To think London is in a major decline?

London has declined if your living here on say less than 100K , but for everyone earning a lot more than that, its a brilliant city, an international city like New York or Paris and its not for everyone.

To get that great London lifestyle now though you really have to live pretty central which is ££££.

THIS.

If you weren't born and raised in London its really hard to see how much its changed from 'back in the day' .

London has got 'worse' , for the very poor , its a fuck load harder city to live in if your even middle class , compared to even 15 years ago.

OP said 'hard working people in East London moved to Essex' - The truth was they cashed out on buying their council flats and ran for leafy suburbs, that was EVERYONES dream who was working class growing up in London, to get the fuck out and the working class did it droves.

London has declined if your living here on say less than 100K , but for everyone earning a lot more than that, its a brilliant city, an international city like New York or Paris and its not for everyone.

I've been cycling in London since the 1970s and I think it's much safer these days, not least because there are far more cyclists and motorcylists on the roads and cars are more aware.

It dosen’t mean it’s inaccurate though

Ah the clichés keep on coming

This thread is hilarious because there are so many opposing views of the same place. I witnessed the gangsters of Walworth Road, the junkies of Kings Cross, the crack smokers of Rye Lane and the hustlers of Waterloo. That was the 2000s and I'd say the city is in a better place now and you can get a much higher standard of food for one thing. 😂Stay safe out there but it's all part of the rich tapestry. Neighbourhoods and streets have their ups and downs and the economy does matter. But London isn't going anywhere and will always be one of the most dynamic places on earth. It is what it is because of the new migrants and the desperate, and it is what it is because of the hedge fund bros and the global rich too. If you can't embrace it all - then maybe it's not the right place for you. But it's a tradeoff of wonderful and awful and compared with other global metropolises it is doing just fine, IMO.

Based on the fact that I lived in London for 15 years and was familiar with an awful lot of areas not just the areas I lived in

OP only lived here for 10 years, you wouldn't believe how GRIM London used to be. Ask anyone like me , born and bred in London.

If its declined , declined from what? Zone 2 is pretty much central London now, and if you think rubbish now, fuck, you would have had a heart attack back in the 70s and 80s.

This whole post is nuts.

South Clapham is the 'least grim' - based on what? The handful of places you lived in one of the biggest cities in the world ....??

@JoanChitty Sorry about the late reply! I loved reading that. I’m familiar with Elephant from 1998 onwards. The shopping centre was like a time warp, even in the modern times.

My friend grew up in Aylesbury Estate, from early 70’s onwards. It’s so interesting to hear how it used to be.

I'm only half-way through reading this thread and felt I had to comment. I have lived in Lewisham since 1987 and have never seen anything like this. Lewisham Centre is generally well managed with good, friendly security.

Respectfully, zone 5 is barely London

They will come for you now!

I agree though!

Definitely think there is a class in many areas of London that don’t even qualify for the title of working class and that is the Underclass, and a lot don’t even have a desire to rise up from it.
It would be an insult to working class people to bundle them in the same category

I live in zone 2 it's no worse than before the pandemic, except people are far more rude and less cooperative- but that's pretty much all big cities, and maybe smaller ones too.

So let's get this straight, zone 5 (which is still london), and hampstead are not in decline, but zone 2 is - which covers approx 93sq miles? And that's all gone to shit?

Errr, no.

Have you been looking at a lot of Reform social media?

I live in zone 5, in a poor area. It's no worse here than it was 5 years ago. The less poor parts of London are gorgeous.

Probably said the same in dicken's time