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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

London bashing

390 replies

CruCru · 02/05/2012 19:51

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?

OP posts:
Ephiny · 03/05/2012 07:30

The area of London I live in is dirty and crime-ridden and generally horrible, and I don't mind anyone saying so. But there are plenty of areas like that in other cities, of course.
I guess the main difference is that in London we can't afford to buy a house anywhere at all nice, whereas in many other towns (e.g. in the North) maybe we could.

PooPooInMyToes · 03/05/2012 08:16

Jimsie. I haven't actually commented on life outside London at all so i am not sure how you could have come to the conclusion that Im ignorant about it!

PooPooInMyToes · 03/05/2012 08:22

I only get black bogeys when on the tube.

valiumredhead · 03/05/2012 08:22

I was thinking about this in bed last night before I dropped off...

WHY is it wrong to London bash? Or bash anywhere you don't particularly like? That's like saying you can't have an opinion Confused

If you are happy where you live surely you won't be swayed by people who don't like it? I have friends in London who are amused I enjoy such a quiet life now, I couldn't give a stuff

AmberLeaf · 03/05/2012 08:34

WHY is it wrong to London bash?

Why is it wrong to bash anyone? thats the thing though, when people 'London bash' a lot of the time its the people that live there that they are bashing.

Saying people are unfriendly, rude and arrogant is unfair and hugely generalising and thats why people get defensive.

Apply to another set of people and it wouldnt be acceptable.

valiumredhead · 03/05/2012 09:08

No it's not, I can't imagine how we ever lived in London now and often remark on the noise/dirt etc but we still have lots of friends there, we aren't bashing them.

valiumredhead · 03/05/2012 09:09

I've yet to meet someone who regretted moving away Wink

Youattheback · 03/05/2012 09:15

We all like different things thank goodness!

I can't abide cities and towns at all. Noise, crowds etc make me jittery. I live in the sticks and that suits me. It won;t suit everyone, though.

I did chuckle loudly at the argument that we are all racists in the country. Now, remind me someone, wher exactly did the BNP get it's only ever UK seat? Confused

Jinsei · 03/05/2012 09:18

I've yet to meet someone who regretted moving away

Me neither, Valium, but apparently we're all just trying to justify our choices. Hmm Instead of just being glad that we made the right choices for ourselves.

poopoo, you may not have commented on life outside of London but your post implied that there are no gay people or immigrants living anywhere else. If you think people move away from London because they're racist and/or homophobic, you should visit my little town and see how delightfully diverse we actually are. London certainly has no monopoly on this.

bibbitybobbitybunny · 03/05/2012 09:22

Good morning valiumredhead and jinsei, pleased to meet you Grin.

valiumredhead · 03/05/2012 09:38

Why bib? Where did you move to?

The people I know who moved are delighted they can afford a huge home compared to where that lived it London so that's the main bonus to moving away.

We still visit London at least once a month to see family and friends but I love getting on the train and pulling away from Euston and seeing it all get gradually greener and greener.

PenelopePipPop · 03/05/2012 09:39

Of course YABU. People are nobs and try and justify their choices wherever you fucking live. Believe me. We moved from London to another big regional city ten years ago and had to cope with all the London friends waffling on about how hard it must be live somewhere with no culture. Then we moved out to the sticks and still get all the 'oh there is no culture and your child will never see any contemporary art and will grow up with an accent and thinking milk comes from cows rather than from Waitrose' crap.

Honestly, you could have houses in Cornwall, Barbados and Venus and you'd still have people going 'Oh poor you, don't you miss the arse-fucking culture in arse-cunting fucking Hackney'. I grew up in Hackney - can you tell?

You know what if we all lived in arse-fucking cunting Hackney there would be no one milking the cows to fill your Waitrose, and if all you Hackney fuckers moved out here to the countryside there'd be fucking contemporary art everywhere and and the internet would work and we'd have fucking Mexican fucking food to eat rather than bacon fucking cobs and it would all be shit too. So can we all just stay where we fucking are and stop fucking moaning.

AmberLeaf · 03/05/2012 09:39

I've yet to meet someone who regretted moving away

Well hello there, I moved away and regretted it, I came back and will quite probably never leave again [bar holidays!] not that I left because I hated London- there were other reasons.

I dont think everyone who lives out of big towns/cities is racist etc not at all, but its certainly a lot more insular and the country/small towns far from London are the only places my kids ever got called niggers.

DandyDan · 03/05/2012 09:39

Perhaps people London-bash because it gets the immense bulk of public money spent on it - in health, transport, and infrastructure and housing, and general investment, while the rest of the country is basically left to go suck.

The impression is that it can't think and is unconcerned beyond its own radius and sucks all cultural and media life to itself (BBC Salford notwithstanding). 2012 Shakespeare Cultural Olympiad - 37 plays shown at the Globe alone: that's great for Londoners, not for anyone else.

We have visited, and my family like the landmarks of course and the museums but it cost an arm and a leg.

Original poster
CruCru · 03/05/2012 09:39

Hi all

Just to remind all Londonists that today is the mayor's election (as if anyone could forget).

Sorry, kind of derailing my own thread there. Grin

OP posts:
bumperella · 03/05/2012 09:41

There are loads of good things about London! There are also loads of good things about other places in the UK.
I wouldn't want to live in London -there are places that suit me better.... but so what? It doesn't make me an ill-informed, backward, homophobic wierdy, and nor does it make London a Bad Place.

valiumredhead · 03/05/2012 09:47

Honestly, you could have houses in Cornwall, Barbados and Venus and you'd still have people going 'Oh poor you, don't you miss the arse-fucking culture in arse-cunting fucking Hackney'. I grew up in Hackney - can you tell?

Good post bump

Tanith · 03/05/2012 09:56

We visit my FIL in North London sometimes and, while I agree it's an exciting place to live, I honestly couldn't cope with all that excitement every day of my life IYSWIM? Smile

I like my nice semi-rural area.

And I will never understand how one of the most exclusive roads in North London is actually a through-road! I'm talking about the Bishops Avenue.

happybubblebrain · 03/05/2012 10:01

I like to go to London for a day. I'm always glad to leave.
I used to live in London, there are good reasons why people want to move away. I found the rudeness, arrogance, dirt, noise, money orientation etc not to be my cup of tea. If you like it then good, everyone doesn't have to.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 03/05/2012 10:19

I love living in London and I do regularly haul the kids off for a cultural experience or two because I don't see the point of living here and then not doing stuff.

I like the multiculturalism as we are a mixed culture family, the galleries, museums, heritage etc.

However London isn't for everyone, it does have its problems and its share of dodgy areas. My family don't live in London and they find it daunting and crowded (which it is if you are not used to it). What Londoners (Londonistas?) might see as being fast paced and focussed might look to others as rushed and impersonal.

It probably wouldn't suit me to live in the countryside so why would I think that everyone would want to live in London.

Black bogies are deffo a tube thing.

PooPooInMyToes · 03/05/2012 11:21

Jinsie. No i didn't imply that there are no immigrants in other parts of the country! I said about people i know choosing to move away from London for those reasons. They then move to predominantly white areas for that reason.

As for gay people, well out of the the people i refereed to i have found that the ones who are not tolerant of immigrants and cultural differences have also been the ones who are not tolerant of gay people.

Don't think they will be able to find somewhere to move which deals with that though. Although there are certain areas of London that they avoid like the plague for that reason.

PooPooInMyToes · 03/05/2012 11:24

I've yet to meet someone who regretted moving away

Another one here! Came back obviously.

PooPooInMyToes · 03/05/2012 11:24

I dont think everyone who lives out of big towns/cities is racist etc not at all, but its certainly a lot more insular and the country/small towns far from London are the only places my kids ever got called niggers.

That's terrible!

monkeymoma · 03/05/2012 11:28

"I've yet to meet someone who regretted moving away"

I regretted moving away for the first 3ish years and in that time always intended to move back, I'm settled where I am now and probably wont move back (too hard to get foot back on decent rung of london property ladder, and friends from there have scattered a bit)

A lot of people where I live now moved here from London, a few HAVE moved back to london and never stopped missing it when they were here, others are happy here, but still have fond memories of london, others are glad to be out of it.

LadyBeagleEyes · 03/05/2012 11:30

I'm sure that there are some Londoners that use that vile expression too.
London is not a wonderful haven of tolerance, nowhere is.
Stephen Lawrence anybody?