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.

The one thing I don’t agree with is some of the traffic calming measures. I hardly ever drive but with these low traffic neighbourhoods and re-routing of traffic, some other areas have suffered. Cars are now at a standstill in some areas and choking up the roads and affecting shops on those busy main roads and the air quality there. Some of the cycle lanes have meant that parking has gone from outside some shops so they are no longer getting as much custom. I appreciate the end goal, but there have been negative consequences which I am not sure Khan has addressed.

@GypsyQueeen

Not quite sure what the purpose of the thread is. OP asked why some people hated London. Some people told her. OP then wants to get into a back & forth with them & try to argue about how wonderful London is ...😅
Some people seem to think the whole country is London.
I personally think there are many beautiful places in the North of England, Wales & Scotland, and would much rather live there than London (and I'm a southerner). It's just personal preference.

I think you're missing the point. It's not about wanting to say "how wonderful London is..." it's just those of us who live here get tired of being constantly bashed over the head about how awful it is (usually by people who have hardly ever set foot in London) when the same objections are not made about other cities.

I ve always found it unfriendly, dirty, expensive and in some places threatening. And I am from the Black Country! Our neighbours are Londoners born and bred and they agree, wouldn’t go back if you paid them.

Thankyou, thats exactly it. People will happily bash London but not anywhere else in the country that has the same issues.

And thats fine, I respect your views. Not everybody has to be happy to live in London, but why call it names like cesspit. I would say there are some parts of the UK that are cesspits but I would never say it out loud and disrespect someone else's home.

But why care what other people think? London would be one of the last places I would want to live (along with a couple of other big cities). If you're happy in London then great - enjoy. But others are allowed to dislike it 😂

London has the largest Muslim population in the UK. Places like Bradford and Leicester have large Pakistani ethnicity communities whereas I think London is a lot more diverse. We're a small percentage but a lot of us are quite visibly Muslim with headscarves, etc which can be full of joys but also unfortunately makes us an easy target for some. Women are often recorded and posted online as evidence of the "take over", which is lapped up by people who have often never set foot in London.

I adore London, and visit several times a year, staying for as long as I can. So much to see and do, wonderful variety, always interesting. I live in a city, but I wish I could afford to live in London - that will never happen now, so I'll just have to keep up the visits.

Because we are sick and tired of people saying negative things about London without even visiting the place.

Well I should try not to worry about it too much.

Yes of course you're allowed to dislike it. Personally I couldn't imagine living somewhere like the Yorkshire Dale but that's just me. I think I'd be bored out of my mind, and it's the only place I've ever personally experienced racism (I'm brown - mixed race) in all of my 43 years.

Not for me. I don’t like London because I find it crowded, dirty, expensive and touristy. Nothing to do with hating Muslims or the mayor….it is possible not to like something just because of things in it and not because you are right wing.

Exactly. We all have a preference.

It's a right wing trope, and it's racist. Look very carefully at who is posting this crap and whether all of it is domestic in origin, whether they are real people, who is amplifying it, etc.

It's either deliberately destabilising or they're just really jealous of our superior A Level results.

I lived in London for a few years in my 20s. Yes, there was lots to do and see. Many of our friends worked in the city 'during the loads of money Thatcher years). We were not earning that amount nor would we with our chosen careers. Yes, our choice to work in NHS andEducation. Ofcourse, we had London Allowance which was generous. Promotion was quick, and easy. It would have taken much longer to progress in the North. Took a year travelling. Came back walked in to jobs, with more promotion in London.

When we decided in our 30s to start a family we didn't want to stay in London. We wanted to live in a place where people acknowledged your 'good morning'

We initially wanted to go back North but there was a recession and cutbacks. We headed to the leafy shires. Found people more relaxed and friendly. It is easy to make friends through NCT, schools etc.

We can still go on the train to London, usually involves a change and takes just over an hour. Went in last week and found it dirty but thoroughly enjoyed the play I had gone to see. The service in the restaurant and bar were far below par.

It is lovely to walk into my local shops and coffee shops to be served with a smile and be called by my name.

I'm a Londoner but think it has lost some magic vs my youth. It definitely seems more divided, housing is a mess. I also think I read it's the only city that has got older.

The traffic is a pain & it's very congested.

A lot of the "London is a cesspit" people probably don't ever go to London.

I actually don’t mind people calling London names. Maybe it is because I’m in my 50s and I don’t give a shit about all this stuff anymore, esp when stated by people that don’t mean anything to me. You may consider it a ‘cesspit’, but it’s my cesspit and I love it ;-)

I don't like that it's quite dirty, haven't been since before Covid but the handrails on the tube were often sticky, they may have cleaned them all in Covid though to keep us safe. Though they are probably dirty again now. I always felt I needed a wash on arriving home

Agree! Many people move out of London when they start planning a family I think.

It's only touristy on the touristy parts. Tell me you don't know London without telling me!

It is lovely to walk into my local shops and coffee shops to be served with a smile and be called by my name.

But you see, I have this in my local High Street in my zone three area. I wouldn’t expect that kind of familiarity in central London. But many of us who have lived in one little part of London for many years have the same sense of community and familiarity that people outside of London have.

I am on first name terms with the staff in the Italian restaurant near us, the dry cleaner and the postman for a start. Just like elsewhere. I think people can forget that London isn’t just about central London, the West End, and Buckingham Palace!

And the other thing people sometimes forget is that it is wonderful having teenagers in London, if you live in a safe area of course. By 11/12 they can get buses and tubes to central London and their friends’ houses. They don’t have to depend on the taxi of Mum and Dad other than for very late nights. It gives them a sense of freedom and independence. That’s what we found anyway.

Yep. Same. People that "don't like London" almost always mean places like Leicester Square and Oxford Street. I don't know ANYONE who likes those places. They ARE shit.

Many people move out of London when they start planning a family I think.

That's one thing that frustrated me, all my NCT friends left as did many of my dc's primary school friends and neighbours. It made sense for us to stay close to our family. Most of DHs friends & my friends that we see regularly now our school friends as they all stayed relatively close

Ha ha yeah it's all jammed and touristy and packed. You can't move for tourists in Dollis Hill. Yes if you go to the west end it is packed but most people who live in London would rather gouge their eyes out than go to Regents St on a Saturday.

But that's fine! More London for us.