To hate what's happening to London?

[AWholeLottaNosy]

I moved to London in 1989, it was a great place, full of interesting, arty people, lots of cheap things to do, festivals, clubs, shops, museums. I loved the quirky nature of so many different areas, Camden market, Soho, Notting Hill market at the weekend, the urban grittiness of places like Brixton, Hackney etc. however I can't afford to live in London anymore and feel so sad that all these great places are slowly and surely just becoming one homogenised mass of chain stores, 'luxury flats', unaffordable to most Londoners and the things that made London a great place to live in, shops, markets, clubs, music venues, diversity etc are just vanishing. Boris Johnson obviously not only doesn't give a shit but is actively encouraging this, especially the building of flats just to be bought ( and not even lived in) by foreign investors.

I guess this can't be stopped but I do feel sad about it and wondered how other Londoners felt about it..?

Left South London in '85, even then it was becoming a gentrified, colour supplement place that bore no relation to the gritty, rough town I grew up in.
Love going back from time to time, but it's not home anymore.

I still love it and wouldn't live anywhere else BUT of course it is depressing to see it coming out of reach for anyone even vaguely normal. How can this continue? Anyone who disagrees must be a right arsehole.

Yep. An amazing little family owned free house that barely anybody but Londoners knew because it's tucked away but right in the heart of the West End that I used to work in is closing next weekend. Taken over by a chain.

Around Charing X even 10-15 years ago there were family run cafes and shops, framers, opticians. Now it's just all faceless chains. And so expensive, the only place you can grab a cheap bite and sit down is McDonalds, you couldn't just get a sandwich and a cup of tea for less than a tenner. There's little diversity in shops and bars because they're all chains and samey because they're the companies that can afford to run them now.

I moved away about 10 years ago to the north because sadly I could no longer afford to live there if I wanted to have a family. I am so sad about what I have seen happening to friends who have, for example, had relationship splits and they've been bunged into a hostel or B&B and told that's it, no chance of social housing, private housing stratospherically out of their reach. And like me they've had to move out of London and leave their families and friends. I have friends who have never been able to afford to start families or move out of their parents even though they're well into their 30s. And not people who are doing crap minimum wage jobs either.

You used to have proper communities in a lot of places in London which have just been absolutely decimated because everybody but the wealthy and the lucky few with social housing have been driven out. There is the wealthy on one hand, the very poor and the only people in between are those who bought their houses pre-1997. Even in the late 90s a young couple with a reasonably paying job could afford a 2 bed flat in the suburbs which would be totally out of reach now to people on a comparative income.

I hate the fact that houses are treated as 'property' now and units of investment rather than places where people live.

But it's never going to change because the majority of people in this country are older, bought their houses when housing was cheap and don't want to see their 'units of investment' devalued. But it's horrendous for young people, young families.

I've lived in London for seven years. Most of that with DH in a house in zone 2. It's a house but it's ridiculously tiny. London is the only place in the UK I've ever lived so I am always amazed at what you can buy out of London when I see property shows on TV.

But I have worked with lots of 'poor' people ie people working in unqualified roles that don't pay well. And they live in London.

They live in council estates. Don't so many people? Won't there always be a lot of people living in council housing here? Are they being removed?

Just this weekend new apartments near us are being offered to buyers- in Hong Kong! The building works where we live are relentless at the moment. Expensive apartment buildings are popping up on every bit of space. But they also have to build something for the community each time so we get new facilities.

Councils have a lot to answer for when it comes to allowing high streets to be taken over by chains. We should be able to protect our neighbourhood shops from Starbucks and tesco metro.

My daughter lives in London. We were able to buy sadly due to my late husband's life insurance. The prices are soaring. 20% increase in the value of her flat alone as she is in acton near the cross rail. I think it is sad that people are being force out.

I am amazed by the sweeping gentrification which is pricing people out of outer London - inner London being just unthinkable.

I went to university in London, worked there and lived there (well, zone 3 and 4 was the limit of affordability) but I've been out of the loop since having DD and moving away (to Essex!) three years ago. The change from when I was a student at the turn of the millennium is just massive.

It was news to me that places like Hackney and Stoke Newington are now post gentrification, and now Walthamstow is next. Makes you wonder if, eventually, there won't be a single London borough that isn't exclusively inhabited by the wealthy.

Actually, I think the councils are selling off bits of council estates to developers...That's certainly what happened on ours. And this:

Expensive apartment buildings are popping up on every bit of space. But they also have to build something for the community each time so we get new facilities.

is a sore point today. I would be surprised if this was a one off:
m.guardian-series.co.uk/news/11755996.Shock_as_sport_facilities_ditched_from_Stow_development/?ref=mr

I've never lived in London but I'm just wondering if this is something (London becoming a place for the super elite) that is a phenomenon that has only happened in London or, is what is happening in London now already happened in other world renowned cities (Sydney, Tokyo, New York etc), thus making London's situation the inevitable? I guess other MNers from other global cities could answer this as I have no idea but am rather interested

Onsera there will always be poor people who live in council housing in London. But the supply is not finite and poor people who cannot get council housing will either be driven out or live in appalling conditions.

You don't seem to have much contact with 'poor people' in the way you simply dismiss them as 'living on council estates'. I found that some people in poorly paying roles in London were lucky because they had a wealthier partner or parents who supported their housing. Some had council housing. Some slept 3 to a room in houses with shared bathrooms and cooking facilities with no prospect of getting anywhere better. If you're a young Pole or Slovakian who is intending to do that for 3 years while you save up for money (which will be worth far more in your home country) to take home it's doable. If you are someone who is settled in London and has no prospect of going back to another country with a nice wodge in your pocket it's simply endless grinding poverty. Even if you manage to save up the same amount as a Pole or a Slovakian, you won't be able to put down the deposit on a decent house and have some savings behind you. It would probably only just cover a rental deposit on a house (which you couldn't afford to rent anyway) not a buying deposit.

I had a lot of contact with the 'poor' people because I worked closely with them for years and socialised with them etc

This is in central London. They lived in council accommodation. Most of them were local to the area and had extended family also living in similar.

I knew one woman who had situation you describe of having a husband in a high paying job and living in a private apartment in a nice area.

MoanCollins

This is exactly what is happening. Of course the "up and coming" are going to say, hey London is fantastic. The people who were born here and most working class are not going to say this.

So OP, YANBU.

I agree wholeheartedly with OP.
When you look at what you can get else where for say £850,000 then what you can get in London - within a 20 minute journey from work, let's say - it's LAUGHABLE. It's becoming a preserve for the uber rich and the rougher outer edges are for the 'normal rich'

I have friends on £400,000 per year (ish) combined salary and they 'struggle'

I mean really

I hate what is happening to London.

I hate the overbuilding everywhere on the last patch of green left, I hate the big luxury flat developments, which are either empty or full of Chinese investors.

I hate the loss of queuing etiquette and the spitting on the streets.

It's becoming a preserve for the uber rich and the rougher outer edges are for the 'normal rich'

Yes, exactly.

I hate the loss of queuing etiquette and the spitting on the streets

Yes! When I lived in NW London buses were always elbows at dawn. It was bloody depressing. Then I moved south to Morden (don't recommend it, it's horrible, although the ex-council house we sold 16 months ago is rocketing in price) and I was amazed to find people queuing at a bus stop! But only one particular bus stop though; the rest were elbows at dawn.

There are otters in the Thames.

I don't hate the otters, though.

I love otters. I love London too. We lived there for a number of years and moved out for more space, woodland and countryside. We can still get into central london on the train in 40 minutes and probably go to art galleries, gigs, meet friends more often than we ever did when we lived in zone 2.

Here we go... everyone that moved to the "burbs" absolutely loves London... You would! You wouldnt come back though would you. You can come see and drive back whilst still owning your 4x4's and being able to scream the right to have one and use it in London.

Typical thing on here too... all the pearl clutchers/knobs love an otter or two

don't have a 4 by 4 and never lived in London, would never commute again,

I live in London Tinks. I am a Londoner. DC are Londoners. We are not uber rich, or even rich. We are very happy here.

Do you think your children will be able to afford to live in london Caronaim? or do you think they will have to move away?

A 4x4?

Good luck finding a paking place for that.

by the way, of course children can move away, Id just like them to be able to have the choice.

Parking places are for all payers. The fact that they use more than their fair share is another matter entirely.