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

Have you been to bournemouth/poole? There isn't land or fields to open up.. it's all fully built up

Arghhh! yes, sorry!! I just looked up the word after I typed and realised it was wrong! 🤦🏽‍♀️

I think I meant detached, disinterested etc.

It says something about a place when they have to invent their own, faintly derogatory word to describe people who have not had the great fortune to have been born and bred in Cornwall.

Grockle is another word they use

Because all the locals have a spare field handy?

The tourists vary wildly but that happens everywhere and the majority are literally people who love the place, the beaches and just want some family time.

No one likes the rude ones, or the litter bugs or the inconsiderate ones. Everyone wishes they were the only ones on the roads but, the roads can be very intimidating if you’re not used to the high hedges and making notes of the passing places. This is where a little compassion and advice is needed.

On a harsher note, July/August has been the busy times for at least 40 years so it should come as no surprise. Every decent local I’ve ever met accepts the tourist as a way of life. And yes, it can be a bit frustrating but most say that it’s the price they pay for a wonderful place the rest of the year.

So I’d love to ask anyone choosing to live in a tourist destination (and even if you grew up there, you’re still choosing to live there) who doesn’t like people or tourists, why on earth you live there?

That's very interesting, @Highdaysandholidays1 I don't know Cornwall and have no skin in the game, but Cornish people posting on here with such strength of feeling makes me worry about how bad tourism is, and wonder why change can't take place?
Maybe it just needs some people willing to take chances to make changes necessary?.

Re Housing.

DH works in development. He doesn't do much in Cornwall but does in Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire etc.
He finds there is almost always a handful of locals who desperately want the housing developments because their own family are unable to buy in the local area. To mirror this there will be a group that don't want anything built whatsoever. On one of his last schemes the person who shouted the loudest against the development, demanding even, that it be built in someone else's village, had herself recently moved up from central London. Quite why she felt nobody else was entitled to do the same is beyond me.

I find the tone on this thread awful.

Cornwall is one of the poorest regions of the country.

It's no wonder they think we're all dreadful if this is how we talk about the people there.

Maybe they shouldn't label all tourists the same then.

No it isn't.

Grockle is a Devon word.

Emmet isn't an invented word. It's Cornish and means ants.

It seems as though people are properly paranoid on this thread. I've lived in Cornwall 23 years and guess what - no one knows from looking at me where I was born or where I left be now. If I go over to St Ives no one local says "look at that lady - she walks like she lives down here. We'll be nice." They'd judge me if I behaved like an entitled prick though, or if I left litter everywhere.

Wasn't it Cornwall who voted for Brexit and then asked to keep their EU subsidies coming in too?

This thread is about currently local people resenting tourists though. What previous generations of local people did or didn’t do seems fairly irrelevant.

"left be" = live

And Wales

The different districts in Cornwall voted differently. The highest Leave percentages were in areas where there are more elderly incomers, like in Wales.

One of the poorest regions that wants to do away with one of its biggest revenue generators

You can sneer all you like at the thick Cornish.

But you could also try actually reading and engaging with some of what has been written here.

Thinking about it I think the Cornish need to take issue with their elected representatives and get some campaigns going to reduce the impact of tourism on their communities. Better parking, bins, toilets, transport etc all would generate jobs too.

As others have said the stocking of shops is entirely down to the staff of that shop not being planning appropriately.

Simple signage next to parking meters explaining about taking waste away, water safety etc.

Nationally we need to bring back bringing in park rangers and RNLI into schools to educate kids on how to behave around the countryside and around water. It used to be a standard part of our curriculum when I was a child. Every summer we got a big assembly about water safety. By being a guide I earned badges part of which were on countryside education - closing gates, not letting dogs off lead in fields etc.

I keep saying it but it's not solely a Cornish problem.

Cornwall has 6 MPs, I didn't realise they are all Conservative. I'm just looking up what they've done about the tourism problem.

Was that for me?

I don't image many Cornish people say they want to get rid of tourism.

I know many of them dream of an economy which isn't so dependent on it.

I would think every coastal area in the UK feels the same. There is an issue with British coastal towns being areas of mass unemployment and deprivation though, thats also something that needs tackling nationally

That was most places that voted for Brexit.

As they say, no-one voted to be poorer. They were told they wouldn't be. They were lied to.

So I’d love to ask anyone choosing to live in a tourist destination (and even if you grew up there, you’re still choosing to live there) who doesn’t like people or tourists, why on earth you live there?

So someone should leave their home, roots and family, and community, because tourism is badly managed (or entirely unmanaged, in some places)?

No. Local authorities and government need to regulate. Information for visitors. Better infrastructure. Better transport links, roads need to be maintained, facilities provided. Caps on second homes is not a bad idea, either.