> My commute to the office was a 35 minute walk each way through a park and a historic city centre. Of course YMMV, but it rubs me the wrong way when people who decided to take on long commutes for better pay talk about how it's being taken away from them and everyone should feel the same way, when lots of people make the compromise of living in a city to not have those problems.

And for that in a hybrid setup you still have the option to walk to work. You can't expect every soul in an office to be able to afford a central place where you can walk to the office, it's simply not feasible. YMMV a lot, not sure why your anecdote should be taken as an argument, very few people have the privilege to afford a central location to live in, many more have to commute.