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Original poster

The poshest county in the UK?

435 replies

Eyes98 · 10/04/2025 22:57

Which one county would you say is the outright poshest in the UK? Let’s not use Greater London here, and I know there will be social diversity in all, but which would you say is the poshest overall?
I’m going with Berkshire, darling.😂

OP posts:
Ryeman · 11/04/2025 08:06

WillimNot · 11/04/2025 07:20

Depends which bit of Berkshire.
Slough is awful now sadly, I think it was voted the saddest place to live in the UK recently

Parts of Reading are awful, crime ridden
Yes you Sonning and Henley but most of the rest is trying to stay posh and failing. I've lived across Berkshire for 20 years and it's definitely losing the posh undertones now.

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Isn't Henley in Oxfordshire?

Sameoldsameoldsame · 11/04/2025 08:05

Calliopespa · 11/04/2025 08:01

But I think some people think of celebs as posh.

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Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
adjective
elegant or stylishly luxurious.
"a posh hotel".

I know some think celebrities as 'posh'. It doesn't make it so.

Mielikki · 11/04/2025 08:05

Calliopespa · 11/04/2025 07:56

That’s what I think.

It’s flashy not posh. But I think people are giving posh their own meaning on this thread - as ever on MN.

The comments are correct that most counties have less posh bits, but to be Surrey doesn’t really have any posh bits. Expensive, yes.

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Haslemere, Godalming, Farnham and the surrounding villages are pretty posh and old money. Not flashy at all.

Calliopespa · 11/04/2025 08:05

Myblueclematis · 11/04/2025 07:45

Yes, I agree, I live in Hampshire and I consider it pretty posh but I don't live in a posh part of it.

There are some beautiful places in the county but also some that are considered really rough and not very nice.

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I think the countryside and villages are posh, probably Winchester but not Southampton or Portsmouth.

Astrabees · 11/04/2025 08:03

Rutland, of course.

stanleypops66 · 11/04/2025 08:03

Even excluding Peterborough, Cambridgeshire have very rural and deprived areas (Wisbech, March etc). Cambridge city and parts of south cambs can be ‘posh’. But it’s quite diverse and whilst the people are well educated I wouldn’t call them posh.

Calliopespa · 11/04/2025 08:02

Eyes98 · 11/04/2025 07:45

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/housekeeping/5312645-poshest-uk-county-the-poll

Poll is here everyone!!!

That’s a pointless poll! It hasn’t got sufficient options.

Trumpsgoneloco · 11/04/2025 08:02

It’s flashy not posh. But I think people are giving posh their own meaning on this thread - as ever on MN.

True dat

Calliopespa · 11/04/2025 08:01

Sameoldsameoldsame · 11/04/2025 07:59

Celebrities aren't the first thing that come to mind on hearing the word 'posh'
🙄 far from it. That bubble 😂

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But I think some people think of celebs as posh.

Trumpsgoneloco · 11/04/2025 08:01

I think people who consider Surrey to just be suburban are only thinking of the bit within the M25 (Epsom, Ewell, Staines etc). Most of Surrey is rural or semi-rural.

Guildford, Leatherhead, Woking, Egham, Banstead, Ashstead, Caterham, Redhill, Warlingham, Whyteleafe, Woodmasterne, Chertsey, Dorking are all pretty suburban to me.

But I don't equate rural with posh.

Mielikki · 11/04/2025 08:00

Meredusoleil · 11/04/2025 07:52

I live in an outer London Borough and still have Middlesex as part of my postal adress!

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No you don’t. Because postal counties no longer exist. You’re fine to add it if you want, but you could just as well put Narnia for all it means.

Calliopespa · 11/04/2025 08:00

TheOnlyAletheia · 11/04/2025 07:27

I’d make the case for Norfolk. Lots of “old” money but lots of wealthy Home Counties folk in and around north and west Norfolk and a sprinkling of the super rich and arty. The rest of the county is pretty well to do. Norwich is naice. The only slight fly in the ointment is Yarmouth but that is miles from anywhere 😂

I think Norfolk is a strong contender.

Some parts of Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Hampshire.

All counties tend to have rough patches.

Sameoldsameoldsame · 11/04/2025 07:59

despairdespair · 10/04/2025 23:19

Kent,we have the best schools,and I live in a bubble where the celebrities live in a road that homes are worth 5-7 million quid. Lovely neighbours,so absolutely not bothered.
They are just people who go to same supermarkets and walk their friendly dogs.

Celebrities aren't the first thing that come to mind on hearing the word 'posh'
🙄 far from it. That bubble 😂

MellowPinkDeer · 11/04/2025 07:58

This is impossible to answer as there are horrible parts of every county.

FilthyforFirth · 11/04/2025 07:58

Myblueclematis · 11/04/2025 07:45

Yes, I agree, I live in Hampshire and I consider it pretty posh but I don't live in a posh part of it.

There are some beautiful places in the county but also some that are considered really rough and not very nice.

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Same. I live on the edge of very posh parts though and whilst I dont live in a village I am surrounded by them with lots of rolling countryside and manor houses.

It is also mainly Tory MPs which I think ups the posh factor! (This last election being a bit of an anomaly)

MikeRafone · 11/04/2025 07:57

Benefits and working benefits are a great part of British living standards, it makes finance easier

posh is the other end of the scale

The poshest county in the UK?
Calliopespa · 11/04/2025 07:56

Trumpsgoneloco · 11/04/2025 06:35

Surrey is very much flash the cash whether you have it or not which I always think is not particularly posh.

That’s what I think.

It’s flashy not posh. But I think people are giving posh their own meaning on this thread - as ever on MN.

The comments are correct that most counties have less posh bits, but to be Surrey doesn’t really have any posh bits. Expensive, yes.

Meredusoleil · 11/04/2025 07:55

Meredusoleil · 11/04/2025 07:54

Yes. Exactly!

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And that's in the London borough of Merton.

Meredusoleil · 11/04/2025 07:54

Trumpsgoneloco · 11/04/2025 07:51

I know someone who lives in Mitcham but says she lives in Surrey 😆

Yes. Exactly!

SummerDaysOnTheWay · 11/04/2025 07:54

despairdespair · 10/04/2025 23:19

Kent,we have the best schools,and I live in a bubble where the celebrities live in a road that homes are worth 5-7 million quid. Lovely neighbours,so absolutely not bothered.
They are just people who go to same supermarkets and walk their friendly dogs.

No. Not Kent.

ProfessionalPirate · 11/04/2025 07:54

FoxedByACat · 11/04/2025 07:29

Doesn’t it have Scarborough though? And Selby? 😁

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Very true! Problem is, North Yorkshire is by far the largest county by area so it’s inevitable that there will be… some parts best forgotten about at the extremities. This is why I think Rutland has the edge because it’s so small, no rough city suburbs or dodgy seaside towns to sully its reputation. Just country pursuits and a decent school.

kerstina · 11/04/2025 07:53

I doubt if Worcestershire is but when I visited Broadway it just screamed affluent. Is wealth the same as posh though.

Trumpsgoneloco · 11/04/2025 07:53

county

Switcher · 11/04/2025 07:53

According to Tatler this month, it is Northamptonshire. So that must be the answer.

Trumpsgoneloco · 11/04/2025 07:53

I grew up there....not posh! Us in Portsmouth called Southampton "scummers land"

But no one country is going to only have posh places, I'm fully aware of these places.