I left London 5.5 years ago, and my feeling was that it was getting increasingly hard to get by as a person who doesn't own their own home, especially after tories made squatting in residential buildings illegal. Now my situation is different but from what I see when visiting, it seems to me that if I moved back I'd be living in a city of analysts, managers of managers, PR consultants, bankers and marketers. Those are not the people that give a city its vibe. But who else can afford to live there, other than the ever-shrinking number of legacy renters/homeowners? Street jugglers returned to Spain.
I miss the anonymity, the "anything can happen" feeling and the adventures, as well as the cultural life. My current town has none of that. But here the people are really nice, from my neighbours to supermarket cashiers, and I've got a good circle of friends of the kind I never had in London.