Well Large there is no offlicence anymore in Baldwyn's park , and the one in the village closed last year..... Like most of the people who visit Bexley village probably not local...... re bexley dan: Yes the Industry that was along the Thames AEI, Johnson and Phillips, Harvey', and British Ropes etc have long departed. I used to remember the factory siren when I was at Sherrington!. The Greenwich council were an absurd bunch in the late 60s 70s, suffice to say that Woolwich town centre had the Woolwich, Greenwich University, The RACS, Morgan Grampian, all decent large employeers, and generally employing local people, who's kids went to local schools. The kids went to local parks and played with other children. I know this may be a time gone past, but the social engineering, or attempted second rate Liverpool utopia, seemed as far away from most working class people in Greenwich as those of an eskimo in the Sahara!. Bunging people in high rise, conformist brick jungles did little for the community or there self respect. Replacing the Brook with the QE was hardly a giant strive forward was it!.... Where is the Thames crossing, I tried to drive through Greenwich this week mid day and there was a tale back to the A2 turnoff, and the town centre was covered in plastic as if it was gift wrapped! ( if I had not been taking a photo I would have turned around and gone back). Ever tried parking your car in Woolwich these days, streets of residents parking bays ( empty) empty parking bays outside the Tax office, closed to the public. And as for parking at the new pub in Woolwich the Dial arch eh where! ....... Woolwich Dockyard.. Better not mention culture!..... Cinema!Theatre, art gallery!..... Even the old post office was closed. The long established business's seemed to be Curry asia and the undertakers, not forgetiing the first Mc Donalds of course...... The rows of empty shops, empty stalls in the coverd market ...... I will leave it there shall I..........
[cite]Posted By: Friend Or Defoe[/cite]Best city in the world, most of you have probably never been to some of its best areas. When foriegners list their fav cities London & New York are usually the top 2, unless they prefer small quieter cities. Yes it's not perfect but most people who complain about the commuting probably commute from the home counties.
Now Leroy I'll only comment on where I've been;
Sevilla - Dull and you can't eat the oranges.
Barcelona - Dirty, surrounded by slums & dull
Melbourne - Lived there for 2 months, great for sport but even worse weather than London and awful nightlife. I enjoyed my time there but it's not on the same level as London.
Stockholm - Beatiful city, stuning in fact but very expensive & dull.
Milan - Is this a joke?
Nothing wrong with liking a change though, I don't want to spend my entire life here no matter how awesome it is!
Haha - I think you're looking at it from a 'young person's perspective. Having grown up in London, the novelty wore off for me when I was about 18. I think a lot of people who grow up outside of a big city feel the lure of the place simply because there's so much 'going on' and they're used to life being quieter and more 'boring'. I can't stand it - everything about it - the noise, stink, violence, constant sound of sirens, police helicopters, nutcases everywhere, shitty public transport, constant roadworks making driving anywhere between 7AM and 9PM a fucking nightmare - I hate it all. I don't give a shit about nightlife, I don't care about a place being dull. I WANT dull.
BTW - there are about four posts on here intimating that it's the ethnic mishmash or the crime that are the problem. They're not. I don't care about ethnic groups not mixing with each other and creating 'ghettoes'. I don't really care about the crime, as I'm aware every city has crime problems. It's the whole picture that makes London so horrible. And I don't even live in 'proper' London, I live in Croydon!
Unfortunately, due to the decline of these industries / docks then i would say that as a rule of thumb, the further away you get from the river, the better things become. Woolwich, in my lifetime has always been a bit depressing. I grew up in Eltham and certainly, my first thought when looking to settle down and start a family was to look for a house towards Bexley / sidcup rather than Lee / Lewisham whilst Woolwich / Charlton never entered my mind. I do live in the borough of Bexley but not Bexley village. The part of the borough i live in must be an Oasis because i think it's great - all the neighbours are sociable, the kids love their school, their football teams, all the mums and dads get on, got a great local pub... All the things that i read and hear people moaning about (and i don't doubt them) are going on elsewhere and for that, i accept i'm lucky.
I think this argument needs to be distinguished between arguing about the contrasts between city and country life, which are obvious and, as Leroy I guess alludes to, preferences I guess in this respect are subjective and possibly related to age, and the argument between London as a city compared to other world cities.
Because obviously in terms of environment, schooling, crime, safety, etc, London cannot compare to the countryside so it is pretty ridiculous to compare it to that and call it a sh*thole. I think the point is in the context of a world city / metropolis, a centre of industry etc where there are so many opportunities to meet people, go out, get jobs, make money, experience different things etc, London is surely one of the best in the world (although I am not particularly well travelled) and certainly not a sh*thole when compared with these things.
I still think communities exist in certain areas and there is a lot of appeal to London, but I agree that it doesn't sound as 'pleasant' as how my mum describes it when she grew up in Charlton in the 50s, 60s and 70s. But I guess for those negative changes there are positive changes too. I think there are a lot of people out there who have a lot to be grateful for in terms of what London has given them, even if some may have grown tired of it by now and want something different.
I think London is still the greatest, English speaking city in the world. New York probably runs it close. If I was going to choose a city to live in I would go for London, although I love Portland, Oregon which is a fantastic place. Calgary, the nearest city to me is OK - but doesn't come close to London in my opinion in any cultural, food, sporting, transportation, historical aspect - in fact I struggle to think of anything that Calgary has that is better than London. Ah yes, amazing mountains - that's why i live in them.
[cite]Posted By: Friend Or Defoe[/cite]Best city in the world, most of you have probably never been to some of its best areas. When foriegners list their fav cities London & New York are usually the top 2, unless they prefer small quieter cities. Yes it's not perfect but most people who complain about the commuting probably commute from the home counties.
Now Leroy I'll only comment on where I've been;
Sevilla - Dull and you can't eat the oranges.
Barcelona - Dirty, surrounded by slums & dull
Melbourne - Lived there for 2 months, great for sport but even worse weather than London and awful nightlife. I enjoyed my time there but it's not on the same level as London.
Stockholm - Beautiful city, stuning in fact but very expensive & dull.
Milan - Is this a joke?
Nothing wrong with liking a change though, I don't want to spend my entire life here no matter how awesome it is!
Haha - I think you're looking at it from a 'young person's perspective. Having grown up in London, the novelty wore off for me when I was about 18. I think a lot of people who grow up outside of a big city feel the lure of the place simply because there's so much 'going on' and they're used to life being quieter and more 'boring'. I can't stand it - everything about it - the noise, stink, violence, constant sound of sirens, police helicopters, nutcases everywhere, shitty public transport, constant roadworks making driving anywhere between 7AM and 9PM a fucking nightmare - I hate it all. I don't give a shit about nightlife, I don't care about a place being dull. I WANT dull.
First off congrats on getting your assessment of me spot on! Second, most if not all of what you've mentioned are problems all major cities suffer from and I somewhat bewildered that with this mindset you list some of your cities as being superior to London. What you need is the countryside you old git!
As for Melbourne's weather, at least with London you know where you stand. Melbourne's inconsistency is ridiculous, 31/12/05 - 42 degrees, too hot to go out. 01/01/06 - Rained all day and temperature in the 20s. Four seasons in one day is spot on!
FOD - if you think that weather is bad, try 30C yesterday, followed by a teatime mini hurricane that ripped out a 80 foot Spruce tree in my back garden & would have probably killed us if it had fallen in our direction - torrential rain & 5C overnight with snow a bit higher up. We have snow this weekend in the forecast but back up to the 20's by Wednesday. Thunderstorms most nights & hail the size of golf balls to contend with. Nowhere that I have ever heard of outside of the Arctic/Antarctic gets extreme weather like Calgary & the surrounding areas. My temperature thingy records a low of -36c & a high of 35c within the last 12 months!! I long for the calm British weather at times!
not sure about the rest of the country as even though I've spent a fair amount of time in the north I've only ever lived down here.
I actually hate living in london now and mainly because of noisy neighbours . When we lived in Charlton I really loved our flat and little garden and the fact that the valley was at the bottom of our road but we had to move after suffering a succession of noisy neighbours which ended in one putting a knife to my throat.
We've lived in Lee since then and our street is quite peaceful and most people know each other but lately (and strangely enough) since the ferrier estate started being knocked down we have had a steady stream of scummy underclass move into the street making noise late at night . One of my neighbours has her kid run around loads indoors which puts me on edge and due to my last incident with the knife fella I feel scared to go round and complain. This also angers me because the baby machine doesn't work and has had a couple of fellas live there since we've been here , we work hard to provide a roof over our heads but she gets her flat by opening her legs.
With twins on the way in March we are looking at moving , as said by Leroy earlier I'm done with clubbing , I don't go to many gigs anymore and would have thought my social life will not exactly be busy come march.
All I want is a quiet life and to live somewhere that I feel my wife can safely walk home after dark.
Just had an old editor come back from Calgary, The rockies, the enviroment, wintersports, big country, horse riding and so on.... and the people are apparently friendly according, her partner is an artist and the culture is half decent to.
Does not seem the worst place on earth to me, must admit given a choice I would opt for this over Woolwich these days. Oakstar.... what about the rodeo, wrestling, and the ski-ing, quad bike riding in the rockies..... where is my passport
[cite]Posted By: ken from bexley[/cite]Just had an old editor come back from Calgary, The rockies, the enviroment, wintersports, big country, horse riding and so on.... and the people are apparently friendly according, her partner is an artist and the culture is half decent to.
Does not seem the worst place on earth to me, must admit given a choice I would opt for this over Woolwich these days. Oakstar.... what about the rodeo, wrestling, and the ski-ing, quad bike riding in the rockies..... where is my passport
Calgary is OK, as a city I much prefer Vancouver.....but she is right in terms of outdoor activities if you like mountain biking, any form of wintersport, fishing, hiking asnd teh like - this place is heaven.
What I don't like so much, the ugly urban sprawl, abundant rednecks, no public transport to speak of, relative isolation of the city to other cities, winter climate for 8 months of the year, football desert.
Funnily enough one of the absolute best things about Calgary is it is increasingly multicultural, lots of Vietnamese, Chinese, Indians, increasing Mexicans & every European nationality under the sun. I would absolutely hate to live in a monocultural place.
[cite]Posted By: Leroy Ambrose[/cite]And I don't even live in 'proper' London, I live in Croydon!
Explains everything. Now Croydon IS a hole. I worked in Croydon for a few years and it almost killed me. But as you well know it isn't London, it's a weird, self-contaned city-ette that nobody seems to ever leave. Be thankful you don't like night-life, it's horrible there. As for London, it is second to none for green spaces and culture in my experience (it may have some equals). My social life revolves around Brixton and I can honestly say that for all the overt drug-dealing, grime etc. I have never once felt intimidated walking back from the pub. Nothing like as bad as those small home counties towns where drunken youth spill out of the pubs every Saturday night fighting, throwing up and eyeing with aggressive suspicion anyone that doesn't look exactly like they do.
Well i love the gritty side of London I love the fact it has every race and creed you can imagine and I wouldn't swap it for any city or town in the world
We have a rich history
A diverse and fashionable culture
We can get any form of food or night out you want
Transport is good not the best but good enough
To be honest my only wish is somewhere not so busy for my Joe to play out but I can't have it all
Born in North London,moved to Charlton around 1970 and spent a few years there.Moved to Eltham and spent 18 years there and loved it!next 15 years in Greenhithe Kent top place,moved back to Charlton love the area and mates i have met but you have to be street wise around here in my opinion and its down to scumbags where ever they came from!
[cite]Posted By: Tavern[/cite]Born in North London,moved to Charlton around 1970 and spent a few years there.Moved to Eltham and spent 18 years there and loved it!next 15 years in Greenhithe Kent top place,moved back to Charlton love the area and mates i have met but you have to be street wise around here in my opinion and its down to scumbags where ever they came from!
spot on mate
we wre at a pals 40th and decided to walk home 3 fellas my size and 2 ladies, we took a short cut through a park heard some noises the boys wanted to investigate the girls told us to stoip being stoopid, wake up to find someone had been stabbed to death in the park..
morale is stay sensible always keep witts about you and there is a 99% chance you will be fine
[cite]Posted By: Tavern[/cite]Born in North London,moved to Charlton around 1970 and spent a few years there.Moved to Eltham and spent 18 years there and loved it!next 15 years in Greenhithe Kent top place,moved back to Charlton love the area and mates i have met but you have to be street wise around here in my opinion and its down to scumbags where ever they came from!
spot on mate
we wre at a pals 40th and decided to walk home 3 fellas my size and 2 ladies, we took a short cut through a park heard some noises the boys wanted to investigate the girls told us to stoip being stoopid, wake up to find someone had been stabbed to death in the park..
morale is stay sensible always keep witts about you and there is a 99% chance you will be fine
just as we say that Tav bang goes my neighbourhood theres a Toby Carvery on the A10 and a life has just been lost to a stab wound in the neck 10pm on a friday inside or just outside a pub that people only use for a bit of scran no repretation as a dodgy pub at all..
[cite]Posted By: nth london addick[/cite]just as we say that Tav bang goes my neighbourhood theres a Toby Carvery on the A10 and a life has just been lost to a stab wound in the neck 10pm on a friday inside or just outside a pub that people only use for a bit of scran no repretation as a dodgy pub at all..
bloody hell thats close to home
Jesus mate these mugs make me sick! hope they caught the stabber coward
I'm under 30 and despite what has been said earlier London really isn't the greatest if your young. Well not unless your absolutely minted. I Lived in London for first 20 years then have spent years living in various places and moved back to London a year ago. I lived in Bristol and had lots of great pubs nearby and many stay open much later than the pubs here. The range of beer in almost every pub was top notch. Live music and bands was the norm in many a couple of nights a week. Also had about 4 cinemas within walking distance showing all sorts of films (mainstream and niche) Also numerous gig venues nearby and clubs playing almost every genre. I like dubstep myself and some great nights there. Also great shops (massive shopping centre and small indie shops all within 10 minutes walk) Sure London has that but it's so spread out and takes an age to get home in the early hours. It's almost impossible to find a place in London near to good pubs/shops/clubs/parks for a decent cost Also there are there's far less rude people elsewhere I have lived. Encountering less idiots means a lot
The whole street I live on is outside ob everywhere rumour mill going mad 1 dead 1 more being rushed to hospital with ob convoy
My road is normally quiet fuk all ever happens pub ls a Toby Carvery ffs people are stuck in there still at their tables being questioned they are oaps ffs
People always believe that where they live is the only place that has problems. But is everywhere does and London is no different.
Fact is that for the most part people just want to see the bad in everything. I will always remember that where we used to live in Harvey Gardens there was a fenced off area in the middle of the road where the kids used to, for the most part, gather, chat, play on their phones and bikes and play football. But everyone who lived around was convinced that they were up to no good and the amount of abuse they got was just awful - people had decided that they were up to no good before they had done a thing (and what is that about giving a dog a bad name?0. But there was almost never any trouble and ask the very same people and they would no doubt be sentimental about when they used to play football in the streets - I wonder if their seniors would have looked at them with the same eyes?
And having moved out of Charlton a couple of years ago I can truthfully say that I would go back in a heartbeat. Colchester, where we are now is an under-rated town in a severely under-rated part of the world, but nowhere on earth compares to the buzz of London. Something to see or do every night, great sports, great culture, great places to go out, and even great people for the most part.
Don't believe the hype that it's always a war-zone outside your front door, it's not.
So London is great because if you are smart you can have a 99% chance of avoiding trouble? Tell that to my Mum in Lewisham.
And obviously you need to ignore Woolwich or anywhere north of the Thames. And Croydon doesnt count now does it
And Catford, Eltham bus stops, Ladywell, Peckham - well lets ignore them. Apart from that what have the Romans ever done for us. And some other city has, on no evidence whatsoever, the 'same' climate as London so London must be the greatest
As for the buzz, the sports the culture the something to do surely most cities have this - are we really saying London is the only one to have history sport and culture?
[cite]Posted By: Dave Rudd[/cite]Here's a question:
For those of you who claim that London is such a great place to live, how many of you have ever lived anywhere else?
I lived in Wiltshire for 4 years when I worked in Bath. Lovely place, loads of space, friendly neighbours and great for the kids. But when you live in a place you realise that trouble isn't just confined to big cities. There were about 7 murders in Trowbridge and its immediate neighbouring towns (a lot more if you factored in Bristol which was on our local news). There were regular fights in the town centres (including genteel Bath) just as in any town on a weekend night. I personally never had any trouble, but I've also generally steered clear or talked my way out of trouble in London too.
[cite]Posted By: nth london addick[/cite]It may not be perfect but its home and I love it. It may be a bit rough and ready but it ain't the shite cess pit that some make out.
Agree. There are some bloody awful places in London, but I've seen the same in other parts of the country too. You only have to live a road or two away from these areas and you wouldn't know they existed. Perception is usually a greater influence on people than objective facts. Crime has fallen in the UK and also in London, but the perception is that we live in a more dangerous place.
For those of you who claim that London is such a great place to live, how many of you have ever lived anywhere else?
Here's where I've lived. Dover, Kearsney, Gravesend, Tunbridge Wells, Swanley, Chartham, Canterbury, Dartford, St. Mary Cray, Whitstable, Sturry, Wingham, Folkestone, SE London and now Faversham. So I reckon I'm allowed to say that for me, London was, and very much remains, the greatest.
I dont normally comment on threads like this, but what gives anyone the right to slag off where anyone else lives?
Sure London has problems and like most places its down the the scumbags that decide to trash the place, be it having running battles on a saturday night, Graffiti on anything else that comes to mind.
But there are some good honest hard working people that live in Woolwich, Thamesmead, and anywhere else in London, and they choose to live in those areas and some arn't given that choice (council tenents) and they try to make their area as nice as possible and to slag off where someone else may live is just wrong.
Some of the most unkind comments are from those who dont/never have/or chosen to leave people
I have visited other areas of Britain and the world, and some of you may well live in those area's, but what gives me the right to slag it off?
Sure I have opinions, but I respect the fact that others may live there.
Remember folks, an Englishmans home is his castle.
Although I have heard there's some right rough'uns in Bromley ; )
Comments
re bexley dan: Yes the Industry that was along the Thames AEI, Johnson and Phillips, Harvey', and British Ropes etc have long departed. I used to remember the factory siren when I was at Sherrington!.
The Greenwich council were an absurd bunch in the late 60s 70s, suffice to say that Woolwich town centre had the Woolwich, Greenwich University, The RACS, Morgan Grampian, all decent large employeers, and generally employing local people, who's kids went to local schools. The kids went to local parks and played with other children. I know this may be a time gone past, but the social engineering, or attempted second rate Liverpool utopia, seemed as far away from most working class people in Greenwich as those of an eskimo in the Sahara!. Bunging people in high rise, conformist brick jungles did little for the community or there self respect. Replacing the Brook with the QE was hardly a giant strive forward was it!.... Where is the Thames crossing, I tried to drive through Greenwich this week mid day and there was a tale back to the A2 turnoff, and the town centre was covered in plastic as if it was gift wrapped! ( if I had not been taking a photo I would have turned around and gone back). Ever tried parking your car in Woolwich these days, streets of residents parking bays ( empty) empty parking bays outside the Tax office, closed to the public. And as for parking at the new pub in Woolwich the Dial arch eh where! ....... Woolwich Dockyard..
Better not mention culture!..... Cinema!Theatre, art gallery!..... Even the old post office was closed. The long established business's seemed to be Curry asia and the undertakers, not forgetiing the first Mc Donalds of course...... The rows of empty shops, empty stalls in the coverd market ...... I will leave it there shall I..........
BTW - there are about four posts on here intimating that it's the ethnic mishmash or the crime that are the problem. They're not. I don't care about ethnic groups not mixing with each other and creating 'ghettoes'. I don't really care about the crime, as I'm aware every city has crime problems. It's the whole picture that makes London so horrible. And I don't even live in 'proper' London, I live in Croydon!
Because obviously in terms of environment, schooling, crime, safety, etc, London cannot compare to the countryside so it is pretty ridiculous to compare it to that and call it a sh*thole. I think the point is in the context of a world city / metropolis, a centre of industry etc where there are so many opportunities to meet people, go out, get jobs, make money, experience different things etc, London is surely one of the best in the world (although I am not particularly well travelled) and certainly not a sh*thole when compared with these things.
I still think communities exist in certain areas and there is a lot of appeal to London, but I agree that it doesn't sound as 'pleasant' as how my mum describes it when she grew up in Charlton in the 50s, 60s and 70s. But I guess for those negative changes there are positive changes too. I think there are a lot of people out there who have a lot to be grateful for in terms of what London has given them, even if some may have grown tired of it by now and want something different.
As for Melbourne's weather, at least with London you know where you stand. Melbourne's inconsistency is ridiculous, 31/12/05 - 42 degrees, too hot to go out. 01/01/06 - Rained all day and temperature in the 20s. Four seasons in one day is spot on!
I actually hate living in london now and mainly because of noisy neighbours . When we lived in Charlton I really loved our flat and little garden and the fact that the valley was at the bottom of our road but we had to move after suffering a succession of noisy neighbours which ended in one putting a knife to my throat.
We've lived in Lee since then and our street is quite peaceful and most people know each other but lately (and strangely enough) since the ferrier estate started being knocked down we have had a steady stream of scummy underclass move into the street making noise late at night . One of my neighbours has her kid run around loads indoors which puts me on edge and due to my last incident with the knife fella I feel scared to go round and complain. This also angers me because the baby machine doesn't work and has had a couple of fellas live there since we've been here , we work hard to provide a roof over our heads but she gets her flat by opening her legs.
With twins on the way in March we are looking at moving , as said by Leroy earlier I'm done with clubbing , I don't go to many gigs anymore and would have thought my social life will not exactly be busy come march.
All I want is a quiet life and to live somewhere that I feel my wife can safely walk home after dark.
Does not seem the worst place on earth to me, must admit given a choice I would opt for this over Woolwich these days. Oakstar.... what about the rodeo, wrestling, and the ski-ing, quad bike riding in the rockies..... where is my passport
Calgary is OK, as a city I much prefer Vancouver.....but she is right in terms of outdoor activities if you like mountain biking, any form of wintersport, fishing, hiking asnd teh like - this place is heaven.
What I don't like so much, the ugly urban sprawl, abundant rednecks, no public transport to speak of, relative isolation of the city to other cities, winter climate for 8 months of the year, football desert.
Funnily enough one of the absolute best things about Calgary is it is increasingly multicultural, lots of Vietnamese, Chinese, Indians, increasing Mexicans & every European nationality under the sun. I would absolutely hate to live in a monocultural place.
Explains everything. Now Croydon IS a hole. I worked in Croydon for a few years and it almost killed me. But as you well know it isn't London, it's a weird, self-contaned city-ette that nobody seems to ever leave. Be thankful you don't like night-life, it's horrible there. As for London, it is second to none for green spaces and culture in my experience (it may have some equals). My social life revolves around Brixton and I can honestly say that for all the overt drug-dealing, grime etc. I have never once felt intimidated walking back from the pub. Nothing like as bad as those small home counties towns where drunken youth spill out of the pubs every Saturday night fighting, throwing up and eyeing with aggressive suspicion anyone that doesn't look exactly like they do.
We have a rich history
A diverse and fashionable culture
We can get any form of food or night out you want
Transport is good not the best but good enough
To be honest my only wish is somewhere not so busy for my Joe to play out but I can't have it all
I love London town
spot on mate
we wre at a pals 40th and decided to walk home 3 fellas my size and 2 ladies, we took a short cut through a park heard some noises the boys wanted to investigate the girls told us to stoip being stoopid, wake up to find someone had been stabbed to death in the park..
morale is stay sensible always keep witts about you and there is a 99% chance you will be fine
Big time NLA
bloody hell thats close to home
Jesus mate these mugs make me sick! hope they caught the stabber coward
Also had about 4 cinemas within walking distance showing all sorts of films (mainstream and niche) Also numerous gig venues nearby and clubs playing almost every genre. I like dubstep myself and some great nights there. Also great shops (massive shopping centre and small indie shops all within 10 minutes walk)
Sure London has that but it's so spread out and takes an age to get home in the early hours. It's almost impossible to find a place in London near to good pubs/shops/clubs/parks for a decent cost
Also there are there's far less rude people elsewhere I have lived. Encountering less idiots means a lot
My road is normally quiet fuk all ever happens pub ls a Toby Carvery ffs people are stuck in there still at their tables being questioned they are oaps ffs
Fact is that for the most part people just want to see the bad in everything. I will always remember that where we used to live in Harvey Gardens there was a fenced off area in the middle of the road where the kids used to, for the most part, gather, chat, play on their phones and bikes and play football. But everyone who lived around was convinced that they were up to no good and the amount of abuse they got was just awful - people had decided that they were up to no good before they had done a thing (and what is that about giving a dog a bad name?0. But there was almost never any trouble and ask the very same people and they would no doubt be sentimental about when they used to play football in the streets - I wonder if their seniors would have looked at them with the same eyes?
And having moved out of Charlton a couple of years ago I can truthfully say that I would go back in a heartbeat. Colchester, where we are now is an under-rated town in a severely under-rated part of the world, but nowhere on earth compares to the buzz of London. Something to see or do every night, great sports, great culture, great places to go out, and even great people for the most part.
Don't believe the hype that it's always a war-zone outside your front door, it's not.
Tell that to my Mum in Lewisham.
And obviously you need to ignore Woolwich or anywhere north of the Thames.
And Croydon doesnt count now does it
And Catford, Eltham bus stops, Ladywell, Peckham - well lets ignore them.
Apart from that what have the Romans ever done for us.
And some other city has, on no evidence whatsoever, the 'same' climate as London so London must be the greatest
As for the buzz, the sports the culture the something to do surely most cities have this - are we really saying London is the only one to have history sport and culture?
For those of you who claim that London is such a great place to live, how many of you have ever lived anywhere else?
I lived in Wiltshire for 4 years when I worked in Bath. Lovely place, loads of space, friendly neighbours and great for the kids. But when you live in a place you realise that trouble isn't just confined to big cities. There were about 7 murders in Trowbridge and its immediate neighbouring towns (a lot more if you factored in Bristol which was on our local news). There were regular fights in the town centres (including genteel Bath) just as in any town on a weekend night. I personally never had any trouble, but I've also generally steered clear or talked my way out of trouble in London too.
Agree. There are some bloody awful places in London, but I've seen the same in other parts of the country too. You only have to live a road or two away from these areas and you wouldn't know they existed. Perception is usually a greater influence on people than objective facts. Crime has fallen in the UK and also in London, but the perception is that we live in a more dangerous place.
10s of 1,000s and from all over the UK. Plus plenty from the very places abroad, such as Aus, that others cite as much better.
IMHO it is a great city. The part I live now in suits me and my lifestyle despite the homophobic murder down the rd last year.
Here's a question:
For those of you who claim that London is such a great place to live, how many of you have ever lived anywhere else?
Here's where I've lived. Dover, Kearsney, Gravesend, Tunbridge Wells, Swanley, Chartham, Canterbury, Dartford, St. Mary Cray, Whitstable, Sturry, Wingham, Folkestone, SE London and now Faversham. So I reckon I'm allowed to say that for me, London was, and very much remains, the greatest.
Sure London has problems and like most places its down the the scumbags that decide to trash the place, be it having running battles on a saturday night, Graffiti on anything else that comes to mind.
But there are some good honest hard working people that live in Woolwich, Thamesmead, and anywhere else in London, and they choose to live in those areas and some arn't given that choice (council tenents) and they try to make their area as nice as possible and to slag off where someone else may live is just wrong.
Some of the most unkind comments are from those who dont/never have/or chosen to leave people
I have visited other areas of Britain and the world, and some of you may well live in those area's, but what gives me the right to slag it off?
Sure I have opinions, but I respect the fact that others may live there.
Remember folks, an Englishmans home is his castle.
Although I have heard there's some right rough'uns in Bromley ; )