Why do people think Londoners are rude?

[beejeez]

I'm obviously biased as I'm originally from London, but why do people think Londoners are rude?

I was there a few days ago and it was so great to be back. I find true Londoners so friendly (OK, maybe not when commuting in and out of work, but definitely the rest of the time).

If you talk to them then they are really friendly back!

I am from Scotland and we say hi to people we pass out on a walk etc but everytime I have visited London I have found Londoners to be friendly and helpful. They may not start chatting to you randomly but if they can see you need help with the map or if you ask them a question they are lovely

I find true Londoners so friendly

What’s a true Londoner? I’m a Londoner and there are just Londoners and tourists. ‘True’ sounds a bit iffy.

I live in north east London and it's the best community I've ever lived in. I can't leave my house without seeing someone I know, but because it's London, if I don't want to talk, I can just say hi and keep going. In Wales where I grew up, it's much more gossipy and parochial, people in your business whether or not you want them too be. In central London, everything moves fast, and everyone's on their way somewhere. It's more that than rudeness.

And yes to having a dog. Everyone chats to me on the tube when my dog is with me, wherever I am!

I grew up in a town in the midlands and lived in two northern cities before moving to London. London has been the friendliest out of them all. Easy to meet people and make friends, and far, far more accepting of people’s differences. In my hometown if you were anything outside of the very narrowly defined “norm” in the way you dressed, your interests or aspirations, you’d be considered a weirdo, but nobody really stands out in London. The borough I live in now had a great local community with initiatives to help people in need, friendly locals and a dog walking group who are now all friends (including me) but met simply through walking in the park.

I don’t see what’s rude about not talking to strangers on the tube, though. I don’t think ignoring strangers is inherently rude! I don’t think anyone spoke to me on my commutes in Leeds or Manchester either - and I found it harder to make friends there as a lot of people seemed to have established groups and have an attitude of not needing any more friends.

I suppose a true Londoner would refer to someone born and bred in London, rather than someone who has moved to London to live.

People who think this tend to be judging the worst of Londoners in the environments that bring out the worst in people.
The self important men with their Big Jobs tutting at tourists who faff about on the tube. Taxi drivers hooting at people who are in the wrong lane. Cyclists jumping lights and so on. People from outside the city tend to frequent the busiest and most stressful spots, get in people's way and bring out the worst in them.
When you interact with people appropriately in shops, hospitality, ask for directions, find yourself in the same queue, or at a concert, there's not really any difference from anywhere else imo.

This just isn't true though. I've literally done this and had people care for me.

Although there will always be exceptions I have generally found southerners to be far more abrasive than northerners. I don't know why, it's just an observation.

IME and IMO it's the crowd coming in to work or for a day trip who barge into people, speak rudely to staff in cafes etc, not those of us who actually live in London.
If you are a tourist/day tripper/commuter to London you're likely to be in train stations/the central parts/South Bank etc, which are busy and full of other non-Londoners. So you'll likely go home with the impression that 'London' is unfriendly, crowded etc, when in fact it's only certain bits of it, and other people who don't live here, who fit that bill!

I grew up in a miserable Midlands town and found and still find it much more unfriendly. And other places (Sheffield, Bexhill, Brighton all spring to mind) too. In London I greet everyone in shops, cafes etc with 'hello' or 'all right?' and almost always get a nice response. In other places I tend to get a silence and an impatient glare, like 'Just tell me what you want.'
In my neighbourhood I know loads of my neighbours and everyone who works in the area. I spend ages sometimes out on a 'quick' errand, passing the time of day with everyone I love it here.

VED across the nation goes into general taxation, some of which will be doled out to highways authorities (both local councils and National Highways) across the nation for use on road maintenance. There hasn't been a ringfenced Road Fund since 1937. Band D Council Tax in some London boroughs is as low as 2% of average earnings. A fifth of what it is in the South West and the North.

Don't make me laugh about the government investing in public transport outside of London. They've been cutting back investment like there's no tomorrow. Pretty much everything promised for the North East has been cancelled or kicked into the long grass. What schemes in the North West survive are hanging on by a thread. As for the South West, GWR have been ordered by Whitehall to retire an entire fleet of trains without full replacement, leading to frequency reductions in Devon and Cornwall (these aren't ghost trains mind, they're notorious for overcrowding).

The average Londoner gets four times the amount of public transport subsidy of someone in the East Midlands. You really need to check your privilege before making wild claims that you are subsidising the rest of the UK.

Your claim that London motorists are somehow subsidising the roads in the rest of the country is utterly risible. I wonder just how much VED is collected in London anyway, given that most cars which people can drive in the ULEZ will be exempt (ULEZ/CC charges go straight to the Mayor's budget of course).

I suppose, I’ve lived in London since I was a baby and I see being a Londoner as a mindset, much like New Yorkers. I don’t think you need to be born and bred here to be a Londoner.

I don’t think Londoners are rude just not as friendly, the friendliest people live in the North West of England, my SIL is amazed when I chat to random people in queues or supermarkets she’s not rude just wouldn’t enter her head to have ‘chit chat’ it always amazes me how Londoners don’t move for ambulances though,I find that really strange.

Eh? We definitely do move for ambulances, unless it is literally impossible. Not sure what you're on about there

And Londoners do engage in random chit chat. Just has to be in the right situation. In a queue maybe, or while waiting for something, maybe in a bar, especially outside if you smoke. Sometimes even on a bus. Or if it's Christmas/ NYE or Carnival EVEN on the tube.
Just don't stand at the top or bottom of a busy moving escalator at Victoria Station with all your suitcases and you'll be fine.

Which Londoners ? 😂😂😂 I can assure you we do

This thread is actually hilarious! Guys, there's pricks everywhere, every.single.town or city! So it's the most pathetic and pointless argument. Yes London has lots of rude people, so does everywhere else so you can all stand down now. You're welcome

Agree.

I find it’s usually people who expect people to be ready or want to chit chat and make conversation when many don’t want to for their own personal reasons (which is not rudeness) and lacking self-awareness like groups that walk or even stand in the middle of pavements blocking people from both sides, forcing them to manoeuvre around them and thinking everyone else is rude for grumbling and giving them looks, even worse when it’s in front of shops.

I love London and my parents love to go there when they come from overseas and always rave about how nice people are. I’ve been all over London and rarely have issues. Heck, it is a place I like to escape to. I’ve had people offer to help me with my luggage and pram when doing public transport, seats offered when I was pregnant without asking, tons of friendly conversations with people, but I didn’t force it or expect people to want to chit chat, and people more readily read the cues of “not wanting to be bothered” which is a major plus to me when I’ve been talked at for hours and just want some peace.

I have never been to London so will not comment on people there. I am however from Newcastle, supposedly one of the friendliest places. I can confirm in no uncertain terms there are plenty of arseholes here. Most people are nice but I’ve found that true pretty much everywhere I’ve been.
I really don’t like it when strangers strike up conversations when I’m shattered and just want to do what I need to do and go home, it’s nothing personal, just likely I’ve had about 4 hours broken sleep with a head in my ribs and feet in my face and haven’t really got the energy for it.
Different strokes for different folks and all that

Why would you want to smile and talk to complete strangers in the underground or tram

Was he an extra from Mary Poppins?
😂

@isadoradancing123 because when you smile the world smiles with you. Scientifically I think endorphins are also released. One can progress a very long way by being pleasant and pleasing.

"lacking self-awareness like groups that walk or even stand in the middle of pavements blocking people from both sides, forcing them to manoeuvre around them and thinking everyone else is rude for grumbling and giving them looks, even worse when it’s in front of shops."
This.
See also people who get to the ticket barrier with massive crowds behind them, and don't have their card ready and hold everyone up while they fumble about. Just move to one side!
Or the people who stand 2 abreast on the escalators or stop at the top or bottom of them for a chat. We are literally going to crash into you!!!
So maybe it's those people who should be called out for rudeness for having no perception that they are getting in everyone's way.
And I honestly don't know any Londoners who think they're better than everyone else (except maybe straight after the Brexit vote when we thought most of England had gone mad) but I have experienced a lot of inverse snobbery from people from elsewhere who like to say Londoners think they're better

I agree with all this. I think part of the problem is that tourists go into “holiday mode” and so end up being even slower and less aware of their surroundings than they would be at home, then find it odd that people who are trying to get to work are less than amused by their inability to get on a bus properly or stand on an escalator. But those tourists would find it just as frustrating if their journey to work back at home was being held up like this (and I’ve lived in lots of places- people are grumpy about delays on their commute everywhere).

But sadly this behaviour is not limited to tourists.

Every week my progress through shops and supermarkets is impeded by prams and Trollopes or groups of people blocking an aisle. Sometimes it’s understandable but most often the person could be more aware.

The issue is that SO many people lack spatial awareness.

*trollies