Well known London places that are crap

[FridgeMagnet]

The City (as in the traditional financial district) is a bit crap too. But it makes a lot of money and helps make London what it is.

I'd take the opposite view - I like the architecture and the layout of the City, but it would be much better if you kicked out all the cunts there

I also quite like Docklands, in a sort of surreal landscape way.

 

[Monkeynuts]

I'd take the opposite view - I like the architecture and the layout of the City, but it would be much better if you kicked out all the cunts there

I also quite like Docklands, in a sort of surreal landscape way.

The City is fantastic for tucked way old pubs and churches. Just go on the weekend when there's no-one there, problem solved.

Much as you might dislike the 'cunts' there though, things like the Bank of England and the livery companies are a big part of its history and character. You can't entirely define people by the postcode where their company is based. I'm sure there are plenty of disagreeable sorts based in Shoreditch and Soho too.

 

[Maggot]

Tower Hill
Greenwich

Both fine.

London Eye
New Hungerford Bridges

I love the London Eye, 25 million visitos so far!

The new footbridges by Hungerford Bridge are so much better than the dark, narrow, puddle-infested footbridge which they replaced.

 

[Errol's son]

I'd take the opposite view - I like the architecture and the layout of the City, but it would be much better if you kicked out all the cunts there

I also quite like Docklands, in a sort of surreal landscape way.

The city has some nice architecture, I agree. But there is not much going on there unless you have a job there and the vast majority of jobs there are pretty dull. The shops aren't great, nor the restaurants. Well I have been to some quite nice restaurants when clients have taken me out but the West End is much better for restauraunts, shops etc.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

The City is fantastic for tucked way old pubs and churches. Just go on the weekend when there's no-one there, problem solved.

Much as you might dislike the 'cunts' there though, things like the Bank of England and the livery companies are a big part of its history and character. You can't entirely define people by the postcode where their company is based. I'm sure there are plenty of disagreeable sorts based in Shoreditch and Soho too.

Oh, they're certainly part of the history and character, but if they could just remain as part of history I'd be happier...

I work in the City area by the way, and certainly I'd agree that (a) not everyone there is a cunt, there are lots of them but there are lots of people generally, and (b) there are plenty of cunts elsewhere.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

The city has some nice architecture, I agree. But there is not much going on there unless you have a job there and the vast majority of jobs there are pretty dull. The shops aren't great, nor the restaurants. Well I have been to some quite nice restaurants when clients have taken me out but the West End is much better for restauraunts, shops etc.

There's not even that much going on there if you do have a job there, believe me. I'm quite well situated for restaurants where I am, but there's a distinct lack of any other sort of shop, and it's amazing how dead it is on the weekends or on holidays.

I just have a soft spot for decaying Victorian architecture.

 

[bi0boy]

That bit inside the M25

 

[gaijingirl]

Strange. I think it's gone the other way.

When I was growing up, Clapham High Street was awful. There was nothing there and me and mum had to go to Clapham Junction or Brixton for any shopping.

Now it's full of bars, resturants, shops, supermarkets, delis and what not.

While those sorts of bars and resturants may not be your cup of tea - it's an improvement on what used to be there.

You're right that it's full of bars, restaurants, delis etc ... but it is a LOT of quite expensive stuff and a little bit samey for me - I think when that vodka bar opened - I went one night and had a truely awful night - I just kind of lost interest. I know that it does have a lot to appeal to some people though - I guess I'm just not one of them.

When I was a child my father used to work in Clapham Old Town - it was a bit of a no-go zone then - things have definitely changed since then...

I'm can't put my finger on exactly why, without making generalisations, but I don't feel entirely comfortable there and tend to avoid it. Soulless is the closest I can come to explaining it. (to be fair to Clapham though I think it's going a bit far to put it in with places like Croydon or Leicester Square...!!)

 

[gaijingirl]

I think you mean Canary Wharf or Canada Water.

Yes sorry - Freudian slit!

 

[Firky]

camden is so disgusting one could be forgiven for thinking one had accidentally travelled to brixton, or some such similar shithole. although saying that, it's, camden's, smell is somewhat distinctive

no, camden is indeed vile and is an entity all on its own. it should be terminated.

Harsh, it isn't as bad as Brixton.

 

[guinnessdrinker]

canary wharf: there is a lot to be said for osama.

 

[Badgers]

London Dungeon
London Zoo
All of the Slug & Lettuce pubs
Any tourist attraction apart from the museums

 

[Monkeynuts]

London Dungeon
London Zoo
All of the Slug & Lettuce pubs
Any tourist attraction apart from the museums

The zoo is alright, apart from:

Most of the exciting animals are not there (they keep them at Whipsnade or somewhere)
It's a bit expensive unless you can get a 2-for-1
The heathens have got a porcupine or something in Lubetkin's penguin pool so it is now full of shite and not quite the pristine Modernist marvel envisaged. Apparently the penguins turned out not to be fans of Modernism...

 

[bluestreak]

gants hill
snaresbrook
maryland
stratford
wood green
tottenham
prettymuch anywhere in north london's gastly grey grip
most of walthamstow
definiely camden
definitely clapham
almost thewhole of the west end.
in fact, anywhere with a w postcode at all.

i reserve the right to add more at any time.

 

[dolly's gal]

gants hill
snaresbrook
maryland
stratford
wood green
tottenham
prettymuch anywhere in north london's gastly grey grip
most of walthamstow
definiely camden
definitely clapham
almost thewhole of the west end.
in fact, anywhere with a w postcode at all.

i reserve the right to add more at any time.

you forgot brixton

 

[guinnessdrinker]

The zoo is alright, apart from:

Most of the exciting animals are not there (they keep them at Whipsnade or somewhere)
It's a bit expensive unless you can get a 2-for-1
The heathens have got a porcupine or something in Lubetkin's penguin pool so it is now full of shite and not quite the pristine Modernist marvel envisaged. Apparently the penguins turned out not to be fans of Modernism...

the zoo should be where there is space for the animals to move about and with a bit of privacy if they so wish. still within easy access, though.

 

[PacificOcean]

you forgot brixton

Indeed. Brixton manages to mix grottiness with an air of menace and violence that you don't find in places like Snaresbrook.

 

[PacificOcean]

.

 

[bluestreak]

you forgot brixton

a deliberate exclusion born of my actual real (and unexpected when i moved) enjoyment of the place!

 

[bluestreak]

Indeed. Brixton manages to mix grottiness with an air of menace and violence that you don't find in places like Snaresbrook.

funnily enough snaresbrook is a place where i have had an attempted mugging, and seen a lot of casual beery violence. and if you think it isn't grotty you want to go for a nice walk around the estate that is hidden out of the way behind the posh bit. i saw more needles, crackheads, burnt out cars, vandalism and graf whilst living there than i have in brixton by some considerable margin.

 

[dolly's gal]

a deliberate exclusion born of my actual real (and unexpected when i moved) enjoyment of the place!

ah, see i used to like the place. then one day i was mugged at the bus stop, then i was mugged near my flat, then i got sick of people trying to sell me smack every day and finally i got sick of having to have a fight everytime i got off the tube at rush hour and attempted to get on a bus (which was every day)

 

[PacificOcean]

funnily enough snaresbrook is a place where i have had an attempted mugging, and seen a lot of casual beery violence. and if you think it isn't grotty you want to go for a nice walk around the estate that is hidden out of the way behind the posh bit. i saw more needles, crackheads, burnt out cars, vandalism and graf whilst living there than i have in brixton by some considerable margin.

You miss my point, Snaresbrook is grotty but Brixton is grotty and violent, and I have seen plenty of nastiness living in Brixton - much more than anywhere else I have lived in the Capital.

 

[PacificOcean]

ah, see i used to like the place. then one day i was mugged at the bus stop, then i was mugged near my flat, then i got sick of people trying to sell me smack every day and finally i got sick of having to have a fight everytime i got off the tube at rush hour and attempted to get on a bus (which was every day)

But to those who have moved to the area, this seems to be part of the charm, going by what some have said on previous threads.

I grew up here and think it's one of the worst parts of London. Not THE worst as I think thats a tie with a couple of other places.

 

[dolly's gal]

But to those who have moved to the area, this seems to be part of the charm, going by what some have said on previous threads.

getting mugged is part of the charm?! cool, each to their own i guess

i can't comment on the whole of london, only the places i have lived in, but brixton wins hands down out on that front. and it's not a south london thing, cos i real liked living in streatham, so nah!

 

[paulhackett]

the underground at rush hour
the underground in summer
the underground at rush hour in the summer

unless you like communal showering with your clothes on, in which case I take it back.

The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain - it's a dribbling luge for eight year olds

 

[tarannau]

You know, after over 30 years being in Brixton, I've never been once mugged, attacked or had anything near threatening happening to me. Occasionally one of the dealing crew gets a bit too whistle heavy and I have to glare at him with a Paddington Bear hard stare, but that's about the extent of my problems.

Of all the places, I once had my wallet nicked in Islington and attacked on a Thameslink train near Farringdon. Full of scumbags there obviously.

For all its flaws, Brixton has more community spirit than most of the rest of London put together. It's an area where it's hard not to bump into friends from your past (primary school and beyond) and folks are understandably proud of the area - it's one of the most successfully racially integrated areas in the country and beyond. Wouldn't swap it for anywhere else in town - but there again I'm a local and the friction of my dragging-knuckles rarely allows me past Stockwell.

 

[dolly's gal]

For all its flaws, Brixton has more community spirit than most of the rest of London put together.

how would you know if you've lived nowhere else for the past 30 years?

 

[tarannau]

I have friends who've lived in London for 15+ years and haven't made a fraction of the links and relationships with the local community that most have in Brixton. Bluestreak's just one example of someone who moves into the area and finds himself welcomed and feeling 'at home' quickly down South.

I value the fact that it's rare to go down the street without bumping into someone that you know, that the Country Show attracts folks back that I haven't seen for many a year, that I can call a few pubs a local and know most of the characters in there. I'm not claiming it's a genteel village idyll, but it's one of the rare areas of London that folks can integrate into successfully both quickly and in the long term - for a massively diverse area that's unusual imo

PS: I have visited elswhere in London btw. Even lived in Bath and Wales for a few years...

 

[PacificOcean]

I have friends who've lived in London for 15+ years and haven't made a fraction of the links and relationships with the local community that most have in Brixton. Bluestreak's just one example of someone who moves into the area and finds himself welcomed and feeling 'at home' quickly down South.

The last place I lived in Brixton was a four flat block. One flat was a crack house, the other played very loud music at all hours, one always had their curtains drawn and I don't think I ever saw them in the two years I was there and the other was just downright inconsiderate and always left rubbish in the hall rather than the bins outside and other stuff like that.

Other places I have lived in Brixton have had the same sort of mix. Maybe I have just been really unlucky, but to me that is my idea of Brixton is really like.

 

[bluestreak]

funnily enough my early experiences of brixton were shit. for a kid from the burbs who suffered anxiety it's not always the best place. the first time i came here apart from to go to the academy i had a panic attack trying to gear myself up to meet urbanites for the first time, and then got mugged. as you might imagine, it never made me want to come back. but when i moved here it was because i'd become homeless and some lovely people offered me a free room so i jumped at the chance, and quite quickly found myself really loving the place. 's a funniy old world.