Sick of some Cornish people bleating on as though they are the worlds only tourist destination

[Endlesssummer2022]

Just read the article below and found a few gems such as these:

’ have you ever wondered where the local people live? Or have you noticed that many of your holiday neighbours are recognisable in the narrow lanes of the pretty fishing villages because they are the same people you live near in London?’

and…

‘Despite what you may have read, we Cornish do welcome visitors and are happy to share our love of our land with you. But it might help if you do a bit of research – Cornwall is fiercely independent and has a proud and unique history and heritage…* *And try not to be rude to local people. If you’ve been asked to not drink from a glass bottle on the beach, there is a reason for that. Don’t forget to tip waiting staff. ‘

What patronising bollocks. So Londoner’s (as those are apparently the only people who visit Cornwall) are so untraveled and boorish we need to be told not to be rude to people, pay tips, not to smash glass bottles in sand, that we’ve bought all of their houses, that it’s ‘their’ land and we’re the ones who are rude?

I’d already decided I wouldn’t go back there after how some of them carried on during Covid but this article has pissed me off. Why would anyone go there when they can go to equally lovely places in the UK/World and not be treated with contempt?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/29/welcome-to-cornwall-please-dont-ruin-it-for-us-local-people

I couldn't agree more OP. We used to love visiting Cornwall but stopped going a few years ago after the anti-tourist (especially anti-London) attitudes. That film "Fisherman's Friends" was the nail in the coffin tbh

The Cornish people hate tourists. You only need to go on any local Facebook group to see the comments the locals make about the 'visitors'. I still go every year but I have been met with utter hostility in some shops etc.

Same here. It's such a beautiful place (in parts) but these strange attitudes aren't worth it.

I don't believe the people who say these sorts of things never go on holiday, they're the tourist somewhere. But that's OK, because they're not the tourist in Cornwall.

‘Despite what you may have read, we Cornish do welcome visitors and are happy to share our love of our land with you. But it might help if you do a bit of research – Cornwall is fiercely independent and has a proud and unique history and heritage… And try not to be rude to local people. If you’ve been asked to not drink from a glass bottle on the beach, there is a reason for that. Don’t forget to tip waiting staff.

I have no idea how you could object to any of that.

And if it was my food shops being cleared out by tourists, my local roads clogged so I couldn't get to work, and my community destroyed by second homes I'd probably be a bit narked too.

Hmm. I am currently in Cornwall (first visit in years) and have been surprised by how lovely the locals have been. Maybe it’s because I am not a Londoner 😉

Can't speak for Cornwall, but I'm from an unfortunately pretty place in the Scottish Highlands. Regrettably, tourists do need to be told how to behave. Normal decent people must turn into selfish careless horrors while o. holiday!
Just this week I would have liked to tell tourists not to kill me with their cars, urinate against the wall of the local shop whilst 50feet from the public toilets, park on the pavement, park horizontally across the main A road (blocking both directions for ten minutes), etc etc. I could go on.
The tourists we used to get here were nice and I liked them, but something has gone very wrong with the attitude of a good number of them in the last few years. I sympathize with the Cornish.

The “second home” moaning always gets me … who do “the locals” think sold the property that was bought by the “second home” brigade ? Other locals, who want to cash in

Maybe they should stop selling to outsiders, and accept that they will have to accept less for the properties they are selling.

The Cornish attitude to tourists is strange given how much their economy depends on tourism.

…and maybe they need to stop blocking the development of affordable homes https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/affordable-homes-cornwall-refused-following-8425982.amp

To be fair, I'd imagine city dwellers probably tip more than the Cornish locals do!

Today I had to reverse seven, yes seven times in a stretch of narrow road because “visitors” just stop, grin inanely, and seem unable to find their reverse gear. It’s as if it’s all part of a holiday adventure for them. It is tedious, boring and infuriating and makes it hard not to get irritated when you are goi g about your daily business. I’ve lived in Cornwall for 50 years and the attitude and behaviour of visitors is getting worse. I seldom drive anywhere on changeover day if I can avoid it

I wouldn't go to Cornwall and spend my money after the behaviour during Covid. If we can F off then we can F off now.

The absolute arrogance astounds me.

Because it’s patronising and rude. There is no need to explain to grown adults who weren’t dragged up not to be rude to people, to pay tips in restaurants or that glass breaks and gets stuck in sand. Or that an area has a unique history and culture - everywhere does. It’s as if she thinks all tourists are thick boors.

They probably feel the need to say it because 'Don't send your dog off to play with the sheep because 'playing' means ripping them to pieces', 'Setting light to thousands of acres of important wildlife habitat on the moors because you wanted some sausages and couldn't be fucked to pour some water over it afterward is downright arseholery', 'Shitting on the beach, in carparks and our front fucking gardens is not considered a quaint custom', 'Being rescued from your blow up dinghy or surfboard before you drown or die of hypothermia by volunteers who literally risk death to get people like you back to shore alive is not an important rite of Cornish passage' and 'Getting so drunk that you vomit over our doorsteps and take up space in the next to bugger all Accident & Emergency provision down here really tends to piss us off' tends to cause even more offence.

People can be absolute pricks, and even more so when on holiday.

Country lanes are country lanes though, the UK is chock full of them. This isn't a problem exclusive to Cornwall. I had to reverse for an oncoming tractor what seemed like a millennia the other week and I live hours away from Cornwall.

I'm a Cornish local and I can assure you that I am very lovely.

However, I love where I live but it becomes utterly vile during Summer. The roads, the beaches the shops etc. Thats why some of us may get grumpy,

I've seen lots and lots of appalling behaviour from tourists over the years. The worst was 2021 when the Benidorm Brigade landed.

I'm not sure I'd base my view of an entire county (and over half a million people) based on a Guardian article, a film and a few random bits of mildly patronising advice to tourists.

I've visited a few times and enjoyed myself. Not as good as Norfolk 😉 but not bad.

If you're offended then quite simply you're one of the people who needa to be told. The fact you're upset by it means you can't politely visit these places and so you not going back is doing them a favour.

Somebody else's home should be treated with respect. That extends to the general area and one twit won't make an area bad but thousands descending every day is a nightmare. You wouldn't want it in your back yard. Not to mention issues to local economy, property prices and roads and infrastructure.

Just be courteous to the fact the world doesn't revolve around you and aware of the fact you aren't any different to the last 500 families that arrived before you that season.

I used to live in a tourist town and visitors are awful and entitled, around 90 percent of the time. The remaining 10 percent are lovely and are welcomed but unfortunately after being burnt many locals are sick of the nonsense.

Yeah, same up here. They also can't seem to understand the need to adhere to the bloody tide times. Every sodding year!

I offer sympathy for anyone who had to experience that

@Teddypops - the Benidorm Brigade? Can you explain?

Brits abroad, the type of tourists the Spanish are keen to see the back of.

I expect they are happy to take the tourist pound though. I would think it's mainly tourism that keeps a lot of the local businesses going.

And yes that article is patronising AF.

Oh I see, so stuff like this never happens:

https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/19380722.harwich-teen-slashes-toe-broken-beer-bottle-dumped-beach/

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/bournemouth-beach-rubbish-heatwave-major-incident-a4480776.html

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/boy-11-scarred-red-hot-27449954

https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/22/tourists-are-pooing-residential-areas-public-toilets-are-closed-12741659/

Seriously, you've met people, right? Anyone who's ever worked in customer service could tell you that a sizeable proportion of the population are not that bright, or that considerate.

I’d already decided I wouldn’t go back there

I think that's called a fait accompli