London..

Kirri

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Try not living in stockwell or tottenham or whatever horrible area of London you are living in.

I have never been barged into by a chav when walking down the street, and infact rarely see anyone I would describe as a chav. I always feel much more unsafe when visiting northern towns and cities, where I regularly see alcohol fuelled violence which again I almost never witness in London.

I don't even live anywhere as bad as Stockwell or Tottenham and nor would I!

neverdespairgirl

I love London. I was born and brought up here, went to university here, and have lived here since then. I grew up in SE London, and now live in the centre.

Why not move elsewhere? Even if we wanted to, which we don't, it would be tricky. My family are here, I'd miss them. OH and I both work here, and in our line of business, it's London where you need to be, really.

I've never been mugged, burgled, or bumped into by gangsta kids, either.

botchjob

Kirri wrote: »

If I could walk down the street without being barged for no reason by some gangsta kid, that would be an improvement..

Sorry but i've lived in London for over 20 years (variously in Brixton, Stockwell, Hackney, and currently Walthamstow) and i simply don't recognise this. Where on earth do you live?? And how often, exactly, do you get barged by some 'gangsta kid' (and is your 'paper of choice the Daily Mail?). Maybe you're a teenager (i wouldn't have wanted to have been a teenager living in any of the above places) but you paint a picture of a london i just don't recognise.

I'm amused by all the mention of 'chavs' in London. In my experience the highest density of chavs-per-square-mile is found outside of the M25.

flashnazia

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Staggeringly disillusioned by London's night life I then searched for more meaning in my life in our nations capital and came up with:

1) Jobs
2) Excellent free museums and galleries
3) Shows
4) An infuriatingly unreliable, expensive, over crowded transport system
5) Filth, literally just filth coating every public space, stairs, escalators, I wont even touch an escalator rail in London now
6) Horrifying levels of street crime with muggings happening with far greater frequency that in New York and no sight of a policeman
7) Some of the worst schools in the world
8) Medical facilities that felt more like being in a refugee camp in a third world country
9) Some truly baffling levels of drunken street violence from the pubs in Greenwich (a nice area) just outside the front door of our flat
10) Chewing gum coating every square foot of pavement like some kind of disease harbouring fungus
11) Chavs
12) Chavs
13) Lots of nice parks (full of chavs).
14) Shops I couldnt afford, what with putting every penny I could save towards private health care, private schooling, and a down payment on a unit in a gated community.

I then realised that London wasnt going to do it for me.

Some of the points mentioned are far worse outsite London to. E.g. Where I live:

4) public transport, one bus an hour. Nearly two quid. Smelly and full of rude Karen Matthews type mums.
6) crime is worse here. In Leyton we used to forget to lock the car sometimes. Nothing happened. Up north I've had car stolen twice (one recovered in Bradford with petrol still in it - apparently the transport system is so bad ppl nick cars in order to get home). Street crime levels probably seem low here because ppl won't dare walk after dark. Cars and taxis are used a lot.
7) schools. Neglected, run down and full of pupils who have no interest in learning because their parents didn't and don't need to work so why should they?
8) likewise for hospitals. Dewsbury hospital is where ppl can get butchered or they die. Likewise for bradford and calderdale. Think about it, if you were a bright, intelligent doctor or teacher, would you work in a rundown place? Hence bad schools and hospitals.
9) drunken mindless violence - people here do nothing else!
11) more chavs
12) and even more

I'm not denying there aren't any nice areas outside London, just that the houses there are probably just as expensive when the lower salary is taken into account (unless you are a pharmacist or something - apparently they get paid more outside London).

Flight2quality

ruggedtoast wrote: »

If everyone who was currently working in London and struggling by on an average salary left tomorrow to go and live where house prices were cheaper, what do you think would happen to those areas and why do you think they are cheaper?

Soon there will be this mass exodus out of London when the props come out. High housing benefit payments can not last much longer then rents will collapse bring down with them high house prices.

When rates do go back to more normal levels the auction houses will be flooded with repo's. No rush though this situation will last a while wait for the free market to find the correct value for property. Sooner they take the props out the better, how much longer can house prices defy gravity?

FTBFun

I moved to London in early 2005 after living in a pleasant but dull city on the south coast, and don't regret it at all. After 5.5 years in NW london (Hampstead, W.Hampstead, Kilburn), I now live in SE London, and still enjoy it. I suspect i'll move out at some stage though but still commute in.

I've seen more drunken street violence in my home town (and Edinburgh for that matter! Saw someone getting the !!!! kicked out of them when I was there on a stag do) than I have in London, and (touch wood) have not yet been a victim of any crime.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I love living in London, but I make the most of my time here. I regularly appreciate the free, world class museums and top quality theatre and stand up. I can walk to a multiplex and an independent cinema from my house. I can easily get to some of Britain's best racecourses on public transport. I travel a lot, so Heathrow, Gatwick and the Eurostar are all easy options. I've only seen one violent incident in 9 years; a respectable-looking besuited middle aged man shouting obscenities at a bus driver.


I grew up in the semi-rural suburbs and can't imagine living somewhere like that again; risible public transport, dreary out of town lesiure centres, provincial nightclubs called names like Lust or Grope, low paid seasonal jobs, small town mentality.


I work in a top-rated department at one of the UK's best universities. Oxbridge aside, any similar job outside London would be a step downwards and less secure. A lot of the tinpot ex-polys are going to be in trouble with the new funding arrangements.

StevieJ

flashnazia wrote: »

I used to live in London and miss it terribly but I realise if I move back I will have to rent (I have my own home).

It may be cheaper but it sure is miserable. Up North, one man's version of friendly banter is noseyness to me. I miss the mix of cultures, the different attitude, the buzz and the choice when it comes to looking for work and above all the public transport.

Such is life. Can't have it all

I think that says more about you than people up North I know a few Londoners around where I live if you mention going back to London a look of horror crosses their face.

lostinrates

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

, provincial nightclubs called names like Lust or Grope, .

:rotfl::rotfl:Oh, that really rang true for me. I wouldn't really go clubbing nowadays any way, but when the choice is the Lusts and Gropes of the market towns aren't here, its not at all tempting. Thank you for brightening my ay with such a tremendous truism.

(caveat: have been to a couple of excellent out of town clubs in my youth, but they were certainly the wrong side of the law, in fat, its possible they weren't as great as I remember)

StevieJ

ruggedtoast wrote: »

If you are wealthy to the extent that you can afford to pay for things you would otherwise have to rely on the state for (schools, health), and pay for taxis when you go out, I can see London might be ok if you are bringing up a family.

I still consider the level of crime to be unacceptable though and no one is immune from that. Really wealthy areas in Mayfair and the like now pay for private security to patrol and they still get doorstep muggings and home invasions.

Interesting that the guy that owns most of Mayfair lives just outside Chester in the grim north.