How friendly is your area?

[HouchinBawbags]

I'm out in a walk (rural village so off over the hills) and have passed more than a dozen people, most of whom I don't know, some I do and some I only recognise their faces but each and everyone has smiled and said hello.
My sister came to visit last year and couldn't understand how I knew every single person I passed. I told her I didn't, we just always greet each other. Sometimes even going as far as remarking on the weather etc.

What's it like where you live? I'm in SW Scotland. Technically our 'village' is the size and population of a town so not too small really.

Small village in rural Bedfordshire. Very friendly and everyone you pass will say hello. It does have it's little cliques - cricket club, local pub lot etc but I don't think that's massively unusual. We're very happy here as you can be involved with village life as you like, or not at all.

50/50.

I, in a very friendly manner, checked on some lovely chatty teenage girls yesterday and escorted them to safety, as they were worried about the bloke who tried to rob them in front of me. I scared him off (Cunt. Picking on 14 year olds, but scared of an angry overweight woman with a big stick)...

Half the people are friendly, would do anything to help, stop for a chat etc. Half are utter scum, I'd not piss on if they were on fire.

I live in quite a deprived city in the North East people are friendly even though there is a lot of crime. For example I came home last week to two men hurling insults and threats at each other outside my front door. I asked them if they could move so I could get in my house to which they both very pleasantly said "oh yes sorry love" moved up about a meter then continued to abuse each other.

Very friendly here!

Yorkshire, semi rural. I spend my life chatting to people I don't know!

I grew up in Northumberland and went to school in Newcastle, and it was exactly the same there.

Mind you, when I visit London I always end up talking to people on the tube or in a museum or a shop queue. I think it is so ingrained in me to make eye contact and smile or make a remark, and maybe the other person is taken off guard and forgets the London 'rules'.

I'm in a city in the North East and everyone I see walking daily is friendly. There's maybe five who stop and we have a chat. My neighbours are all friendly and everyone says hello.

@Cassandrainthenight Nottingham is its only saving grace really as it has culture. Im in Derby which is just so insular. I worked at a large employer in the city and coworkers were all locals and would purposefully exclude anyone who wasn't born here . I know I wasn't the only person who thought this. Massive silos of people living all over the city who just don't unite at all.

I don't equate being polite (e.g. saying hello) as being friendly, and I don't see how you can condemn a village or neighbourhood on that basis.

I live in a small city and its rare to go to the shops / cafe / library in the local area and not bump into someone I know. If I meet someone new, then generally we'll both know someone in common.

Wow, I'm from the East Midlands too and I find it really friendly! We moved south for a while and I hated it, made no friends at all. It was such a relief to get back (Rushcliffe)

@bigbadoldbag do you think it makes a difference if you're born there, i.e. a local? Not saying it does, I don't know the area at all, I just wondered if it's people who are not originally from the EM area who find it unfriendly?

@Megatron
Maybe, although I'm originally from Derbyshire and I now live in south Notts and they are very different. I've friends who came here from all over the country to go to the University and have never returned, they like it so much. I've honestly never found it unfriendly at all and absolutely everyone speaks on dog walks. I do live in a village though, everyone is really kind.

Town on Kent/ SE London border. V friendly. We moved here in Feb and already know 5 sets of neighbours well to chat to. We had twins in April and they all sent cards/ presents when we were in hospital!

I live in a city in central England and when I go out with DD I never say hello to anybody or even make eye contact

I come from a village and if I lived there still I would acknowledge people. In a city it's pointless and a waste of time

I find that the more secluded an area the more likely people are to say hello, I think it's out of awkwardness

Hmmm. I live in a large East Midlands town and although I couldn't tell you who any of my neighbours are, we always say hello to eachother. But then walking through the town centre probably say hello to people I know/recognise.

I find my bit of N London very friendly - I know lots of people to say hello to, and it's easy to chat to other people too in shops etc.

I also have dogs and so always chat to other dog walkers while I'm with mine. It's lovely!

My local streets are very friendly too - there's usually street parties each summer and we all say hello. London is made up of lots of villages really.

Small town, not village, in the SE. Most people greet one another.

Not friendly at all. I won’t name the town, but everyone walks around miserable and have a lot of attitude. Fed up of my hometown. That’s why we’re selling up (we have our first viewing today). I live in a close of five houses and we know each other. Other than that, if I leave my close and you talk to people they look at you as if you have two heads.

Can’t wait to move as the other town is lovely. We visit quite regularly. Everyone is so much friendlier. I’m out!

Small town on London/Kent border with lots of countryside and green space. It's very friendly- everyone says hello in the countrysidey bits (although not on the high street)

I'm in a small town in Essex and it depends where you are, really. Busy high st, then no, but only a 10 minute walk farther out, the roads (and pavement) narrow and become country lanes with nature reserves and forests close by and people often smile or say good morning etc.

I originate from Essex, but lived in London for a long time in my 20s to mid 30s, before moving back. While I was in London mode, it would always astound (but also charm) me that strangers would say good morning when I went to visit my mum.

I agree that people saying hello on the street/country walks isn't necessarily the definition of friendliness of the place, but I'd say it's more normal to say hello if you bump into someone in your immediate estate/street or if you are on a forest/field walk and come across somebody else to acknowledge or greet them (maybe less so if you are in a beauty spot with crowds of hikers and dogwalkers, but even then people tend to at least kind of nod at each other)

In my last East Midlands town people often were so weird and antisocial that a few might blank you even if they live right on your street.

Actually, good point about easier to judge the friendliness if you are a newcomer. In the end most of my friends were all themselves not originally local apart from that set of OAP neighbours, we still keep in touch and they send DD birthday and Christmas presents!

However it's not even that the locals were so difficult to make friends with, it's even more that you gave up wanting to because most of them seemed to live such a narrow and limited life.

However obviously East Midlands is a vast, vast area. Nottingham I actually quite liked, but it's a big city with a city vibe anyway, different from living in a town or village.

Here on the border of West Midlands and South West I probably ended up with a greater number of friends who are newcomers like us (which is natural) but found long time locals actually actively trying to engage and welcome new people in town which was a completely new experience to me.

In my last East Midlands town people often were so weird and antisocial that a few might blank you even if they live right on your street
This is what my street is like, our next door neighbours will literally put their head down and blank you. With the exception of a couple who will say hello, no one speaks.

I also agree that East Midlands is a big area. The consensus seems to be that Nottingham area is quite friendly but I'm in a completely different county.
Interesting that you find the south west/midlands friendly as that's the only place DH would consider as it's his neck of the woods. Friendliness is a big consideration for me after my experience here.

I moved from a large town to a smaller town in Shropshire 10 years ago. People are friendly but when you scratch beneath the surface it’s very gossipy/bitchy and everyone has known each other since birth. It’s the kind of place where several generations have lived, they never move away and the family histories follow them. I don’t like it. I keep to myself and once our children have finished their education we’ll relocate.

SW - generally friendly.

New Forest/Waterside area - full of unfriendly, judgemental, cliquey people and nimbies who are hostile to outsiders, most of them have lived there all their lives and hate anyone not from their area. Even making threats of violence towards them.

Almost everyone I meet on walks out has a quick comment on the weather, scenery or something, or just a good morning. Total strangers, not even vaguely familiar people. People invariably smile. The constant thank you's because someone has stood aside because of the pandemic, is quite amusing.

At the moment our road is having a street party (all socially distanced) with a live singer, and collecting for a little boy in the village who has a brain tumour.

Large village in Yorkshire.

I used to live in a small town in Hampshire and I wouldn't even get a flicker of a smile when I bought my regular morning paper after dropping kids off at school. Ditto other mums in the playground. It was dire.

So, so unfriendly. It has a reputation for being quite the opposite but I think it only applies if you're local. I'm not. I moved here 15 years ago and I still have strangers in the pub (not at the moment obviously!) comment on my accent and telling me I've got a 'scenty gob' (I grew up on a council estate 😂). If you don't speak with a local accent you're very much considered an outsider, particularly on the estates I've lived on in the past where everyone has known everyone for generations. The comments section on our local paper is a real eye opener when it comes to understanding how many locals feel about anyone they consider different or not exactly like them.