Cancel holiday to Cornwall due to riots?!

[ShouldICancel]

I've name changed for this as I feel quite silly even asking this! We're meant to be in Cornwall from this weekend for 7 nights and DH is saying we'll have to wait and see what happens with all the riots. For context, we're brown, but not Muslim (I say this because I know Muslims are being sadly targeted :( )

At first I thought DH is overly cautious (which he tends to be) and needs a reality check, but having said that, for the first time in almost 18 years I've felt a bit unsafe in the UK, so maybe I'm the one who needs a reality check.

While most of the news has focused on the riots in the north, I wanted to check with those in South (especially Cornwall) if you've seen any issues? Would it be safe to travel? My parents will also be joining us, but they will be travelling by train from Paddington. I'm hoping the train journey is safe. My parents don't live in the UK and are just visiting over the summer, so they do sometimes stand out more than me, DH and the kids.

TIA!

I live in Cornwall and honestly you'll be fine. Disappointed with the weather probably but perfectly safe.

Truth be known despite tourism being their biggest income generator, the Cornish don’t really like anyone who isn’t from Cornwall. My DSis has been married to a Cornish man for 30yrs and has lived there for nearly 40yrs and she is still classified as a newby. Fortunately we have a Cornish surname and our GGGG grandparents were Cornish so she is tolerated.
As for the Lake District the nearest you get to rioting (physically) is driving up the M6 which passes close to a few of the hotspots. Cumbrian farmers can get a bit grumpy when you stray from the paths but there is really nothing to worry about. I have family in Barrow-in-Furness the only big industrial town in Cumbria and there are no posts about rioting there.

I did check in with my other DSis who lives just south of Sheffield but she hadn’t heard anything about the rioting. In any case it would take more than a few rioters to stop her shopping in Meadowhall.

I do wonder sometimes if people, who live within the M25 where population is so dense and built up, realise just how spread out the population is in the rural holiday areas. You might get a few young farmers sorting out a get together but as soon as any one mentions the pub all thoughts of rioting would disappear.
Having said all that I do think that we are going to see a lot of protesting and discontent from the farming community in the near future. They rely on immigrant workers, they cannot get local homegrown labourers to work for them. The transient immigrant workers are well looked after locally because picking and harvesting would be impossible without them.

Wow!! I've never had any of my threads generate so many responses!!

To all those who are reassuring me with positive messages - thanks! Also, thanks for understanding why I'm concerned ❤️

To all those who are reassuring me but calling me bonkers or daft, thanks for the reassurance and I do get where you're coming from. A week ago, I would have had a similar reaction, but fear does make a person behave irrationally, and I do sincerely hope you never have to be fearful like that ❤️

I shall definitely remember jam first (no matter how odd it feels to not have cream first) 🤣

I'll report back on my wonderful time in St. Ives!

Have a great time OP. 🐚🌊🩴🍦🥟☀️

I'm Devon born and bred and would never dream of putting cream on first- it so obviously has to be jam first. Maybe it's a sign of our broadmindedness that a Devonian can reach across the divide in this way?
Enjoy your holiday, @ShouldICancel

Has to be jam first, so you can pile lots and lots of lovely gutsy clotted cream on top. It just wouldn't work the other way round.

Exactly!

As a white woman I am ashamed of all of this but honestly I would still go. I lived in Oldham during the riots we just stayed out the way at night and got on with it during the day it sad but life goes on xx

Cream then jam for me! I always think of it like jam on toast. You wouldn't put the butter on top of the jam 🤔

Have a fabulous time, OP. I hope the sun shines for you.

Truth be known despite tourism being their biggest income generator, the Cornish don’t really like anyone who isn’t from Cornwall. My DSis has been married to a Cornish man for 30yrs and has lived there for nearly 40yrs and she is still classified as a newby. Fortunately we have a Cornish surname and our GGGG grandparents were Cornish so she is tolerated.

@Angrymum22 I'm sorry your sister feels like this. Classified and tolerated by whom? There is always lots of witter on Cornwall Live etc about how you need five generations in the graveyard to be considered Cornish etc etc, but I've very rarely encountered that attitude in real life (about as often as I did in the London Borough I lived in previously, I'd say). I've lived here for about 20 years and met a range of people as I would anywhere, but I've never not felt accepted due to being from upcountry. My kids were born out of county (two of them when we were living in Cornwall due to pregnancy/birth complications), but have grown up here and consider themselves Cornish.
The situation with tourism and particularly second homes is complex, but I really dislike this 'the Cornish hate everyone' mentality. There are half a million people in Cornwall; of course there will be a few outspoken and objectionable individuals, but they're not representative of a whole population.

Enjoy your holiday !!!!
And again so sorry u have to even to think about all this before u go it must b so scary and stressful 😩 . X

@ShouldICancel hello, we're in st Ives right now. All very calm here. Don't cancel. Have a lovely holiday.

Totally agree @cornishschools been here for over forty years and I have never encountered any hostility or comment about not being Cornish.
You will have a great holiday @ShouldICancel try to do a few coastline walks it’s absolutely stunning beautiful.

Rural areas can be very insular with someone from the next village being a foreigner. Coastal communities would have been raided by pirates and later smugglers were concerned about customs men. People who were wary of foreigners survived when those who were not died or were transported. Distrust of foreigners is bred in, as is the need to trade and trying to rip off the custom. If you understand where the distrust of foreigners originated maybe it feels less personal.

There were more counter protestors in Plymouth than there were rioters. There were 6 arrests but some news media seem to be exaggerating this into the sort of disorder than happened elsewhere when it seems to have been lower key. Most people have overcome their historic tendencies towards distrust.

If anything I suspect people revolted by the riots will try to be more welcoming to you than normal. I hope you find that.

This was st Ives last weekend… a raft race where local teams made and raced rafts aground the harbour picking up a “mermaid”… this is about as riotous as it gets here 😂

One of the more crazier posts i ve read on MN.

Been 100s of years since St Ives was raided by Pirates or the dreaded Customs and most indigenous Cornish, who may have once had links to smuggling via an ancestor are long gone or moved away... the majority who live in Cornwall now a days have come here fairly recently.....

Yes, seriously. You seem to quickly and erroneously label people, without actually knowing any of them. Plenty of not-white people not only voted for Reform but also represented them - are they all racists too? Do you just get your opinions from the Guardian? Plenty of racists (of all skin colours) voted for Labour, the LibDems, the Green party, the Workers' Party, the Conservatives, and every other party, yet you seem particularly against Reform voters, even suggesting "they" don't holiday in "nice" places like Cornwall. Give your head a wobble.

Have a lovely time OP. Cornwall is lovely and you'll be fine.

Please still come OP. Despite what you might see occasionally on social media, Cornwall is a very friendly, welcoming places. I’ve lived here nearly 15 years, in a small village, and have a foreign name / born abroad and have never felt uncomfortable or unsafe here.

Ditto in Plymouth, across the border. Even though there was unrest there for a few hours last night, if you were planning to visit Plymouth I’d still say go. Torquay / Torbay area, perhaps not.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday here in Cornwall and I’m so sorry you’ve had to even think about your safety in this country OP xx

Hi, I'm from/ currently in Cornwall and part of a mixed race family. We went out yesterday without any white members of our family and experienced no issues. We saw a few others with brown skin who also seemed fine.
No reports of riots down here and we're planning to continue going out and about.
We're just briefly discussing plans on what to do if something did kick off as we have toddlers and need to be cautious, but I think it's less likely here than the rest of the country.
Cornwall is way more diverse than it used to be especially in the Summer holidays, so hopefully you'll feel very comfortable and not like the novelty we used to be in the 90s!

Have a lovely holiday. My guess is that you'll be very safe down here and have a wonderful time.

Cornwall is likely to be one of the safest places to be tbh - the biggest thugs there are likely to be the seagulls (and they are brutal so try not to eat outside).

Ha, ha. Tell me you dont know Cornwall without telling me you dont know Cornwall. The pirate raids were common up to the 17th century. Customs raid were still taking place in the late 18th century. In terms of evolutionary change that's yesterday. Around 18% of people in Cornwall identify as Cornish, we are not talking about masses of rioters.

And missing the point - people are likely to be more welcoming than usual because most people are horrified by the rioting.

Very amusing, you ve just backed up every single thing i said: pirates and customs 100s of years ago, utterly irrelevant to the people who live here now & less than 20% ID as Cornish.... so the chances of you running into someone whose ancestors were 'wreckers is beyond remote!

What happens in Plymouth wont make a jot of difference to how the "Cornish" will treat visitors, which is always very well.

@Alexandra2001

I was in a chippy in Penzance a few years ago with a whole bunch of pirates

I get what you’re saying but I feel no responsibility or connection with these nazi scum bags. I do not feel ashamed of being white because their behaviour does not define White British people or what this country stands for. This country is a tolerant, diverse, democracy and we won’t let any skinhead thug try to suggest otherwise. If they don’t like it, they can leave.