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We were ‘fed up’ with our jobs so moved to country…but we absolutely HATED it
A MARRIED couple who were ‘fed up’ with city life say they are desperate to return to London after moving to the countryside.
Barber Jimi Aldcroft, 39, and NHS admin worker Tess, 35, left the capital and moved to Brecon in Powys, Wales, shortly after the coronavirus pandemic.
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Tess, who worked in research at a tech company before the move, believed that if she could survive London “then of course we can survive the countryside”, MailOnline reports.
She revealed how in March 2022, Jim – who is Australian – was “a bit fed up” with his job, and she herself felt her job had “reached its full potential”.
Tess was hired as a receptionist in a local hotel, while Jim started pulling pints in a pub.
But the couple were not prepared for the “loneliness” and “inconvenience” of country life.
“There were a lot of things that didn’t make us enjoy the area,” Tess said.
“They weren’t our kind of people. They weren’t very kind.
“We found Wales really judgy. The people were nosy because they had nothing else to do.”
Tess said that the residents would rather have someone “local” pouring beers.
Jim “absolutely hated” being treated as an outsider, and felt like Wales was the only place where he was “judged for being Australian”, Tess said.
She added that dog walking was difficult too in the countryside, with signs threatening that animals without leads would be shot.
Tess said she was at first relieved to no longer be working 70-hour weeks.
But the couple could only get hospitality jobs, which required weekend working, and then most places were closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Tess said they were “bored” and had “nothing to talk about”, and they should instead have moved to a smaller city like Bristol.
Jim found a job in London again in November 2022, and Tess now works as an emergency department flow coordinator for the NHS.
Having moved back to London, Tess says she loves not having to drive everywhere and the anonymity of living in a large flat block where she doesn’t know any of her neighbours’ names.
Londoners flee the capital during pandemic
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the population of London fell by 75,000, according to the Centre for Cities.
This figure is equivalent to the population of Tunbridge Wells.
While people continued to arrive in London from the rest of the country, the change was driven by a surge in people leaving the capital for the rest of England and Wales.
But after the pandemic restrictions ended, the population “bounced back quickly” and is now “almost certainly higher than it has ever been”, according to CfC.
The number of Londoners who moved elsewhere in England and Wales increased by 30 per cent during the pandemic.
But in 2021-22, the London outflow decreased compared to the pandemic peak.
It still remained 12 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels.
According to the CfC, moves into coastal areas and non-urban locations outside of the Greater South East dropped again by 2021-22.
“Overall, it seems that changes in end-destination popularity across the country were largely transient,” their blog says.
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