To think London has become a parody of itself?

[NattyBrickMember]

Everything is overpriced, gentrification is out of control, and the chaos somehow feels unbearable and iconic at the same time. AIBU to think London has become a caricature of what it used to be - like a city pretending to be itself for tourists and TikTok?

'Gentrification out of control'. You should go to Newham, Barking, Dagenham, Brent..

These areas are crime ridden, rat infested shite holes. Hardly anyone speaks English, there is little to no community cohesion, a transient population, children are unsafe and can't go out to play, the parks are dangerous to walk around in, and if you choose to bring up children there, it is a form of child abuse. IMO.

Gentrification? Scummification more like it!

@pimlicopubber ha, totally agree- we live in Bath and we still have people on the local Facebook page bemoaning our loss in 2012 of our disgusting grimy bus station area which was a disgrace and the building of the very nice mock Georgian open air shopping centre. Yes it's chains, but we still have a lot of independent stuff elsewhere- I will take cozy club thanks over the place that looked like you would catch something.

It's dead in Shoreditch, but it's not dead in London. My mate has a club called the cause in Canning Town, massive, open until 6am, full of young people, best queer night in town called adonis adonis adonis. I promise you, it's not dead, we just aren't going to the raves anymore!

Yep it's probably just moved on. Young people are still doing similar just older people aren't part of it.

Yes but that’s a global shitshow issue. Not a London issue

Indeed it is. It's everywhere. It's far more prevalent now than I can remember in my lifetime.

But I mention it here because it's important to bear in mind when we consider London as a parody of itself. Here is a capital that flaunts its riches, its ordinary parts hollowed out by wealth and gentrified beyond recognition and working people forced into ever more distant or shared and cramped accommodation - and yet there is still incredible, visible poverty. Not simply hidden away in the slums of the east end, as it was 50 years ago, but right in front of our eyes in the west end. We can't ignore it.

I love it.

I don't know aboht anyone else but I feel alot safer in London than other UK cities!

What constant strikes? There have been several public transport strikes over the last few years but they aren’t constant. The railway worker strikes are nothing to do with London. We have a far superior transport system than many European cities and the cost of housing is unaffordable in many of those too. Don’t forget the councils have been strapped for cash over the past 18 years, thanks to the previous government, so, sure, there are things that could be improved but lots of London is so much nicer than it used to be and I am a long term resident so have seen all the changes. I wouldn’t go back in time at all.

Live here and love it

Lived here for 22 years, my whole adult life, and still love it. Got 2 kids both born here. We do live in a nice leafy area of Zone 2 and enjoy good state schools and a great sense of local community. We both travel into central for work a couple of times a week, transport not that different and I can't remember many recent strikes particularly. People who commute in from outside London are the ones that really suffer I think as we can do train, tube or bus!

Everything is expensive but that's not just London. For many reasons we are more than happy to stay as I don't think anywhere else would be better for us.

Was born in a different country, but moved to London in early childhood and - bar a couple of years living elsewhere/travelling - have been here ever since, and raised my kids here.

If I think of the London of my twenties, a lot is 'better'. Run down areas like Kings Cross or the South Bank are vastly improved. There seem to be a much wider range of places to eat and drink, and the quality is better. In terms of the arts and cultural sectors, I think things have improved a lot too. Our museums and galleries - often free - are one of the best things about this city. I really notice the difference when I visit other countries. It's such a vibrant and exciting place to be.

However, it feels like a much harder city to live in now. It's more polarised. The problems with deprivation, homelessness, poverty levels etc - it's all worse. Aware there are failing state schools across the UK but it's a very rare London comprehensive that doesn't have significant problems right now. That simply wasn't the case when I was growing up.

It's now much harder to be a young person embarking on a career, particularly badly-paid, creative careers. It used to be quite easy to rent cheaply in central(ish) areas like Camden or Notting Hill - that's totally gone now. Getting on the property ladder feels like an impossible dream, and I worry about how my kids will stay here themselves.

On a more minor note, it also feels too busy at times. Almost every public event seems uncomfortably packed and overcrowded, and things get booked out so quickly, it feels less possible to have a spontaneous day out, which is a shame. The traffic is so much worse. Aware we should minimise use of cars, but it used to be quite easy to drive places if you needed to, or get a cab home from a late night out - now that is difficult and/or prohibitively expensive.

So...I would say there's lots of issues. But I still wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the UK.

Maybe some parts are less "edgy" than they used to be, but I've worked in various parts of London, on and off, since 1988 and it's a much more pleasant place to be as a lone woman after dark (or even in daylight tbh) now.

It's also much cleaner. I guess it depends if you think those are good things.

@Crumpies that may be so but I don't think they are having the time of their life like I did in London.

@neverknowinglyunreasonable

*I live in London and this is 100% what is happening. All London residents meet up once a month to make sure we all understand the plan and are sticking to it. Logistically this is a nightmare as we need a room big enough to hold 8 million people. We usually meet when Coronation Street is on because we know northerners are busy then so they won't notice.

We all then make sure that London, and everyone in it, is pretending to be London. A few people have asked if this is a waste of time as London is in fact London whether we pretend or not. We drive those dissenters to the north (someone just past St Alban's) and leave them there to fend for themselves. I could get in serious trouble for revealing this. Please tell nobody.*

Brilliant

@spoodlesee I do agree- it's like when very old people have rose tinted glasses about 50s etc - it's because they were at that time in good health, doing a lot more , going out a lot , many friends around and had lots to look forward to.

I wouldn’t have agreed with this until quite recently my hairdresser was telling me she was looking for a house share. I said they’re pretty easy to get and told her about my own experience when I first moved to London in the early 2000s - a gorgeous en-suite attic conversion for £90 PW. She explained to me that it’s not like that anymore. There’s no bedsits, no just rent a room for a reasonable price unless you want to live over a pub Monday to Friday - accommodation for week day workers rather than actually living here. She said it’s all house shares and they’re graduates with professional quals looking for similar room mates. I did some research and she’s right. In a lot of ways London has almost become like a theme park in the inner zones. I know people will take issue with that description but it’s the best way I can think of to describe it. Only for the very wealthy and tourists here for a couple of weeks. I find it sad that people can’t just move here, our capital, look on gumtree and find a decent room in a day or two like I did only a couple of decades ago, put down roots and make a life here. I think about moving out sometimes but I know I could never afford to come back if it didn’t work out and I can’t take the risk.

I love London. I live in Zone 5 and travel in for work/theatre/meals/occasional nights away. I think it is amazing! Of course there are issues but it is a massive, global city and it would be weird if there weren’t problems. But the history, the arts, the architecture, the vibes - you can’t beat it!

I think this is the nub of it really - what has changed IMO is the massively increased polarisation and atomisation of people in the different 'villages' of London, which means experiences within the same city are vastly different. It's always been a bit like that, of course, as London is so vast, but the polarisation of the last few years has been on steroids.

Leafy Zone 2 is where it's at atm I think; the City/Soho/Ocford Street are increasingly corporatised and soulless (and a bit grim in Oxford Street's case) and many of the previously leafy outer suburbs are just grimy and unpleasant now.

As someone who, barring university, has lived in the same area since birth, I can see very clearly that my Zone 5 suburb has been one of the 'losers' - crime and anti-social behaviour have risen dramatically (people here now work on the assumption that you'll inevitably have your car nicked from outside your house at least once), the town centre has become increasingly run down and rubbish public transport means it's harder to escape into London and access all that the capital has to offer. I've literally watched the lovely green outside my house turn from a calm, idyllic setting to a filthy hub for fly-tipping, graffiti and dumped shopping trolleys over the last five years.

Our more recently arrived neighbours don't notice this stuff as much (they just assume that all of London = crime/litter/anti-social behaviour as a given), but as someone who's grown up here and witnessed the old, green, safer incarnation, I feel the changes acutely.

The other thing I've noticed (as a parent and previous a primary teacher), is that as London's loss of children and families gains pace, the vibe in many places is also becoming less family/child-centric and there is less happening for kids in general. Don't get me wrong; there is a lot more to do than in many places, and families living in the 'right' postcodes can still access lots of stuff, but in general there's less on for kids in the main cultural hubs; and what there is is often a rehash of stuff that's worked before, or corporate tie-ins (Bluey/Paddington/Julia Donaldson etc). Particularly the case with low-key stuff I think. Admittedly this probably has more to do with a lack of Arts funding and a general decline in the birth rate than London specifically though!

Yes I agree with this. I have lived within a couple of miles of where I live now the whole time I have been in London but it's hard to compare directly (for anyone really) as I was 22 then and I'm 44 now! And I spend less time in central than I used to although we do take the kids regularly and it's always been positive.

I feel sorry for the 20-somethings I work with as they can't afford to live in Zone 2 and go out in Zone 1 like we did BUT I think with wages and rent etc this is a problem in every region of the country. I expect our DC will live with us as adults for a bit, which is fine, but I feel sad they can't just branch out and go their own way as easily.

London has always had a massive disparity between rich and poor. Many years of tories has undoubtedly made things worse for so many though.

Not sure why anyone would think this (let alone write a post about it!) and, no, I don't think so. I've travelled to most major cities and London is still arguably the best in the world!

I'd suggest you're looking at the wrong things on TikTok - Instagram is full of pages highlighting what is great about London!

Love London, also hate Gail's. Hopefully Bain will overextend so much they run it into the ground.

I guess you've never been to Queen's Park?

Been that way for the last 20 years.

I don't think Londoners have realised how run down London is getting now, outside of very select areas.

But Londoners have always fooled themselves that long commutes and high prices are worth it so it doesn't surprise me their heads are still in the sand.

Yep, of all the criticisms you could level at London, you pick the public transport It's amazing. It's affordable, fast, frequent, and, especially considering the size and complexity of the network and how many people it carries all day, super-reliable.

You’re being ridiculous and snobby. It’s well known that the food and coffee at Gail’s are really good quality, but I appreciate you wanted a click baity response to your silly comment.