London and surrounding area has become so unkempt

[GrubbyTowns]

Rubbish strewn everywhere. All the verges full of cans, takeout detritus.
London and the southeast generally just seems so unkempt to where it was a few years ago even.
Just came back from a trip to Liverpool and the contrast was incredible. A busy city but so clean!
Why is this?

Doesn't fit with my experience at all. Great first post though!

It’s the case in my London borough it’s filthy, fly tipping everywhere and bags off rubbish everywhere and they never clean it, sofas beds and mattresses left on the street, black bags of rubbish everywhere ripped open.

Interestingly it seems the same in the South, as lots of the towns here are not only covered in rubbish, but also Councils appear to have been neglecting the grass verges etc., for a long time now, so everything looks really grubby and down at heel. I'm interested to hear that it's not like that in Liverpool, I wonder why?

What are you going on about? I’m name changed you numpty

I don’t know. There are run down bits but compared with London’s run down bits they’re sparkling.

I was there on Saturday, hens and stags all over the place. Early Sunday was pristine. Took a bus all over the city and suburbs and seemed relatively well kept everywhere. Lots of pride in the area from what I could see. Is it just an over population thing?

All of Liverpool ? Even the outskirts?
It tends to be the centre of places are kept nice and the outskirts not so much

So you're familiar with all of London are you @GrubbyTowns?

I can assure you that where I live this isn't true at all. The council is hyper vigilant about street cleaning and preventing fly tipping.

Travelled into the suburbs and also pretty good, poorer yes. But clean.

Pretty good, my whole life plus work. I do notice the posher areas are kept better. The suburbs are a disgrace. Motorways full of rubbish.

Sorry but that's just not true.

All you're doing with your post is adding to the Reform/Right wing narrative that London is falling apart.

I don’t vote Reform. Or Tory. London and the Southeast is a vast area run by different councils. The rubbish built up while the Tory’s were in power and I haven’t seen it cleaned up under Labour.

In my borough they do regular street cleaning and have a dedicated service to report fly tipping and things are removed quickly. I've lived here for over 20 years and its not got any worse at all. Arguably better. Yes some areas are grim but London is a big city.

I live in the South East commuter belt. The level of rubbish is insane - grass verges and the sides of roads / motorways are covered by it. I have been to Spain and Poland recently, and neither of them seem to have the same problem. It's really depressing isn't it.

I didn't say that you voted Reform @GrubbyTowns - but posts like yours certainly echo their narrative, designed to undermine faith in the mayor, who - strangely enough - is Muslim.

More like people are just becoming so uncaring about their local area. I live in a farm in the south and regularly litter pick the end of our drive. It’s disgusting and getting so much worse.

NE Hampshire here, some of our areas are sadly neglected. Highways and verges are full of rubbish. One area I travel through regularly, has had the same tyre debris for at least the last six years!!

My London council is great. We still have weekly bin collections for everything. Trees regularly pollarded. Roads resurfaced. Every six months we get a community skip on our road for people to dump their large items. We can’t complain. Some people are still shits with litter but I don’t think any council can fight that.

This is nuts. What’s the mayor got yo do with it? He also doesn’t have any jurisdiction over the wider SE, which is just as bad. You seem to be putting your agenda onto me.

I think in general, there has been a steady and depressing decline in people caring about their surroundings. Most of the UK is blighted by rubbish, I don't think it's particularly worse in the South East. Birmingham and Manchester seem equally messy to me, plus quite a few towns in Yorkshire I have been to in recent years.

Midlands here and in my mid 40s. IMO the UK as a whole has really tanked in terms of people having any pride in it's upkeep. It's depressing.

The amount of rubbish on the verges and country lanes, the fly tipping, people could at least try to keep their own patches tidy, but nope, gardens full of crap, we're a country full of tramps.

I think it is people not giving a shit, a real shift in culture. Plus council budgets, I volunteer with a local litter picking group. It’s depressing, we put a dent in clearing it, the next week it’s covered in coffee cups, sandwich packets and cans. Thrown out of cars, or just left there. Don’t get me started on fly tipping, I’d bring back the stocks for those fuckers.

I can’t say I’ve noticed more rubbish generally where I live, but the major A road which runs through my town is disgusting! I’m sure this is a newish thing. The council do organise clean up but of course it’s very dangerous. Then within a few months, it’s bad again.

No what is happening where I live but places like Marylebone has now many homeless in tents. I hardly leave my lovely area but some places like Notting Hill are definitely more dirty and run down and full of what it seems like drug dealers.

I work in central london and live in south east commuter belt.

I don't notice this. My village & the nearby town are very clean.

The only thing I do notice is the constant increase in dog fouling. There's been a huge uptick in dog ownership and people are just fucking dirty bastards and don't pick up after their dogs.

So to comment on the dirtiness of a city must mean that you are a Reform voter and / or a Muslim-Mayor hater? In my opinion, people of all political persuasions and all religions find dirty streets, rubbish and general neglect unpleasant.

OP - I don't think that you are wrong. The areas of London that I see are definitely more un-kempt than before.