London - on the way out?

ruggedtoast

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

IMO, a Saturday night out in a provincial town is a far nastier experience than most of London. In the kind of tinpot places which just have a big Lloyds bar and a single nightclub (with a one word name like "Lust" or "Grope") where people only go out once a week at most, they seem far more determined to drink themselves into a fight or an STD. I can't recall any brawls in London bars/clubs in the 7 years I've been here, and regularly get public transport home on my own in various states of inebriation and have never felt unsafe.

Actually you just described my home town and reminded me why I left to come to London.

Unfortunately if you live in the UK its very difficult to find a place without chavs.

Austin_Allegro

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

I dunno, all those awful bars (eg that horrendous looking one in Leicester Sq) serve as useful holding pens for tourists and those coming in from Essex for a night out. Locals can find a different cosy boozer or live music venue every night for ten years without having to frequent the joke bars.

IMO, a Saturday night out in a provincial town is a far nastier experience than most of London. In the kind of tinpot places which just have a big Lloyds bar and a single nightclub (with a one word name like "Lust" or "Grope") where people only go out once a week at most, they seem far more determined to drink themselves into a fight or an STD. I can't recall any brawls in London bars/clubs in the 7 years I've been here, and regularly get public transport home on my own in various states of inebriation and have never felt unsafe.

Great point - London is big enough to be able to avoid the chav hotspots (which do exist) and there's no central flashpoint area for drink fueled chav violence as there is in most other UK towns and cities. My God have you seen Aldershot on a Saturday night at chucking out/up time?

It's also relatively well policed. I saw on telly that a town the size of Aylesbury for example sometimes only have two police constables on duty some evenings, one of them a special!

SGE1

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I suspect you're probably under 30 and childless.

Very few average income people IME as they get older choose to live or work in London. Most people with kids would happily choose to press a button and have it sink into the primordial slime it is undoubtedly built on.

We live and work here because we're stuck here. Its where the majority of decent jobs are, and numerous failed transport policies have made commuting far impracticable for most.

If youre young, all about night life and gigs, and have very low expectations of customer service from the venues that typically provide this (in proportion to what they charge you to get in), its great.

If you're on an average salary and are trying to find somewhere your wife can give birth in that doesnt have a worse infant mortality rate than a Calcutta orphanage, or a school where your kid wont grow up talking like a yardie, the gloss kind of wears off.

I grew up in South East London (Zone 2, by the way, not a leafy suburb) :rolleyes:

As far as I remember, by parents weren't gagging to move away from London, and I had a great childhood.

Please don't confuse your own personal views with the irremediable gospel.

incher

chewmylegoff wrote: »

jesus, where have you been going? i haven't been in the presence of a three syllable word in 12 years, let alone a sophisiticated conversation.


...wait a minute. make that four syllable.

God, this thread has had me laughing out loud enough to draw my husband's attention away from the Xbox. No mean feat ...

Thank you all for fabulous Friday night fun. Who needs a Wetherspoons or a Lloyds anyway - stay in and get your kicks on MSE say I!

:beer::beer:

PinkTwirl

drc wrote: »

I've always thought that London was overrated (I am a born and bred Londoner) and is a great city if you are;

a) a tourist.
b) very wealthy.

Otherwise its a difficult city to live in, particularly if you have a family and want a home of your own.

Definitey. I lived in London for 2 years, got into so much debt just from living and didn't even get to have a social life! Living in London is definitely for the wealthy. Now I will go back as a tourist when I can afford it someday!

PinkTwirl

Sir_Humphrey wrote: »

You've been hanging around with the wrong crowd matey. There were plenty of non-boring people in London even during the boom.

I missed the non-boring people then, my housemates were all boring lawyers when I lived in London. I couldn't afford the £7 a time cocktails that they insisted on in the trendy pubs and even worse when they would buy champagne in the pub! :rotfl:

I didn't go out much with them! I couldn't afford a £40 round every hour!:eek:

Not that I am saying all lawyers are boring. Just the ones I know

lostinrates

PinkTwirl wrote: »

Definitey. I lived in London for 2 years, got into so much debt just from living and didn't even get to have a social life! Living in London is definitely for the wealthy. Now I will go back as a tourist when I can afford it someday!

Whereas I found there was something to do for free almost all of the time in London. There is a lot to do relatively cheaply. Some aspects of cost of living in London are certainly very high, property for example, but filling leisure time and social life can be cheaper than where I am now, in a rural location.

chucky

London is not on the way out - it is and will be much more recession proof and less affected than most of the UK

clk299

SG1 I agree. My parents lived and worked in London, and still live here. I lived away (including in a proper hamlet with no shops etc) and came back as it is deathly to HAVE to drive everywhere because you cannot even walk to nearest town unless you are some kind of mad hiker type person. I'm not rich, ok I could buy somewhere outside of London for a snip of the price of what I'm looking at here but there is nothing like watching the sun come up from the banks of the Thames, if I'm working at night, or the stars over the Houses of Parliament, and when I walk down the street I look at the tourists and the excited children on day trips and I do feel lucky that I'm a real 'Londoner' and that I belong here. That is when I'm not muttering 'bloody tourists' under my breath, lol!