Northern views about London.
I'm a northerner. I know a lot of people who havn't stepped foot in their own countries captial. We're not talking about scabby chavs who have to scrape coppers together to even get the bus into town. We're talking well established oldies who have had the experience of life. Yet they refuse point blank to go to London, because "You just get blown up by bombs" and "You'll get stabbed by illegal immigrants". People just think its dodgy and totally dangerous.

So armed with these warnings, and begs and pleads from the elders to not venture there. Me and the girlfriend went on our first visit many years ago. Yes! I actually felt a bit scared and I had a hard time dragging the girlfriend out of Kings Cross Station because she was REALLY scared! The amount of people everywhere pushing and shoving was just really daunting. Someone threw a sandwich down on the ground and 10 seconds later a skanky tramp had it. Saw hookers outside the station. And lots and lots of different nationalities of people all doing their strange things.

It really is the scarey big city. The fact the locals call it "Town" is laughable! No! A town has one bus station and maybe one train station!

Anyway i'm used to London now. Been loads of times, its great :) Tho I wouldn't live there!
(Miggyman, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 16:52, 16 replies)

It is a scary and murderous place
"When a man is tired of life he goes to London" and all that.
(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 17:02, closed)

surely it's johnson's dictum that ...
when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life
(micky2shoes has more shoes than feet, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 19:03, closed)

And there's nowhere quite like London for tiring a man out.

It's worth pointing out that during Samuel Johnson's life, the population of London was under a million, which must have made it far more bearable.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 21:06, closed)

Mmm...nope.
I like mine better.
(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 21:59, closed)

Had
similar views before i went down there for the first time last weekend. From what i was told about it beforehand, i was expecting to get mugged the minute i stepped onto the street. But it wasn't like that at all, great place.
(FootOfTim, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 17:04, closed)

"town" for London
stems from the late 17th/ early 18th centuries when it was the only real "town" for most of the Home Counties... It's usage spread so that for me in Yorkshire "town" was the nearest place more lively than the fields I grew up in.

Just like "clink" means a prison - it used to be the name of an infamous prison in Southwark.
(monkeyseemonkeydo, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 17:06, closed)

erm..
I'm not sure which part of the 'north' you are from, but if you are from a part where people are scared of london im guessing it's birmingham (its south really- not midlands and certainly not north) or you were born a southerner.
Iv lived in manchester and liverpool all my life and never met one person who is scared of going to london, they just dont go as its full of soft southeners. Ive been london a few times, its the worst city iv ever been to, and iv been to christchurch in new zealand, not many cities are worse than that.
Northeners: dont go to london, its lame.
(tom.joad, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 18:17, closed)

My mum once accused me of having no sense of danger
after I revealed I'd walked through Peckham.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 18:39, closed)

i'm a northerner
i've been to london quite a few times.
i hate the place.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 18:49, closed)

My only experience of London is Hounslow
we were invited to stay with friends but elected to stay in a hotel near to them instead and the only one they could get us into was the centre of Hounslow.

It was a bit scary
( Mrs Sp@m, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 18:51, closed)

I first visited at 16.
It was grey, it smelt of piss and most people I encountered were miserable, stuck-up buggers who lacked the most basic courtesy. I was not impressed.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 19:02, closed)

I feel reasonably safe in London...
...more so than some other places I've walked through (Manchester). That said, I'm not fond of the rush-rush-rush-get-out-of-my-way pace and ignorance of pedestrians, nor the fact that my snot goes black as a result of the air pollution.
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Tue 6 Apr 2010, 19:19, closed)

I agree.
I hate the black snot too. I'm not being racist.
( Herb Alpert's Taxi Driver I have very beautiful lips, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 20:12, closed)

I'm
from Manchester, I live in London and I love it. It's the whole world in a city. There's always new things to do, new people to meet, new places to explore. I've never been mugged in London, but I have been mugged twice in Manchester. I don't think that signifies anything general about either city though. One thing I like about London is that the dickheads stay in their own areas. If I'm in Manc town centre on a weekend it's packed full of scallys and twats from miles around. If I go into central London at any time it's full of normal people and tourists. If I don't want to get mugged I don't walk through Elephant and Castle alone at night, easy peasy.
(Hippo_of_Doom, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 19:23, closed)

same here
manc, lived in london for 9 years. Got a bit old for the hustle and bustle, moved back. Now I love going for weekend visits. I'm a great tour guide for london. I once convinced my brothers girlfriend that the queen lives on the london eye, and they stop it at night so she can sleep. Although the irony is, thats actually true.
( I have run out of coke is a little sweaty, Wed 7 Apr 2010, 8:49, closed)

I'm a northerner, and I like London.
I feel safer there than in Middlesbrough, most likely as it's full of tourists, so to stay safe you simply have to look less touristy than everyone else.
It's such a big place and there is so much to do it would take a fair while to experience the full smörgåsbord of happenings.
It is no ruder than any other city I have been to, perhaps only the higher concentration of people means there is more chance for people to be rude to you.
(TheColonel, Wed 7 Apr 2010, 8:47, closed)