6 Things British People Will Miss If They Move to Canada

After six years in England, I could think of quite a few things I’d miss if I moved back to Canada. They weren’t all big attractions or famous landmarks. Being able to get somewhere without driving, finding a cosy pub and having enough holiday to take a proper break mattered much more to my everyday life.

These are the comparisons I made in my July 2022 video, from my experience in Canada and my life in Kent. Where you live makes an enormous difference. Toronto isn’t the same as a small Canadian town, and a remote part of the UK isn’t the same as somewhere with a station you can walk to.

Getting around without a car

I learned to drive when I was 16 in Canada. I needed to drive to get to things, and every job I had there was somewhere I couldn’t reach by public transport. In the video, I described my nearest station back home as about a 45-minute drive away. Having a railway station doesn’t help very much if you still need a car to reach it.

In Kent, I could walk to stations, use buses and get to loads of places without driving. That was a big advantage. I’m familiar with Southeastern, and I know the trains aren’t perfect. Delays and problems don’t disappear just because I like having a railway. Even with those frustrations, the difference between an imperfect service and having no useful service for my journey was huge.

Walkability went with that. In the English places I’d lived or visited, it was often realistic to walk somewhere. The distances I was used to in Canada made that harder. I also pointed out that big cities such as Toronto were different, with places to walk and public transport. I wouldn’t choose a Canadian address on the assumption that my experience applied everywhere.

A pub where you can settle in

I love the cosy, comfortable feeling of a traditional community pub. It can feel like somewhere you belong, somewhere to sit and spend time. The Canadian bars I was comparing it with tended to feel louder and more focused on partying. That isn’t quite the same thing as a pub that feels like home.

Of course there are exceptions. I knew of places in Canada called British pubs, but the ones I had in mind were more like restaurants, with food and drinks and a bit of a novelty feel. I wasn’t saying that no Canadian could find a cosy place to hang out. I would miss the kind of local pub atmosphere I’d come to appreciate here.

Winters I can cope with

Snow is another thing I don’t miss much. I don’t ski or do the other winter sports that might make a snowy winter more appealing. I like snow at Christmas, but that is about it. By this point I’d had roughly six or seven winters in England, and the really snowy one I remembered was the Beast from the East. Since then, my winters in Kent had mostly meant cold, rain, ice or the odd dusting.

Some Canadian winters I’d experienced had very little snow. Others dragged on for months. I preferred being able to walk around and still see green, lush countryside here, rather than being stuck with snow for so much of the year. That is my preference from the places I’ve lived, not a description of every Canadian or British winter.

Enough time off to travel

Paid holiday would be especially hard to give up. In the Canadian jobs I’d worked, I had ten paid days a year. That was my experience of those jobs, rather than a rule for every worker in Canada. Travelling between Canada and England could mean a long flight each way and jet lag, so ten days didn’t feel like much time to get away, settle down and relax.

The British entitlement I discussed was 5.6 weeks. GOV.UK explains that almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, and employers can count bank holidays within it. That distinction matters: it doesn’t mean everyone gets those weeks plus every bank holiday on top.

Canada has plenty of things I love, but I couldn’t pretend moving back would have no drawbacks. After getting used to Kent’s trains, local pubs and less snowy winters, I’d miss them. And going back to the ten-day holiday allowance I remembered from my old jobs would be a particularly difficult adjustment.

Watch my full comparison of the things I might miss in Canada.