Do people say this about other places?

People generally shit-talk their own town, plus their towns main rival town, and they shittalk their capital city.

Places they visit on holiday when it's sunny, they glorify

@Octavia64

Wisbech by any chance? I used to luve there and am not far away now. Some beautiful parts , history etc but its definitely gone downhill since I was a child!

I’m from Preston and people do say to my face “what a shithole”.

just as a point of evidence.

You notice it when its the place you live.

They don’t say it about everywhere else the way they say it about London.

If I said I’m from Preston or whatever other run down northern town (and I’m not from far away!) people might think ’poor you what a shithole’ but I think most people would still have some awareness that it would be rude to say it, and only the most proudly ‘call a spade a spade’ type wankers would actually come out with it to your face. People might think it’s a shithole, people from there might talk about it being a shithole, people from outside of there might talk about not wanting to live/ visit there - but I think it would be unusual for them to outright say to your face ‘oh what a shame for you’.

With London it’s almost a point of pride for a lot of people to dislike it and bang on about how they could never live there, it’s terrible, the people are so unfriendly, nobody says hello to you in the street etc etc. When I used to live there and travel home, the amount of people who felt compelled to tell me ‘couldn’t be me, I’d hate to live there, went once and couldn’t wait to get home’ - I’ve lived in a lot of different places before and since, with varying reputations from lovely to shithole, but none of them have ever provoked so many people to tell me how awful it was like London did!

For the record I really enjoyed my time there.

I tend to say I’m from Manchester when asked - not strictly true but close enough, and there will of course be the odd ‘jokey’ comment about that, but it’s really not the same level.

I'm not voting because I don't agree with your options OP.

Of course people say this about other places. They totally dismiss them and rubbish them, often without visiting them. It's very rude and totally unfair on the decent people who live there and the peoole who enjoy living there.

Many years ago I worked for the then DHSS. We had a street in our office patch which was absolutely notorious in the whole city. If people lived there they would get turned down for jobs just by stating their address. The council eventually pulled down some of the tenements, moved out some of the residents, built some new decent houses and actually renamed the street in an effort to destroy it's bad repuration. But people still referred to it as the street that used to be ( original street name) and it still had a reputation.

I know of many places in Scotland that are routinely absolutely dismissed and pilloried and looked down on by people who have never ever visited.

I’m originally from Bradford. Yes people say this. I find it’s most often people who have never even visited Bradford and so believe the Islamophobic media hype about it being akin to Afghanistan. Or the hype about it being terrifying and crime ridden.

It has its issues but I’ve never personally felt unsafe in Bradford and there are many beautiful areas. I also personally love the fact that in my friendship group growing up we had a half-Jew (me), gay guy, black Jehovah’s Witness, Muslim and Sikh. That is part of what makes Bradford, and indeed London and other areas like Manchester, beautiful imo- diversity.

I think London is more on the news so it stuck with people, that’s why they think they are allowed to comment. But it’s still very rude and weird tbh.
I envy you OP, London is lovely.

Certain areas of the town I live in.
North X? Oh I couldn't live there it's rough as fuck.
X road? Not a chance etc

Haven't voted as I don't agree with either option.

Option 1 is wrong as people don't just say it about London. There's a lot on social media at the moment of people near Blackpool saying how the good bits of the town are never seen and it is always just shown and referred to as a shithole.
It isn't fine though, rather rude to insult places other people live whether it's London or elsewhere so Option 2 does not feel right to me either

It's quite funny that you chose Preston as a random example, because that's the place I've more consistently heard described as a shithole than any other place in the country 🤣 (I'm from Lancashire and know it well!)

People don't do this about everywhere, no. In my experience there are three categories of place that can rightly be described as shitholes: run down Northern towns, garish seaside resorts, and massive cities.

Haha

I’m from Preston.

it’s not quite a shithole but a lot of my friends from school now live elsewhere.

I now live in the drugs capital of the fens which is known for it’s crime so yes people are regularly very rude about it.

People say it about everywhere. I’d just ignore it.

People say it about pretty much everywhere and I wouldn’t take any notice at all. I think it’s a silly, uneducated and ignorant comment but I wouldn’t necessarily retaliate.