Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be annoyed by people who claim they live in a different area due to snobbery reasons?

312 replies

Rosehip10 · 25/12/2020 09:09

Why do people do this? Are they so insecure they have to pretend they are somewhere else?

I know much of this rubbish comes from estate agents, but some people seem to take it to heart......

Two classic examples from people I know.....

1.) "I live in North West Hampstead" (They live in Cricklewood)

2.) "I'm on Farnham Borders" (They live in Aldershot)

Ridiculous.

OP posts:
FlyNow · 30/12/2020 04:06

I used to roll my eyes at this. Now I live in an area that is fine to live in but isn't well regarded area, and you wouldn't believe the comments I get. "Why on earth would you live there" "Oh! ConfusedConfusedConfused" "How boring" "God I'd never live there". I am so bloody sick of these comments I never say where I live now. Maybe the snobs are everyone else who doesnt live in these areas, and maybe they should get over it.

Monty27 · 30/12/2020 04:11

@DeeCeeCherry

I live in Catford and I've been guilty of saying Forest Hill (and even "south of Greenwich") but it's more because a lot of people have no idea where Catford is

Nah. It's because if you live anywhere past St Dunstan's heading out of Catford, then saying you live in "Forest Hill Borders", even Forest Hill itself, is fair game. & I'm not judging you for it either, loads of people do it😁

Oh I can legitimately say forest hill then 👍😂
EagleFlight · 30/12/2020 04:13

In fairness, I can understand why someone would prefer to live in Farnham than Aldershot. Grin Farnham is much better known though so if explaining to someone who doesn’t know the area, it makes sense. Otherwise, they aren’t even in the same county.

namechangedtoaskaQ · 30/12/2020 05:18

@BeakyWinder

My area is terrible for this. The main town is a permanent fixture in the top 5 worst place to live, but surrounded by several naice villages. Nobody will admit to being associated with crap town. We recently moved to justtt over the invisible border (literally the other side of a mini roundabout from naice village) to upgrade our house massively and DPs mum said "lovely house but it's just such a shame where it is) nutter.
Are you in Scotland? Near J town?
iwasacceptableinthe80s · 30/12/2020 05:42

Years ago when I first moved in with DH we rented a really lovely flat in a dodgy part of Bradford. We never had any problems there, but my mother turned visibly pale when she realised where the flat was, and the snobbier of my aunts always referred to it as being in a better area which was at least a mile away.
I find this kind of geographical creep of place names fascinating! I've seen it from both sides, as I grew up in and now live in places that have very flexible boundaries. My childhood village is notorious for it.

Ginfordinner · 30/12/2020 07:04

[quote SendHelp30]@Ginfordinner I’m not far from you! People are very judgey. Especially school mums! My son will be going to Woolley wood in September and my MIL insists on telling people he’s going to school in Grenoside. It’s not, it’s in parson cross. Who cares 😂[/quote]
I used to do evening classes in Parson Cross. The car park had a security guard on it.

jillypill · 30/12/2020 07:10

Oh yes! I think a lot of the blame on estate agents, if you don't know the area you assume they are right. Clapham Park is a new area not near Clapham.

In the last 10 yrs anyone I've met who lives in Catford says somewhere else.

jillypill · 30/12/2020 07:16

There was a long battle with residents to get Clapham junction known correctly as Battersea & they wanted to change the name of the station.

SendHelp30 · 30/12/2020 09:11

@Ginfordinner that doesn’t surprise me. Unfortunately it just happens to be where the best special school for my son is. The other one we considered was The Rowan School at Dore but can’t meet his needs as well.
Parson Cross it is 🙈

orangeribbon · 30/12/2020 09:29

When I first came to London I rented a flat in Putney, or so the agent said. The postman ring my bell with my first mail to gleefully inform me we were in fact in Wandsworth.

SlipperTripper · 30/12/2020 10:19

@Bagelsandbrie my Nan's hugely snobby mate lived in Addington. My mum and dad didn't like this woman, but used to have to send Christmas cards, had her at their wedding etc. They always used to address things to her as 'Address, Addington, Nr New Addington', and it drove her absolutely barmy 😂

jillypill · 30/12/2020 11:31

Oh the big one is people who cling to Surrey instead of London. My friend from the heath was raised in Surrey don't you know.

Vitaminsss · 30/12/2020 11:42

@jillypill

Oh the big one is people who cling to Surrey instead of London. My friend from the heath was raised in Surrey don't you know.
How bizarre. London is considered much more cool and desirable than Surrey...only those that can’t afford London scuttle off
jillypill · 30/12/2020 12:28

Tbf there are lots of places in Surrey I can't afford but I agree that a London is cooler. Also London wasn't so desirable in the 80s/90s, I had an geography school book that described my birthplace as a slum 🙄

ilovesouthlondon · 30/12/2020 13:14

Putney is in wandsworth! Wandsworth is the Borough.

Ginfordinner · 30/12/2020 13:21

@jillypill

Oh the big one is people who cling to Surrey instead of London. My friend from the heath was raised in Surrey don't you know.
Thornton Heath?

When I was growing up, and until I left Croydon, our address was very much Croydon, Surrey.

Until I joined mumsnet I didn't know that it was now considered London.

jillypill · 30/12/2020 16:30

The boundaries changed years ago

jillypill · 30/12/2020 16:33

Growing up I would call it Croydon & Bromley would be Kent too.

jillypill · 30/12/2020 16:34

My friend knows but she still tells people she lives in Surrey, she is now in Mitcham.

hiredandsqueak · 30/12/2020 16:43

Even developers do it around here. There are new developments being built that are firmly in a village with a poor reputation and yet they are advertised as being in a different neighbouring village when they are surrounded on all sides by the village with a dodgy reputation.
I pity the delivery people searching for addresses in one village when the houses are situated firmly in the middle of the other village.

Original poster
Rosehip10 · 30/12/2020 16:44

@Ginfordinner Croydon has been part of London since 1965.

OP posts:
MasterBeth · 30/12/2020 16:51

@EagleFlight

In fairness, I can understand why someone would prefer to live in Farnham than Aldershot. Grin Farnham is much better known though so if explaining to someone who doesn’t know the area, it makes sense. Otherwise, they aren’t even in the same county.
Why on Earth do you think that Farnham (anonymous commuter town that people confuse with Farnborough if they’ve heard of it at all) is better known than the home of the British Army?
LBOCS2 · 30/12/2020 17:02

My favourite of all of these was when the garage on the corner of the high st and Mayow Rd in Sydenham was briefly 'Mercedes Benz - South Dulwich'. This tickled us a great deal.

Ginfordinner · 30/12/2020 17:12

[quote Rosehip10]@Ginfordinner Croydon has been part of London since 1965.[/quote]
I was never corrected by anyone on that. Until last year I still addressed cards to Croydon, Surrey. Not out of snobbery, but because I didn't know any better.

jillypill · 30/12/2020 17:14

That's fair enough Gin but the people I know who do it do it out of snobbery

Swipe left for the next trending thread