Overview
- New interviews published Monday spotlight two choices now defining UK life after the pandemic.
- Artist Pauline Forster, 76, bought The George Tavern in Tower Hamlets in 2003 for £500,000 and restored the Grade II listed pub, a protected historic building once slated for demolition.
- Forster says soaring bills will not drive her out of London, noting she will keep working, pay off her mortgage by 80, and expects the venue to outlast her.
- Olivia Newton, 37, works in London but lives in South Hams, Devon, and says a four-hour trip that costs £150 off‑peak improves her mental health and focus.
- These profiles, first reported by The Times and echoed by Mirror and Express, reflect how pandemic moves to the countryside and later returns to cities evolved into a wider debate about affordability and lifestyle.