to want to move house in London just because the area where I live has become extremely poncey?

[Mintyy]

Yes, yes, of course we have been unbelievably lucky that we chose to live somewhere that became gentrified and therefore have made a lot of money on our house.

However.

We now feel like we have less and less in common with the people who live here. We are 49 and 51 and have good but not outstanding incomes.

I have just discovered that my new neighbours (who paid an extraordinary amount for their extremely average terraced house) are newlyweds in their early 30s. They are going to be doing building works, so I am imagine an extension and a loft conversion.

We are going to have nothing whatsoever in common with them are we?

I sincerely yearn for more authentic London living. Either inner city or further out and less pretentious and overpriced than where we are now.

Such a pita to have to move though! And nothing on the market .

London does seen to be decanting those from lower socio economic backgrounds further and further out of the city.

My family go back generations in London, in service inning houses in Mayfair, lived in Camberwell - the priced today make your eyes bleed.

It's a mugs game, I moved away.

I do get what you mean.

I'm Brighton born, and I long for the good old days when it was a proper dirty hippy town, rather than all this sanitised hipster wank that's taken over.

I don't really 'get' East Dulwich - don't think it seems that gentrified compared to some other places - by the time you get to the station (if coming from the park) it's pretty shabby (I live in a bit that's some nice roads amongst general shabbiness, so not said in a bad way).

Agree re mixing in Brixton. It's almost like there's an invisible filter from the street into Brixton Village (that name alone should forewarn of gentrification!) - the differences in ethnic mix are that marked.

I think east dulwich is still a bit rough. I think living somewhere even rougher would be a bit selfish if you have children. you might feel safe as an adult but it is completely different as a teenager. if I were you I would be looking at moving somewhere safer- maybe teddington.

Not really relevant but I googled the Catford cat and love its trying to get in KFC

On what trip home I saw they had finally knocked down the Ferrier estate (and it was a dump, often invaded by ants and other pestilence, poor state of housing, but a community nonetheless) And it was rebranded 'Kidbrooke Village' and there are flowering baskets at the station and everything!

Apprently there is some social housing there but most folk have been banished decanted to Erith or Thamesmead.

I know people who live in very naice areas who still talk about their days of slumming it living in Brixton like it was frontline Afghanistan - getting a thrill over being offered crack on the way to work.

MrsDeVere I wonder if E17 is unique in terms of its rapid pace of change. It seems like every place in Zone 2/3, which was not already outrageously priced, has become so in the past 12 months. Places that were previously not desirable have become so as they are closeish to places that are.

We got priced out of Brixton and I never unsubscribed to the housing alerts. What we could have possibly afforded 12-14 months ago is now £100-200k more expensive. Previously we could have maybe stretched to a 3 bed house in an undesirable part of Brixton / Streatham / Tulse Hill. Now we'd be lucky to afford a 3 bed flat in those same areas.

The skunk sellers outside the Brixton Ritzy even offer "you wan skunk, mon?" To my dear old tweed and pearl necklace wearing mother. She just says no thank you and toddles onto the Dulwich bus barely noticing them.

We migrated from N16 to N15 many years ago when we got priced out of the less nice bit of N16.

Quite frankly E17 seemed much nicer than Tottenham even then. I hated Tottenham. I'm sure it's being gentrified now and it's changed some. When we left, I literally felt as if a weight had been lifted on my shoulders as I was so used to walking around all tensed up.

Everyone we knew that got priced out of Hackney 5-10 years ago all moved to Walthamstow so I always thought of it as the obvious choice if you wanted to stay and buy some place in North London.

We moved to South East London instead.

I get where you're coming from Mintyy. I live very close to you, and have been bouncing around SE London for the last 15 years. ED in particular does seem to have changed very rapidly in the last few years. When I first moved to these parts it was a bit of a dump. Less nice than Brixton I would say. NOW look at it. To those poo-pooing her predicament, it does sound a bit daft, and like reverse snobbery, but I think if you experienced it first hand you'd understand.

The poster who gave the example of shops suddenly not selling things you actually need I think sums it up best. It's all very well being surrounded by expensive tat shops (as I like to call them), but what if you want to buy something useful? Or not have to pay £15 for a meal in a pub because they've all been bloody gastroed? It's not so much the new people - who are probably perfectly nice - but the change in local amenities as a result of the changing population.

Oh, and I echo those saying forget Forest Hill. It's going exactly the same way. I am also peeved.

come and live here

no actually, don't, don't

forget I said anything about it...

I'm quite happy for the people who don't like the ponciness to stay out of where we are too. The house prices already the same as ED even if the shops are very different. Still tat however, just not the poncey type.

Woman cannot live on scented candle alone...

Is no one going to post the link to the 'last days of Walthamstow rant'?

I just don't understand that many posters on this thread are unable to see the irony of articulate women complaining on Mumsnet of all places that their area has become too gentrified. . And as for the sneering at 'bugaboo pushers'...please!

It seems to me that it is all about relative wealth and status: when an area is 'mixed' and a little bit 'edgy' those who are complaining can feel satisfied with their own position in the world - you are an owner-occupier after all, bought your house for a sensible price and are comfortably better off than the people around you. Plus you can nip out for cheap ball-cocks whenever you want, as everything is such good value...But when polite, articulate and generous Mr City and Mrs Medical move in next door with their lovely well-behaved children and plans for a side extension maybe you don't feel so superior?

Lol Blu. I'm guessing the Sainsbury's is a bit too real / useful. close to Camberwell

I used to live in Forest Hill. It is considerably poncified since I left.

Catford remains, unregenerately, unponcified.

I would link to a pic of the cat but Blu wouldn't like it

I'd rather be the biggest commoner in a posh area than the poshest person in a common area!

But when polite, articulate and generous Mr City and Mrs Medical move in next door with their lovely well-behaved children and plans for a side extension maybe you don't feel so superior

Eh? What we've been saying is that we don't feel superior, we feel at home in the neighbourhoods where we live.

But is feeling 'at home' derived from feeling at the top of the social heap?

I don't think Catford could ever poncify...it is beyond poncification

No, of course it's not. Don't be so silly. Why on earth would I feel at home somewhere where I was posher than everyone else? I've said upthread why I feel particularly at home on my road:

'My road is a mix. It is a huge mix of social and private housing - and yes it has a hostel at one end of it; there is a conglomerate blend of ethnicities and socioeconomics. I like this very much. I feel at home in it, with my own ethnically blended family, in a way that I don't in genteel surburbia. It is London. I can imagine that it would be most disturbing to lose this.'

Your assumption that people only like living in areas where they're the poshest is, frankly, a little disturbing.

Ooh, I dunno, Ubik, we've got a costa and all.