# Your London bigotry exposed



## blooper (Sep 11, 2008)

Who and what do you hate, on a London theme? 

Apart from North London, West London and most of East London I also dislike South West London apart from perhaps a little bit of Streatham and Brixton. Specifically Cla'am (it's not a place, it's a cunt's den), Bla'am (worse in some ways, because they think they're not as bad as Cla'am but really are), Battersea and Wandsworth.

I hate them. Irrationally so. I secretly glare at the people on the platforms when the train passes through. I wince when I hear people saying they live in Clapham like it's cool. I hate them. More than I hate North London. I hate the braying laughs and thinly veiled jealousy and scorn on their inhabitant's faces and I hate the Antipodeans who think they're it for living there instead of Shepherds Bush or Ealing.

Is it just me who has these irrational (rational?) hatreds of their fellow Londoners and areas of London?

FWIW I fucking love most of South East London (expect Catford, of course). Really love it. Felt at home the second I arrived.


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## Voley (Sep 11, 2008)

I hate all of it.

Will that do?


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## tarannau (Sep 11, 2008)

Pretty much anywhere North of Stockwell or South of Tulse Hill.

The Londoners themselves are fine nearly everwhere. It's the cocks migrating there from the rest of blighty that drag this fine city down.


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## London_Calling (Sep 11, 2008)

Intense.

Have a wank or something.


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## Rollem (Sep 11, 2008)

all the non-londoners


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## CharlieAddict (Sep 11, 2008)

hate all of west and south east london - apart from gipsy hill.
brixton/streatham are shit holes but the characters make it okay.
i have a soft spot for crouch end and muswell hill - lots of nice memories there.

and victoria.
that's cos i lived there for a year...and it was my first taste of london.


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## DotCommunist (Sep 11, 2008)

Given that my experience of Kentish Town extends as far as it's nick, I don't like that bit


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## cesare (Sep 11, 2008)

I like pretty much all of South East and most of East, perhaps extending a teeny weeny bit into North. And Central. 

As for the remainder, it'd be easier to list the ones that my mild aversion doesn't include.


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## blooper (Sep 11, 2008)

NVP said:


> I hate all of it.
> 
> Will that do?



Sure.


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## blooper (Sep 11, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> Intense.
> 
> Have a wank or something.



Another one?


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## scifisam (Sep 11, 2008)

I really dislike Notting Hill - so bloody pretentious.


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## Badgers (Sep 11, 2008)

The West End mostly.....


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## d.a.s.h (Sep 11, 2008)

I really hate it when people say "The Thames is our most underused asset!" It's always politicians and GLA hopefuls who come out with that. It's such a bland Smashy-and-Nicey type observation. 

Try jumping in it with a brick round your neck if you think it's underused!


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## spanglechick (Sep 11, 2008)

tarannau said:


> The Londoners themselves are fine nearly everwhere. It's the cocks migrating there from the rest of blighty that drag this fine city down.





Rollem said:


> all the non-londoners





umm.  the frozen north.  don't mind most of w'minster and camden, but the rest feels backwards and alien.  I mean honestly - Hammersmith?  *shudder*

the doughnut, south of the river.  That is - Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Sutton, Kingston, Richmond.


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## nino_savatte (Sep 11, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> umm.  the frozen north.  don't mind most of w'minster and camden, but the rest feels backwards and alien.  I mean honestly - Hammersmith?  *shudder*
> 
> the doughnut, south of the river.  That is - Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Sutton, Kingston, Richmond.



I agree, Hammersmith is crap. I know because I live here and would dearly like to move.


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## pk (Sep 11, 2008)

Camden. Full of cunts.


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## pk (Sep 11, 2008)

Oh and Streatham. All the danger of Brixton with none of the fun.

Full of crackhead cunts.


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## corporate whore (Sep 11, 2008)

Anywhere west of Marble Arch. 

And Upper Street. 

And Clapham, which only has a tube so you can get away quickly. No need to go there AFAICS.


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## vauxhallmum (Sep 11, 2008)

I hate Fulham with a passion I cannot begin to describe.

I did really like Blackheath until 2 Sundays ago.

I was sitting outside a pub with a nice pint in hand, ducks on the duckpond and a lovely old red phone box. It was so  beautifully English and all was well in the world- until I looked into the phone box and saw all the BNP posters.  Bastards ruined my perfect pint.


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## fogbat (Sep 11, 2008)

With a thread title like that, I thought it'd be a Johnny Canuck special


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## cesare (Sep 11, 2008)

vauxhallmum said:


> I hate Fulham with a passion I cannot begin to describe.
> 
> I did really like Blackheath until 2 Sundays ago.
> 
> I was sitting outside a pub with a nice pint in hand, ducks on the duckpond and a lovely old red phone box. It was so  beautifully English and all was well in the world- until I looked into the phone box and saw all the BNP posters.  Bastards ruined my perfect pint.



By the Princess of Wales?


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## London_Calling (Sep 11, 2008)

cesare said:


> By the Princess of Wales?


If it was I'd think the Daily Express would like to know about it.


(((Diana)))


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## Tank Girl (Sep 11, 2008)

Rollem said:


> all the non-londoners


hey, i'd be out of here like a shot if I could


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## oryx (Sep 11, 2008)

scifisam said:


> I really dislike Notting Hill - so bloody pretentious.



I hate Notting Hill too.

And all those rich bits of west London - Chelsea, Kensington, Earls Court. 

I don't mind Shepherds Bush or Hammersmith or the bits further west.


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## Dhimmi (Sep 11, 2008)

oryx said:


> I hate Notting Hill too.



See I don't like Notting, but I do like the Hill.


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## 8den (Sep 11, 2008)

Tottenham, but then I lived there for two years.


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## Artaxerxes (Sep 11, 2008)

Anywhere outside my flat, especially Lewisham

and inside my flat occasionally


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## chico enrico (Sep 11, 2008)

oryx said:


> I hate Notting Hill too.
> 
> And all those rich bits of west London - Chelsea, Kensington, Earls Court.
> 
> I don't mind Shepherds Bush or Hammersmith or the bits further west.




pishflaps, i LIKE all the posh bits,  always quality cabbage leaping about. But if i could live anywhere in London i think it would be Exmouth market which is just gorgeous, or where i used to live, eleventh floor up in Turnpike House, on the very corner of Old st, clerkenwell end.

NB: most of london is shit by the way but i don't give a fuck as i never have any reason to go there. but i think the most horrible bits i've ever seen are tottenham hale, peckham and shadwell. uuugggh....


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## berniedicters (Sep 11, 2008)

This thread has made me miss London


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## mango5 (Sep 11, 2008)

West is worst.


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## hipipol (Sep 11, 2008)

*Camden*

The true arsehole of London an no mishtake Guvnor


Ref those who have a problem with the South east ........


FUCK OFF, YOU STINK!!!!!!


Please note I an a Peckhamophile, its soooooooooooooooo luvverlee here


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## kyser_soze (Sep 11, 2008)

Camden, Most of the West (l don't feel right there generally), from Catford going out along the A205 toward the A2, Woolwich, Clapham (well I quite like Clapham itself, just not the peeps)...ermmm...Croydon and whatnot...


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## ViolentPanda (Sep 11, 2008)

I don't "hate" any physical part of London, what I hate is the way that the social environment has changed in some parts, compared to when I was growing up in the late 60s and 70s.
Although there was never, IMHO, a "Golden Age" of social integration, class cleavages are a lot stronger now, compared to then, and that's mostly to do with property ownership. Thatcher (to paraphrase) said "only losers take the bus", whereas nowadays the trope seems to be "only losers live in social housing", and areas that were reasonably socially integrated 30-40 years ago now have dividing lines marked out starkly by tenure type.
I had mates whose parents lived in the old "2 up 2 down" terraces around Latchmere Rd in Battersea, working class council renters all. Now most of those homes and others of similar type are privately-owned, leaving only the low rises and high rises as "social housing stock" and those who were "Battersea born and bred" are gone, out to the suburbs or beyond, priced out. This appears to have been a pattern that has repeated almost everywhere in London, anywhere the "gentrification" virus has touched.

It's utterly depressing to me that if I walk along any of the streets in SW London that I grew up around, what were fairly integrated working-class/lower middle class neighbourhoods are now predominantly the domain of the "professional" classes. That, to me, is why parts of places like Clapham, Balham and Battersea seem so alien and so full of people whose ideals and ideas I want no part of, and not because something has happened to the places in and of themselves.

Rant over.


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## ViolentPanda (Sep 11, 2008)

kyser_soze said:


> Camden, Most of the West (l don't feel right there generally), from Catford going out along the A205 toward the A2, Woolwich, Clapham (well I quite like Clapham itself, just not the peeps)...ermmm...Croydon and whatnot...



For me that's the main thing, the people. I can just about put up with Croydon's ugliness and it's depressant effect, or the sheer air of decay that seems to hang over Woolwich some days, but the peope in the area, that's what makes or breaks whether a place is worth being, and IMHO there are fewer places worth being than there used to be.


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## Stobart Stopper (Sep 11, 2008)

Not keen on anywhere in south London except for Brixton, I feel ok when I go there.
It's a territorial thing, I have to get back north (and preferably east) of the river to feel right about everything.


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## chico enrico (Sep 11, 2008)

I love camden: "the happy hunting ground"


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## 19sixtysix (Sep 11, 2008)

The city especially on the weekend when all those lazy sponging bastards (i mean bankers)  aren't working and all the pubs are shut. Mind you when the pubs are open there full of lazy sponging bastards (i mean bankers).


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## 19sixtysix (Sep 11, 2008)

Oh and Shephards Bush. Its a shit hole.


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## clandestino (Sep 11, 2008)

I don't really hate anywhere in London, but I find myself feeling totally out of place when I'm in some parts of north London. I'm always saying stuff like, "It's like being on holiday!" It amazes me that, say, Walthamstow, which I went to the other month, and which was perfectly pleasant, is in the same city that I live in. But then I don't really think of myself as living in London. I live in Brixton, a small village on the outskirts of London.


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## harpo (Sep 12, 2008)

mango5 said:


> West is worst.



Totally agree.  The furthest west I ever go is Pimlico.  Any further and I feel lost in an alien world.


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## RaverDrew2 (Sep 12, 2008)

Anywhere north of the Thames





I also defy anyone to stand up and say a good word about Thamesmead.  Infact there is a whole pocket of South-East London that is full of brain-dead hillbillies (or Charlton supporters as they are more commonly known as)


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## cesare (Sep 12, 2008)

RaverDrew2 said:


> I also defy anyone to stand up and say a good word about Thamesmead.  Infact there is a whole pocket of South-East London that is full of brain-dead hillbillies (or Charlton supporters as they are more commonly known as)



I'm an ex-Thamesmead resident and I can say lots of good words about it  'Thamesmead' is a very pretty name, for example (unlike Hammersmith - that's not a pretty name). And it has a lovely lake with herons and other water birds. Don't diss the 'mead, man.

Everyone hates Charlton supporters, that's a given. But I reckon they're mostly bussed in.


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## RaverDrew (Sep 12, 2008)

cesare said:


> I'm an ex-Thamesmead resident and I can say lots of good words about it  'Thamesmead' is a very pretty name, for example (unlike Hammersmith - that's not a pretty name). And it has a lovely lake with herons and other water birds. Don't diss the 'mead, man.
> 
> Everyone hates Charlton supporters, that's a given. *But I reckon they're mostly bussed in.*



PMSL LOL  Too fuckin true !!!


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## cesare (Sep 12, 2008)

RaverDrew said:


> PMSL LOL  Too fuckin true !!!



And Millwall probably fucking bankroll it!


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## d.a.s.h (Sep 12, 2008)

Don't like Hackney. It's just a drain on Britain's GDP. Everyone there either has problems or is in on some helping-people-with-their-problems dependency racket. No one seems to produce anything.

Don't like Knightsbridge, Queensway, Gloucester Road areas. Cold, snobby, transient. If you fell over in the street, people would just step over you. At least in Hackney they'd go through your pockets.

Neasden: more a vacuum than a place.


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## blooper (Sep 12, 2008)

CharlieAddict said:


> hate all of west and south east london - apart from gipsy hill.



Why apart from Gipsy Hill? It's pretty unremarkable.


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## El Jefe (Sep 12, 2008)

d.a.s.h said:


> Neasden: more a vacuum than a place.



I'd rather die on my feet than live in Neasden


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## blooper (Sep 12, 2008)

chico enrico said:


> tottenham hale, peckham and shadwell. uuugggh....



I'd agree on the former and the latter, but Peckham is wicked. Granted, it has some rough areas, but the Rye area is really nice and if you like poncey (which I bet you do ) then you have 'Bellenden Village' which is as poncy as it gets.


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## blooper (Sep 12, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> I'd rather die on my feet than live in Neasden



I can't think of Ikea without hearing 'for Ikea' afterwards.


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## El Jefe (Sep 12, 2008)

Ikea for Ikea?

makes no sense


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## d.a.s.h (Sep 12, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> I'd rather die on my feet than live in Neasden



 Very good, you're in the wide awake club this morning


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## upsidedownwalrus (Sep 12, 2008)

El Jefe said:


> I'd rather die on my feet than live in Neasden


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## Pingu (Sep 12, 2008)

i used to work in the canary warf area  at weekends (harbour exchange to be precise)

this may go some way to explaining my dislike of london.

I know lets go somewhere for lunch\grab something for dinner...

oh. lets not then


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## tarannau (Sep 12, 2008)

Jesus, that's not London. That's post apocalypse Corporate hell


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## Pingu (Sep 12, 2008)

tarannau said:


> Jesus, that's not London. That's post apocalypse Corporate hell



complete with zombies and empty buildings etc etc etc.

i often felt like I should have been skulking round with a shotgun listening out for sounds of shuffling and low moans


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## chico enrico (Sep 12, 2008)

d.a.s.h said:


> Don't like Hackney. It's just a drain on Britain's GDP. Everyone there either has problems or is in on some helping-people-with-their-problems dependency racket. No one seems to produce anything.



Yea, I don't like Hackney either. Got a few friends who moved there a couple of years ago as they said you can get big flats there.  They just seem to spend all their time getting mugged.  despite having a few good restaurants, Dalston's a dump too. i reckon most folk who move there now do so cos they think it's got some 'edgy' image, which IMO only really reflects on the sort of life they have led, and environment they have led it in, before.


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## tarannau (Sep 12, 2008)

Hackney's just depressing. Shitty transport late at night means that you're always fighting for a taxi, feeling stranded in the barren centre. 

I don't give a shit if it's a bit 'edgy' - I live in Brixton after all - but it's the unlovable combination of lifeless desolation and threat which makes it so unenticing. I'm sure that there are better bits of Hackney to visit during the day, but the middle of the town sucks.


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## dtb (Sep 12, 2008)

hate most of north london, streatham, mitcham, peckham, lewisham, hounslow, ealing, southall,


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## Gavin Bl (Sep 12, 2008)

I've always found Croydon and Sutton to be deeply depressing - aggressive and unpleasant, despite being apparently relatively well-provided for areas. Don't start me on places like Merton. That whole band on the southern fringe is not nice.


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## kyser_soze (Sep 12, 2008)

I find with London that it's really hard to write an entire area off, since there's usually good and bad bits, certainly in the 8 central boroughs at least. for example, Peckham High street and immediate area is a bit shoddy, walk 5 mins up the road to the rye and it's lovely - decent houses, lots of space and trees etc. Same goes for Hackney around Vicky park.


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## London_Calling (Sep 12, 2008)

I know some here live there and I’m not too far away myself but . . . Croydon. Whoa. If Canary Wharf is a “post-apocalyptic corporate hell” then Croydon was its early 70s forefather.

Have to second Woolwich – jesus h. crisps, you almost want to invite the Luftwaffe back. In fact, apart from Plumpstead that whole manner . . . Abbey Wood, Welling, Eltham, Crayford, Sidcup . . . scary, scary world.

In some ways it pretty neatly mirrors that NE hell hole also mentioned Cricklewood, Neasden, Willesden . . .


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## Belushi (Sep 12, 2008)

> In fact, apart from Plumpstead that whole manner . . . Abbey Wood, Welling, Eltham, Crayford, Sidcup . . . scary, scary world.



In what way is Plumstead better than the rest of those neighbourhoods?


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## London_Calling (Sep 12, 2008)

I like the part with ye olde housing - and the views, and the green spaces. And it sounds nice plum . . . stead. Plum, plum, plum, plum, plum. Stead.

Okay, it's only decent in relative terms.


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## hipipol (Sep 12, 2008)

*The other side of the Hill*

The ring of hills in south London, from Cristal Paliss (sic, hehe!) in the west to Telgraph Hill in the East is actually the boundary line between civilised life and endless identiket hell of the suburban sprawl that peters out in Surrey and kent
Within the sheild of those hills some pockets of heaven exists, intermingled with horror I admit, but beyond them........ The Vale of Mordor!!!!!
 A finger of this hell approaches the river, reaching its zenith in Lewsiham -  truly the City of Endless night, Starless and Bible black (did you like the way I got Kipling and Dylan Thomas in the same brief sentence!!!)
here on the cusp of this protecting ring of heights I lay awake at night, waiting for the hordes from Sidcup, Belligham, Cattford - the inbred Kentish rabble to scale the wall and lay waste to all...............

Its grim out here on the Nunhead Marches


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## rennie (Sep 12, 2008)

Cristal Paliss is ace.


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## QueenOfGoths (Sep 12, 2008)

Gavin Bl said:


> I've always found Croydon and Sutton to be deeply depressing - aggressive and unpleasant, despite being apparently relatively well-provided for areas. Don't start me on places like Merton. That whole band on the southern fringe is not nice.



Apparently - and if I can find corroboration of this I will 'cos so far this info comes only from my friend Bob  - Sutton is London's greenest and safest borough...though still a bit of a shit hole in places!

Am with you on Croydon and Mitcham but having lived in the London Borough of Sutton and the LB of Merton there is good and bad.

Carshalton is really nice, Wallington is a shit hole and Sutton is a bit of both.

Wimbledon is great, Merton Park has some beautiful areas but South Wimbledon and Colliers Wood are places I wouldn't really choose to spend my time in.

Other than that I find Finchley Road depressing - even though I lived there for 5 years - as I do Earls Court, Walthamstow, Elephant & Castle and Streatham High Road (though the latter is probably due to living near there with a cunt of an ex boyfriend)

Really liked living in Wimbledon, Tooting Broadway and - near though not in -  Brixton


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## Gavin Bl (Sep 12, 2008)

Really? I lived in Sutton in 1996 for several months - and there was so much aggro there, I saw a man half-beaten to death outside my flat by his 'friends', and a spanish restaurant and irish pub smashed up after England went out of Euro 96 - and just constant bad feeling (though I get that feel in most of south london - I might just be a shrinking violet...)

I suppose it might have low figures for robbery and stuff, just have lots of drunken brawling, which might not be reported.


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## g force (Sep 12, 2008)

Anywhere outside Zone 3.

Anywhere West on Marble Arch.


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## Manmasi (Sep 12, 2008)

I have only lived in Battersea and Brixton. I like them both for different reasons. Got a bit fed up with Brixton after 5 years though. 

I also like Chelsea a lot - the architecture is really nice around Cheyne Walk, also love the views of Albert Bridge along the Embankment, it certainly is the place I think of when abroad. I also like lots of central London. I don't like Camberwell or Streatham much, just feels a bit depressing... I like the Jewish heartland of North London where I work, good houmus and nice quiet tree lined streets.


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## QueenOfGoths (Sep 12, 2008)

Gavin Bl said:


> Really? I lived in Sutton in 1996 for several months - and there was so much aggro there, I saw a man half-beaten to death outside my flat by his 'friends', and a spanish restaurant and irish pub smashed up after England went out of Euro 96 - and just constant bad feeling (though I get that feel in most of south london - I might just be a shrinking violet...)
> 
> I suppose it might have low figures for robbery and stuff, just have lots of drunken brawling, which might not be reported.



I've only heard the greenest/safest report from a friend,  another ex Sutton resident, who read it 'somewhere' so I can't vouch for it's authenticity I'm afraid 

I think the drunken brawling may be valid  there are a lot of drinking places in Sutton and it tends to get busy at the weekends, though luckily I've never experienced any violence, however some of the pubs can be quite intimidating and even Mr. QofG's, born and brought up around Sutton, would never venture into some


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## ouchmonkey (Sep 12, 2008)

hipipol said:


> The ring of hills in south London, from Cristal Paliss (sic, hehe!) in the west to Telegraph Hill in the East is actually the boundary line between civilised life and endless identiket hell of the suburban sprawl
> 
> A finger of this hell approaches the river, reaching its zenith in Lewisham -  truly the City of Endless night, Starless and Bible black



Jesus yes. I'm sure that the shopping centre is built over a plague grave or possibly the actual gaping maw of hell itself so depressing is it to spend more than about 15 mins in there.


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## goldenecitrone (Sep 12, 2008)

I remember going for an interview in Canning Town about eight years ago and being really glad that I didn't get the job. Unnerving place.


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## Brainaddict (Sep 12, 2008)

All of west London - I'm sorry but it should just go. Every time I'm forced by friends to go there I feel like I'm in some strange Shadow London - like Real London but with all the fun and joy sucked out of it.

Canary Wharf - though I do kind of like to pass through from time to time to remind myself what the triumph of capitalism looks like.

Streatham - I don't feel I need to give reasons for this.

Dalston - controversial among many of my friends, but it's shit, so they are wrong.


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## ohmyliver (Sep 12, 2008)

I loathe Fulham. Every time I'm there my brain screams 'Gilford is an unacceptable cultural role model' .

Putney also, the braying rich, amid a high street which has been so genericised that there isn't a single non chain store there.


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## kyser_soze (Sep 12, 2008)

goldenecitrone said:


> I remember going for an interview in Canning Town about eight years ago and being really glad that I didn't get the job. Unnerving place.



Nowhere with a major road running through the middle of it is a good place. Hence the reason for West London being almost universally derided.

BA - agreed on Dalston. Had some good nights out there, but it's a dump.



> I loathe Fulham. Every time I'm there my brain screams 'Gilford is an unacceptable cultural role model' .
> 
> Putney also, the braying rich, amid a high street which has been so genericised that there isn't a single non chain store there.



Yeah, but you can always rest easy in the knowledge that people in Putney are too poor for Fulham, and people in Fulham are too poor for K&C, but it doens't stop them being dreadful little social climbers...


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## harpo (Sep 12, 2008)

The old Kent road is a bloody soul destroying road if ever there was one.


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## FridgeMagnet (Sep 12, 2008)

Seven Sisters / Tottenham Hale is shit. I'm trying to think of some good bits, but all I can think of is bits which are, objectively, still shit, just not quite as shit as everything else there.


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## nino_savatte (Sep 12, 2008)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Seven Sisters / Tottenham Hale is shit. I'm trying to think of some good bits, but all I can think of is bits which are, objectively, still shit, just not quite as shit as everything else there.



An irredeemably bad place to be sure. Just a transport interchange, not a place to hang around. There's also Angel Road up the line from there: what a hell hole.


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## Brainaddict (Sep 12, 2008)

harpo said:


> The old Kent road is a bloody soul destroying road if ever there was one.


Yes. I live quite near it. One of the main purposes of the cycling map on the wall of my room is to plot routes that do not go along the Old Kent Road even though it should in theory be the most convenient road into town. The high street in hell will be something like the OKR.

I agree on Fulham too, though it is west london so its shitness should be non-controversial.


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## chico enrico (Sep 12, 2008)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Seven Sisters / Tottenham Hale is shit. I'm trying to think of some good bits, but all I can think of is bits which are, objectively, still shit, just not quite as shit as everything else there.



yes. utterly, and totally hideous places. like if you were 'given' a house in either you would just say 'thanks, but no thanks'.

i used to work in seven sisters and there was a fridge left - in the middle of the road - for about three days.

a fucking fridge. in the middle of the road.

actually it reminded me of some places in edinburgh only without the burnt out cars and packs of menacing eight year old kids with old man faces walking about with golf clubs like some post-apocalyptic lord of the flies.


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## oryx (Sep 12, 2008)

I have to say, I don't think Tottenham or Croydon are that bad. Although I have only worked there & never lived there. 

They may be a bit rough about the edges & downmarket but at least they are not filled with hideous, self-important snobs like inner west London. The people who live there are ordinary mortals going about their business, & there are some decent small businesses. 

(Can you tell I really, really don't like Kensington & Chelsea?!)


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## goldenecitrone (Sep 12, 2008)

Brainaddict said:


> Dalston - controversial among many of my friends, but it's shit, so they are wrong.



Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie used to live there. It's alright for restaurants and there's a good little theatre although I did take a date to watch the most depressing Sarah Kane play ever. And I've seen some great fights round there.


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## FridgeMagnet (Sep 12, 2008)

oryx said:


> I have to say, I don't think Tottenham or Croydon are that bad. Although I have only worked there & never lived there.
> 
> They may be a bit rough about the edges & downmarket but at least they are not filled with hideous, self-important snobs like inner west London. The people who live there are ordinary mortals going about their business, & there are some decent small businesses.
> 
> (Can you tell I really, really don't like Kensington & Chelsea?!)



Oh, I forgot Croydon! Yeah, that's shit too. I've not actually lived there but I did go down quite a lot when I was a teenager, shopping or going out. Miserable hole. Some friends moved down there last year and whenever you'd mention it they'd start a whole defensive spiel, "well yes it's shit but..." until they got drunk, whereupon the lady of the pair would admit that it was horrible and she wanted to get out as soon as she could.

I don't know about K&C, I used to work there, but it's not a real place is it? It's hard to put it in the same category. I suppose it's good if you like Starbuckses, "art" furniture and "urban spas".


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## lights.out.london (Sep 12, 2008)

((old kent road))


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## d.a.s.h (Sep 15, 2008)

I quite like Croydon. It's good for shopping and there's plenty of places to eat and drink.

Croydon seems to be a test-bed for interesting new fast food franchise concepts plus it's got Electric Dreams, the 1980s-themed nightclub.


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## Andy the Don (Sep 15, 2008)

Okay being honest here, Camden is a shithole full of vermin, goths and eurobrats. North London is a traffic ridden hell hole. West London is up its own arse. Croydon is not even in London proper, nor is Sutton, Richmond or Kingston. East London is just beyond the pale and I would leave it to the Krays and the cockneys. That just leaves South London, God's own..


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## upsidedownwalrus (Sep 15, 2008)

Bromley by Bow.  A true middle-of-nowhere wasteland...


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## Wolveryeti (Sep 15, 2008)

I pretty much hate all of West London. Overpriced yuppy hell with shit overpriced pubs and nightlife... I would struggle for reasons to go further west than the Albert Hall, being honest.


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## d.a.s.h (Sep 15, 2008)

DapperDonDamaja said:


> I pretty much hate all of West London. Overpriced yuppy hell with shit overpriced pubs and nightlife... I would struggle for reasons to go further west than the Albert Hall, being honest.



But if you had to choose between a night out in Old Street/Shoreditch and a night out in Ladbroke Grove/Portobello Road, which would you pick?

Bit like asking to choose between having measles and chickenpox but I would go for Ladbroke Grove/Portobello: nicer-looking place and less aggravation.


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## 8den (Sep 15, 2008)

RenegadeDog said:


> Bromley by Bow.  A true middle-of-nowhere wasteland...



Oh christ yes. I was stuck out there for a month two years ago on a job, there is nothing there aside from traffic and overpasses.


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## tarannau (Sep 15, 2008)

Bromley (by bow) is the only places that I've spotted two burnt out black cabs in a 5 minute stroll.

If that isn't a sign of London deprivation then I don't know what is.


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## hipipol (Sep 15, 2008)

It used to have some kicking parties though........

Roach Road (excellent name!!) was a stonking venue

The surroundings were as shit as is possible


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## tom_craggs (Sep 17, 2008)

I try not to go East of Hackney Marshes, but on the occasions I have, London seems to get progressively worse the further East you go. 

Richmond is crap. Used to live in South Harrow and I remember it as a depressing suburban wasteland.


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## joffle (Sep 18, 2008)

I despise most people in shoreditch/old street area who look at my baggy jeans and skate shoes with disdain. Well mate, I have a  pair of testicles which mean I cant fit in those leggings you are wearing, and even if you did once have testicles they are now probably shrivlled and useless.


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## Wolveryeti (Sep 18, 2008)

joffle said:


> I despise most people in shoreditch/old street area who look at my baggy jeans and skate shoes with disdain. Well mate, I have a  pair of testicles which mean I cant fit in those leggings you are wearing, and even if you did once have testicles they are now probably shrivlled and useless.



They will regret forking out for those trousers when the beer gut hits


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## marty21 (Sep 19, 2008)

don't really hate anywhere in london, i dislike some bits - like tottenham (((((tottenham))))))) and seven sisters, just feels miserable up there, hackney feels so much better but then I'm used to the place, 15 years

don't really like hampstead, lived near there for a while in temple fortune, which itself was a bit souless, as was golders green

don't know the south too well, although lived in southfields for a while, and that was alright then

west london - meh - used to know maida vale really well, notting hill, bayswater and that - as i worked in the area for 7 years - didn't hate it , didn't love it either


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## Nixon (Sep 20, 2008)

West London..notting hill/acton all of those places..I HATE southhall,because it depresses me.The bit around Victoria I hate..Anywhere where there is lots of tourists..Anywhere south of sydenham too ie deptford,bellingham,lower sydenham,beckenham,bromley (not strictly london but hey),downham..ugh

Seven sister ent too bad..but maybe im a bit used to it.I agree about tottenham hale though..it sucks ass (apart from for warehouse parties..SOMETIMES)


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## ethel (Sep 20, 2008)

Nixon said:


> West London..notting hill/acton all of those places..I HATE southhall,because it depresses me.The bit around Victoria I hate..Anywhere where there is lots of tourists..Anywhere south of sydenham too ie deptford,bellingham,lower sydenham,beckenham,bromley (not strictly london but hey),downham..ugh



since when have bellingham and deptford been south of sydenham? downham's more east than south too.


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## blooper (Sep 21, 2008)

Nixon said:


> West London..notting hill/acton all of those places..I HATE southhall,because it depresses me.The bit around Victoria I hate..Anywhere where there is lots of tourists..Anywhere south of sydenham too ie deptford,bellingham,lower sydenham,beckenham,bromley (not strictly london but hey),downham..ugh
> 
> Seven sister ent too bad..but maybe im a bit used to it.I agree about tottenham hale though..it sucks ass (apart from for warehouse parties..SOMETIMES)



Beckenham and Bromley are both nicer than Sydenham. Agree on the rest though.

I just don't like Sydenham. Over-priced, ugly, a bit soulless.


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## tufty79 (Sep 21, 2008)

i hate to say it, but... east dulwich.

it's just so.... _nice_.  

and full of prams and toddlers. and boutiquey shops and bleh....

went to the indoor market today for the first time, and the contents made me want to punch someone


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## spanglechick (Sep 21, 2008)

tufty79 said:


> i hate to say it, but... east dulwich.
> 
> it's just so.... _nice_.
> 
> ...



i bought small cereal bowls when i went there - especially for museli.  they were made by young offenders.  i am turning into a cliche.


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## brasicritique (Sep 21, 2008)

albert square the place has never been the same since den and angie stopped running the queen vic


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## Nixon (Sep 23, 2008)

blooper said:


> Beckenham and Bromley are both nicer than Sydenham. Agree on the rest though.
> 
> I just don't like Sydenham. Over-priced, ugly, a bit soulless.



That depends on what you would consider nice now doesn't it? There's too many upper class coked up white chavs in both areas for my liking,which is why I don't define it as nice.

I don't like Sydenham either.It's like the poor man's Forest Hill.Kind of.The pluses are though I can walk down the being an ethnic punk without turning too many heads or getting abuse.


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## blooper (Sep 23, 2008)

Yeah, I know what you mean.

Sydenham is being portrayed as some hot new area by estate agents and as such the prices are stupid.


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## se5 (Sep 23, 2008)

tufty79 said:


> i hate to say it, but... east dulwich.
> 
> it's just so.... _nice_.
> 
> ...



Oh yes I agree - on the rare occasions I cross over the Hill to East Dulwich from Camberwell I always feel sick with how twee things are and the smugness of everyone: rah rah rah arent we clever we've found this dear little gift shop etc etc etc, I think its a disease that started in Clapham about 20 years ago and has spread out from there


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## se5 (Sep 23, 2008)

This is perhaps a slightly obscure one: one thing I dislike in London are people who refer to the area where they live in terms of the tube / railway station rather than the actual area as found on the map

eg the people who say they live in Clapham South, Clapham Common or Clapham North; no you dont you live in Clapham, Stockwell or Balham near to the tube station. Also people who say they live in Clapham Junction: no you live in Battersea.

or people who say they live in Oval; no you dont you live in Kennington, Camberwell or Stockwell: you live near to Oval tube 

even people who say they live/work in Waterloo or Victoria; no you dont you are near Waterloo or Victoria railways stations but the actual area is not called that.


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## kyser_soze (Sep 23, 2008)

Perhaps they do it because it saves a supplementary question like 'Oh, whereabouts in Clapham then?' and also because if you work near Victoria, for example, it's a definite place, rather than just saying 'Westminster', or in the case of Waterloo, 'SE1' or 'Southwark'.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Sep 23, 2008)

Broadway Market at the arse-end of London Fields is a living shit-hole now, full of trendy young rich things drooling out of cafes and pubs like the swill that they are  

I've always had an irrational dislike of Swiss Cottage that i can't work out. Peckham late at night isn't much fun. Finchley gets on my goat as well, all of it. And as for Romford, well enough said.


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## Pat24 (May 13, 2009)

i really dislike Streatham. Lived there for two months. Souless and boring.  Balham is a shithole too. bromley is another one (not very bike friendly) peckham. I might get banned for saying this, but I fucking hate Brixton. Been here nearly 10 years, so i guess i need a change. Probably north London, I really like Muswell Hill. It's green and looks peaceful enough for me.


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## Crispy (May 13, 2009)

tarannau said:


> Pretty much anywhere North of Stockwell or South of Tulse Hill.
> 
> The Londoners themselves are fine nearly everwhere. It's the cocks migrating there from the rest of blighty that drag this fine city down.



Don't we outnumber you?


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## SWAG MC BURIAL (May 14, 2009)

blooper said:


> Who and what do you hate, on a London theme?
> 
> I also dislike South West London apart from perhaps a little bit of Streatham and Brixton. Specifically Cla'am (it's not a place, it's a cunt's den), Bla'am (worse in some ways, because they think they're not as bad as Cla'am but really are), Battersea and Wandsworth.
> .



 why does everyone think that Battersea is all Northcote Road motorised pram and twin-set country? come to the ends & I'll show you the Winstanley blud! Realness! lol 

Good points otherwise though.

Me: well I don't like going out of SW evah tbh but unlike you lot I've never liked Brixton, don't like anything in East/West/North either! Don't mind parts of SE but don't want to live there again. 

Some have mentioned that "real" Londoners = good, outsiders = bad, but I think it's a bit more complicated than that - imo the ppl from big cities outside London are generally ok, but all the real wasteman are ppl from small Southern towns like Oxford lol, or those who only moved to LDN for college and now think they own the place cos they've suddenly become cool overnight an ting and are suddenly OWED some cool "London Lifestyle" they read about in that rag you pay for but won't mention


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## plasticene (May 14, 2009)

Pimlico. There's just nothing there. Such a waste, very depressing.


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## YouSir (May 14, 2009)

I never, ever go West despite being a native Londoner, just never seems to be any reason too and I've grown to assume that it's an abandoned wasteland desperately clinging on to the reputation of the better parts of the city. Don't much like Camden, Hoxton, Shoreditch et al for generally just being shite and full of twats, but I know folks out that way and I'm known to venture there from time to time. Croydon's a wasteland, good for nothing except the shopping centers and even they're unlikely to fill anyones lives with joy. Central can be alright from time to time, far too many tourists though and far too many places catering exclusively to tourists. Eltham, Woolwich, Plumstead etc are all alien zones to me, despite living on Shooter's Hill for a while, trapped between them all.

Contrary to others on this thread though I do really like Lewisham and would be happy to live there. Close to Greenwich Park and Blackheath for greenery, easy to get around from (for South East London), a few nice pubs, some useful shops and market stalls, what's not to like? Also have soft spots for Waterloo/Southbank, probably my favourite part of London, Forest Hill, which is still vaguely alright despite the beating its high streets had over the years, Camberwell, Woolworth Road, Elephant & Castle... Basically everywhere on the 176 and 185 bus routes really, which is bizarre.


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## YouSir (May 14, 2009)

plasticene said:


> Pimlico. There's just nothing there. Such a waste, very depressing.



There's a lot of nice houses, a decent chip shop and a shitty school, counts for something I suppose.


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## purplex (May 14, 2009)

london smells and is full of rude people, excepting the lovely people on this board of course


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## Andy the Don (May 14, 2009)

Hate Camden with a passion; full of Eurobrats getting dodgy piercings and getting ripped off on a £20 bag of mixed herbs.
Hate East London; don't give me that Ronnie & Reggie crap, both pyschos and one was a nounce, but they loved their old mum.. .
Croydon, its not in London, its in Surrey..
Bromley, see Croydon, but in Kent..
Anywhere described in the press as edgy and vibrant, I read that as dirty, nasty and dangerous to your health.
Woolwich Arsenal, Woolwich Arsehole more like.
The District Line East of Upton Park and West of West Kennsington - why bother..


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## hipipol (May 14, 2009)

*Vaste swathes this City are utter shite*

Its quicker to list the good bits
The South East - deffo Gods fav bit of the Universe - we have loads of trees and parrots - ACE!!!!!
However, it does adjoin Kent - we are constantly under threat from the half-human hordes from Bexley, Giiligham, et al - but its worth the risk

I used to live North of the River, but that was in simpler time when I had a stronger stomach and did not mind so much its kissy-kissy both cheeks pretension

The only exceptions to this rule are E8, E5, some bits of N16, parts of SW9 and SW2 - and finally Chingford (E4 I think) - but mainly because it gives access to the Forrest


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## Rollem (May 14, 2009)

19sixtysix said:


> Oh and Shephards Bush. Its a shit hole.


where is Shepards Bush anyway? never been there, sounds crap

Shepherd's Bush on the other hand, love it. where I grew up and holds dear to my heart 



harpo said:


> The old Kent road is a bloody soul destroying road if ever there was one.


I hate walking down the ok road, but loved living on it (go figure) always something going on and felt like you could get a bus to anyway (although in reality it was either into town or out to the arse end of lewisham or worse!)

In fact Lewisham - urgh! shite hole with nothing to other that you can't get everywhere else. and catford too

Camden is just shite. full stop. hate the place. 



tarannau said:


> Bromley (by bow) is the only places that I've spotted two burnt out black cabs in a 5 minute stroll.
> 
> If that isn't a sign of London deprivation then I don't know what is.


heh, my dad used to live in bromley by bow. he always defended it to the hilt, bragging about Crisp St Market etc...now he's moved to kent, he calls it 'the bag to put your shit in'  


purplex said:


> london smells and is full of rude people, excepting the lovely people on this board of course


are you an out of towner pruplex?


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## Citizen66 (May 14, 2009)

tarannau said:


> The Londoners themselves are fine nearly everwhere.



Aye. Best kick out the cosmopolitan types in favour of having a city full of Eltham nutjobs and Milwall fans.


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## Badgers (May 14, 2009)

Wherever I do not currently live of course.


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## Bakunin (May 14, 2009)

Of course, London as a whole could be greatly improved in the following manner:


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## Zachor (May 14, 2009)

All of it.

I must be tired of life as I really don't want to live in London anymore.  Its dirty, fully of scummy people, crowded, inefficient, expensive and becoming more crime ridden and oppressive by the day.  

At the moment I could quite happily live in Peterborough.


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## scalyboy (May 14, 2009)

blooper said:


> Who and what do you hate, on a London theme?
> I hate them. Irrationally so. I secretly glare at the people on the platforms when the train passes through. I wince when I hear people saying they live in Clapham like it's cool. I hate them. More than I hate North London. I hate the braying laughs and thinly veiled jealousy and scorn on their inhabitant's faces and I hate the Antipodeans who think they're it for living there instead of Shepherds Bush or Ealing.



 This reminds me a bit of an early publicity quote for the Sex Pistols: 'Teenagers from London's Finsbury Park and Shepherd's Bush: "We hate everything"' 

But seriously, I do know what you mean. I have a deep mistrust of Upper Street, Islington, also De Beauvoir Town - there's a kind of smugness and self-satisfaction there. Stoke Newington also, but they are possibly worse, cos of the 'alternative' smugness. In fact, I often used to sense this North London smugness throughout whole swathes of the Holloway Road, Kentish Town, Cally Road etc - due to Arsenal's pre-eminence in the Premiership (this seems to have dropped off lately ).

Another bleak spot for me would be Broadway Market, more art galleries than newsagents, 30-year-old Tarquins who should know better clogging up the pavement on tiny chopper bikes. No excuse for that sort of foolishness at your age. 

And as someone who was 'born and bred' in Fulham in the 1970s, it can be distressing to return there now. Some of the familiar old buildings are still there, the street names are (generally) the same, but...everything else is very very changed. Oh woe.


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## hipipol (May 14, 2009)

Zachor said:


> All of it.
> 
> I must be tired of life as I really don't want to live in London anymore.  Its dirty, fully of scummy people, crowded, inefficient, expensive and becoming more crime ridden and oppressive by the day.
> 
> At the moment I could quite happily live in Peterborough.



Hmmmm Peterborough eh?
Tension

Longevity of Tension

Very tense there, your kind and understanding nature would be put to good use building bridges with the Asylum seekers and large (nearly 50%) Muslim community and the disaffected BNP loving indigenous white youth


yep, as a place, right up your strasse, eh Gruppen Fuhrer?


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## Belushi (May 14, 2009)

Zachor said:


> At the moment I could quite happily live in Peterborough.



Eight miserable years I spent in Peterborough, dont do it!


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## Zachor (May 14, 2009)

hipipol said:


> Hmmmm Peterborough eh?
> Tension
> 
> Longevity of Tension
> ...




Hmmm maybe not but I do want to get out of London possibly to East Anglia.


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## Belushi (May 14, 2009)

hipipol said:


> Hmmmm Peterborough eh?
> Tension
> 
> Longevity of Tension
> ...



The muslim Community is nowhere near 50%, it was very small when I loved there and although the city has got more multicultural since I left in '94 it hasnt grown that much!  Always had bad community relations though.


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## hipipol (May 14, 2009)

Belushi said:


> The muslim Community is nowhere near 50%, it was very small when I loved there and although the city has got more multicultural since I left in '94 it hasnt grown that much!  Always had bad community relations though.



You're right, it aint that high a percentage

Mea Culpa!! I am an arse!!!!

real fig seems to be 5.7% - I seem to be having problems with scale


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## Upchuck (May 14, 2009)

Canning Town has been mentioned and it is a strange little Hamlet.  When I visit I always try and work out exactly what is there apart from the station and a load of flats.  
Hackney is all 'image' and is what someone said: a place that does not actually produce anything. Kingsland Road is also a tip that continues on to the tip that is Turnpike Lane and Wood fucking Green.  Camden also generalyy sends shivers down my spine but is nothing compared to the dark hellhole that is Kentish Town West and anywhere near Queens Crescent (except maybe Hackney).

Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush are just kind of nothing places, as is West Kensington. I mean, what is West Kensington?  It is basically a main road with a Sainsburys lobbed on to the side.

Not overly familiar with Sth London apart from Oval, Stockwell, Tooting and Bermondsey but have never hung round long enough to get a true idea. Camberwell frightens me, and Elephant & Castle is a hellish maze of murder trap underground pedestrian subways.

Tottemham and Seven Sisters are horrible horrible places, just sticking problem and troubled people on top of each other with a load of dodgy 'international calling' type shops.  Urgh

Oddly I like Finsbury Park and Stroud Green, and a very small section of Hornsey.


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## Wolfie Smith (May 14, 2009)

South West London - Clapham, Battersea, Wandworth, Putney, Southfields, right through to Richmond.  Full of twats who shop at White Stuff, watch the rugby down the pub and in their hearts don't really want to live in London at all.   I cannot stand it.


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## Upchuck (May 14, 2009)

And Kilburn High Road - awful awful awful. Dragging me naked across burning embers is preferable to having to even try and negotiate the god awful congested masses that huddle in and around the Argos and Primark.  Scenes similar to food deliveries at an Ethiopian village in the grip of famine 

I'm depressed just thinking about Kilburn High Road


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## echoecho (May 14, 2009)

I actually don't mind most parts of London (including Streatham) but there's whole chunks of southeast London that just depress me. Camberwell is pretty crap and there's nothing to do here except get on a bus and go somewhere else, and even then half of the buses just take you to somewhere equally crap like Peckham, East Dulwich or Lewisham. same thing further east in Catford, Woolwich, Eltham etc. 

Greenwich is nice though.


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## Streathamite (May 14, 2009)

the whole of the isle of dogs, canning town and stratford. soulless, ugly nightmare.


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## IC3D (May 14, 2009)

I broadly find south London a bit alien, mates in Berdmonsey are mixture of nice and psychotic but it seems a bit live down there, don't know anything about Brixton and have little desire to go really, rate Finsbury park, Stroud green and Hornsey as thats my manor. Lived in Manchester for years and its way nicer than London in genaral


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## Zachor (May 14, 2009)

Hackney and Haringey.

Loonytunes areas blighted with loonytunes Labour councils.


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## Cloo (May 15, 2009)

Like the OP - I find Clapham and Wandsworth horribly smug - fully of yummy mummies with Bugaboos who take holidays on yurts on organic farms with their husbands and little Barnaby and Isabella. Wandsworth seems to be the epicentre of all family trendiness - overpriced organic cafes aimed at mums with kids, 'private members' clubs' for kids and so forth and bars aimed at rave dads.


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## George & Bill (May 15, 2009)

blooper said:


> Who and what do you hate, on a London theme?
> 
> Apart from North London, West London and most of East London I also dislike South West London apart from perhaps a little bit of Streatham and Brixton. Specifically Cla'am (it's not a place, it's a cunt's den), Bla'am (worse in some ways, because they think they're not as bad as Cla'am but really are), Battersea and Wandsworth.
> 
> ...



I hate tossers who come to live in London from elsewhere and think they can mouth off about which bits and what aspects they like and dislike as if they're choosing pick 'n' mix mini swiss cheese in Tescos. Naturally, any person will have positive and negative impressions of any place they go, but people seem to forget that London is not just some sort of employment theme-park for provincials and foreigners to visit for a laugh - for some people it is actually _home_.


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## Stobart Stopper (May 15, 2009)

Cloo said:


> Like the OP - I find Clapham and Wandsworth horribly smug - fully of yummy mummies with Bugaboos who take holidays on yurts on organic farms with their husbands and little Barnaby and Isabella. Wandsworth seems to be the epicentre of all family trendiness - overpriced organic cafes aimed at mums with kids, 'private members' clubs' for kids and so forth and bars aimed at rave dads.



Hoxton and Shoreditch are much worse, really full of twats and arty weirdo types. And they all seem to wear those thick rimmed glasses and the men look like they need a fucking good wash IMO.


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## mattie (May 15, 2009)

Tottenham.  

Those who know, know why.


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## lang rabbie (May 16, 2009)

In twenty years living in London, I have failed to find a single compelling reason to visit the London Borough of Enfield.   

I've been pleasantly surprised to overcome my anti-Essex prejudices ands discover that Redbridge and Havering have plenty of isolated curiosities on their green belt borders.   Even Barking and Dagenham has the obvious redeeming feature of Eastbury Manor and the less obvious appeal of post-apocalyptic Thames riverside.

But Enfield?  HIC SVNT DRACONES


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