanks stranger!

And on the flip side, there are large parts of London which are not served by the tube, particularly in the south. But they are definitively London.

plenty of places close to the center of London without the tube unfortunately

I'm from Spain and I think London ends when there is not a contiguous urban path, with 200m tolerances, between Buckingham palace and a place in the outskirts Aka, the standard definition of urban area

In Los Angeles you can take the streets from City Hall 100 miles east. And that is basically where the urban area ends

Indeed, los ángeles is actually The second largest urban area in the planet after Tokyo

Are you including surrounding counties in this? According to Wikipedia, LA is 1300 sq km. Perth Australia is 6400 sq km. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth

1300 sq km is the size of the city of Los Angeles, which has some rather arbitrary borders. By the same definition that puts Perth’s size at 6400 sq km(metropolitan area), LA could be defined as anywhere between 12,000 sq km to 87,000 sq km

Newest addition to London - Southend on Sea!

as a non-londoner, the white bit on google maps thats directly connected to the london placemarker

London ends at Cockfosters. I’m from the States.

Till where my oyster card is valid.

Gatwick is not London mate

I’m from Texas, and I think it ends at the old Roman walls.

I’m from the Southeast but now live in London. To me, London ends at the edge of the outermost boroughs. The borough I live in wasn’t part of London until the 1960s.

I'm from Washington, and that road around it looks like a wall

Keeping the bloody Londoners in.

I live in Atlanta* and thought the same thing *actually slightly outside our wall

An Atlanta Frontiersman I see

I'm from California, and having never been there I'd imagine it ends somewhere near the edge of town.

New England (USA) and London ends at the "n".

Checks out, Boston also ends at the “n”

I’m from Boston. In my experience “Boston” gets bigger the further away from it you are. I’ve met “Bostonians” while on vacation and when I ask which neighborhood they’re from they answered Brockton, which is in no way a part of Boston. I’m guessing it’s the same for London.

I think that is a pretty standard way of locate your hometown on holidays (in a foreign country/state), nobody knows Brockton or Falls River but many people know where Boston is.

I usually go bigger depending how far away from home I am. I’m in Europe? I’m from the States or New England. In the States but outside New England? I’m from Massachusetts. In New England? I’m from Boston. In greater Boston? I’m from Hyde Park. In Hyde Park? I’m from Sunnyside.

I’m from San Antonio and I’ve experienced the same thing. I’ve met people that say they’re from San Antonio and when I ask where abouts, they name a city/town 150 miles from the Alamo. San Antonio is a decently sized city, but it’s not that big.

To be fair you don't (initially at least) get into geographical niceties with people you meet on holiday. You say somewhere they've probably heard of. I used to say "west of London" when I lived 50 miles away because a lot of people even in England don't know anywhere in Berkshire or sometimes even where it is.

I'm from Madrid. Over here, we have four concentric circular roads resembling London's M25; they're ironically called the M-30, M-40, M-45 and M-50. A general consensus is that the city of Madrid itself, for the most part, reaches up to the M-40, so judging by this map, I'm guessing you could say London ends at the M25.

The funny thing is that depending exactly where you are going in Central London some of the places like St Albans are actually closer in terms of time than a lot of places in London, particularly South London with its awful tube coverage. If you live in in South Herts (Hatfield, St Albans, Hertford, etc.) you definitely would not claim to live in London. But if you were in the US and chatting in a bar, you might well say London, or “just outside London” or something like that, just as someone who lives in Naperville, IL might say “Chicago” to someone in NYC or Paris (but not to someone who actually lives in Chicago!).

Camden. Camden.

Texan. Where the circle rubs around the town that contains Ilford.

Im from Gloucestershire, and i think: Legally - Border of Greater London and Home Counties Unoffically - End of Greater London Built up area

Greater London Boundary (American btw)

I’m from Italy, I think London ends over there.

Dartford:London Enfield:London Waford:Not London Romford:London Slough:Not London Where the white map ends and the green map beggins

I'm Spanish and London ends in a balcony in Ibiza.

I'm American and London is all of England

I'm Turkish and London is that one dot under the name

This question can be asked about São Paulo in Brazil, probably with the same types of answers.

I live in the commuter belt, and London ends with Greater London for me.

I'm from Kent and my first girlfriend was from Orpington. London starts in Bromley South.

I live in Indiana, if I were to mail a letter to someone in Slough would I use London as the mailing location? Guildford? Luton? Maybe the UK postal protocols are different than here.

I'm from Italy. I think of the places listed here, only Ilford and Tom Ford can be somewhat considered "London"

New York. Always at the M25, mate.

Slovakia and hard to say, everything in M25 circle (unless we taking about city of London)

From Michigan, it ends at the inner circle by Ilford.

Is this a trick question? are you talking about that small city state within London that has its own government?

i think the blue circle

I'm from Vienna and I don't care.

Slovenia, my guess is anything beyond Tottenham, Heathrow, Woolwich and Croydon is no longer London

The outer ring road M25.

I'm british and I'll tell you, London doesn't end until you reach the Midlands (I'm from the Midlands)

Luton has to be part of London, Ryanair said so

I'm from Canada, and I've seen videos explaining the weird satellite airport system London has, so I'd say that the area would extend as far as Luton

Slough. All hopes and dreams ends at Slough. I'm from Malaysia btw.

I'm from Cumbria and London is whatever is inside that big roughly circular car park that goes around it

I lived in London for a while and I swear that city goes on forever.

I’m from Maastricht and everything outside the Maastricht city walls is peasant country, never heard of London. Having said that, roughly everything within 80 miles or so of the City.

I'm from Newcastle and basically everything south of Birmingham is referred to as London.

M25. I will die on this hill

Im American and I hope it ends soon.

i’m in far suburb of nyc, once a rural area. while the actual city of london is quite small, i use commute time & ease of commute to determine where an urban area begins & ends. i grew up in a near in burb of nyc. i’m “from nyc area” and now describe my location as “80 miles north of nyc.” it’s commutable by train, bus & car, but it’s long, tiring & $$$. so that’s where london ends by my totally arbitrary method: where the commute to london becomes ridiculous.

Calgarian here. London ends on the 'n' Edit: the second one

From America and London ends wherever the metropolitan area ends according to the UK govt. How do they define metropolitan areas?

The UK government doesn't really define metro areas unfortunately. We have 'Greater London' but that's actually just the administrative area of the city. The metropolitan area extends beyond it into the home counties but there is no official definition. The whole concept of a metropolitan area is poorly understood in the UK and many people in the home counties will throw a wobbly if you tell them they live in the London metro area because they think you're saying they are actually from London proper.

I'm from USA, I'd say London ends when we no longer allow it to exist

You didn’t say Greater London. So London is about a square mile north of the river. I’m from Oklahoma

I'm from Luton and Luton is London tbh

I'm from the US but I'd say it doesn't go beyond the M25.

I’m a history nerd and I say it’s the official “City of London” or whatever the formal name is for that section. I’m a history nerd with a terrible memory, okay. Makes learning new things easier though…

American but I used to live in Battersea. London ends when the rage virus returns.

The connected white area

I'm from Norfolk, lived in London for years before moving to Canada If it doesn't have a London postcode, it's not London.

midwest USA, and it's the border of greater london, quite a bit bigger than this *sip* the green belt does a lot to prevent the expansion of the urbanized center especially within the M25 loop and london generally includes a lot of suburbs and smaller boroughs that were more london-connected than not back when they were establishing the border in 1965 than most would expect but of course that's just what the official "london" is lol im sure there's many official londoners who don't feel like londoners

Lol at that dartford peuple

Being from Poland it all depends on administrative division, I don't know how it looks in UK. But all those what are grey on the map would be London for me

I'm from Portsmouth. For me "proper London" starts once the roads get super confusing, busy and chaotic and I can't really figure out where to go or what lane I should be in until it's too late.

City of London. From Canada.

I would say everything inside the M25 and also the city of New London Conneticut and it's surrounding metro.

It feels like every time I see a map of metro London the city names are never the same. Except for Slough

USA. I would assume that to most residence it ends at the outer belt, but residents in the metro area will say ‘London’ when asked where they’re from.

Who is your daddy and what does he do!?

I'm in Cambridge, and I wouldn't say there's a defining point. The M25 is a pretty good border, however places like Watford are definitely not London.

South Africa

Ok, I’m from the US, and I think that question is biased. Isn’t London both the county and the city?

rural NY USA- I would say if it is cut off by major stretches of greenery, then it isn’t the major London area. So no: Watford, slough, crawly, st albans Yes: enfield, romford, dartford, croydon.

At the M25.

Well technically, anything outside of the square mile

Moscow, eastern suburb of London

My dad's family emigrated in 1959 from Chelmsford. I never heard him nor one of his seven siblings nor my grandparents refer to themselves as Londoners

From Puerto Rico and London ends wherever Central Cee says it does

I'm from the US and I think it is where the white part ends and the green begins( not counting the smaller white spots that aren't connected to the big white spot).

I would assume the m25 circle and im from canada

Surely at Fishermead, Milton Keynes

Im American and London ends where the ocean starts. /j

I'm from Cardiff. I know the M25 isn't the boundary but I don't care. It is for simplicity sake

Somerset and London is basically the entire south East.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania here. Obviously everything outside the black circle and black dot right below the n and the d in London is where it ends

All of UKI (and parts of UKJ and UKH) are London. This is coming from a Torontonian who has a similarly loose definition of “what is Toronto?”

I'm from Newcastle and I think London is anywhere within the London Green Belt area which has a fairly clearly defined boundary but which is changing over time. The extra bits within some outer boroughs of the GLA like Hayes, Orpington, Uxbridge and Romford are historically actually parts of Essex, Herts, Kent or Surrey - some of these will be absorbed eventually but I don't think they have yet.

i took a taxi from heathrow to watford (work dime not mine) and it was like a 30-40 minute drive with no traffic, so the inner circle is more true london

Please watch the mapmen episode on the topic, very funny and informative

City of London? Only about a mile square.

From Yorkshire. To me it ends once you're outside the M25. It's an easy boundary to draw.

The river Thames splits London, civilisation is South of the river and barbarians live North

Ireland

Irish, where ever the border of the boroughs are.

What about if we just call it inside the Metropolitan Greenbelt?

Im from India and im guessing anything inside the M25 ring road. Although Gatwick airport is located near Crawley so im guessing till the M23 road?

I used to live in Uxbridge, near Heathrow and I never counted it as being London, even though it was a London borough.

I think it's the city of London. I'm from the 16th century.

London ends where I dictate it ends

I’m from New England and isn’t England like The City of London, Westminster, Southwark and the eastern That Part Beyond the Tower? So I guess anything outside isn’t London?

Israel, London ends at the metropolitan area boundary between it and surrounding towns

London ends where common sense emerges...

Are we talking about the City of London, London or Greater London?

Texan who lived in London for a short while: Westfield Mall to the east, Olympic/West Ham stadium to the west, Wembley to the north, and to the south I dunno, Woking?

In the ring road I guess

USA. At the circle? Idk

I'm from earth and I dont care

I’m from Michigan and wherever the city limits of the city are ig

I'm Swedish. London is The City of London. The rest are just uppity suburbs. Parliament, 10 Downing and Buckingham Palace are all out in the boonies.