I live in a suburb, but I have three 24 hour supermarkets within easy reach. I have a chemist open till midnight, and a stack of Asian owned stores that are open till 10pm-12pm, not to mention the fast food joints, some of which are open til 3 or 4am. I work on Oxford Street, where my store is considered backward in the opening hours stakes - we only went to 8pm and 9pm closes last year. Most other stores, and I mean major stores like Selfridges and House of Fraser, open till 9pm all week, and some later than that. I roll out of clubs in Camden at 4am and still manage to get decent food (oooh, falafel how I love you!!). The region around Piccadilly Circus, Oxford St, Trafalgar sq and Leicester Sq is absolutely packed all through the night. I know this because I have to fight my way home after a night out!!
I totally understand the point about living in one place and thinking this other far away place is going to be so much better. I remember going to New York and being so excited about everything being open all night, I couldn't imagine anything better. Except it wasn't true. It was no better than London, or any other major city in that regard.
I do think that ultimately it's cultural. We like our nightlife, but we're not night time people per se. It's dangerous, our streets are old and the majority are narrow and dark. It's also fucking freezing at night for a good part of the year, and we like to get in and whack the heating up to 40.
When I was in Brissy I would have been quite happy to be out all night - the weather is glorious!
Best NYE ever, out and about in a t shirt and a pair of shorts. Totally wicked.
