I lived in London for 10½ years, from when I started university.<p>Most incomers are young people, but not all are graduates — many come from Eastern and Southern Europe and work low-skill jobs.  I put &quot;British&quot;, but probably meant someone one would expect to live in London for a long time.  I got to know a few construction workers from Poland and Romania, and none of them had any intention to stay — they were in London to make money, and several had wives&#x2F;children &#x27;at home&#x27;.<p>This can make a functioning city, but it&#x27;s a change from London of 20 years ago, when it would be artists and musicians taking some of these cheap houses and I think fewer people were there to make some money and leave.<p>A good part of why I left is because it wasn&#x27;t as interesting as it used to be.  I wondered if I was getting old, but then, &quot;of the 430 music venues that traded in London between 2007 and 2015, only 245 are still open&quot; [1]. I certainly noticed that there were fewer gigs I wanted to see, and they&#x27;d moved from Friday&#x2F;Saturday to weekdays.<p>The other part: I was working for a scientific charity, with charitable pay.  I wasn&#x27;t saving much money, even with living in a shared house, so decided I needed a new job.  I wanted to continue writing software for science, so there weren&#x27;t all that many jobs that interested me in London.<p>I now live in Copenhagen.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;cities&#x2F;2015&#x2F;sep&#x2F;09&#x2F;the-slow-death-of-music-venues-in-cities" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;cities&#x2F;2015&#x2F;sep&#x2F;09&#x2F;the-slow-death...</a>