But those mews and parks and hidden treasures are still part of what makes London a great place to visit in many ways. It’s just that for me, the noise, dirt, crowds and unfriendliness detract greatly from those pleasures. I’m often in London for meetings and I try to avoid staying over on such days, which means an early train to town, a day crammed full of appointments then an early evening train home. Very tiring but better, for me, than staying a minute longer than necessary. Trips purely for pleasure are very rare now, precisely because I get so little pleasure out of being there.

I can access great culture and parks and architecture and so on in Manchester, which is a lot nearer and infinitely less stressful, perhaps because although it’s dirty and crowded like London, the people are so much friendlier and there’s less of an air of menace on the streets.

London has a sacred place in my heart – it is almost as if it is in my bones. If I dream – it is nearly always set in London. Maybe because some of the happiest years of my life were spent there. But then I was young and carefree and lived within walking distance of everywhere.

I couldn’t live in London now. It’s not so much that London has changed, although clearly it has and always has done but I have changed too. I am intolerant, have less time, notice rubbish and poverty, worry about my children’s schooling. But sometimes I wish I hadn’t – changed that is – that I could still just see the good things in London: the quiet mews, the awesome parks, the secret hidden closed tube stations you can just glimpse if you know where to look.

Tim Ramsey