Why is everyone hating on London

[greenwichvillage]

Recently a lot posts I read on social media is about how much people hate London. Its has been called all sorts of names - cesspit, dirty, crime ridden and the foreigners have taken over. They don't recognise London anymore and they are glad they have moved to whiter areas with cheaper housing.

For context, I have lived here all my life, lived in North West London and now live in Southwest London. I admit there are parts of London that have deteriorated, equally there part parts of London that are really nice. Yes it is expensive to live in and properties are expensive but that does not make it a cesspit.

I love living where I am and I love all that London has to offer. I'm not English but I am British and I'm not white and I feel really safe here in London. Yes there are problems with crime, but there is crime everywhere.

I have been to other areas in the UK and really none of it appeals to me, I have been to beautiful country side and small towns and cities and tbh I would get bored after two days there. But I would never go as far as insulting it which people seem to do quite a lot with London.

I think Farage/ Reform and Tommy have a lot to answer for.

This is absolute bollocks btw. I live in South East London - Lewisham - so not a swanky area - and I work in Westminster so go into the centre every day. I have never seen a mugging or indeed any crime, except drunk morons fighting and I haven't seen that in about 25 years! I don't see groups of men hanging around, although there are a lot of homeless in the West End but they're just either doing their own thing or sat with their hand out begging. I don't see shops getting locked between customers (except beauty salons when there is nobody on reception)
We do get annoying beggers on the train to be fair but they're not actually scary. You can either give them some money or not. Nothing happens either way.
Stop spreading lies!

I think this is fair enough. I absolutely don't see the UK as small villages and fields and can't imagine anything I'd hate more than living somewhere like that. The countryside smells of manure, you have to get in your car and drive anywhere you want to go and everyone knows your business. But each to their own.

Well, what a strange approach to take, where your perfectly reasonable perspective on a small part of the whole becomes your perspective on the whole.

Quite obviously, the UK is not "fields and small communities."

Even the UK countryside isn't just fields. It's moors. And forests. And mountains.

But the UK is also cities and towns and suburbs and villages. And beaches and industrial parks and motorways and heath. And all the parks and buildings and roads and homes and noise and tranquility and innovation and tradition of London.

It's fine that you don't like it, but London is quintessentially part of the UK.

1066 when the Normans came.

Not being racist but......you are...
You have a very narrow view of the world, 9 million people live and work in london - you've been reading too much daily mail

It may be, but, as evidenced in this thread, it is absolutely not somewhere that resonates with a large amount of the population. It may be part of their country, but it's not what they identify with. London to me is a separate entity. It feels entirely separate.

Liverpool is another city with very much it's own feel. At least many of the residents there are open enough to say they feel Scouse, not English.

@Piccolomaforte

"Gangs of men from very different cultures loitering around"

Do you mean ‘groups of men’? Like the groups of white men you get now hanging around outside migrant hostels, shouting abuse at asylum seekers? Those people - the protestors - are from a very different culture from me and everyone I know - and I’m white, British and my grandparents were born here.

Those people make me extremely anxious.

I also live right near a football stadium. During football season the streets outside my house are sometimes literally packed, shoulder to shoulder, with drunk men, shouting slogans, shirts off. Why is this ok and tolerable, where a gathering of brown men isn’t? I live near 2 asylum hostels. You do see groups of migrants standing together outside talking - they literally have nowhere else to go to meet up. Why is this a ‘red flag’ and intimidating but groups of drunk young men shouting outside pubs after a football match is ok? Particularly given the long history of football fan violence and domestic violence linked to football that’s part of British culture?

😆

I think if you start a thread about any place, you will get strong and opposing opinions. Scotland, ‘the North’, Cornwall, Belfast etc. There will be fans and detractors.

My friend’s daughter has just dropped out of Manchester uni due to hating the city. To hear them all talk about it, you would think it was hell on earth. Rain, depressing atmosphere, ugly buildings, boring people. Ofc they are stereotyping and exaggerating. And probably projecting a lot of their own stuff about a year wasted at university. I have not been for ages but I know many who love Manchester and have lots of loyalty towards it. So I am taking their intense criticism with a pinch of salt.

Nobody can love everywhere and nobody should have to!

Most Londoners I know would identify as such rather than "English" in the same way as Liverpudlians consider themselve Scouse.
I guess if I was abroad I might say "Britain" or "UK" absolutely wouldn't identify as "English" though. Ever.

Yes I’ve never experienced it fortunately in London

i didn’t get my phone out though in Piccadilly last week as I’ve seen the news reports of phone theft

@suburburbanI used to think that but Google Maps is so helpful and when I see who is reposting the same videos, I do think it is being amplified disproportionately.

@YelloDaisy They wouldn’t swap 🙂

This makes me so sad to read about Manchester, I am a proud mancunian but I do have to concede there has been a significant shift especially in the city centre and it does not feel safe at times. The most shocking thing for me recently was seeing very open, public intravenous drug use in piccadilly gardens.

Reading this thread, I am wondering if this is actually a country wide change in terms of what city centres are generally like now.

I do love London very much though; I wish I could visit more. Living there is out of the question, well outside my budget, but every time I have visited, I have loved it.

Moved to London from the North 25 years ago and while I'm getting to the age where I can see the appeal of a smaller town, I genuinely think I'd struggle with the lack of amenities, culture and stonkingly good public transport (I visit friends / family out of London and cant believe people moan about tfl) anywhere else. I've lived all over London in the last quarter of a century and the only things that really wind me up are the litter, bo on public transport and, more recently, the sheer fkn cost of everything, especially housing. I mean 16 quid for 2 pints and my morals of avoiding Spoons are long forgotten!

Them from “that there London”, eh?
You’re basing your view on the unfriendliness on Londoners on one couple? Brilliant!

Well, I don't identify with small-town racists, but I acknowledge they are part of "my country."

And, before you start, I am not suggesting you are a small-town racist, but a small-town racist would say what you have said.

Ha ha yes! London is an unfriendly city cos two peope from there moved to my village and don't talk to me.

As it was northern English born I was conditioned to not like London and only visited a few times. We went last week to the all night prom and stayed on for a bit. We really enjoyed it and never felt unsafe or threatened. We obviously weren't on council estates at midnight, but didn't restrict our visit to just traditional tourist areas either. I thought it had alot of energy, people were surprisingly riendly for what everyone was saying. Busy and expensive but that's any capital city. Loads to do and alot at very little or no cost and the parks were well maintained and felt safe. The diversity just felt part of the city. As a northerner it obviously pains me to say it, but we liked London and are planning to go back soon.

Well I have heard it all, basing your views on one unfriendly couple from London. We're not all like that you know. You will.find most Londoners are friendly, we just dont like racists.

How gracious of you.

I love London.

I have never seen any crime and feel completely comfortable walking through large swathes of it. I go there when I need a break from the monotony of living in a town. There is so much more to do and see and things to be a part of. I often end up in London or Oxford to do things. I’ve gone to Central London and just walked around for hours with no bother, no sight of crime, just soaking in the different vibes of areas.

People have been lovely to me and I enjoy all the different markets and food on offer. The most impolite are often tourists ime, and I don’t need the “good morning” greeting some feel are nice/polite and what makes a place “friendly”. I grew up in such places and the friendliness was just a veneer of people being nice to your face and talking about you behind your back. Not saying that is all such places.

I often simply want to get from point A to Point B without interruption.

Thank you! I wanted to say that. The ‘on’ is redundant!

It's just a current slang phrase.

I think the reasons are many - some have lived there in the past and don’t like the changes - I must admit I lived there 1995 to 2000 and then again for a year in 2011 and yep I have fond memories of Camden stables, the proper street market in soho and the ‘pand a pand ‘ fruit and veg sellers, Notting Hill market when you could actually move , Kensington market , gigs at the Astoria etc - however I still go a fair bit for work and am in your neck of the woods and still thoroughly enjoy shopping in Kingston, Richmond park, the pubs in Richmond, steins on the river - I would have no problems moving back there and we live in Bath so it’s not as if I live somewhere crappy. A lot of the people who say it never actually go beyond Oxford st or central London - a lot no longer have the energy for it or have lost any tolerance of a busy hassle place - a lot don’t like noise or queues or the feeling of no one knowing you - it’s a perception - I certainly wouldn’t want to anywhere I think is mega urban and not leafy I thoroughly admit - so for me it’s the posh leafy areas or not at all - I think I went to central London 3 times when we lived there in 2011 .