Wanted: My First Road bike

Could you elaborate on this? I was just about to post in agreement but had a thought that actually no, if you use your gears correctly in London it should be pretty much the same approach as when you are on the road.

You don't really need to use gears in London, there are no 20+% gradients to use your lowest gears on, there are no 40mph descents where you can properly work out the big ring, most of the time as soon as you get going you need to slow down again. Using gears around town is just fiddly really, hence fixed/ss being so much better.

I still find climbing harder in a way on gears, but I've got a lot better. You need technique you don't need around town to climb at a decent pace.