- Alfred Melone, 30, came to London in search of a new life, but ended up hating the city.
- He said the city made him work too hard, eating up all his time and ruining his diet.
- Has your life changed since leaving London? Email [email protected]
Italian expats who moved to London hoping to make it in the capital say the cost of living crisis and the coronavirus pandemic have left them poor, overweight and overworked.
Alfredo Melone, 30, from Naples, moved to the UK in 2019 full of dreams, wanting to make the most of what one of the world’s most diverse and vibrant cities has to offer.
Instead, after finding a job as a waiter and a flatshare in Zone 2 for £550 a month, he found himself almost destitute and working at least 45 hours a week to break even. I did. Sports.
The situation worsened when the coronavirus lockdown hit in 2020, forcing Melone to be furloughed from his hospitality job and take a second job at Ikea packing click-and-collect orders to make ends meet. I no longer get it.
But with his rent rising by £100 a month, the former CrossFit devotee could only afford to eat crisps and not have time to go to the gym, causing his weight to rise to 40kg (over 6 stone). .
Has your life changed since leaving London? Email [email protected]
He says London’s prices are too high for young people, but says he has become happier since moving to another European country where transport costs and everyday necessities such as wine glasses are a fraction of the cost.
“Expenses in London were unusually high and I couldn’t afford it on just one paycheck. There was a sense of always looking for ways to make money and it was a bit stressful,” he told i .
Alfredo spent three years in London, where his weight ballooned and the English weather made him miserable.
He worked overtime at his job on call and took on other temporary jobs to keep his head above water once restrictions eased.
In July 2022, he moved to Valencia, Spain. There, he says, the pace of his life, his attitude towards work and the cost of living were much better.
He now has a sales job at Amazon and earns as much as he did when he worked in the UK, but even more.
In London, I bought a bicycle for transportation to avoid expensive tube fares. Currently, the maximum daily oyster fare in zones 1 and 2 is £8.10. In Valencia, a 4 euro ticket will get him 10 public transport trips.
And he says a bottle of wine that costs £12 in London can be bought for €3 in most cafes in Valencia. He says that’s because the city encourages “mobility,” so he doesn’t have to worry about not being able to afford the trip.
“Due to financial necessity, I worked six days a week and spent my holidays in bed,” he added of his time in London. That meant ignoring sports, hobbies, and health to focus on what was on my plate.
“[In Valencia]people’s working hours are more respected and overtime is not expected. In London it’s more of an imposition than an expectation.”
Despite Melone’s experience, London continues to be ranked as one of the best cities in the world in numerous polls and surveys.
Last year, a study that rated cities on “liveability, loveliness and prosperity” found the UK capital to be the best city in the world “despite Brexit”.
In January, Time Out’s list of the world’s top cities, based on input from residents and writers, placed the city in fourth place, just ahead of Liverpool and behind top-ranked New York.