When did the London gentrification start?

antrobus

vivatifosi wrote: »

Chelsea on Thames was definitely gentrified as early as the 1600s. I've been researching a wealthy chap who had a home there. By using his private boat to travel up and down the Thames rather than travelling through town, it was much easier to avoid the vagabonds and ruffians.

He was also an MP. I bet he had a duck house, even then.

I was going to plump for the year 43 myself.

After all, 'when did the London gentrification start', excuse me, I mean for !!!!!!, urban conurbations regularly go through cycles of decay and renewal.

Generali

antrobus wrote: »

I was going to plump for the year 43 myself.

After all, 'when did the London gentrification start', excuse me, I mean for !!!!!!, urban conurbations regularly go through cycles of decay and renewal.

I took it to mean the current cycle whereby rejected and neglected inner city areas have risen in popularity and value as industry has moved out of London.

zagfles

And after all that "gentrification" over the centuries, London still has the highest crime rate per-capita of all UK cities, higher unemployment than most UK regions, and of course stupidly high house prices. If that's what "gentrification" gets you, I'll choose to live somewhere which hasn't been "gentrified"

System

In about 1500, with the advent of the Tudors. Strong centralised government after decades of wars and weak government, increasing importance of London as the political and commercial capital, focussed wealth and the urge for social standing on London.

antrobus

Generali wrote: »

I took it to mean the current cycle whereby rejected and neglected inner city areas have risen in popularity and value as industry has moved out of London.

There is always a current cycle of decay and renewal.

westernpromise

Another vote here for the late 70s / early 80s.

1985 was when I first heard mention of St. Reatham, St. Epney, Clahm, and Ba-TER-see-a.

chewmylegoff

cells wrote: »

Interesting question in another thread. I think Late 1990s

The demographic falls in London after ww2 started to slowly reverse around the 1980s and the right to buy was introduced. Both were important changes going from contraction to expansion

In the 1990s council house building started to fall away which was a very important factor in starting to dilute the very high numbers of council homes in certain boroughs and areas and moved away from council estates to mixed estates. Some places eg Hackney were over 50% council homes which depressed the whole borough as it hoovered up poorer people from all over London and rUK.


So I have those three factors as the big changes, reversal of population decline. Introduction of Right To Buy and big drop in council house building all fitting together towards the late 1990s as the start of the 'gentrification' of London

When the Romans moved in.

zagubov

westernpromise wrote: »

Another vote here for the late 70s / early 80s.

1985 was when I first heard mention of St. Reatham, St. Epney, Clahm, and Ba-TER-see-a.

It was already underway when I moved here in the mid-80s. Vast amounts of office space had been built in the Isle of Dogs enterprise zone. Young people were moving in at a fair pace. Clapham was still a bit rough in the mid-80s and people who wanted to be close to the centre started to move into former rundown houses being subdivided into flats. Places that used to be suitable only for student flats started getting snapped up by developers and getting tarted up and sold to more affluent office workers. I suppose salaried people felt less likely to settle for being in lodgings.

Until then London had been a bit hollowed out with the inner city full of people who couldn't afford to flee to the suburbs. Many of them are still there but are now mixed in with more affluent neighbours who want access to the nightlife or whatever. Factories (there were some) and workshops were getting moved further out.

By the late 80s we were getting worried about getting on the ladder but a change in circumstances meant we couldn't until the early 90s, which, considering the ups and downs of the market worked out really well for us.

Especially as we moved straight our into the burbs and have no intention of aspiring to any of the gentrified inner London areas. Not much there now for families with kids.

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

It was already underway when I moved here in the mid-80s. Vast amounts of office space had been built in the Isle of Dogs enterprise zone. Young people were moving in at a fair pace. Clapham was still a bit rough in the mid-80s and people who wanted to be close to the centre started to move into former rundown houses being subdivided into flats. Places that used to be suitable only for student flats started getting snapped up by developers and getting tarted up and sold to more affluent office workers. I suppose salaried people felt less likely to settle for being in lodgings.

Until then London had been a bit hollowed out with the inner city full of people who couldn't afford to flee to the suburbs. Many of them are still there but are now mixed in with more affluent neighbours who want access to the nightlife or whatever. Factories (there were some) and workshops were getting moved further out.

By the late 80s we were getting worried about getting on the ladder but a change in circumstances meant we couldn't until the early 90s, which, considering the ups and downs of the market worked out really well for us.

Especially as we moved straight our into the burbs and have no intention of aspiring to any of the gentrified inner London areas. Not much there now for families with kids.

Not much in nappy valley for families?

Thrugelmir

In the 70's we never ventured further north than Streatham after 10pm. Brixton was a no go area.