Do people say this about other places?

I’ve even had “Eh Eh, cahm down, cahm down!” complete with hand gestures from a french waiter in a restaurant deep in the french countryside!

Cos it's cheaper than Cornwall?

When I first moved from the SE, to the NW, my ditzy brother asked me whether we have shops up here and how cold were the winters. FFS, no we are a hunter gatherer community, with not a trace of civilisation! 🙈

The amount of people who have looked down their nose when they hear DD chose uni of Birmingham (over Bath & Durham etc). We all love it there! Amazing green campus uni surrounded by some affluent roads and beauty spots, cool, vibrant city with canals and great shopping. Of course there will be some rough bits but there are in every city… I’d rather she was in a multi cultural city (real life) than some of the predominantly white, sheltered, middle class unis (of which many of her friends went to).

Generally no. I think it's just because you live in 'proper' London people react because it's so expensive for the quality of accommodation you get. When anyone I meet says they live in Central London I guess my reaction is the same, wow, how, so expensive!

YANBU. I hope you answer them back. Pillocks.

@HorsesAreRunningOn3LegsTonight , That's because they've not been there. I have and where I stayed in Birmingham was really nice. If all you've seen of Birmingham is the M6, Wednesbury IKEA and the NEC, you'll probably think it's grim.

Try coming from anywhere with 15 miles of Birmingham!
we have a fab city centre , wonderful canals, more trees than any other city, beautiful suburbs. Live living here - but others seem to pity me !

That isn’t really the friendliness of the French as a whole though is it? It’s the friendliness of one French waiter who said happy birthday… I’m also half French and my grandma in particular can be rude as shit. It’s embarrassing at times actually, she’s a lovely woman for the most part but don’t cross her my god. She’s just so direct and yes I know some British people can be this way too but there’s a certain arrogance about the way she does it.

With French people insisting on speaking French not English, that tends to just happen in Paris but as I said earlier in the thread, the stereotype of Parisians is like Londoners here- they’re rude, aloof and self-interested. I actually think it’s city mentality a lot of the time because they are such busy places filled with professionals rushing around, and lost tourists.

I used to listen to Lancastrians and Yorkshire peeps taking the mick out of each others accents. And mine. I was advised this was something called ‘banter’. Although I did point out that if you changed the accent for a West Indian one or Indian one it might not be seen in the same way. But generally everyone got along.
The things which I did hear which were not accents but damaging were comments around being ‘better people’ and derogatory comments about work, standards of ability etc. The better people remark was said to me outside a hospital where I had just been as a patient.

@Monty36 ,As to mocking Northerners accents. Never in my world in the South did anyone I know sit around mocking Northern accents.
That's your world. I used to get people repeating in an exaggerated accent some words I said , 'jokes' about stealing and the Harry Enfield gag.

Didn't get it everywhere but certainly more times than you'd expect.

I used to spend long periods living in Brighton, and in London for shorter periods, as someone from the north. I heard it constantly about the north from southerners.

Interesting! I think you’re right. I wonder whether it could be because everyone, wherever they live, sort of feels they have a stake in London because it’s their capital so it’s ok for them to criticise it.

ExMIL used to badmouth the nice area we lived in every time she visited. So rude.

I say it all the time about Sydney - although I would never be rude enough to say it to anyone who lived there. It's a wonderful city and I adore visiting it, but I'm always happy to drive away at the end of my stay.

When I lived in the UK, I felt pretty much the same about London. It was a really exciting place to visit but I'm not a big city person, so it would have felt fairly overwhelming to live there.

But where I live would probably bore the pants of the people who love living in Sydney. Has the woman who said that to you never grasped the concept that people are different and have different tastes and needs?

I agree. It's rude. It's where you live and it's just so rude.

I bloody love Hull. DC is at university there and I feel it is very unfairly maligned.

People often say this about other countries. Even after only spending a weekend or weeks holiday there.

I'm originally from India and it's crazy how many people tell me something negative about their trip to India in the first five minutes I've met them. It's literally: "hi. Nice to meet you. oh you are from India. I was there last month. Gosh it really does smell bad in India, doesn't it?" And similar. It doesn't bother me but I do think it's strange.

In your case, op, I think it might also be because most people have been to London so have an opinion on it.

My family moved from the UK when I was quite young. I didn’t go back until many years later and haven’t been to where I was born, however an Uncle visits when in the UK.

I had never really given it much thought until I was asked where in the UK I came from, I did the initial reply as Kent which the other person thought delightful, then pressed me for more details as to where in Kent so I replied Rochester which obviously didn’t impress the person who I was speaking with.

Really I have no idea what it was like when I was a kid but Mum’s family are also from there and everything seemed ‘nice’ for them until G.Dad became ill.

im not sure why it matters (or even if it does) but my birthplace doesn’t explain who I am or what I do with my life now…

My sister lives in the north east and doesn't get the negativity anywhere near as much as I do round here.

As soon I moved from north-east London to the East Midlands, I realised as never before how much I’d adored London.

I grew up in NW London. Born is SE London but live in the midlands. People always say things like "ohh bet you don't miss the noise/smoke/negative imagery"

I always answer that I would go back tomorrow and people look genuinely shocked.

People who don't know it think it is eastenders/the bill of.

Yes, this.

The connotation of other ‘shitholes’ is that people have to live there as they can’t afford to leave. They most likely were born/grew up there - they didn’t choose to live there.

With London, most people choose to migrate there. They earn on average more than the rest of the country so really they could probably leave if they wanted to. Therefore people feel it’s more easy to slate it as you’re effectively judging someone else’s choice rather than their circumstance.

I live in a suburb of Birmingham which loads of people consider a shit hole. I'm used to it so I don't see it but the other day I saw a random Instagram reel of the High St and it looked shockingly bad 😂