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 .

that's insane how much prices have risen seriously! [shocked]

That's interesting SaucyJack, I'm originally a Brightonian too. I'd say that it was regenerating fairly nicely rather than polarising the way London is. The new level is lovely, and feels much safer.

Ooh is Croyden a shithole?

No.

Croydon is where you go if you like getting stabbed

No more than most other parts of Greater London.

We live in Brixton it's very trendy/gentrified now but also has lots of addicts and dirt on the street Sofeels quite authentic. But I know it will only get more white and expensive and soon all the old shops won't be able to afford the rent. Very sad as there is a genuine vibrancy and feeling of community here.

Shady, Brixton is already unrecognisable from when I lived there 1986/88.

Just been looking at loads of photos of a street event in ED on Saturday. You can count the number of non-white faces on the fingers of one hand.

Catford is fab IMO. I think you only need to look at the recent (successful) campaign to save Lewisham Hospital to realise what a diverse and strong community spirit it has

Soupdragon I bloody love Croydon and was raging when I read the post that stated "Croydon is where you go if you want to get stabbed." Bollocks to that. There are loads of things that are great about Croydon; yes there are the less great things but I think that's all part of living in London.

Change is inevitable though. Segregation and race division will only get more apparent in london as the house prices rise. I hate east dulwich I must say- the dulwich forum is a hilarious read though. Move somewhere like Brixton or Peckham where it is on the up but most of the houses aren't expensive enough to have only lawyers and bankers on the street. I'm afraid, without a time machine, that the london you long for is no longer a real place. I'my twenty eight and have lived here ten years and count my lucky stars really- a lot o other places in Britain are way more divided culturally. Still I am ashamed at the obvious segregation here especially now I am choosing a primary school for my kids.

I think it is more class segregation than race, actually.

And I don't agree about a time machine. Plenty of us do still live in a mixed London. It's not quite the Boris-driven Paris-style doughnut yet.

No I agree it's full of great people its just inevitable that most people won't be able to afford it so won't be able to live here more and more. None of my friends can afford to buy in london. Buy actually buying a place isn't as important to everyone as its made out to be but the rent here is just too insane.

I have to say that our road is relatively ethnically mixed, although much less so than when we first moved in.

Had an amusing journey home through the Catford gyratory at rush hour this afternoon! Exited the SavaCentre carpark from the wrong exit.

But I have bought huge amounts of edible Christmas nonsense from Lidl plus their amazing museli which is only £1.49 (how???) and 100% extra free on Finish dishwasher tablets, so I'm fully of good cheer , even if some people on this thread think I'm a pretentious wanker, an inverted snob and that I sound "nice" when "nice" does not actually mean nice.

The primary is going to be in that new south grove development mrs devere. I am another Walthamstow person. Absolutely love it - moved here after 10 years in hackney. I live in the village. Just got in before the prices went bananas. I agree that upper Walthamstow is lovely. I could give you thousands of reasons to live here!!

Primark not primary!

Hey OP, you are back! Just in time for me to point out that you seem to want to live next to middle class people (artists, journalists, social workers and the like) so long as they are not too rich. Yet ironically you are probably just as wealthy many of the newcomers than you decry, because you probably have way more equity in your house, pay lower mortgage payments, have far better pension provision, and started your adult life with less debt.

It's long-term residents of your area that live in rented accommodation that are the real victims of the relentless rise in house prices that is causing you your lifestyle angst.

At a decade younger than you I am exactly the demographic you hate (though not in East Dulwich, and not quite the blonde home counties-bred stereotype), and while I hate the fact that renters are being pushed out, where exactly would you have me go?

It has been a good thread, chatting with the locals. I love this area. I mean it's ok, not worth coming here.

Very mixed where we are (bar a few streets), right up until pretty much ED.

"There is a thread on here that illustrates exactly WHY that is. SOmeone angsting about her kids having to go to school with deprived children.

The fact its probably a troll is irrelevant."

A troll? LOADS of schools angst threads and appeals threads are all about people wanting the 'right sort of children' in their school.

As for being part of the problem - well we all have to live somewhere. And I did make the choice to buy in one of the places mentioned a lot on this thread, rather than spend the same amount of money further out and spend more time and money on travel. I use local services, have supported (and led) community campaigns and initiatives, etc. I just don't think the property situation is good for anyone. I could rub my hands in glee in contemplating my current property reaching ludicrous 'value' but how does it benefit the young families of today? Or DS's generation. We should all be taking the long view.

And that's the thing about gentrification. When I first moved into Brixton, none of us had much money - low salaried young voluntary sector workers or artists, or long term residents. Now the new people moving in, alongside older people and those in HA properties etc, have loads of money, while the more longstanding residents have little. And it is all too often a situation that will get more extreme. Many newcomers will make more and more money, while many long term families are getting poorer. And often, rightly or wrongly, perceiving that to be partly the fault of 'the likes of' the new people.

It may be that overpriced 'Dirty Burgers' and pulled pork on sourdough and faux whitewashed objets go hand in hand with rising tension and the widening fault lines in social cohesion.

And that's why I think the OP has a point.

But I think that contributing somehow to better opportunities all round in the community is a good move: you don't have to head for the other side of the M25.

I think I read it in one of the articles about the plans - you know there was fierce opposition. Not to primark, but to the morrisons and flats on top.
Cannot wait for the cinema! Only thing that has confirmed there is nandos though yab yum from stokey have applied. And if the EMD ever gets reopened, that would be a curzon.
I could go on and on.... Went to see the new god own junkyard on Friday - it is so cool! They want to open a cafe bar there too amid all the neon. It's like being in a deserted fairground.
Anyway, I will stop hijacking now.
I kind of know what the OP means - Walthamstow still has a lovely sense of community. I know neighbours ranging from babies to George who is 93 from all backgrounds and it is rare that I leave the house without seeing someone I know to have a chat with. Unusual for London I think. It was similar when I first moved to hackney but had definitely changed by the time I left.

Matsikula - no, I just want to feel "at home" where I live. That is all.

I actually think it is the height of fucking tosserish wankerness to buy a 3 bed terraced house and immediately set about expanding it to a 5 bed, with all the resultant inconvenience that gives to your two attached neighbours, the minute you pick up the door keys from the Estate Agent.

It has happened several times in my immediate vicinity recently and the natives are not happy. And the incomers do not speak, are never here (at work 7am to 9pm I guess, paying for it all). It is less friendly, less inclusive, less rubbing along together and all a lot more big bucks city workers flashing their cash around.

I think it is absolutely fine for me to want to say goodbye to all that.

You don't want to be inconvenienced by legitimate building extension.oh diddums
You know people buy property with specific intent of extending upon moving in
Good luck to them too,adds value,enhances their space,generates income

I'm up at 6, out house 7-6,don't know most neighbours.and im planning building works
I'm not bothered if someone reminisces fir how it used to be,that's their past.not my present
Everyone round here works,only the housewives, and older adults are about

Well many places change a bit. I'd be more worried if the house on either side was turned into a squat.

There's more to a local community than new people (unless they are belligerent or hateful or nasty or racist). Surely the lady in the shop is the same, the library where you took your little ones is the same, the lady who walks her dog at 8.12 on the dot every morning is the same, the tree your dc rode their scooter into and got their first big bump is the same, the mums at the local school gate are similar - just younger , your local church is the same and you have seen your dc's friends grow into big young adults, etc., etc..

I moved about a month ago; only a mile away but I still miss my old house and my old road and it was a terrible wrench and that changed too (the new people were all investment bankers and all from overseas) but a lot of the old stuff stayed the same. Where we have moved to people might be thinking we are a bit odd and feeling a bit uncomfy although I hope not.

Tis different and a huge upheaval and I have had a little cry from time to time even though really I have nothing to cry about but my ds didn't come home to this house, and the memories aren't in this new one.