Snobbiest places in the UK?

[phranes]

Following from similar threads about overrated and underrated places in the UK... where are the snobbiest places in the UK?

From the places I've been, I'd say Harrogate, Oxford, and the rest of the Cotswolds.

@DenisetheMenace 😂

People I know in Pershore look down on other towns in Worcestershire as if the people there have crawled out from under a stone.

I've only skimmed a few pages, what do people thinks snobbery looks like? What is it.

I think inverted snobbery is much worse.

@Rosehip10

West Bridgford is snobby and has a hatred of Nottingham.

Yes, I was going to say this. The terror of venturing “north of the river”!

@TatianaBis

I wonder what ‘looking affluent’ means to you.

It’s an intresting question - I wondered whether you were asking me whether being affluent is important to me or why I feel I come across as affluent - I was amused that the @Paralithic jumped on with the snobby bling comments the old money versus new money thing it’s so snobby.😂 I wear neither bling not cycling gear - just for the record!

@Puttingouthefirewithgasoline

I've only skimmed a few pages, what do people thinks snobbery looks like? What is it.

I think inverted snobbery is much worse.

The dictionary can help you there.

snob
/snɒb/
noun
a person with an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth who seeks to associate with social superiors and looks down on those regarded as socially inferior.
"her mother was a snob and wanted a lawyer as a son-in-law"
a person who believes that their tastes in a particular area are superior to those of other people.

@friedafried

People I know in Pershore look down on other towns in Worcestershire as if the people there have crawled out from under a stone.

My mother was delighted when we moved from Evesham to Pershore - she definitely thought Pershore was a cut above. She had this weird thing where we could wear ordinary clothes in town in Evesham; if we were going to Pershore we had to look smart; and if we were going to Cheltenham we had to put on our best clothes and polish shoes etc. Very strange.

@Darkmood

I was amused that the @Paralithic jumped on with the snobby bling comments the old money versus new money thing it’s so snobby.😂 I wear neither bling not cycling gear - just for the record!

Erm ... you must be confusing me with someone else? I only mentioned NCT sales and posh farm shops?

In fact, I see that it was the post after mine by MindTheBelleek that @Darkmood has taken offence to.

I’ll await your apology

@Paralithic

In fact, I see that it was the post after mine by MindTheBelleek that *@Darkmood* has taken offence to.

I’ll await your apology

And you are absolutely right @Paralithic and I do offer my sincere apologies, my post was indeed referring to the comments by @MindtheBelleek.

No worries @Darkmood

[quote Paralithic]**@Darkmood

I was amused that the @Paralithic jumped on with the snobby bling comments the old money versus new money thing it’s so snobby.😂 I wear neither bling not cycling gear - just for the record!

Erm ... you must be confusing me with someone else? I only mentioned NCT sales and posh farm shops?[/quote]
And @Darkmood completely misinterpreted what I said, in any case.

I was responding to a poster saying she wondered what ‘an affluent appearance’ meant to another poster.

I made no such old money/new money point. The area I live in is ‘old’ affluent in that it has big, Victorian and Georgian houses and had serious money in the past, but the people who live here are not ‘old money’, insofar as I can judge, they’re professionals who made their own money rather than inherited it. Who wouldn't necessarily ‘look affluent’ (if you were to judge by things like expensive cars and designer clothes) not because they are the Mn cliché of cheery dukes who dress like tramps, but because they’ve chosen to live somewhere where the terrain dictates (and hence democratises) transport and clothing. So there’s no obvious ‘affluent appearance’ around here, unless there are gradations of luxury cycling gear or surgical scrubs.

@MindtheBelleek I don't believe affluence has to look as obvious as bling. I live in an affluent town - people don't dress up - in fact they often dress down and I only notice the difference when I visit the next town along, you can see the years of poverty in people's faces it's not what they wear.

Mumsnet

Strangely, Stoke Newington for a start. Pretentious and snobbish all in one.
Again, I must defend my neighbourhood! (and yes, I call it Stokey; but I don't care what others call it).
Yes there are some silly shops akin to 'I Saw You Coming' from the Harry Enfield sketch. But there is also a lovely local grocery shop who'll move heaven and earth to get a product you request/rhapsodise about any fruit and veg you get them started on/actually cheer when you enter the shop (once you become a regular; but that happens very quickly).
There are shops stacked with an amazing range of Indian/Pakistani/Middle Eastern/Caribbean food going for a song and a bit of banter with the people who work there, who will deliver to people who are shielding or ill.
There's a cafe that cooked for the NHS when they were shut in lockdown, and opened on Christmas Day with free drinks and cake for anyone who wanted a chat and some company.
I regularly have nice chats with people in queues/shops/cafes/walking their dogs in our beautiful garden cemetery/nature reserve.
I've become firm friends with other locals I've met at the gym and at yoga.
We are a lovely friendly and very diverse place.

The people saying Richmond and Twickenham though I never found it that snobby and I was born and raised there. I found worse snobbery in parts of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Devon to be honest.

Richmond and Twickers are very different to somewhere like Kingston though. Chalk and cheese. But probably do have a lot in common with somewhere like Bath.

Kingston (and many parts of Surrey) ooze money in a way that other places mentioned on this thread don't.

@NoFashion

Mumsnet

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

Richmond and Twickers are very different to somewhere like Kingston though. Chalk and cheese. But probably do have a lot in common with somewhere like Bath.

Kingston (and many parts of Surrey) ooze money in a way that other places mentioned on this thread don't.

I don't think being 'snobby' is about how much wealth places have...more about their actions which convey a sense of superiority over others.

Wow i am shocked. Thought it would be a Tory area. It's very affluent right

Quite a few places on this list are Libdem-voting, if not at MP level, at council level. For example St Albans has a Libdem MP; Guildford and Winchester return Libdem councils quite frequently.

Muswell Hill is full of the dreaded metropolitan liberal elite (or sensible, reasonable people, as I refer to them).

I mostly think of places in London - Barnes, Richmond, Wimbledon village, Highgate, Muswell Hill, Dulwich but also RTW and St Albans etc

@LDJo90

I mostly think of places in London - Barnes, Richmond, Wimbledon village, Highgate, Muswell Hill, Dulwich but also RTW and St Albans etc

Just fascinated how you have had experiences in all these different parts of London and its outskirts to find them all snobby. Or are you confusing snobbery with affluence?

@grandiflora - I have lived in different parts of London for many years. To be fair, some of these impressions are a bit outdated like Richmond and Barnes (though am assuming they haven't changed much). The latest one on me was going back to Muswell Hill. I used to love it about fifteen years ago, now it has just become snobby and we are moving out. My reading of what constitutes snobby is obviously a personal one. Am also European but you wouldn't tell from my accent, so I both pass as someone who should belong in those areas but also dont for other reasons.

LDJo
I wonder which parts of London do you find nice yet non-snobby? Wimbledon Village is def snobby, it's all mansions and quite forbidding. I don't know Barnes enough but know some downt=-to earth people from there even though they aer quite successful.

But the other areas mentioned are really mixed - esp Teddington and Kingston - Richmond strangely too really, because there are mansions but there are also many conversions into flats and many of those are prof shares and most people are chilled out.

The thing about London that appeals to me is, you can 'belong' wherever if you like an area, people are not that bothered about who their neighbbours are, and if you are well-mannered / relaxed, you won't stand out - also people are used not to judge a book by its cover unlike in provincial wealthy places where some areas have no social diversity and people do dress true to the type etc.
Of course if you mean active socialising in a paticular area - that's a totally different point, it can be very hard to break into some circles, but this could be in any upmarket area and still easier in London sometimes - but you can always find people to socialise with on your wave due to the whole mix. The problen I have wit hLondon (normal times) is that people don't have much time to socialise and it's all too rushed, yo uneed to book meet ups etc, can be dispiriting.