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 .

[Mintyy]

Oh ffs. I don't resent the neighbours having pots of money! What a ridiculous over-simplistic interpretation of everything I have said.

To repeat myself YET AGAIN:

1. I feel I will have very little in common with my new neighbours.

1. There are increasingly more people with their sort of profile in my locality, this is why I feel less "at home" here. It is a nebulous concept, I can't do better with my explanations than that.

1. No, I am not looking forward to having major building works going on in the house attached to mine ... I never knew it was not allowed to say that?

[scottishmummy]

You've formed an opinion not of fact,but of prejudice.with no factual basis other than how aggrieved you feel.

You feel will have very little in common with my new neighbours. never met them.no specific reason other than their house price. You have just decided and that's that

You say There are increasingly more people with their sort of profile. Again this is wholly your prejudice against affluent homebuyers,in what you perceive as your area

you appear so sneery at
A)what they paid for their house (you benefit by being owner in high cost area)
B)you commented they're out all day working.how is this detrimental to you?
C)you seem to be disapproving they have plans to undertake building work. Time limited disruption,yes but you benefit being adjacent to nice house in nice area.

[Mintyy]

Well, they're moving in very soon. Looking forward to meeting them!

Nice to have you back scottishmummy. You must have missed the old homestead, you're all over it like a rash at the moment.

[lookatmybutt]

I actually have an irrational hatred for people in Pithanger, they all wear barbour and green wellies as if its hampshire. Its fucking Ealing you morons! and they carry those " I love Pitshanger lane " hessian bags

I don't like 'em. My bus used to be delayed horribly every single morning and afternoon trying to squeeze down PH Lane because those idiots refuse to reliquish a couple of feet from their football pitch sized pavements.

And Travis. Bloody Travis held me up shooting this video:

Look at him. Just look at him. Walking on the giant pavement. Like a wanker.

Oooh, there's a bus going past at one point. I'm probably on it shaking my fist and mouthing 'wankers'.

There was also the time a few years ago when PH got a dedicated police officer and the entirety of Greenford had theirs taken away.

[AmberLeaf]

As much as I dislike the bugaboo pushing yummy mummys , shops selling handmade crap, 4x4s, posh twats with louds voices called Rupert etc, I still prefer that to drug addicts/dealers, status dogs off their leads, crappy run down shops. In London now, you don't get much in between the two extremes I have lived in the nice places and the grotty places....I will take the nice every time

What a load of shit.

I don't blame Mintyy for not feeling sorry for the young couples having to fork out £800k for a house in ED, how about extending some sympathy to the young couples who have lived in the area all their lives, but don't earn anywhere near enough to pay that sort of money for a home. They get pushed out.

Ive lived in SE London pretty much all of my life,I remember ED before the gentrification when it was just a normal area, there was always a mix of people, but it wasn't poncey. My Dad still laughs at the people buying houses for that price in ''East bloody Dulwich'' It doesn't seem like those couples stay long though, as soon as their children hit year 5 of primary school they shit themselves at the thought of them going to secondary school in Southwark and move out.

Some level of gentrification is ok, but as stooshe said, when people want to start campaigning against the sort of shops that don't fit their 'wants' as though it is only they who the high st must cater to, then it has gone too far. Not everyone can afford, nor want to shop in Waitrose, buy artisan bread or buy clothes in The White shop.

I like where I live now, it has so far avoided gentrification on the whole, I do fear for it though, as we have a large victorian housing stock still selling for reasonable prices [in comparison to other areas] it has a big mix of people still, I don't want that to change.

You would like it here I think Mintyy.

[Mintyy]

Yes, there is a campaign to replace the Iceland on our High Street with a Waitrose and the resdents behind it just seem to have never considered for one second that some of their fellow residents in might prefer Iceland because the food is more affordable for them. Its like they are oblivious to the people who have lived here for the 10 to 80 years before it became this strange SE London mecca.

[AmberLeaf]

It's so arrogant isn't it?

Whenever I pass down LL, I always look to see if Iceland is still there!

[fromparistoberlin]

dont worry Mintyy, I am sure the poor people cant just get a bus and travel further afield to their Iceland


lookat.. NO WAY!!!!
cant believe there is now a video and film in PH, sheesh

[Pobblewhohasnotoes]

I would love a cupcake shop on our little high street. Anything actually which is not a wig shop (1 is enough, we don't need 4), a betting shop (have 3), a halal butchers (have 6), a barbers (5), or a fried chicken shop (7)

You're not describing Tooting high street are you? Actually I think there are more chicken shops. I mean I like dirty chicken but I don't need 11 shops to buy it from.

[crazynanna]

I moved here, edgy N4, from the vair naice N19 a couple of years ago.

In the last year, we have a 'Patisserie' at the end of the road, and the man over the road has put some large garden art thingy in his front garden with big ropes and shiny balls that glint in the street lights.

[minifingers]

"You're not describing Tooting high street are you? Actually I think there are more chicken shops. I mean I like dirty chicken but I don't need 11 shops to buy it from."

Go East from there. I'm talking about Little Lagos Thornton Heath. :-)

[LondonMother]

We're not far from ED either, in an area that sounds like a delicious brassica. It is gobsmacking how much houses cost nowadays. Having said that, 25 years ago I expect the locals were badmouthing us when we moved in. I was an accountant then and my husband worked in IT. We did a lot of building work on both our second and third houses. We undoubtedly made it more expensive for people who had been born and bred in the area to buy (although it is, coincidentally, the area my husband's family all lived in earlier in the 20th century).

However, back in the 80s rents were controlled and there were strict rules on how big your mortgage could be relative to your salary. There also weren't so many crazy salaries paid in the city distorting the whole market. It's all a lot worse now.

[AmberLeaf]

I would love a cupcake shop on our little high street. Anything actually which is not a wig shop (1 is enough, we don't need 4), a betting shop (have 3), a halal butchers (have 6), a barbers (5), or a fried chicken shop (7)

Who is 'we'?

Obviously someone needs/wants them or they would go out of business.

[crazynanna]

Mrs DV...N19/N6 borders with neighbours like Councillor Catherine West and whats her name...Noel Gallagher's ex from years ago.

[minifingers]

"Obviously someone needs/wants them or they would go out of business."

They shut down as often as they open up. Bloody sad really - to see someone's dream go up in smoke like that. Yes, there is money catering for the specific shopping needs of the black community, but business advisers need to take on board that saturating areas like this with fried chicken shops and barbers isn't, in the end, good for anyone. Black people with money in this area would, I'm sure, like to have the chance to spend their money on things other than false nails, hair extensions and junk food.

[LadyRabbit]

Am I the only one who thinks East Dulwich isn't actually that poncey? It's not exactly Primrose Hill, is it? And it hasn't experienced the same kind of gentrification as somewhere like Spitalfields or Shoreditch which have both seen astronomical property price rises and full on pontificating.

OP is overreacting a little IMO.

[LadyRabbit]

Um, I meant PONCIFICATION not pontificating in previous post!!

[scottishmummy]

The well heeled of Edinburgh can often be heard to tsk the prices are getting like london
There is no telling them any different,house prices are a middle class preoccupation
From scottish perspective Looking at ldn houseprices,they do look like telephone numbers

[bialystockandbloom]

Ooh just seen this thread - and opened it cos I thought "oh that sounds like where I live". Which is, ahem, Bellenden village

Biggest sign of the times imo is the fact that Payless has recently changed its name to "Village Grocer" complete with a muted charcoal awning



Camberwell is still pretty rough-and-ready, but lovely houses and still mixed and arty. I do think areas which have a massive great road junction cutting through the middle will never become village-y. Which is a good or bad thing depending on your pov, I guess.

I do actually like the village-y aspect of SE London (lived here all my life) but totally agree with much of this thread.

Wonder if any of us know each other in RL!

[DanceWithAStranger]

I'm West London - characterless suburb that I won't name for fear of outing myself (and to avoid insulting anyone on here who likes it!), moved here from Queen's Park. Loads of my friends are SE London though so I may well know some of you in RL.

[PollyIndia]

Fromparistoberlin, Walthamstow village has been a village for about 1000 years. Just because it's now in zone 3 of a huge city doesn't scrub all that history out.

[Binkybix]

Ooh yes, ED is nowhere near as bad as Shoreditch. I hate Shoreditch!!

[JollySantersSelectionBox]

Is Style 2000 still on Tooting High Street? Used to do brilliant threading on a wallpaper pasting table in the back of the shop for £3.

Actually when I drove by New X for the first time in 10 years last month I noticed that there was a much better class of Chicken shop, very shiny. Saw another on the Old Kent Road too.

Is Chick-King a thing of the past now?

[Capricorn76]

@PollyIndia. You're right, Walthamstow wasn't even incorporated into London until the late 1960's. It used to be in Essex and is about a 1000 years old with the village area around the church being the original centre. In any case I've always seen 'London' as a giant collection of small towns and villages with their own identities. Every area really is different although that may change now that every high street is becoming a clone.