To want to knock sense into family over local area....

[woolythoughts]

I grew up in a city well known for jokes about stealing car wheels etc. I always felt as though I didn’t fit in and left as soon as I could. I couldn’t deal with the chip on shoulder attitude of a lot of residents - we’d be such a great city again if it wasn’t for or near neighbour city sucking everything up.

My family still live there so I come back and visit regularly. When I point out that:

1. Every supermarket I’ve been in won’t take the security tag off at the self service until you’ve actually paid is something I’ve only see here - most other places will do it after they’ve approved it or as you are scanning

1. A lot of the local petroleum stations and convenience stores won’t take contactless due to fraud

1. Virtually every petrol station limits fuelling to 50 litres - you have to pay then go back and filll the rest of the tank!

There are many other small things which when added together don’t make for a good environment.

I point this out and I get told everywhere is like this these days.

No it isn’t !

It’s only to be expected a

No it isn’t!

But god forbid I suggest there is actually a problem and I get told not to slag off my home town.

I guess the reason I’m angry is we came up in a new car this weekend which promptly got keyed when parked up.

Family are obviously sympathetic but in general there is a view that what do you expect driving a car like that here and if you can afford said car you can afford to fix it.

Hat sort of attitude is prevalent and I’ve hated it since I was old enough to realise it existed!

I just want to shake the family and make them realise it’s not like that everywhere!

I've lived in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester. In every single one, I have lived in parts where there was little crime and everything was very open, and also in areas where crime was very high, everything was security tagged, off-licence shelves were like banks with all the bottles behind the counter which was protected by reinforced wired glass walls.

You can't define an entire city on the events that happen in small area. There was a shooting near where I live a couple of weeks ago (I am in a major city). Yet my local supermarket has pay at pump up to £99, the shops take contactless and people park their cars on the road without worrying.

Try being a bit more self-aware; visiting your parents and immediately going off into a rant about how crappy the area is, comes across as being incredibly patronising and rude.

Surely you get rough parts and nice parts in any city??
I live in Liverpool and would never leave I love it - though I live in south Liverpool and none of the things you describe happen where I am, but I work in the north end and while it is a different kind of place, I just choose not to live there.

I think you come across as really patronising and a complete snob. No wonder they're pissed off with you.

Armoured glass in the off-licence is not normal outside of Liverpool.
Shutters on every closed shop is not normal outside of Liverpool.

Rubbish! I've been to off-licences in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester where this is perfectly normal. It depends on what area you are in. Likewise shutters on shops - most of the shops where I live have shutters on them when they are closed and crime isn't especially high here.

As somebody that has lived in Norris green, Kirby, Widnes , Bootle and now Skelmersdale I can tell you that you are categorically wrong and seem to enjoy being a goady fucker. None of what you are saying makes sense (petroleum station?) and it seems you really do like lording yourself over other people, especially your family. Now us scousers are pretty welcoming but please, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

And for the record, off licences in Kirby and Norris green have no touch wine. Because the actions of a few bad eggs mean that their insurance premiums are through the roof so they have to put in extra measures to protect their bottom line.

Skelmersdale also has a bad reputation. People whine and moan about the immigrants and crime and poor social housing but totally ignore the good stuff. The Polish shop in the conny is brilliant, i make the best chicken wings ever with their brilliant range of spices. A homeless man was stabbed out side Maccy's, which is very worrying but the community rallied together to raise money for him to get help. We do not have a cinema or bowling alley but we have loads and loads of green spaces and parks. My 15 year old has barley touched his tablet, him and his mates have spent days building tree houses down the Tawd and damning the river etc. Where else can kids have that free range childhood and go home to their secure council house that is cheap as chips. Our crime is really not that bad and I love this town.

Basically there are two types of people in the world. People like me that see the world as a positive place that I can help to improve for the next generation......and people like you that would rather nuke it as its so very distasteful to your delicate cuntish sensibilities.

How will them acknowledging it’s not ‘normal’ enhance your life? What result are you actually looking for here? What do you want them to do about it?
Honestly, banging on about it isn’t going to help anything. Them agreeing with you will give you what? A moments satisfaction? Then they’ll keep living there, and you’ll keep hating it. I really don’t get what you’re trying to achieve.

Off locences in other cities have bullet proof glass🙄
I adore Liverpool. Moved here about 6 years ago and I am staying. As every city it has its problems and bad areas. Obviously!

I live in Walton and I am really happy here. Nice quiet estate.

I assume your car being keyed had a different reason than just it being a nice car in Bootle.

The thing that's really pissing me off about this thread is the people who think they are an authority on Liverpool culture because they know someone who knows someone who once worked in Liverpool or had a ex-partner form Liverpool in 1980 and has some story about petty crime in the area.

Do you ever wonder why Liverpool has this reputation with people who don't even know the place reinforcing this stereotype from about 50 years ago! Times change. Liverpool is no worse than any other UK city for crime. Come and see for yourself. I think you'd be surprised.

@DreamingofSummer

'More trivially, shell suits with white socks in not normal outside of Liverpool.'

Dreaming, do you drive a deLorean? You've obviously popped back to the late 80's

You have the right to think these things, but sometimes it’s just best to keep your thoughts to yourself. You won’t change your families minds, so why cause an upset. Save your breath for your porridge.

OP, you chose to live elsewhere, that's great for you. Your problem appears to be that you are slagging off the city to the people that still live there, have roots there and a love and fierce loyalty for the place.

I don't live in Liverpool but in the north and have a friend that emigrated and comes back "home" and slags everything off about the place which pisses me off no end particularly when I have been to her "world's best city" in Australia and see the graffiti, the way the indigenous people are treated, the homeless, the cost of the place, the lack of greenery, the crap shops .....

And I think to myself, glad you fucked off.

Bootle’s not a massive part of Liverpool how many supermarkets and petrol stations are you going into?!

I live in Old Swan which is a stones throw from Kensington and haven’t experienced what you’re talking about.

My mum’s car was broken into four times in a year on our drive and we were burgled once as well. This was leafy London suburbia, a very affluent area. I’ve lived here nearly 15 years and while there is of course crime and rough folk this is the same of anywhere!

What are you wanting your family to do about these issues you raise though? Liverpool is a great city in many respects and always has been, despite its problems. Lots of urban areas are riddled with crime, it goes with the territory. I live in a SE commuter town (now city), £3 pregnancy tests are in a security box, fatal shootings/stabbings are not unusual, people have cars vandalised, homes are burgled.

I still think I live in a great city because the facilities and opportunities for my children, we couldn't get in a less urbanized area. They do niche sports with elite coaches, so much varied extra curricular, we have the pick of great schools, well funded parks and leisure centres.

I did giggle at the person offering an early 80s anecdote. That's before I was born and I'm not young!

Oh fgs. Those things happen everywhere. My very boring old car got keyed in very posh Birkdale the other day...it’s jusy mindless idiots. There are so many good people and things in Liverpool and surrounding areas. Your examples of tags in supermarkets ..same in Manchester and Birmingham and as someone said early on in London. Petrol can have up to £99 in all local ones including the Asda in bootle.

You must drive your family mad moaning. If you don’t like it don’t visit I’m sure no one would mind.

For anyone due to visit please don’t take this as a representation of Liverpool it’s a fun vibrant place with lots and wonderful friendly people. Yeah we’ve got scallies where hasn’t.

Keyed cars happen everywhere. It happened to mine in a highly sought after village.

As a native of Wirral who is married to a Huytonian, I am well used to people claiming to be "from Liverpool".

I’ve never lived in Liverpool, but was born there. My Scouse roots are one of the things I’m most proud of. I’ve met some very lovely people from there, so it can’t be all bad.

Also - security tags kept on till after payment - standard, I'd have thought.
50 litre cut off for petrol - how bloody big are some people's tanks??! Our Zafira takes 60l, so unless run down to near empty, it rarely needs as much as 50 to fill it.
I can still remember when bus drivers weren't behind screens, a long time ago. Now, everywhere I regularly spend time in - Glasgow, Wirral, Dundee, chiefly - they are present. Again, it's standard these days.

Skelmersdale also has a bad reputation. People whine and moan about the immigrants and crime and poor social housing but totally ignore the good stuff. The Polish shop in the conny is brilliant, i make the best chicken wings ever with their brilliant range of spices. A homeless man was stabbed out side Maccy's, which is very worrying but the community rallied together to raise money for him to get help. We do not have a cinema or bowling alley but we have loads and loads of green spaces and parks. My 15 year old has barley touched his tablet, him and his mates have spent days building tree houses down the Tawd and damning the river etc. Where else can kids have that free range childhood and go home to their secure council house that is cheap as chips. Our crime is really not that bad and I love this town

Aw! Grew up in Skem, damned the river, built tree houses - nearly 40 years ago now! We moved when I was a teen because there was no work, but its lovely to think kids are still doing that now! Feel all nostalgic :) Is Elmers Green school still there?

Having grown up near there it's fair to say bootle is proper rough . The ops car got keyed because crime is high there not just by weird coincidence. It's deprived town and not really part of Liverpool city itself as op says.

It looks as rough as it feels as well.

You may have heard of bootle because their strand shopping centre is where Jamie bulger was snatched from.

What has this poor Skem river done that's so awful it's been damned?

I feel your pain!!!!

I have the same with my family. They still live in a town where stealing is an everyday thing.

They just can't see how awful it has become. It's got to the point where I hate visiting the place. You can't even go out for drink and the pubs are full of delinquents and thugs.

"Jamie bulger"
James. "Jamie" was a tabloid invention.

The responses on this thread making out that the OP is the problem are testament to the fact that lots of people in this country would rather put up with and normalise shit behaviour and tolerate living in shitholes than do anything to challenge or improve it. Liverpudlians used to be notorious for this kind of maudlin romanticising but Mancs are coming up fast to challenge them for their crown.

Bootle is very close to me, I'm Liverpool boundary, but only just. I was there today and it is very very community based. Myself and DH stick out like a sore thumb, because although I'm North Liverpool born and raised, I went to a posher high school with lots of South Liverpool children (DH included) so I don't have the scouse accent hardly at all.
I have a brand new car and was very wary of where I parked it today, it's so sad, the area is run down but there's actually so much more on for families and children. My part of Liverpool (even though close to Bootle) is seen as the nicer part of North Liverpool and there's hardly any type of council input for activities for children etc

But you're right, not everywhere is like Bootle. I worked around there as a teenager and night shifts were terrifying, I think we were the only store to have a Bouncer on the door 😳