London bashing

[CruCru]

Recently there seems to have been a spate of London bashing from friends and acquaintances who live elsewhere. I'm surprised that people think it is okay to totally slate the place that someone else lives just because it happens to be the capital.

I think London is awesome, possibly the bright centre of the universe but wouldn't dream of telling someone how ghastly, say, Lancashire is (I have never been to Lancashire, I am sure it is very nice, it is just an example).

AIBU?

Yanbu

I think some do it to make themselves feel like they made the right decision in leaving. Really fucks me off too.

London is great, wish I was there, haven;t been for ever

But London IS terrible.

YANBU, someone insited to me once that london was "really dirty", I asked when the last time the went there was: "Oh I would never go to london, it's too dirty" ok so you know it is too dirty how?

I know what you're thinking, but she was 19!

Scheherezade Humph! I suppose part of what winds me up is the stuff about how awful London is often comes from people who have never lived there.

monkeymoma Exactly my point. It's as though people need to make themselves feel better about wherever they live by telling me how awful the place I live in is.

I hate it when people slag off the UK in general when moving abroad. If they want to go then go! There's no need to slag off the place i live and love in the process.

(Im a London lover too)

London is lovely! (I live in the suburbs of london)

YANBU. I used to live in Brighton, and I loved it there. A friend of mine used to slag the place off constantly and I thought it was immensely rude. I don't personally like Horsham, where she lives, but I wouldn't dream of criticising it to her face because it's her home and she's chosen to live there. Why she couldn't be equally as respectful I do not know.

People are rude. Rise above it and retain the moral high ground, I say.

Yanbu my inlaws never tire of telling me how dirty and crime ridden London is. Oh and apparently it'd be fairer on dd to grow up in the country

YANBU.

I think it's Olympics jealousy. London is a very exciting place to be in 2012, so much going on!

*Disclaimer: I am an ex-Londoner.

YANBU

That's my home town your mates are slagging off, okay, I may have left it long ago, but it's still a fantastic city.

I think that to people who don't like London they can't comprehend why people spend so much money/deal with long commutes/nightmare school catchment areas etc etc. And like lots of things if people think something is overrated they slag it off.

I just think I am unbelievably lucky to live in one of the greatest cities in the world and whenever I'm flying back into the country having been abroad I feel quite smug pleased that lots of people want to come to visit the place where I live ALL THE TIME

London is awful and I hate it with a passion, too noisy, too many people, too busy and just yuck but I'm a country girl at heart.

Feel free to slag off any rural areas you like, everyone's entitled to an opinion :o

I love London, I lived there for the first 30 years of my life, now live just over the border in Herts. There is no way I would ever live in London again. I have watched the areas I lived in both North and South London go downhill. Its sad.
Where I live now still gives me quick access to the West end and the City and I love spending the day in London

Crucru, "London is awesome, possibly the bright centre of the universe," is an opinion that not everyone agrees with. Maybe people feel a bit irked if you say things like that?

It's not about whether it's the capital or not. A lot of people just don't like the place. Personally, nothing on earth could persuade me to move there.

Some of the Londoners I've met - and I'm not including you because obviously I don't know you - can be a bit, well, smug about their city. Personally I love the countryside/nature/geology/wide-open-space/quiet so London doesn't really do it for me.

Yanbu. Its so unbelievably rude. 8 million+ people live here, we can't all be pretentious or deluded can we?

There's so much to do and so much culture and diversity. So many interesting people, creative and open minded people. Its great!

I find those that criticise it so much are the ones who are scared of gay people, dislike immigrants etc strangely enough. They usually want to move to Spain to hang out with other white people and eat egg and chips.

Sorry to generalize, they are just the ones i hate met!

I spend HOURS answering queries from people wanting to visit London and find nice places to eat or go - and got called a fecking ignorant Londoner earlier!! (and am not actually from London, but live and work here now)

Many people are bound to hate it, many people hate the countryside, or suburbia. There are many places I really don't like and they are people's homes. Just try not to take it personally.

And all generalisations are (generally) shite, anyway!

I grew up in London and choose not to be there any more for a variety of reasons, but I wouldn't dream of criticising other choice to be there.

It's not restricted to London though, people form opinions on every city up and down the country...much in the same way lots of people stereotype while countries, or entire professions. It's wrong yes, but don't take it personally. Ive also met quite a few smug Londoners, who rarely go further north than the m25, and think everything of value happens in 'the city', so hopefully they all even each other out.

Yanbu.

Now bearing in mind I was there for 36 hours this weekend for the first time in 26 years, London is friggin awesome.
I did ALOT of traveling on the tube and overground transport, I was staying in Wandsworth so wasn't always in the very centre.

I returned to my home (ghastly Lancashire) wishing I was still down there.
I realise this is purely from a tourists point of view but if I could I would live there in a heartbeat. It's everything Bolton isn't.
Now I know how easy it is to get there I'll never be away.

I'm sure it has it's shite points everywhere does but all in all it's got alot to be proud of. (like I said though, tourists POV)

Personally some of the people who live in the countryside I've met are thick as two planks and nothing in the world could persuade me to live a rural life.

YANBU I live in London (but come from Lancashire!!),as you say OP it seems to be because its the capital.

If I lived in say Bath I am sure people wouldn't say "oh I couldn't live there" or "I don't know why its so expensive you would have to pay me to live there".

A lot of these comments to come from my family in Lancashire, I wonder if they are jealous, or they think I have abandoned my roots or that I look down on them or soemthing but a lot of them haven't even been to London yet can be quite venemous about it !

Anyway, I love it here and would never go back to Lancashire

Did you Blu? !!