To hate this Kind of sneering attitude to places outside London

[wasonthelist]

"many things in life would be better and cheaper if we all just gave up and moved to that six-bed detached in Ashby De La Zouch. But could you really subsist in a place where the height of culinary pleasure is unlimited smarties on your ice cream at the local carvery?"

I am not sure if the author, Caroline Mginn, who wrote that in Time Out -
a) Really believes that Ashby has such limited culinary offerings (it doesn't)?
b) Thought she was preaching to the converted and no-one outside London would read it?

I don't know where to start with that article, but an awful lot of it is rubbish.

Where was the "economic stability" of the 1970s, early 80s or 90s? When most of the boomers were young or raising families?

The point it makes about national debt shows a complete lack of understanding as it has been far, far higher in the past.

I do agree that saving for a deposit in London is hard work, but its not impossible.

I agree with the poster who says that there is a lot of London bashing on here too! The statement from article that kick started it was obviously supposed to be tongue in cheek too.

merry I think you're being willfully blind to the point lurked is trying to make.

You are talking about 'cutting your cloth', but taking out the maximum 25 year loan available when interest rates are at rock bottom, with no particular prospect of increasing your household income isn't cutting your cloth, it is borrowing a vast amount of money on a wing and a prayer." You talk about first time buyers, but it is unclear how this couple would ever be able to afford anything else.

The maximum mortgage term is 35 years. Link

In most professions, there are pay grades with pay increasing with experience. From Googling, it looks like teachers are eligible for pay increases based on length of service and performance Link. So this couple would be able to afford "anything else" the same way as the rest of us - small, incremental salary increases, combined with saving. They might also make improvements to the flat, so its value increases above general price rises.

I'm 30. I bought in 2013 on a salary of £35,000. My flat is in the mythical Zone 2 of SE London. It cost £179,000 for a 700 sq. ft flat. It had been on the market for 6+ months when I bought it, because no-one wanted a grotty-looking, previously tenanted, ex-council flat in Brockley. I can give you the full lived-in-grotty-houseshare-took-a-second-job-to-save-deposit story if you like. A few years on, Brockley has been "discovered" by all the sneery fuckers who wouldn't go near Lewisham back then. I've spent time and money I would've spent on holidays etc painting, replacing floors etc. I now have a beautiful home. All the friends who sneered and joked about where I live, and went on nice holidays because they couldn't afford a place in Islington, have been priced out.

Looking at RightMove this morning, there are pleasant enough 2-bed flats in Catford, Hither Green, Lee etc for £260,000-£280,000 Link, but of course the reaction is Catford! Vomit. I'm saving to live in Brockley.

I believe in cutting one's coat to suit one's cloth, in short. And I'm clearly not a boomer. While there is a housing crisis, there's also a "crisis" of people's expectations in some circles.

Agreed innocent, just look at the reaction that flat being "on the north circular" its not directly on it but a street or two away.

But no, what is wanted is a 4 bed Victorian terrace on a nice quiet street in zone 2, close to tube links and gentrified areas with great amenities but at a cheap price, which will of course go up exponentially once you move in, no 15 years of stagnation.

For example loads of fairly affordable properties in Colindale:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E70344&maxBedrooms=2&minBedrooms=2&numberOfPropertiesPerPage=24&radius=0.0&sortType=1&index=0&viewType=LIST

But people go: "Colindale, yuk, I want to live in Hampstead/Camden." Its only a few stops up the Northern Line!

Essential, you're not far from me. It's great here. The sneery fuckers don't know what they're missing out on. I rent, but I've got a 2-bed for less than the price of a 1-bed a few stops up the line, I'm close to great transport and I'm a quick hop from the M25 to go elsewhere if I want to.

Ha I live in Plymouth and the kids had unlimited ice cream in Pizza Hut yesterday. I don't aspire to live in london again. I don't resent the enjoyment of any who do

DH and I lived in rooms in shared flats before we bought, in our early 30s, and saved for 8 years to get our deposit together. We have friends who were appalled at that and were paying twice as much rent on a self-contained 1 bed flat as they thought they shouldn't have to be in a shared place on the salaries we were on (which were good London salaries). We've all been able to buy somewhere in the past few years, but we had a much bigger deposit than them which has allowed us to get somewhere more central (zone 1, they are in zone 4). We were able to buy in a fairly decent area but it's not been without compromises and a lot of hard work before hand, no handouts or inheritances here.

It must be oh 3 weeks at least since we had the last London-hating thread. These threads seem to bring out the County Xenophobics in droves.

Most Londoners are just normal people. You might even like them if you got to know them. They might look a bit different with their Hoxton beards and they might eat funny artisan food but lets not judge people by appearances and stereotypes.

I like some things about London and hate others. But its my home. I also like lots of other places. (Except perhaps Leeds where I was spat at for having a partner of a different race. As was my sibling. Not so keen on that).

milion yes to this! One of the things I love about london is that mixed couples and families are so common that no one gives a second look.

That is very important for me personally as DP and I are a less common racial combination (I am Caucasian and he is East Asian) and that can sometimes raise eyebrows in less multicultural environments.

london bashing my arse.

Try being a brummie.

Ha I live in Plymouth and the kids had unlimited ice cream in Pizza Hut yesterday. I don't aspire to live in london again. I don't resent the enjoyment of any who do

Heh :) Similarly, I grew up in Devon and lived there till I was nearly 30. I wouldn't live there again if you paid me. Horses for courses, innit?

I'm shocked that you were spat at for being in a mixed race relationship in Leeds of all places millionpram
It's a very multi racial place with loads of mixed race families.
I have heard stories of awful racism in the country, but never in a big city like that.

They might look a bit different with their Hoxton beards and they might eat funny artisan food

You can get men with beards and artisan food outside London you know.

"You can get men with beards and artisan food outside London you know."

This saddens me. There is no escape.

This saddens me. There is no escape.

I do hope your sense of humour travels, Millionprammiles

IfNot: sadly Yorkshire (where I grew up and where my family still live) is the only place I've ever been subjected to racist abuse.
Never in 25 years of living in London. Or anywhere else in the UK I've frequently visited.

Presumably you haven't been to Wales then?

Yup been to Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Norfolk, Cornwall, Cumbria...everyone was lovely. If they were secretly harbouring hatred they hid it well. (Apart from the unknown scally in the Highlands who keyed our car!)

Still PMSL at 'some towns even have the sea.'

This thread is hilarious and mental in equal measure.

DH comes from the seaside. He prefers London.

DS (white) and his British Indian girlfriend have had racist abuse in Manchester, Liverpool and various other places around the UK. Actually I don't think they've been to Wales yet.

DS (white) and his British Indian girlfriend have had racist abuse in Manchester, Liverpool and various other places around the UK

That is genuinely shocking.

I have lived in London and out of London. There are pros and cons to each. I currently live and will probably stay in outer London borough - zone 5 which seems to give me the best of both worlds. There is certainly a different racial and cultural mix between where I am now (one of the most mixed boroughs in London which is not a problem for me - my son is the only white boy in his class for example and that is at a fee paying school) and Northumberland where I am from (97% white I think in 2016). So different issues of lack of shared ethos and cultural background here in London but much easier to be anonymous, be what you like, no village or town gossip, no one knows what you do and where you go - I like those elements of London although I would prefer to live amongst atheist feminists where women work full time which would be more my demographic - but my choice to live in the suburbs where you are never likely to find women like I am.

Indeed Gooseberry and it's by no means always white people.

I think this thread can be summarised by saying there are cunts everywhere and most people are happy where they live and don't fancy living elsewhere.