BritCanadaNewbie

Hi Folks.
I'm starting to get the impression the downtown core of Toronto is very very small.

The best and main parts of the Toronto are King, Queen and Bloor. And they are not all that great
Yes there are other places outside of the core (Mississauga/brampton/the beaches) but there is not much going on outside of the downtown core. It gets familiar very quickly and loses the feel of a large metropolitan city.

but the the main hub of the city is those 3 streets.

Anyone else feel that way of Toronto?
Thanks

BristolUK

Come to Moncton. I like it here but the 'downtown' makes me think of a UK High St.

dbd33

I lived in Toronto for a couple of decades without going up to Bloor St and then, when I did, it was just a street of ordinary shops. I suppose it has a shoe museum, which most streets don't, but I wouldn't include it on a "best of Toronto" list. My best bits might be Cabbagetown, the St. Lawrence Market, the Kensington Market and the water treatment plant.

I agree though that it's a small city and, overall, not very interesting.

BritCanadaNewbie

hmm.... Yes St lawrence market/lieslievile up to liberty village and thats pretty much it.
Its not the fact that its not interesting it just feels like "the same faces" zone way to quickly. It not a negative on the city at all but it just feels the total opposite of Europe/UK

Pizzawheel

Yeah outside of the downtown core- which I would extend up to Bloor- it does get suburban pretty quickly. To the east the Danforth from say Coxwell back to the DVP is a decent pub crawl; Queen st in the beaches is nice if a bit busy; there's Roncesvalles in the west. Yorkville has some nice places just north of Bloor.

Outside of these areas it gets into stripmall pavement-less suburbia very quickly.

Having said that I still like it. Not the best for a youngster looking to revi it up but good for younger parents.

Zap0ne

Not really understanding what your point is. So what? Funny that it is not like the UK/Europe is that your expectation that the rest of the world should look like UK/Europe. There is a lot to explore in and around the City, a big Province that can swallow up the UK many times over, a huge country outside your door, and both North and South America waiting for you. Yes, it is not like the UK. Good luck.

JamesM

Kind of a crap post really.

Queen street has nightlife running down it from the Beach pretty much through to Ossington.

The Danforth/Bloor a similar distance of bars,restaurants and cafes.

Add Kensington Market, St Lawrence Market/Esplanade. King West. Cabbage Town. Bloor West Village. Yonge & Eglinton. Yonge & St. Clair (large parts of the Yonge Line come to think of it) The whole of Spadina and Little Italy and in Downtown Toronto you have more to do for drinking/eating than most cities in the Western world.

I'd encourage you to get a life and explore a little more and also not to visit many more places in Canada, USA of the UK to prevent your Goldfish syndrome.

I can only really think that London or New York have that much more to offer. Chicago, Manchester etc are comparable.

BritCanadaNewbie

well thanks James your too kind . your right I'll concentrate on getting a life.

Cyan

Reminds me of Reykjavik...only joking of course.

What I noticed when I was job hunting for IT positions in 2000, was the limited number of openings relative to London, UK. My first impression was that Toronto's economy size was on par with somewhere like Birmingham.

not2old

Do you live in the city?

Which part of the UK did you come from?

agree with post#7 above & to add ...

Have you taken the East-West-East subway train from one end to the other, getting off at all or any of the interesting places along the way?

Or, what about a walk from Queens Quay at the foot of Yonge St to Yonge & Eglinton, its approx 13.7km. Maybe a side trek along Bloor, even Avenue Rd or University Avenue

Or even take a walk from the junction of Queen & Coxwell or Danforth & Coxwell - head west to Bathurst St. Its approx 10km, lots to see

Spend some time exploring the city ...

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/c..._ontario_3.php

or, you could walk

From Billingsgate Market in London UK to Buckingham palace, approx same distance

What's the difference in small, or are you comparing 'Gun crime'?

.

Tirytory

*you are* not your..... Perhaps you could concentrate on spelling and punctuation instead of a life?

JamesM

I did share your Downtown sentiment when I was new in Toronto. When you look at Bay Street and the high rise commercial section of the city the volume of bars doesn't quite correlate.

I guess in that sense it's a little different to the lay out of a Birmingham or Manchester because it is less centralised. As you look at the areas/neighbourhoods that are exiting the core that is really where you find the stuff to do.

With people in Toronto tending to drive into the city core historically it was never much of a place to go out. It's only really got going in the last 20 years and is very much a work in progress as you'll see with the new Queens Quay front.

Once you start to venture into the neighbourhoods you'll start to see the size of the city and understand that actually most of the action goes on outside of the core which on weekends has a tendency to be over run by those with a 905 phone code (suburbanites) affectionately referred to as 905-ers by us chic Downtown neighbourhood folk.

Oink

But with much rubbishier Indian restaurants.

JamesM

It's a trade off with Hooters.

scrubbedexpat133

I agree that it is a layout issue. Most European cities have a historic center that is still the focus of the city and they have grown around it. This is simply not the case in new world countries. Toronto is a good example of a more planned approach to building a city.

I actually really like Toronto and part of its appeal is that it is more of a patchwork.

As Bristol says it could be worse.....