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 .

[MumpiresRedCard]

I can sympathise a little. I used to feel one wrong move and id mark myself out as having no class or taste. Where i am now i never worry about that. I just buy/ wear/eat/do what i want. I am in a fairly diverse place in ireland and where i lived in london was stiflingly homogenous. Only saw it when i left though. As lovely as it was where i was in london, i couldnt go back!

Please tell us where u live though!
Lol at moving further out, to Hull.

[Levantine]

That is my dream house. Let your house and rent somewhere round there. Then see. That's what I would do. You have posted about this so consistently that I think you do need to do this, and as the market is so nuts at the moment you may as well wait for it to calm down.

[PrincessFlirtyPants]

Not entirely sure why Mintyy is getting so many negative comments on this thread.

Wanting some diversity is not the same as wanting to live in a shit hole for goodness sake. Why would anyone think a well diversified area is a shit hole?!

[QuintessentialShadows]

Mintyy you should come to my street. I have a couple of Irish catholic families, an elderly war veteran British couple, Uganda Indian with Nigerian mixed children and a polish partner, American Chinese mix, British Jewish, Russian. German, and a couple of English families just in my little cup de sac sort of scenario. You will love it here. You may even have a couple of hundred to build a loft extension with, and be 30 minutes away from Waterloo.... Please come

[Levantine]

To calm down to buy that is.

[BohemianGirl]

I admit I have scrolled the whole thread (almost) and I'm still PMSL @ this gem I sincerely yearn for more authentic London living - quite possibly the most pretentious wankery I've ever read om MN - unless someone wants to argue that.

[Mintyy]

e a s t d u l w i c h, for anyone who insists on knowing!

It is becoming the Crouch End of the South, sea.

[garlicbaubles]

Oh, Mintyy, that's fabulous! Although I want to shove a very large Guide to Written English up the agent's spacious suntrap of a backside.
Bargainous! For where it is. Round here, that would buy you an estate ...

[MumpiresRedCard]

My comment wasnt negative!

[MarshaBrady]

Thought it might be! Yep well, sell up and buy that one you linked to!

[formerbabe]

Mintyy...I would chop off my right arm to live in east dulwich...enjoy it!

Forest hill is near you and nice...not too poncey or scummy.

[MarshaBrady]

Too many !. I'm close, and love having it close enough to use the shops, but not in it.

[hashtagwhatever]

most of London ending in Den should suffice ie: Wilsden, Neasden, Harlesden.

[AcrylicPlexiglass]

I totally relate to this. I have a horror of being in places that are not mixed and it is awful when areas suddenly only become accessible to one section of society, namely the very well off. Do you live in East Dulwich? That would be my guess. It is such a hideous place these days. Full of those shops that sell only items that are pretty, twee and useless. Becoming less and less mixed demographically by the day because only the rich can afford to buy there.

My advice would be to buy on or near an estate if you want to live in a place with a more mixed population. Our estate will never gentrify, I suspect. It doesn't really appeal to people with money who like to paint the front door of their Victorian house a sage-grey sludge colour (nothing wrong with this, of course, but it's nice to have some variety in doors as in people). The surrounding non-estate area is getting more sage-grey doors by the day so that demographic is a rising presence in the local area. This is good in many ways as it contributes to the mix in what was previously an area predominantly lived in by people without a lot of money or social power. Many of these middle class people are extremely nice and in fact a very few can be counted among my dearest friends. But I do feel lucky that my estate plods on much as it always has done, seemingly fairly immune from the gentrifying process in its immediate surrounds. Lovely neighbours, very safe, not much traffic, the kids can play out. It's good.:)

[Mintyy]

Quinty, I think you live in one of those amazing tiny niche undiscovered (sorry, that's for want of a better word) areas don't you? I'd keep it under your hat if I were you. I've seen some of your links before and the houses are lovely.

No, we need to stay SE. I don't want dd to have to move schools.

[formerbabe]

Leave east dulwich to live on an estate...?! Why oh why?!

[AcrylicPlexiglass]

Hurrah, I guessed right! x posts

[MadBusLady]

BohemianGirl it's a strong field, but I'd have to agree.

[BettyMacdonald]

Mintyy - I agree with you! I know East Dulwich very well and understand exactly what you're saying. I also know Catford (and the slightly sinister cat) and Croydon very well and love both areas. It has nothing to do with "inverted snobbery" for me personally, it has to do with a community vibe which we have in buckets in our hugely diverse, slightly shabby area which is often slagged to buggery.

[AcrylicPlexiglass]

but I didn't want to live surrounded by people exactly like me the folks I worked with.

lololol garlicbaubles. Yes, this is the nub of the problem.

[Bettercallsaul1]

This is a very nice problem to have, Mintyy!

[AcrylicPlexiglass]

Catford is a good place if you want a fantastic mix without a likely rush towards gentrification, I reckon.

[MadameDefarge]

My grotty corner of east London has now got houses going for £900k. I can't afford to rent privately anymore, as a 2 bed flat would cost me £1.5k per month. But this is home, we have family, ds in a good school. housing benefit is the only way I can afford to stay here. Luckily we are in line for social housing, so fingers crossed I will able to find a decent job and pay my way. It does irk me.

[dementedma]

Ooh is Croyden a shithole? My boss comes from there.... I know nothing about London other than the bit where my sister pays an exorbitant amount of rent on a teeny basement flat near Camden.