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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To hate this Kind of sneering attitude to places outside London

281 replies

wasonthelist · 26/02/2016 11:07

"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?

OP posts:
JasperDamerel · 26/02/2016 12:52

London is great. My dad lives there and takes full advantage of all it has to get, which not many people do. I would hate to live there, as I am fairly lazy and like having all the shops, activities, culture and countryside within a half hour walk of my front door, as well as having great schools and overpriced but nowhere near as bad as the South-East housing housing. And I can be at King's Cross in 2 hours if I take the train.

ReasonablyIntelligent · 26/02/2016 12:53

My dad always says he's glad people in London sneer at the countryside as it stops them moving out & annoying us

This! Grin

CombineBananaFister · 26/02/2016 12:59

I have to say I was guilty of dreading a trip to London (being from Yorkshire) as I did think it would too hectic and had heard people were rude Blush Yes , it was more crowded than I'm comfortable with but I could not have been more wrong about the people - everyone I met was so lovely and actually much friendlier than my posh Northern city hometown.

I Like the 'tribal explanation' upthread - there are those in any group in any walk of life who have to put others down in order to feel superior about their own choices. Insecurity at its worse.

OneMagnumisneverenough · 26/02/2016 13:01

meh. "You pays yer money and takes yer choice" as they say.

Decisions on where to live and work take many forms and for most of us it's a compromise designed to cover the lifestyle we'd like, what we can afford, where the jobs are, family caring responsibilities etc.

Only the truly rich have an unlimited choice (though there are probably things I'm not taking into account)

If we all wanted the same from life then we wouldn't like that either.

Each to their own.

EssentialHummus · 26/02/2016 13:02

The "tribal" thing is a well-documented phenomenon:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism_of_small_differences

Freud wrote about the Swiss-hating Germans / German-hating Germans / German-speaking German-hating Swiss in a 1917 paper Grin

MiaowTheCat · 26/02/2016 13:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BarbaraofSeville · 26/02/2016 13:06

YANBU. I live on the outskirts of a large northern city and a few years ago spent a few months working in London so I have a pretty good idea about what life is really like there.

I came to the conclusion that for the average person the extortionate cost of living in the Capital far outweighs the perceived advantages of living there. Apart from the big national sites, there is very little that is not available in other large cities.

I sometimes think 'let the Londoncentrics continue to think that it is grim up north' so they don't all move here and bring the problems of unafforable housing and congestion with them.

Dolly80 · 26/02/2016 13:15

The 'tribal' thing happens within London too - the whole North/South river divide etc.

London living is a very different experience for each of us. As someone on the outskirts (well zone 4/5 but to people like the author of the article in question that's probably very far away) I'm more likely to have more things in common with people living outside of the capital than I am with someone living in zone 1.

I love visiting other parts of the U.K. I think there are many other places I could happily live. If I only thought I could ever be happy in London I'd feel a bit disappointed.

plantsitter · 26/02/2016 13:16

I live in London but from the North originally. It annoys me that the merit of everywhere seems to be judged by restaurants and cafes. There are other things in the world. I find people here generally more open minded than those in the tiny middle-of-nowhere village I grew up in, but that might just be tiny middle-of-noweher village thing.

And I was shocked not to be able to get lunch after 2.30 pm during a recent visit to Winchester... I laughed at myself and called myself a townie but actually I really was shocked Grin

Rafflesway · 26/02/2016 13:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnnPerkins · 26/02/2016 13:18

Pah! I have this particular couple of friends who live in London. They have developed ever such superior attitudes because they live in the big, glamorous, happenin' city.

They still eat in chain restaurants, if they go out at all. The only culture they ever experience is multiplex cinema or big name bands at the O2 and similar. And if we go out with them they only want to visit touristy places in central London.

They might as well live in Ashby de la Zoush. At least then they can experience some of life outside London as well.

EssentialHummus · 26/02/2016 13:20

And I was shocked not to be able to get lunch after 2.30 pm during a recent visit to Winchester... I laughed at myself and called myself a townie but actually I really was shocked

Yes! Had the same experience in Oxford. It was one of the few moments I've had where I thought, Well, in London... Grin

gandalf456 · 26/02/2016 13:27

I live 25 miles from Central London and have encountered this attitude a lot. I grew up in this town and it's a typical small town but most people who hold the attitude are people who've come from all over the country, gone to live in London, realised it's too expensive and have come to live here instead, where it's cheaper and the schools are better. They are probably from a small town themselves so I don't know what makes them different from us apart from their faux snobbery and the fact that they're probably pushing the property prices up.

Tabsicle · 26/02/2016 13:29

Eh. Different places suit different people at different times of their lives. And in all of those groups of people some will sometimes feel insecure and need to bash others’ choices.

I lived in London in my twenties and loved it. I got older and decided it wasn’t right for me anymore and I moved North and love it up here. I love having access to the countryside, I love the space, I love the different pace of life. And I was brought up in the deep rural west country too so I’ve lived in a variety of places and heard snotty comments about all three.

Some people are pricks about this. That’s all. I am just happy whenever anyone settles somewhere that suits them.

MrsDeVere · 26/02/2016 13:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 26/02/2016 14:33

Someone once said to me "I don't know how you can bear not living in London." Hmm

I don't dislike London, I go there for the day about once every two or three years. My life is too busy and fulfilling in the provinces to go any more often.

BrokenApril · 26/02/2016 14:41

Its an arsehole-ish attitude, OP.

But there is another, equally arsehole-ish attitude about, too. The 'why are you moaning about not being able to live in London? Why dont you just move up north?'

Like its completely unreasonable to want to live where the work is, your family are etc, and that if only you could stop being so spoilt and go and live in a village in Cumbria, it would all be alright Hmm

BrokenApril · 26/02/2016 14:43

By the way, I'm a Londoner born, bred and living there - but I love other arts of the country, and often flirt with the idea of moving (would be very hard with work, though).

But snotty attitudes towards London are everywhere, too. 'Oh, its so dirty/crime ridden/unfriendly - I couldn't possibly live there'. Very common attitude.

Radiatorvalves · 26/02/2016 14:43

Years ago my Dad was in London talking to a snooty woman at a party. She said, "Now Charles, where are you living?"

Dad, "Leeds."

Snooty, "Oh, I understand that you work in Leeds. But where do you live?"

Dad, "Er, Leeds as well."

pandakitchen · 26/02/2016 14:44

Some of this is the Medias fault and it being quite London-centric they seem to forget that so of many us rarely venture to the capital, and that their lives don't really reflect the average person in the rest of the country (lets not forget the magazine Caroline McGinn is editing). I read Olive and Delicious magazine, and they always have a national representation of hostelries across the UK.

All areas fall victim to the media peddled stereotypes North and South, it is just sloppy journalism. We should go, see with our own eyes and make our own mind up.

Original poster
wasonthelist · 26/02/2016 14:52
OP posts:
Flingingmelon · 26/02/2016 15:33

I was like this. Then I left London. Now I know better, the cake is much better in my little market town.

and restaurants are shit in London compared to Stockholm and Copenhagen anyway

RaskolnikovsGarret · 26/02/2016 15:51

I live in and love London. However I miss my home town of Manchester and am fully aware of the advantages of living there and in other areas of the UK.

I have seen more of the anti-London sneering, which is a bit annoying. I don't criticise where you live, so don't criticise where I do.

I think TV etc can be a bit too London centric though.

BeagBoo · 26/02/2016 15:55

God I'd love a carvery right now.