To wonder what makes an area “posh”?

[NotCure172]

Just came back from a friend’s house in a very leafy suburb of West Midlands city. She loves talking about how posh it is where lives but I asked her what does it mean to live in a posh area? How do you know it’s posh? She couldn’t really answer my question and the area was very average.

How do you define a “posh” area?

@MephistophelesApprentice

When the cheapest chicken shop is Nando's.

As soon as Nandos move within a mile the area is no longer posh

My goodness, anyone who makes a fuss about how posh their area is is vulgar and social climber type ergo not at all posh.

I just it on the shopfronts -

Lots of: waitrose, wagamama, 5 guys, sainsbury, costa, Nero etc. Lots of little shops selling pointless niknaks, shops entirely full of candles. ALDI has crept in here I think. Lots of independent shops and restaurants.

No: Southern fried chicken or variations, Asda, Iceland, Primark. Lots of charity shops and nail bars. Spoons.

Indeterminate status: Morrisons, Lidl.

@DrManhattan

Cash machines dont dispense fivers

No cash points have £5?

In one area of London you get £50 notes

Indeterminate status: Morrisons, Lidl.

Neither is indeterminate. Neither is posh.

No Greggs

There's a Greggs near Marylebone & Earl's court.

@whoatealltheeggs

No Greggs

There's a Greggs near Marylebone & Earl's court.

Earls Court isnt posh!

Doesn’t it just mean high house prices? Struggling to think of a cheap area that would be considered posh or an expensive one that’s rough.

Obviously what counts as cheap can vary regionally.

I got fivers out of a cash machine the other day! Couldn't believe it, haven't seen that since university 25 years ago where I'd take out a fiver for a night out

Not sure that posh areas have any shops in them?

Leafy suburb sounds fairly posh tbh.

In any case, definitions of "posh" are all relative. A lot of people think I'm posh because I speak with a Southern accent (don't live in the south), am Oxbridge educated, have a masters degree and a "big" job. And I suppose I do live a very middle class lifestyle. However, I have working class roots, went to a bog standard state comprehensive and live in a smallish house in a fairly ordinary neighbourhood. So by some people's standards, I'm probably pretty common.

High housing costs
Housing stock involving high percentage of
larger detached houses and less flats/HA/LA
High employment rates
Population educated to a higher than average
level
Supermarkets are waitrose and sainsbury's
rather than tesco/asda

I live in this place. We have a Tesco Metro and a Spar. The area next door is similar and they have a Co op and a Tesco Metro.

Having said that, the Tesco’s always stock bloody ‘Finest’ or whatever it is. You can’t get toilet cleaner but you can get top of the range truffle oil or whatever.

You're right, Morrisons and Lidl are wannabe.

Somewhere with a White Stuff, Fatface, Jigsaw and Boden

No caravans parked on driveways, no sofas in the front gardens, no english football flags hanging from windows, no burnt out cars in the street and no local chavs walking big Rottweilers or drinking in the street.

If you can say no to all of these i would say youve got a quite nice area 😀

You can’t get toilet cleaner but you can get top of the range truffle oil

Well, have you tried that?

@SummaLuvin

is it Edgbaston? Parts look very average, but others streets are stunning. Georgian mansion after Georgian mansion.

Sutton Coldfield

@MySecretHistory

Not sure that posh areas have any shops in them?

Wimbledon village? Marleybone High St? That part of the cotswolds that has endless farm shops?

(Cotwolds is my definition of posh, only place I've ever been asked if I was weekending at my second home )

@MySecretHistory parts of it are certainly very expensive, flats can go for millions

@whoatealltheeggs

Well in MNs land it would only be posh if the residents looked unkempt with old clothes & were driving bangers back to their freezing, falling down stately homes!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Lots of: waitrose, wagamama, 5 guys,
sainsbury Costa, Nero etc

No Costa near me. We have 3 independent coffee shops.

No rusting home appliances or mattresses in the front garden. Nobody in pajamas in supermarket/newsagents/bookmakers/school. Dogs are show dogs or mutts from the pound rather than fighting dogs.

Baseball bats are always seen with baseball gloves and helmets.

I live in an area often described as posh. Its characterised by small villages where the residents are very high income, very little rented housing, typical house prices £700k plus for a 3 bed, most housing is detached.

It's so location dependent. I live in an area where 700k would only get you a flat, a terrace is over 1m, with loads of rentals. Chicken shops on the high street though.

@Pennox

I just it on the shopfronts -

Lots of: waitrose, wagamama, 5 guys, sainsbury, costa, Nero etc. Lots of little shops selling pointless niknaks, shops entirely full of candles. ALDI has crept in here I think. Lots of independent shops and restaurants.

No: Southern fried chicken or variations, Asda, Iceland, Primark. Lots of charity shops and nail bars. Spoons.

Indeterminate status: Morrisons, Lidl.

5 Guys isn't posh. If they were aiming at the leafy middle class market, which is what I suspect a lot of people are talking about, they'd offer an actual food choice to vegans and vegetarians that wasn't simply a burgerless burger IYSWIM.

It's an interesting question. Usually you just know. Historically, it's to do with all the industry and sewage facilities being near the city's main river and the posh side is upwind of these and the less posh side that gets all the dust and smells downwind.

These days, people use their money to live near the best schools, then it was away from the worst smells. Then it's self perpetuating. The nicer restaurants and shops open up where it's perceived that the people with money live.

I’ve been told I live in a “posh” area. Average house price ~£700k, Waitrose & John Lewis nearby, very low unemployment, very good state schools, excellent links to the rest of the country by train & road.

Funnily enough I live in the West Midlands too. Where are you referring to?