To think London is in a major decline?

[Phannyphart]

I’ve lived in London (zone 2) for 10+ years. It’s always been pretty ‘real’ here but since the end of covid really everywhere just seems so, so awful.
Dog shit everywhere, spit everywhere, council owned parks closed and locked, people littering more than ever before. Get on a bus and it’s just people screaming in to a FaceTime on top volume, people blasting TikTok. Kids being stabbed in broad daylight, people shooting up heroin near the nearby primary school. The area has a lot going for it but it really seems wherever I go there is an awful decline.
Has anybody feeling the same actually moved out? Do you regret it?

Let me guess you don’t even live in London 😂😂

I live in zone 2 it's no worse than before the pandemic, except people are far more rude and less cooperative- but that's pretty much all big cities, and maybe smaller ones too.

Definitely think there is a class in many areas of London that don’t even qualify for the title of working class and that is the Underclass, and a lot don’t even have a desire to rise up from it.
It would be an insult to working class people to bundle them in the same category

Respectfully, zone 5 is barely London

They will come for you now!

I agree though!

I'm only half-way through reading this thread and felt I had to comment. I have lived in Lewisham since 1987 and have never seen anything like this. Lewisham Centre is generally well managed with good, friendly security.

Yep. Most of the hard working east London working class folk moved to Essex.

@JoanChitty Sorry about the late reply! I loved reading that. I’m familiar with Elephant from 1998 onwards. The shopping centre was like a time warp, even in the modern times.

My friend grew up in Aylesbury Estate, from early 70’s onwards. It’s so interesting to hear how it used to be.

Hehe 😜

This whole post is nuts.

South Clapham is the 'least grim' - based on what? The handful of places you lived in one of the biggest cities in the world ....??

OP only lived here for 10 years, you wouldn't believe how GRIM London used to be. Ask anyone like me , born and bred in London.

If its declined , declined from what? Zone 2 is pretty much central London now, and if you think rubbish now, fuck, you would have had a heart attack back in the 70s and 80s.

Based on the fact that I lived in London for 15 years and was familiar with an awful lot of areas not just the areas I lived in

This thread is hilarious because there are so many opposing views of the same place. I witnessed the gangsters of Walworth Road, the junkies of Kings Cross, the crack smokers of Rye Lane and the hustlers of Waterloo. That was the 2000s and I'd say the city is in a better place now and you can get a much higher standard of food for one thing. 😂Stay safe out there but it's all part of the rich tapestry. Neighbourhoods and streets have their ups and downs and the economy does matter. But London isn't going anywhere and will always be one of the most dynamic places on earth. It is what it is because of the new migrants and the desperate, and it is what it is because of the hedge fund bros and the global rich too. If you can't embrace it all - then maybe it's not the right place for you. But it's a tradeoff of wonderful and awful and compared with other global metropolises it is doing just fine, IMO.

Ah the clichés keep on coming

It dosen’t mean it’s inaccurate though

I've been cycling in London since the 1970s and I think it's much safer these days, not least because there are far more cyclists and motorcylists on the roads and cars are more aware.

THIS.

If you weren't born and raised in London its really hard to see how much its changed from 'back in the day' .

London has got 'worse' , for the very poor , its a fuck load harder city to live in if your even middle class , compared to even 15 years ago.

OP said 'hard working people in East London moved to Essex' - The truth was they cashed out on buying their council flats and ran for leafy suburbs, that was EVERYONES dream who was working class growing up in London, to get the fuck out and the working class did it droves.

London has declined if your living here on say less than 100K , but for everyone earning a lot more than that, its a brilliant city, an international city like New York or Paris and its not for everyone.

London has declined if your living here on say less than 100K , but for everyone earning a lot more than that, its a brilliant city, an international city like New York or Paris and its not for everyone.

To get that great London lifestyle now though you really have to live pretty central which is ££££.

And even in London there aren't that many jobs paying 250k plus.

But realistically what percentage of individuals living in London earn 100k+, between about 4-6% I would say.
I know an awful lot of highly trained professionals ,dentists, Architects and Lawyers etc who aren’t on that

And even earning 100k is not going to get you a mortgage in a decent areas these days, you would need to be earning a hell of a lot more than that

I was in shadwell for years and moved to Glasgow 5 years ago. Just spld
my flat in shadwell for 0 profit because no one wants to live there. It’s the least gentrified place in east and it’s a total mess. Glasgow has its bad bits but it’s such a friendly city and I always feel safe.

That's really not true. There are these things called tube trains....
We love in Zone 3 and can be in Oxford Circus in 30 minutes. It's all there for us. Nowhere near £100,000 salary either.
I've been here since 1982 and I think it's improved so much since then.

That’s not unusual. Anyone who has been in a property for decades will find it easier

We have a mic on our street as some on low incomes or retired have been here for decades. Someone buying now would need over £100k salaries

That's because you've lived there since 1982!
You need a far, far higher salary/ a lot of money from the bank of mum and dad now to have a comparable lifestyle. Property prices are the main problem here.

"Herne Hill and that is lovely"

London must clearly be improving. I grew up in West Norwood and that is something NOBODY would have said in the 60s and 70s (nor the 80s come to that)!

I've been here since 1982

Have house prices changed a bit since then in your area?