London/Charlton

[Boomstick]

Wow, just wow.
It's like another world down there.
I try to avoid going to London, but when I have to I normally go on the train, but yesterday I drove and saw places I havent seen before.

Now I've been travelling and seen quite a few dodgy places, but f**k me sideways, what an utter utter, grim, shit hole dive of a place it is.
It was a real eye opener.
Even the people are just rude, obnoxious zombies, going about their business in a robotic manner.

It genuinely reminded be of a dystopian film set, like blade runner, running man, or escape from new York.

I mean, genuinely how do people cope living in such a dirty, overcrowded, polluted, messy shit hole every day!?  Then go back to their 500k 1 bed hovel of a flat?

My god it was a real eye opener, and I pity the poor souls that are trapped in that dystopian metropolis.

I could not wait to escape back home to gods own county. Which I think couldn't be more aptly named.

I've raley felt more pleased to be a Yorkshire man.

[graingrover]

I find it a great place to visit and the museums the theatres the parks and the general buzz I get from the cosmopolitan population .I have had family there since I married  a Londoner in the 60’s and hated it but now it is my favourite place when I visit UK. Did you have time to visit Greenwich village or the National Maritime Museum .Dix you manage a trip down the river from Cutty Sark to Chelsea .Did you take the kids to the Science Museum ...should have asked ...though you sound so indignant you probably would have preferred to stay in your safe parochial paradigm.

[mushRTID]

I love visiting London. Strange post, there’s bad parts of any city

[RoversAlias]

I can't stand London to be honest. Even if I go for a tourist trip or a sporting event there I can't wait to leave usually. I cannot in the farthest depths of my mind imagine actually living there.

[pib]

Parts of London are grim and I could never live there myself. Plus I hate how it’s now the centre of the universe and gets all the investment and the best of everything.

 However, the OP is a very narrow minded view. Can’t just write the whole place off based on certain areas.

[Geoff Blakesley]

It's a great place if you are young. Bars, culture, restaurants, music venues are excellent. I lived and worked there for 13 yrs but the hectic pace, littered streets, tube travel and impending fatherhood took me back to Yorkshire. I still have a lot of friends down there but I rarely visit except for a world class exhibition or similar. Nowadays I prefer to drive north rather than south.

[RedJ]

Much of London is a shit hole to be fair. As many people as possible crammed into as small an area as possible and extortionately priced.

There's some really nice places too,mostly the touristy areas or the parts riddled with rich foreign people but by and large it's an absolute shit hole.

[NickDRFC]

I lived in South West London for 10 years (Putney, Balham and Clapham) and wouldn’t change a second of it. Still love the place and enjoy going back to visit 4/5 times a year. Obviously there are some grim parts and some grim people but there’s nowhere else like it in the UK, or even the world.

[sheffield exile1]

Spent 3 years there in the 70's at University-always enjoyed it. Worked in Slough in the 80's....now theres a tale...

[IDM]

And Doncaster is like living on Ipanema beach I suppose.!!

[RedJ]

And Doncaster is like living on Ipanema beach I suppose.!!

Don't be daft. It's even better.

[PDX_Rover]

I lived in London from 1996 - 2004 and I love the city. Lived in Tottenham first, which was rough, for about 8 months then moved to Balham and eventually bought a place in between Tooting and Streatham.

Like anywhere, it had its challenges and rough parts, but I never had any bother from anyone. Rarely went into the city to be fair as we used to go out in Brixton for the most part, which was a fantastic place - lot of soul and a bit of edge to it. Plus Brixton academy where I had many a great night. I had a great circle of friends there and still do, all bar one person are non-Londoners.

We spent a week there staying at a friend’s place in primrose hill at Christmas and it was brilliant.

Of course, love Doncaster and Yorkshire. Would not have changed my birthplace and growing up there.

It’s all relative.

[Padge_DRFC]

Not bad to visit lots to do. Place to visit. To live in big no no for me though. Compare it to the the other capitals of the UK and Ireland it's by far the best city

[redarmy82]

Lived there for a spell. Hated it. Absolute shit hole of a place. Compare it to other major cities in the world, new York, Hong Kong and it isn't anywhere near on par.

[Boomstick]

Think some people are misinterpreting my post.
Yes some places are nice, and I like visiting the overcrowded museums too.
But you can't f**king live in one can you!?

The residential areas where the average Joe live, are grim, depressing places.
These are the areas I saw, and what I was referring to.

[Chris Black come back]

Lived there for a spell. Hated it. Absolute shit hole of a place. Compare it to other major cities in the world, new York, Hong Kong and it isn't anywhere near on par.

New York is a superb city in many ways but quality of life is really poor. Central Park aside, little green space, Metro network is a horror show and real estate market crazy.

Hong Kong most insane real estate market anywhere on planet. Rest of infrastructure high quality but you are increasingly living in authoritarian society.

[GazLaz]

If you don’t like London you don’t like life. It’s a fantastic city.

[redarmy82]

If you don’t like London you don’t like life. It’s a fantastic city.

You need to visit some new places. Im fortunate enough to have lived in thr cities i mentioned eadlier, and London lags behind massively. I lived in London for two years, and the level of crime i witnessed with my own eyes is enough to put anyone off.and that was in a reasonably affluent area.

[GazLaz]

I lived in London for 5 years. I’ve been to New York more than once and it’s fantastic also but there are worse places there than you will find in London. Both places have a lot in common really.

[NickDRFC]

If you don’t like London you don’t like life. It’s a fantastic city.

You need to visit some new places. Im fortunate enough to have lived in thr cities i mentioned eadlier, and London lags behind massively. I lived in London for two years, and the level of crime i witnessed with my own eyes is enough to put anyone off.and that was in a reasonably affluent area.

That’s anecdotal really though isn’t it, like I said o lived there for 10 years and didn’t witness any crime myself. Crime rates are high there because it’s such a big city but I’m sure they’re comparable with New York.

[adamtherover]

We go down often, for shows, sporting events, long weekends, etc., absolutely love it.....  BUT, I wouldn't want to live there.....    fine in small doses...

[silent majority]

My son lived in Boston for 6 years and New York for 9 years. My daughter in law is from Queens.

They both now live in London, and they would never move back to the US. NY isn't a patch on London, although it's a great city in it's own right.

I've obviously spent a lot of time in all those cities, and for me my favourite would be Boston, but only for access to the NE states.

[southwestexile]

Without London we would never have had The Clash, it wins on that alone

[PDX_Rover]

I’ve lived on the states for 15 years now, up and down the west coast. Best place I’ve loved so far? Portland Oregon. Has everything. We’d still be there if my job hadn’t taken us back to California.

Lived in San Fran and Berkeley - massively expensive. Ridiculously so. Road network shockingly bad. SF is beautiful to visit but that’s about it.

Now in San Diego and it’s nice enough but again, expensive.

Currently interviewing for a job that would take me to Morristown, New Jersey, which looks like a nice place so excited to see how that works out. Plus Rovers play at 10.00am on a Saturday.

Which is nice.

[Boomstick]

My son lived in Boston for 6 years and New York for 9 years. My daughter in law is from Queens.

They both now live in London, and they would never move back to the US. NY isn't a patch on London, although it's a great city in it's own right.

I've obviously spent a lot of time in all those cities, and for me my favourite would be Boston, but only for access to the NE states.

Wow, I've probably been to NY the same amount of times as I've been to that shit hole they call London.
London is streets behind NY, its not even close.
NY is fantastic, and has a genuine claim to be the capital of the world.
London is a truly horrific place, outside the tourist places, and square mile.

[NickDRFC]

Boomstick, where do you actually live? And how many of the residential areas of London have you visited to come to the conclusion that everywhere other than the centre is a “truly horrific place”?

[roversdude]

Boomstick I can assure you there are some even worse places in NY

[Boomstick]

Boomstick, where do you actually live? And how many of the residential areas of London have you visited to come to the conclusion that everywhere other than the centre is a “truly horrific place”?

That's irrelevant, although I'm very very happy with where I live.
I take it you haven't seen any of the residential areas of London, it legitimately like a 3rd world country in places.

[NickDRFC]

Read my post further up, I’ve lived in plenty of them. Visited friends and family across plenty more. Still a bit confused as to how you can label EVERY residential area of the biggest city in the country as horrific. And why you won’t even give a rough indication of where you live.

[Boomstick]

Read my post further up, I’ve lived in plenty of them. Visited friends and family across plenty more. Still a bit confused as to how you can label EVERY residential area of the biggest city in the country as horrific. And why you won’t even give a rough indication of where you live.

I've worked very hard to live where I do, and am very happy with it.
London doesn't even come close to the top 100 places I would live in the UK, let alone the world.
I'll repeat, outside the tourist areas, the square mile, and the top 0.01% affluent places, its a horrific, dirty and overcrowded dump.