Up town/down town.

[TANGODANCER]

In a book I'm reading I came across some one from the north going "up" to London. Geographically north is further up the map than south, so we should effectively be going down to London, not up. Manchester has a higher elevation (125ft) than London's (115ft) so this backs the case for down to London again and them coming up north. As regards the expression there are quite a few views to the contrary.It seems that the fact that London is a bigger city makes lesser places go "up".
You don't go down to Scotland....Views?

[Montreal Wanderer]

I believe in standard usage one always goes up to London but not because of its elevation. This is probably because 'up trains' went to London (the metropolis) and 'down trains' went away. Of course to us it is up north and down south because our usage is different (and works with the map!)..

[Bruce Rioja]

A mate of mine who lives in London always asks me when am I coming up to London? Despite this, he's from Wrexham and should know better.

[Gary the Enfield]

Up to Bolton

Down to London

[Bruce Rioja]

"The reason is that it's not about North or South, but comes from an old hierarchy. They do say it about London too, apparently it's an old-fashioned usage. In old railway timetables "up trains" always meant towards London, "down trains" away from London, regardless of geographic direction."

Nonsense.

If I'm going to London then I'm going down to London in exactly the same fashion that I'll be going up to Glasgow.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

It's the direction of travel, but being directionally challenged I often get it wrong

[TANGODANCER]

Even maps can confuse at times. If you're looking at a picture (map) of the galaxy, to see it as it really is you have to hold it above your head, in which case, what appears north on the map piture is actually behind you, and therefore south...

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Even maps can confuse at times. If you're looking at a picture (map) of the galaxy, to see it as it really is you have to hold it above your head, in which case, what appears north on the map piture is actually behind you, and therefore south...

Don't confuse me further