Tell me about London, Ontario

[scotty2hotty]

It looks like I have a job opportunity in London, Ontario. My wife is from Southern Ontario, so she is excited about the proposition.

Me ... not so sure.

Have any of you ever lived in London?

Can you tell me what you liked/disliked about the city?

Can you tell me about some good neighbourhoods for families?

Thanks in advance!

[_Q_]

My dad lives in London. I've visited there a few times in the last 5 years, including this past January. Honestly it's a pretty meh city. Nothing particularly bad about it, but nothing particularly exciting either. It's close to Toronto, Detroit, Buffalo and Niagara falls, so it's got that going for it. It's got a walkable downtown with some reasonably interesting bars. It's got Barakat shawarma, which might be the best shawarma I've had outside the middle east. It snows an unusually high amount in the winter, but it doesn't ever get really that cold there. Homes are cheap. People are very friendly.

Overall, you can do much worse or much better than London Ontario.

[CliffFletcher]

I was born and lived there until I was 6. Storybrook Gardens is awesome!

That's about all I got.

[HotHotHeat]

It's a university town. One thing that stuck out to me was the nice parks and well maintained older houses. Definitely a small town feel though. And lake effect brings in heavy snow, which was awesome.

[Northendzone]

I lived in Kitchener Waterloo for a couple of years and can offer you the following:

. Summer's are hotter than calgary and more humid, you will want central a/c
. I believe it is a two hour drive to Toronto, makes for a long night if you watch a leafs game, also think it is about the same to Detroit rock city
. I seem to recall that London is in a snow belt and a smog belt - so you get more of each
. In k-w the winters consisted of lots of cloudy overcast days
. Your quality is f life should be good as traffic is lighter there
. Western is a neat looking university, as the design used to be consistent, all the new buildings look like they were built in the olde times

[flamesfan1297]

Murray Edwards lives there. That's all I know.

EDIT: I should really read the whole title before posting.

[bigtmac19]

Really beautiful city - lots of trees, lots of parks. Good hockey team, they get good concerts in the Budweiser Arena. Great hospitals, you can't go wrong for health care in London.

It's not Windsor.

Yes London gets a ridiculous amount of snow, that stretch of 401 near London is treacherous in the winter.

[troutman]

I loved it there, but that was almost 30 years ago. London has grown a lot since then - close to 500K now?

I spent 3 years at Western, and missed the humid summers when I went back to Calgary in the summer. I think it is quiet in the summer when all the UWO students are gone?

Nice size city, and midway between Toronto and Detroit. Lots of entertainment possibilities - sports, concerts etc.

I think the nice communities were west and north of UWO. East London is more blue collar.

Good place to raise a family I think. Not as busy and expensive as Toronto, but still close enough to the big cities when you need that.

It was an insurance hub when I was there. Some wealthy old money families there, and fairly conservative.

[Locke]

From what I understand everyone who lives there who has ever touched a Hockey stick is a certified 'Beauty.'

[burn_this_city]

My mom is from London. We visited my Grandparents there quite a few summers and a couple times for Christmas. It's an ok city. I always felt it was kind of depressing in the winter, lots of the rust belt vibe spilled over from the US into southern Ontario. Summers are really nice there, the weather is perfect. The downtown is half decent, but not thrilling. I like St. Thomas just outside London, it has a pretty neat historic looking main street.

[FireGilbert]

My Grandma is from London and I fly there occasionally to get to her cottage on Lake Huron. A few comments:

-I wouldn't call it a beautiful city but there are some nice spots by the river.
-I remember downtown being a sketchy dump however that improved after they built the new hockey arena.
-The airport is tiny and they could put up more signage as I have gotten lost trying to find it a few times. That said the direct flights to Calgary are a big bonus.
-It is in a good location in Southern Ontario, close enough to Toronto and the US with some nice places nearby like St. Thomas, Stratford and Grand Bend which has one of the nicer beaches in Canada.
-The area has the best corn in the world (sorry Taber).

[Frequitude]

Went to university there. Time of my life. I would assume that is not what you're after. So other than that all I can offer is that there's lots of trees, parks, hospitals and insurance companies.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I like St. Thomas just outside London, it has a pretty neat historic looking main street.

I lived in St. Thomas when I was 6 to 8 years old, and have gone back to visit family occasionally. Pretty town, but it's been hit hard by the decline in the automotive industry. I imagine you could get a beautiful house there for cheap, and it's only something like a 20 minute drive in to London. It's also about 20 min to Port Stanley, where my grandparents had a place. Nice beach, if you don't mind swimming in Lake Erie.

[VladtheImpaler]

The better half's family is all in London. I don't really like it much, but you can get a huge castle in a nice neighbourhood cheap (by Calgary, let alone Toronto, standards). I think it's the kind of place where you take a job and keep it for 25 years because there is nowhere else to go to, except out. We seriously thought about moving there when I was experiencing career ennui, but luckily did not. It seemed like all the jobs are insurance or health related. And, yes, East London is bad. I think I may have come across negatively. If you land a great job that you are happy to do, you can live a really nice life...

[TSXCman]

Lived there for 6 years for university. Mixed feelings for sure.

Stay in the NW if possible. Around the University bubble, the parks and everything are very nice. I find the stereotypical "bad areas" are actually dangerous. I walked into a lot of trouble and often. Like randomly punched in the face by a local when that "knock out game" was going on. A few nearmisses of being tazed or pepper sprayed by the cops (walked by a bar as a battle blew out onto the streets). Like a lot of small towns in Ontario, the locals did not like University kids and were pretty rough.

The pros are definitely the parks, restaurants, and the Budweiser Center. For living in Ontario, it's a pretty good choice.

[Northendzone]

Downside would be the werewolves in London

[Enoch Root]

London is a fantastic city. Nice size, close to Toronto and Detroit, clean, it has everything.

You can't go wrong

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

London is a fantastic city. Nice size, close to Toronto and Detroit, clean, it has everything.

You can't go wrong

I cant remember when being close to Toronto and Detroit was a positive attribute.

[OMG!WTF!]

I like London London London.

[jwslam]

Was there 3 days in July '13 to visit a friend who was schooling.

-Rent is dirt cheap; 2 br 800 sqft condo $700/month all in
-Not much in terms of malls
-Downtown is fairly unique with all mom and pop's
-Seemed like the entire town was walkable in a 1hr radius from near the university
-Bussing in/out from Toronto dt took 3+ hours.
-Nothing else really exciting that I recall.