to get really terratorial when my friend puts down London

[whatwhatinthewhatnow]

I know the streets arent paved with gold. I know some area's are the total pits.

But I LOVE :

• Being able to buy anything at any time of night
• Being able to find a cinema that is showing anything I want to see
• Exhibitions
• West End Shows
• Going into the flagship stores and buying things you cant get elsewhere
• The landmarks
• The history
• Being able to get to the O2 just by driving!
• Having loads of restaurants to choose from
• Being able to go to burlesque shows/clubs/etc and then just getting the night bus home
• Festivals in Hyde Park
• The music venues
• Camden Market
• Having coffee at Covent Garden piazza
• Walking around Soho and feeling like you are on holiday

theres so much more, I could go on forever.

She moved when we were teenagers to an area in the north. And what I hate the most is when she says 'Your town doesnt even have a Primark' (we live in a cheaper suburb now and commute in)

No but we have the flagship London store. Opposite Selfridges. Her response, 'Yeah but ours has two floors' How can you rate a place based on whether it has a Primark?!?!!?

If she goes out for dinner, she has a choice of Pizza Hut or a takeaway curry! You cant even BUY a house worth more than £250k! They dont HAVE ANY in her town!

AIBU? I just love my hometown!

YANBU to get terratorial when people slag off where you live - we all do, but then again I do live in Sydney which is the BEST city in the world

You see, I'm not a city person, don't like lots of people, don't like the feeling of lots of people being around me etc. but I wouldn't put down somewhere someone quite clearly loved to live in. So YANBU.

OP, to add your list, I would say London is a great place to work. The quality, depth and breadth of the experience here is second to none, due in part to the cultural and intellectual diversity.

I have studied and lived in London and i love it. Currently living in the middle of boney nowhere and love that too.

I do feel the need to keep visiting London to reassure myself i've not got too 'village' though And i sometimes visit for work.

I could live in London again - but i'm not sure i could live in another city like Manchester.

Yes I do so miss living in London people have no idea what they have missed out on!!

Sniff big sniff.

I was born and raised in London and moved away 5 years ago.

DH still works in the city and my family still live there but personally, I don't miss it one jot. I couldn't get out fast enough tbh.

YANBU OP.

I lived in London for 3 years and it wasn't for me but I do like visiting it now and then.

I grew up by the sea and start to feel a bit weird if I can't just pop down to the beach so I had to return to the coast. Plus, I'm a homebody who likes a quiet life so living in a small town suits me better.

But no, YANBU, I think I would feel territorial if someone slated my home town.

Brighton; now there's a city I could live in, (if I could afford it!) And I've never met anyone who doesn't like it

I live in Brighton and love it, but I wouldn't get all upset if someone else didn't like it. I still don't understand that mentality I'm afraid!

The thing is that I don't see London as one big city, its a group of towns condensed into one big city. There are massive variations. Somewhere like Chingford is half engulfed by Epping Forest and is nothing like Westminster. Hackney is nothing like Ealing etc. I hate when someone lives in one part of the city and says they hate the whole thing. Every area is different. We're even supposed to have different accents (North Londoners apparently speak with more than a drawl than South Londoners).

I love living in London but do like other places in the country and can understand why someone would choose not to live here. However, I never and don't really know many Londoners who slag off other places in Britain, it does seem to me that often its non-Londoners who can't help but slag of the capital. Its almost like an insecurity complex type thing.

I have a friend who lived on a council estate in Tower Hamlets which fair enough wasn't exactly a nice spot. She then moved to the Midlands and spends much of her time on Facebook slagging off all of London and it winds me up! Its like people who move abroad but spend lots of time on the Daily Mail comments sections slagging of Britain. If you're so happy living somewhere else, why do you feel the need to slag somewhere else off?

I am scottish and hate it when anyone puts down Scotland. To me, it is the best country in the world although I know live in Berkshire. I love London though. It is a fantastic city and when my 2 year old is older, I can't wait to take him in to see the sites and take him round museums and stuff.

Your friend is being unreasonable, but then so are you by making similarly snide comments.

Also, why take it personally when someone says they don't like a place? You don't own it. You didn't build it. It's just a place.

If I say I hate the traffic in London ( which I bloody well do) I'm not attacking you personally and accusing you of owning every car on the road.

Sheesh, chill out.

TBH, I think the reason I get so annoyed and petty about it, is that the town she lives in is in no way comparable to London (at least not on the definition she gives, ie Primark/QS I still dont know what that is btw etc)

If she lived in Brighton, I might say Actually, you have a good point. I wish I lived there too. I love Brighton.

It honestly does feel like shes personally attacking me when she goes on and on. But that could be because she DOES go on and on! I dont feel the same about any of you lot. Perhaps because youve discussed the difference between town and country in an intellectual and comprehensive fashion.

And not just MSN-ed me out of the blue 'You know, London is a right shit hole isnt it'. Coming from someone who moved 10 years ago and only ever visits Edmonton, I just cant value her opinion and wish she'd shut up!

Ive never said the place she lives is a shit hole either. Ive just said well, crime is worse in your area, joblessness is up and the average wage isnt that good, is it.

Id never say outright that someone lives in a dump, even if I felt it!

Do you have DC, OP?

I love London, was born here but have seen it through different eyes since having DD... you need a huge amount of money to live well here.

That list is abit vague isn't it? How can "Hertfordshire" or "Bedfordshire" be the best places to live. There will be lovely bits of both but you also have bits of Hemel Hempstead or Luton in there (for example) which are functional but not quite "lovely" necessarily!

People pick on London in a way they don't other places. Every time non-Londoners hear where I live they come out with the same crap: no-one knows their neighbours, everyone walks along looking at the pavement,you can't walk down the street witout getting mugged, etc and this from people who've probably only visited London twice in their lives and then to go to Oxford Street.

No-one makes these sort of comments if they hear someone lives anywhere else. If I said to someone who lived in Winchester 'I couldn't bear to live there it's so dull and small-minded'(not actually my view btw!) they'd be outraged but it's OK for them to slag off London.

That's why I get defensive! Different people suit different places, but don't put down my home because I wouldn't be so rude as to be negative about yours.

Rant over!

London is shit.

Glasgow rules!

So there!

I love visiting London but couldn't live there for personal reasons (have colitis and therefore cannot cope with commuting like you have to do - also like the outdoors too much). I think it is perfect for some people though, some people who would hate my choices.

However, I am surprised it is such a divisive city. I think it is mainly the media that splits the country into London/ everywhere else and that makes people from both groups take sides. I live in Edinburgh and never have these weird competitive conversations with anyone from anywhere else except London (and that is when they come here or I am visiting there and asked where I'm from). I also think living in Edinburgh is more similar to London than the outer hebrides or even some of the town 40mins away, so can't make sense of the groupings at all.

Saying that we don't have a Primark at all, so I might live in the worst place in the UK by some reckonings.

The lack of a Primark in a town would be a positive to some.

Oy! look here op - your friend obviously posts on Mumsnet

Lamber, having no Primark could mean you live in the BEST place of all.

Bugger that didn't work.

Can I be bothered to try again? Don't think so.

Anyway it was a Mumsnet thread from last year entitled WTF? Salisbury doesn't even have a Primark and the rudest Starbucks staff ever or somesuch nonsense.

i spent 2 years in northwood and loved being able to just pop into london. it was some years ago but when we spent our last day in london before flying to australia my husband said i had a certain glow around me that was hard not to feel at ease and happy around me in one of the best citys in the world.
yes i love it here and would find it very hard to i love london and hate it when people knock it

Do you have DC, OP?

Hahahaha! Ive often said, But where do you go if you fancy a coffee while you are out and she said SHEFFIELD! (its about 40 miles from her)

So I doubt its her!