Things that have been ruined by other people doing them to

[sunfloweryy]

Was thinking this today when driving to work and taking one of my little shortcuts to beat the traffic. Only bloody everyone knows the shortcuts now so it doesn’t work! Damn them!

Anyone else care to share things that were great until other people got involved?

Climbing. I started climbing at 11 in the early 90s and back then and right through my teens, university and into my 20s it was very much a niche, geeky sport. Not considered 'cool' at all. Now though it's ultra trendy and most climbing walls are like Piccadilly Circus on any given evening and all weekend. You can't move for tripping over hipsters and people live-updating their Insta feed.

I climb outdoors as much as I can - that requires more effort to get to sites, years of learning technique, outlay for equipment and discomfort (as it's invariably freezing) so hasn't been invaded to quite the same extent as indoor climbing.

The city used to be pretty dead after about 8 midweek too.

But when I lived in a London hipster Dalston was a scummy no go area and Stoke Newington was a well kept secret and cheap as chips.

Our lane used to be VERY quiet, 20 years ago when I took DD out for a walk in her pram I could walk for miles and see nobody. Now everybody has a dog, and our area/ lane is featured on every FB page's best doggie walks because it is a quiet country lane and there's a pub at one end of the walk and you can do a cafe the other. They all think to take the dog |OFF the lead they have NO recall and consequently our garden is full of dogs running through/doing a poo, you cannot drive down without having to wait between 5-10 times for somebody to recall a dog (or stop using their mobile and NOTICE there is a car waiting to come past) . It's also used a lot by runners who jog on with earphones in, my record is following one for 1.8 miles (no safe passing spaces at running speed, you can off road and pass a walker)

Mumsnet. Used to brilliant round these parts, until you lot tipped up

We were taken by our German neighbours to a restaurant but told not to tell anyone else otherwise lots of Army people would be going there. We kept it secret for the four years we were there, only to find out that our close friends also went there, secretly!

@GetUpAgain nah, I’ve lived on the northern line my entire life (even did my secondary school commute on it every day for 7 years). It was never better....not even in the days you could smoke and the floor was full of fab butts!

Goat meat. I grew up eating it and it was always so cheap. Then the hipsters got hold of it and now it's £8 a lb on the local market. Same with mutton and offal.

I completely disagree with the gin. Now it's so popular it's actually a lot cheaper with Aldi and Lidl doing their own fabulous versions. I also love the Aldi version of Fevertree.

And places like Venice and Cornwall have always been massively busy in my lifetime.

To the gin lovers - apparently gin is on the way out, and rum is the new trendy thing. Give it a few months and you'll have it all to yourselves again because the trendies will be drinking grapefruit rum cocktails with a slice of car tyre, or some such hideous concoction.

Agreeing with a PP - the internet, it used to be so much better before it became all corporate. You even got a better class of troll.

Quiet back streets for cycling that google maps has ruined

The north and west Lake District. We used to joke that we had graciously given Windermere to the tourists and kept the best bits to ourselves. There were places we could go on a bank holiday Monday that would still be quiet.

Now the bloody tourists are everywhere and if you don't get to a car park before 9am you have no chance of parking. I have one secret spot left and I hope it remains that way!

@NameChange84 I have Coeliac disease too and whilst it's annoying some things are sold out there's usually an alternative. I'm in my twenties and when I was diagnosed age 5 I had to get gluten free food on prescription! There was nothing in the shops and no choices in pubs or restaurants. The people doing it for a fad have actually done me a favour!

Freshwater West beach. Ruined in the holidays now. Used to still be quiet in August. Ruined by Dobby May he RIP.

Also Prosecco. I remember drinking it years ago when it wasn't a thing.

Ditto gin. Now have to say “1 cube of ice!!!”

East London. I was born there and stayed until my early twenties. It was run down and nobody wanted to be there, apart from us indigenous locals who called it home. Now you can’t move for fucking hipsters and braying middle classes who think they’re so edgy and urban, wanky cafes and bars with trust fund kids spilling out of them. £3m houses. None of us can afford to live there anymore.

A lovely place where we go in the summer for a pint used to be dead now always busy

I agree with the pp who said running. Nowadays parkruns attract well over 500 people and you have to enter a race way in advance whereas when I started you could often enter on the day.

And yes holiday destinations. Ban cruise liners, they are about as bad for the planet as flying.

DD’s name...

It's also used a lot by runners who jog on with earphones in, my record is following one for 1.8 miles (no safe passing spaces at running speed, you can off road and pass a walker

That is the absolute height of entitlement. Surely they could have stopped and let you get by?

Gin for me too. I’ve always liked gin. Just plain old (wonderfully unpopular) gin. And people used to screw up their noses and say urgh how can you like gin?

Now liking gin means I’m supposed to drink it in a glass the size of a fishbowl with more ice in it than the North Pole, filled up with flowers and fruit and flotsam. It must be drowned in pints of special tonic and infused with chocolate or bananas or sage.

That’s not gin!!

I have Coeliac disease and Slimming World and Weight Watchers both made certain hard to find gluten free products low points or healthy extras or whatever so a load of people that have absolutely NO problems with gluten started to bulk buy them meaning that those of us who can’t eat gluten had to go without.

But before the gluten free fad, coeliacs could only get gluten free bread, flour and pasta on prescription and it was disgusting! The gluten free fad has definitely had benefits for coeliacs.

Carfest. Was great at the start now it’s just too busy and an excuse to put prices up. Acts not as good not the novelty had worn off. After we queued 1 hour for a pizza last year we decided it would be our last year-

'To the gin lovers - apparently gin is on the way out, and rum is the new trendy thing.'

This was my dread, because rum is my drink. If it added decent rums to the market, then great, but it seems to just make them sickly sweet and sparkly.

Manga, pokemon and Marvel. They've all gone shit/had watered down films made.
Horror films, they're all 15 ratings(as well as the Marvel films) . There's no decent over 18 films, hitting our cinemas.

Doctor Who, the Doctor was male, but we had people who'd never watched it from the start supporting the changes. Since two series ago there's been inconsistencies.

Likewise, TBBT, did the newer writers never watch the original episodes?

Also all of what was our smaller festivals. It's great the African Oye attracts a crowd, but the vibe has changed and it's heaving.