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?

@Arianya

High income, low crime, people who go to work and don’t have time to cause trouble.

I live somewhere like this. We do have a betting shop, a Greggs and a Wetherspoons though. And has a growing number of estates (not sure there are many places that don't, these days. Farnham in Surrey is posh by any measure, but it still has grotty council areas and estates. Ditto Guildford, you wouldn't want to get lost in Park Barn at night).

But it ticks a lot of the other boxes - M&S, Waitrose, lots of trees/very leafy, some roads have houses well set back from the road with double and triple garages, has a zero waste shop etc.

Cash machines dont dispense fivers

I didn't know that any cash machines had fivers, and I've visited and lived in a variety of places, where I grew up was definitely not posh.

I would say places that have a branch of
•Cook
•The White Company
•Jo Jo maman bebe
• Aga shop
• Farrow and Ball

And have waitrose and Co-op as opposed to Asda.

@iCouldSleepForAYear

You know how to ski. Your children are learning how to ski. You travel abroad in the UK winter for a vacation to ski.

If you're more Gen Y than Gen X, snowboard.

Ha yes. The ultimate status symbol of the English middle class - going ski-ing. If everyone you know locally goes ski-ing, you're posh. We do have a snowboard shop!

(doesn't apply to Scotland who can just go up the road to ski, so it's just the same as playing football or running)

@Hairbrush123

Oh it’s Sutton Coldfield the town that refuses to identify as being part of Birmingham. My former manager was from Sutton Coldfield and she’d never say she lives in Birmingham! It’d always be she lives in Sutton Coldfield.

To be fair, there's a game on Sporcle where you have to name the 100 biggest towns/cities in the UK, and Sutton Coldfield is one of them. So by the laws of Sporcle, it is separate

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

This.

Supermarkets are waitrose and sainsbury's rather than tesco/asda

I once heard, though it may have been apocryphal, that Tesco's n Hindhead in Surrey only sells their Finest range.

Basically Clifton, Bristol. The high street is a "village" and has a Farrow and Ball showroom (not shop). Sunday breakfast is a £4 croissant from a little independent. Kids go here.

www.cliftoncollege.com/about/welcome/

I've lived in Bath, Durham and Harrogate, which probably sound posh but do not give you a good experience without having a minimum of £600k for a house.

London is so different though. I’m World Class Wealth on the Experian thing, but on my local high street we have a Lidl, Poundland, lots of chicken shops, a v wide range of nail bars, betting shops and tanning salons,, a Spoons and a Greggs. Also a Waitrose, a posh Pret, a Gails, an independent bakers and an eco weigh your own store.

@BigWoollyJumpers

Certainly not somewhere where the inhabitants call themselves 'posh'. That is just so common .

😂 - spot on.

I understood the definition of posh is not having a McDonald's within walking distance.

Four oaks is fairly the rest is just big standard.

Funnily enough, I've just spent a few days in a nice Birmingham suburb.
The local shops consist of Waitrose, a lovely greengrocer and fruiterer( a long time since I've seen that word on a shop front) a Lebanese cafe, a plant shop, and an Oliver Bonas, to name but a few.

Interestingly, no nail bars, no fast food outlets other than a chippy which serves side dishes by a Michelin starred chef (!), Edinburgh Woollen Mill has closed down (!) and there was a distinct yummy mummy vibe.

No houses in grey and no grey composite doors with those little windows to the side and a long handle ( all the rage round my neck of the woods) lots of stained glass windows .
Hardly anyone with brightly coloured hair ( which stuck out , strangely.)

A PP mentioned Edgbaston. Im thinking Harborne.

@LegMeChicken I can’t believe anybody would ever call Alderley Edge posh, tacky maybe. During uni a placement I rented a one bed flat about ten minutes from the centre of Alderley Edge for £400 a month (about 8 years ago). Somebody had previously been hostage by crossbow in the flat.

The absence of pound shops, betting shops, any kind of discount shop.
Quaint coffee shops, a funeral home, Waitrose, bungalow style family pubs in beautiful 'green' surroundings, not an overflowing bin in sight. Lots of trees lining residential streets. Houses that cant be seen fully from the road that's posh...... it was fun writing all that.

[quote elbea]@LegMeChicken I can’t believe anybody would ever call Alderley Edge posh, tacky maybe. During uni a placement I rented a one bed flat about ten minutes from the centre of Alderley Edge for £400 a month (about 8 years ago). Somebody had previously been hostage by crossbow in the flat.[/quote]
My meaning of 'posh' is moneyed, which Alderley Edge clearly is.
A crossbow certainly isn't something the 'proles' would know how to use. I'd argue that it strengthens my case!

But as I mentioned earlier I'm not British. So I don't quite know what posh means. People around me use it for all sorts, including things that aren't particularly luxurious.

@goodnightsugarpop
I am in London too. I was thinking muswell hill, Highgate, crouch end etc - those are definately posh to me!

I understood the definition of posh is not having a McDonald's within walking distance

I’d imagine that rules out the whole of central London. The queen will be sad.

@Fridafever

I understood the definition of posh is not having a McDonald's within walking distance

I’d imagine that rules out the whole of central London. The queen will be sad.

She'll be fine, she gets hers delivered by Deliveroo.

Pretentious people surely?

I am thoroughly enjoying how scathing everyone is being on this thread about Sutton.

@BobblyBlueJumper

I am thoroughly enjoying how scathing everyone is being on this thread about Sutton.

Of course they are! The minute anyone sticks their head above the parapet and names something that they think is ‘posh’ on these threads MN has to disabuse them of that notion. Actually, what the poster (or on this case the friend) thought was posh is very common / nouveau. Of course, by knowing the difference, the poster demonstrates their own greater proximity to poshness.

Hence the post on the first page referring to old bangers and stately piles. We’ve all seen a million threads where some posters end up salivating over the supposed characteristics of the genuinely posh.

No greggs no Iceland no bargain booze, no Lidl.
Not within walking distance anyway.

Only Tesco extra, m and s and independent shops selling overpriced candles etc.

Semi detached mostly and no on street parking required usually as everyone has space on the drive for at least two cars.

And trees on the street. Preferably blossom.

@DrManhattan

Cash machines dont dispense fivers

Mine doesn't even do tenners at the moment, we're dead posh, even Travolta uses the nearby Spoonies!

[quote elbea]@LegMeChicken I can’t believe anybody would ever call Alderley Edge posh, tacky maybe. During uni a placement I rented a one bed flat about ten minutes from the centre of Alderley Edge for £400 a month (about 8 years ago). Somebody had previously been hostage by crossbow in the flat.[/quote]
Certainly not as posh as it was, even the expensive parts of Cheshire aren't posh, they simply have a lot of expensive shops for the wags of highly paid sportsmen!

No Gregs, fried chicken or kebab shops. No dog shit every few bloody metres and little rubbish on the ground. No betting shops (and no crackheads fighting outside them!). No visible drunk/drugged up people and no/few beggars. No permanent cheery wankered dancing bloke in the local park playing loud 90s rave music 300 days of the year. Not much street crime. The opposite of where I live! (I actually really like it.)