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've also found that a lot of the London based snobbery comes from people who haven't actually grown up there and almost see it as an aspirational achievement that they now live there - and all these other people, poor them, don't. It's almost a case of "look what I've achieved and you haven't. Let me justify why my life choices are so much better than yours".

I am a born and bred Londoner. I grew up there, moved away to go to uni and then for a while in my early twenties. I live in Croydon now (Incidentally, not London. No London postcode, it's Surrey. Still pipped as the next upcoming Shoreditch haha and we're getting a Westfield. Not all bad).

And in Leeds Elledouble

Is it replacing the Whitgift Centre LBOCS2

Whitgift and Centrale, Bun. They've done a compulsory purchase order on the land and are starting work this year; it'll end up bigger than the others. They're also massively redeveloping the area around East Croydon; there's a Boxpark and an open area where they show the tennis and have various installations.

Here Bunbaker.

You do realise that most UK cities are pretty multicultural too? Especially Birmingham and Manchester.

and

I also dislike the assumption that there is very little multiculturalism outside of London. What about Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield? They are all pretty multicultural.

In my post I said I would like to leave London to go somewhere greener and calmer. I wouldn't leave it to go to another large town to basically replicate the noise, traffic and relentlessness.

(And yes I am aware that other multicultural cities exist .)

I still think that it is possible to be from anywhere in the world and blend in in London, whereas in other large UK towns the culture of the region is more prevalent IYSWIM. So I can live in London without knowing anything about the local history / customs or culture and still not feel like an outsider. Maybe I am wrong. Please don't all jump on me. And I am not talking about restaurants, museums and that kind of culture which of course is available everywhere depending on size of population and resources.

Maybe I am just used to where I live - it boils down to that - people like what they know but this doesn't mean they couldn't adapt elsewhere.

I go to London, Leeds and Birmingham at least once a year, go to Liverpool and Manchester at least a couple of times a month. My personal opinion is that, of them all, Liverpool has by far the best buzz about it.

The assumption is that most Londoners eat out all the time, go to the opera and theatre a lot and visit museums regularly. How true is this in reality?

Well it is for us. We've been to the Tate today (30 mins on the bus) and have tickets to a theatre show (walking distance) later in the week. We'll be going out for dinner tonight and ate out a few times last week. Lots of my London-based friends have similar lifestyles, we all recommend shows and restaurants to each other. We're lucky enough to live in zone 1 and I'm a sahm, but have made sacrifices to do so - we're living in a 2 bed flat with no outside space, and have one dd and won't have any more.

I do get that there is good culture and cuisine outside of London. We have short breaks in other UK cities and towns fairly often, and make the most of seeing attractions across the country. But there's an enormous choice in London and we thrive on that.

I still don't understand what you mean by loosing the multiculturalism though MrsHudson.
Are you a Londoner who loves the different cultures that can be found in London? Or are you from elsewhere and like how it is easy to find products from outside the uk, places of worship that are for you, that your child won't be the only one of their culture in school?

I've lived in London for most of my life. I've never met anyone in RL who believed the rest of Britain was a cultural wasteland. As in the original article IT'S A JOKE.

We're lucky enough to live in zone 1 and I'm a sahm, but have made sacrifices to do so - we're living in a 2 bed flat with no outside space, and have one dd and won't have any more.

To me that is too great a sacrifice for a couple of dinners and a play but it does sound like you have a wonderful time.

It's horses for courses. I would feel claustrophobic in a 2 bed flat with no outside space. I would rather live in a 4 bed house with a garden and have to spend half an hour in the car to go to the theatre/museum/other cultural activity.

Also, we couldn't afford to eat out several times a week, nor would I like to.

Thing is, if you live in a tiny flat with no outside space, then there is more incentive to be out and about all the time. Personally I am happy pottering about cooking big meals in my big airy heart of the home kitchen, for my four kids. And I just couldn't be without my garden, I love having somewhere beautiful and private to chill.

But horses for courses Bokid and your lifestyle sounds lovely (though probably very expensive).

I can understand that there is a sneering quality to the original quote re: ADLZ, but I think it's also very much a self-deprecating nudge-and-wink to Londoners who are very well aware that it is entirely possible to 'subsist outside of London'. It's a joke, surely?

I know that there is plenty going on outside of London but I work in a sector where its easiest to find work here.

And I love that I can go to see immersive fringe theatre for a few quid, and wander from exhibition to exhibition all weekend if I want to, and take gender-neutral dance classes and run in a royal park at lunch time. The stuff I like generally isn't the same as seeing a touring production of an old play or the major exhibitions; it's the variety that gives me the opportunity to see the stuff I love.

Being happy with my lifestyle isn't sneering and I know it's not for everyone but it definitely, definitely goes both ways. And I also have no idea what this obsession with restaurants is, but that's fine because that's what matters to some people so good for them.

Well, it goes both ways, you know. Those of us who live in London get sick of hearing how dirty, awful and rude it is - usually from people who live somewhere dreadful like a dull town in the north and wouldn't know culture if it hit them in the face.

Awww, praying for all the poor sneered at Londoners.

And I love that I can go to see immersive fringe theatre for a few quid, and wander from exhibition to exhibition all weekend if I want to, and take gender-neutral dance classes and run in a royal park at lunch time.

When I moved from London to Cornwall I was pleasantly surprised to find I can do all these things here too. It would be the coast path, the beach or the moors rather than a royal Park though for the run.

take gender-neutral dance classes

That is the kind of thing that makes the rest of the country laugh at you.

"somewhere dreadful like a dull town in the north and wouldn't know culture if it hit them in the face."

So who isn't conforming to stereotype now?

usually from people who live somewhere dreadful like a dull town in the north and wouldn't know culture if it hit them in the face

Not doing yourself any favours there.

Which is fine, Pipbin, I'm happy (and I can lead AND follow an excellent foxtrot) and it gives you a laugh that's a bonus.

Also, if I love doing something, and it makes me happy, and 'That is the kind of thing that makes the rest of the country laugh at you', it would rather indicate that there is, in fact, stuff that exists in London but not elsewhere. It's just stuff you don't want to do. AND THAT'S FINE TOO.

Separated - I think the rest of the country was laughing at the assumption that dance classes outside London invariably enforce rigid gender-based dancing, rather than at the idea that those outré metropolitans can lead AND follow at the same class.