Londoners have absolutely decimated my city

[CrushedOrange]

NC as really outing.
I'm a musician and over the years I have seen what was a steady stream of londoners turn into a flood this year.
I'm so gutted. I know everybody has the right to live here but it has pushed so many of my friends out, artists and other musicians. It pisses me off that the whole reason these londoners moved here, they are also destroying.
I'm lucky as my landlord is really decent and hasn't put my rent up in years, so I can afford to stay here. But now I'm considering just leaving because of the vibe factor. It makes me really sad. I still gig a few times a week but the crowd is different. I miss my community, but now everybody is scattered as everyone who was pushed out has gone to different places.
I'm considering just jumping ship and moving on myself but I don't know where to go.
Today some more londoners moved into the street...The whole street is full of scaffolding as they seem to really love doing home improvements 😅
I know I sound really bitter. I guess I am. I don't know whether to stay or go, and of I go, where to?

People love people from "london"

When we travel to the USA and they ask where we are from and we tell them, you want to see their faces light up

We went to with a sibling to view a small block of flats that he was hoping to BTL and when the locals found out we were all from London - they were awe struck as everyone we met wants to live here but most cannot afford it

FYI - my parents are from Asai and I came to England as a toddler

They may well have eradicated that number of locals, eliminating them from the locality.

What do you mean by Londoners? I’m Scottish but moved to London 20 years ago. Own my own house here (well, with a mortgage). Would I be considered a Londoners now?

An absolute banger of an indie b-side about how Brighton is too full of Londoners, from 199something

Love Devant

I agree with that @Delawear There are some people, wherever they're from and wherever they move to, like that and it's a shame.

Separately but maybe sort of related, I think it's harder for people who have no say in being moved. They don't want to be where they are and were displaced in a traumatic way. Forced to leave family and jobs for the displacement. Also it's often very vulnerable people being displaced so they lose their support setup. I'm talking about displacement of homeless households.

I read an article recently about some London councils buying up housing in other places and sending homeless Londoners there.

Apparently the local councils are furious as it's added pressure on their own homeless accomodation and now they may have to do the same to other areas...

It's awful for the homeless people involved, wherever they're from.

This problem will just keep getting worse unless we build more council housing in every area.

But woe betide anyone who goes in the other direction, is that how it is?

@Purplebunnie you could say much the same in Bristol- again greens have a fair bit of influence - or a type of labour in office that to be honest has more the mindset of the greens- we live in Bath which I love but it isn't perfect by a long way- far too much seagull shit and a homeless problem - but my god it looks amazing if I go to Bristol and come back and compare. We did used to live in Bristol by the way and it has got way worse in last 10 years. Went to Stroud the other week , pleasant place too, but again large influence by greens and yes it was quite 'funky' but it was really grubby and somewhat scruffy- weed smell everywhere . I like Brighton to visit but you can go too far with the themes of let's all all be 'hip and happening' and forget fundamentals of order and hygiene- Bristol and Brighton are the only places I've actually seen rats in public and drug needles on street - never even saw that in London if I'm honest. Admittedly I didn't have any need to go to any really grim areas if I could help it

Please don’t go there OP! We’re looking to buy there.

This problem will just keep getting worse unless we build more council housing in every area.

this keeps being repeated in all these housing threads but where is this housing going to be built?

Try living in a small fishing village in Devon where all the newcomers have awful ‘sauf east Landan’ accents! I fucking can’t stand it! And why do they all talk so bloody loud?! And the older ones are so racist! Seriously, it boils my piss. And yes OP, you’re absolutely right about the home improvements. Add on stupid complaints too such as farmers are muck spreading and they don’t like the smell?!?!! Ohh bore off!

Well I'm not sure the good people of Hastings would agree. How come you get to go ruin their vibe? Why is that okay when you didn't like it being done to you.

This!

You sound like an absolute hypocrite tbh

And Brighton has been “London by the sea” from time immemorial. My grandparents loved their throughout my life (and now other family still do) so I’ve spent time there over the past 50 yrs. If you were in Cornwall or somewhere I’d maybe get it, but Brighton is not being stripped of its culture by Londoners. Brighton is the same as ever it was.

You… think that grubbiness, scruffiness and homelessness in Bristol is because of the Green Party? 😂🤯 MN will never fail to throw up surprises

For someone who appreciates a good vibe, you sound quite cliquey and unwelcoming. I don’t really get why you would criticising people consuming art but not producing it either. Art and music should be inclusive. I am a Londoner and don’t like being categorised as a certain ‘type’, London is a huge, diverse city with every type of person in it. I think you are being a bit narrow minded over all.

I'm originally from Deal. It would be hypocritical of me to comment too much as we moved abroad, but I bloody wish I never sold my little house, 5 mins from station, 10 mins from beach. I'd love to go back to it, but probably couldn't afford it now. At the time rental prices wouldn't have covered the relatively small mortgage and it seemed like too much hassle. It's my biggest life regret.

It is not just Londoners; this is happening everywhere due to increased cost of living. People moving overseas increasing prices and making it unaffordable for the locals.

this is a very 1930s Germany ideology you have, how no one should be allowed in YOUR homeland... concerning.

@DelphiniumBlue
"Rent and house prices in London are astronomical, no one can afford to live here anymore, except for old people like me who bought 30 years ago."
I have always assumed that the only people who can afford to live in London, are the really, really rich, or those right at the bottom on social housing.
Middle income people live in the suburbs, or even further out.
However, I am confused by the OP post. I assume the OP does not live in London but further out, and people from London are moving out further out as well.
I think the lockdown highlighted that those in flats were stuck, and they now want a better life balance, etc.

I've not read the thread but do you know to decimate means to reduce by one tenth?

It comes from the Romans who would kill every tenth man or boy if the local population didn't play nicely and go along with the Romans' wishes

I'm not sure that's what Londoners are doing anywhere.

@SeismicSalad no I think it's because of a very left wing local Labour influence - and an 'anything goes' attitude- and I'm left of centre. It also attracts people these days who don't give a shit about order or public weed smoking. - a lot of these now voting green it seems because they are perceived as more left wing than the likely Labour government.

I think home working is pushing people who can do it out of London, which is in turn pushing people further out. Yorkshire is having an influx, it is causing bigger house price gaps between affluent neighbourhoods and deprived ones.

It's just life OP. People move about, you find the best place you can afford within the constraints of your circumstances. If you are shrewd you play the game, if you aren't you can moan about it instead.

Given the way people have described you on here you might like Todmorden or Hebden Bridge. If they have stereotyped you wrong and you're really into classical music / brass / jazz then post about the vibe you like and people might be graceful enough to tell you about places they know that might be a good fit.

What's the difference?

And you say Londoners are consuming art and music without creating it? How should people be interacting with art? What are they doing wrong with it?

I honestly wonder if this is one of those dreadful “reverse” threads. You don’t want anyone to change “the vibe” of your city, but are quite happily to move out to surrounding towns if you think there’s an option to create said vibe there - regardless of the fact that YOU would be the incomer. You complain Londoners only want to consume art rather than create it - how do you think artists make money? You claim you are a musician who sometimes still gigs, yet you’re annoyed at the idea there might be more people around to attend said gigs. If you’re genuinely involved in the arts, you’ll know how many live performance venues are having to close. You should be delighted by the arrival of these “consumers”.

If by any slim chance this isn’t a load of goady old toss, you are unbelievably out of touch.

OP, I know you have probably gone now? But in case you are still reading - were you born in Brighton?
My family are from there and it has changed, completely, from 30 years ago. Happy years of dives in the 80’s and 90’s have long gone.
But London has become the same - you can’t be poor there now either.
I’m not sure blaming people for much wider socio-political change is fair, tbh.

It depends on personal circumstances more than anything else, @milveycrohn . My income is definitely middling compared to many who post on here, but I can live in Zone One because I don't have financial dependents and am happy in a 1 bed flat.

As for work/life balance, mine is perfect. I have no commute and can walk to virtually everything I want. Being stuck would be having to live in the sort of insular, parochial shithole with no culture or amenities in which I grew up 😊