to think these people are ghastly snobs

[AgaPanthers]

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/postcode-war-as-hounslow-residents-fight-for-richmond-address-9095158.html

"Kim Tasso, 53, said: “My daughter goes to a Richmond school, we pay council tax to Richmond council, the police consider us a Richmond address, yet when I put ‘Whitton’ as my address my post arrives two days late, with ‘Whitton’ crossed out by the Post Office and ‘Hounslow’ written in its place."

So why the fuck doesn't she put the correct address on already, so that her post arrives on time.

This is a house for sale on the road in question:

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/31811240?search_identifier=4cfddd5a1feca73f2fd54ee1a16fb8bf

It certainly LOOKS like Hounslow, and apparently the nearest station is Hounslow, so it should be Hounslow.

So why do these ridiculous people think they live in Richmond? They chose to buy a house in Hounslow, and now they want to redefine it as Richmond?

Anyway, if you are looking for relatively affordable housing around that area, then I suggest you follow in these people's footsteps, and buy in TW3, because you will save a fortune. Just don't go trying to pull the drawbridge up after you've moved in, by redefining it as Richmond.

Wow. Seriously you must have no worries to get het up about this. Wish it was me.

It makes me laugh. The houses over the road from me have a different postcode and are £100k more for tiny little 1970s boxes but people are still daft enough to buy them.

So why do these ridiculous people think they live in Richmond?

we pay council tax to Richmond council, the police consider us a Richmond address

There has been a long campaign in Windsor and Maidenhead to change their postcode from SL4 and SL6 (Slough) also!

I just think this is a really funny British trait (I'm Irish). Houses 2 minutes walk down the road from me cost at least 40000 more than my house because my house is ex council. Fine by me, I got a solid spacious house with a huge garden for a really low price because of snobs. Long may it last!

The police don't seem to think it's Richmond. Hounslow South police report:

democraticservices.hounslow.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=84661?

"We received numerous phone calls and emails from members of the public regarding a brothel that was operating on ARGYLE AVENUE, HOUNSLOW, off WHITTON ROAD. We worked closely with the landlord of the property to remove the occupants and changed the locks and permanently closed the brothel down. The Landlord has also refurbished the property and is in the process of re-letting the property out."

The National Archives, from 1919, refer to a 'Frederick Bateman of 24a Argyle Avenue, Hounslow. Occupation: Boot and Shoe Provider.'

It is and always has been Hounslow.

I can't see what's wrong with Whitton as a designation. I mean, it's a real place. But they do sound like ghastly snobs and the barefaced cheek of actually mentioning that their house prices would go up massively leaves me gobsmacked!

I love the word 'ghastly'

My mother went round with petitions in the early seventies to keep Ellesmere Port out of Merseyside and in Cheshire. It eventually got a Chester postcode...

... and the insurance premiums plummeted. In my opinion, Ellesmere Port is a bit of an armpit in places, just those places are now in Cheshire and cheaper to insure.

Our house was £50000 cheaper because it's on the " wrong side" of a roundabout. Excellent!!

A friend's neighbours in London used to do this, insisting their (bog standard terraced) street was in Chiswick. I know because she got invited to drinks with them and was roundly told off for disagreeing about what neighbourhood they were in. She was so taken aback she told me about it.

I got a black cab there once and asked the driver if this was Chiswick. When he'd stopped roaring with laughter he said 'No, love, Shepherd's Bush'.

All that happens if you do this is you prove yourself to be a snob and a wannabe.

Aga
It isn't in the LB of Hounslow is it?

If you read the article they've got a point.
They're paying the higher council tax to Richmond but for some bizarre reason the postcode seems to be used to define who gets to access the Richmond services.

Either the postcode needs to change or the council need to accept that some people with a TW3 postcode are in Richmond and some in Hounslow.

I'm interested in this because my grandparents lived in Whitton and I remember a situation where there was an old people's day centre down the end of their road and they weren't allowed to go there because it was run by the other council, and had to walk a mile to the other daycentre. That was in the 1970s so there do seem to be historic issues in this area....

Bet they grew up with little money - often the case with people like this.

There was a massive thread not too long ago about what defines where you live / where you are from / what is London, all that sort of thing. Twas fascinating.

Some people are convinced it is post code only.

Others swear by historical political boundaries.

Yet others think it is some other nebulous factor, and so on.

I can understand it - it's all there in the article: their insurance premiums are higher, they pay a higher rate of council tax to the borough of Richmond, the potential price of their house is reduced and they can't even use their local tip! That would piss me off royally - to be paying for the privilege of living on one area and not being able to take advantage of the services I was paying for. Why attribute to snobbery that which can adequately be explained by being annoyed that you are paying over the odds for something that you aren't even able to enjoy?

Exactly DoJo.

Wow. Seriously you must have no worries to get het up about this. Wish it was me.

I really hate pointless responses like this ^

This happened in Didsbury, Manchester. Everyone wanted to live there so they pushed the boundaries into Withington and renamed it West Didsbury. Loads of apartments were built there so that the young professionals could have the right postcode and the prices went through the roof. When you look back on old maps you can clearly see it was named Withington. Maps printed in the past 5 years show it as Didsbury.

Ghastly snobs.....is that you Margo?

We have similar issues in my provincial city - one area is the "good" area, and that "good area" has expanded massively, at least for Estate Agents, since I've lived here. I guess you're always going to get this.

I love "ghastly snob" :o. I don't think I've heard that since the 70s.

I usually think this kind of thing is just snobbery but if you pay council tax to Richmond then you must live in Richmond.

We have a postcode related to one London borough, but we live in the next one and pay council tax to and access services from the borough where we actually live. Post code irrelevant.

That is the case for a large area here so it's not as if Richmond are in a unique situation.

Snobbery is when people insist they live in Chiswick when their street is right underneath the word Acton on the A-Z (I'm looking at you, dear colleague...)

This happened in Didsbury, Manchester. Everyone wanted to live there so they pushed the boundaries into Withington and renamed it West Didsbury. Loads of apartments were built there so that the young professionals could have the right postcode and the prices went through the roof

It is ironic that West Didsbury is now seen as more desirable than (East) Didsbury. The "Didsbury" label is now pushing into Burnage, according to some estate agents round here (who I've heard can pronounce it "Burn-arge" in an attempt to poshen it up). Meanwhile, the remaining part of Burn-arge is desperately claiming to be part of a Heaton.

It is snobbery, but Richmond is lovely and Ellesmere Port is indeed an armpit.

If I were in catchment for Richmond schools and was selling my house, I'd sure as hell want it to turn up on searches for Richmond. So estate agents will continue to put the juicy keywords in listings.

I once had a colleague harping on about council estates and tenants. I let her rant on for about five minutes before telling her I was raised on one. Her face was priceless and she tried to back track. Muppet.

I'd like to think I'm not snobbish about this kind of thing but if I had to choose between two addresses and one of them made my house more valuable by £20,000 I think I'd probably want that one. Wouldn't most of us, if we're honest?

Where i was born is inbetween two places and it did cause issues. For example, When i was pregnant with my daughter, I fell down the stairs, I rang the out of hours number on my notes.

They asked what had happened, then asked my adress. I told them my address. They said 'Thats a D postcode. We don't cover the D area. Ring their out of hours.

Rang the other out of hours. No no no, You need to ring N areas out of hours, They cover you, not us.

Now, I'd have thought they'd have been more concerned that a 7 month pregnant woman had fallen down the stairs and knocked herself unconcious, But no. I didn't end up seeing anyone.

If it causes issues like that i can understand it, And i can understand it if they're paying a higher tax rate when they're not classed officially as that area (If that is the case, which i thought it was from the article).