@Fstt1978 I think I get where you are coming from and I feel similarly.
My mum grew up in a very working class area. She was, however, very ambitious, and moved to a very affluent area half an hour away where I grew up.
Mum worked long hours so I spent a lot of time being looked after at my nans, in the working class area.
I loved it and was very happy. Although from a young age I can remember being very aware of the differences, and friends from my affluent hometown saying things differently to my nan, buying and eating different food etc. From a young age I was aware of the cultural divide and felt quite insecure about it, always watching what I said and how I spoke etc.
Nan died when I was a teen, and the contact with that side of the family lessened. My mum was a huge snob and cut contact with most of her friends and family from that area over the years. We still did see some family and I loved the easy familiarity of it all, in and out each other houses etc. I was kind of included but kind of on the outside.
I don't know the details of how poor they were and obviously there will have been stresses there, but other things were just easier. Beers would be bought from Lidl on a Friday and drank in the garden. Yes, to the cuppas in each other kitchens instead of out for coffees. I can remember a cousin saying her friend was coming round for lunch the next day. I said "ooh, what are you making?" She looked a bit surprised and said "just cheese baps". It was the company that was important, not the food, and I felt an idiot for asking.
I can remember my niece at a family party, with two of her friends. They were around 10 and playing in the front room, jumping on couches etc. Their socks were filthy, just general dirt from floors that weren't that clean (probably because it was a party and lots of people coming and going). They were just playing, and grabbing each others feet and laughing etc and not at all bothered by the mucky socks. It just made me realise how self conscious I would have been with the friends I grew up with. I'd have felt so embarrassed in case they noticed my dirty socks and judged me. It was lovely to see such close, un self conscious friendships, because they seemed to know they were just all the same.
It's hard to articulate.
I think there is a fine line. Overcrowding is obviously a big issue for many. But on the other hand I think the smaller houses often make for closer families and have a much cosier feel.
The house I grew up in was very large. We had numerous living rooms, lots of bedrooms. I would come from a night out as a teen, pop my head around door of living room to say hi to my parents...that was often it.
Whereas I see my wider family in their standard ex council semis, all chatting together in living room of an evening and it is lovely.