Britain's Best City

[silkyman]

Are the two numpties who voted London worst city gonna own up?

Loud and proud.

 

[Craig]

I stand by my remark in your case though.

 

[SALTIRE]

Great seeing Edinburgh finish right up there, it has it all. Much prefer it over an overated dump like London.

 

[Stevencc]

My partner's mum (Scottish - just like Saltire) came down to London, turned up her nose, and said "it's horrible here, isn't it?". My girlfriend asked why she thought that and she replied "it's so...multicultural".

At least Rab C Nesbitt enjoyed it when he came down.

 

[smat]

It's true that if you don't like London, you are a small-minded, culturally disadvantaged, bigoted arsehole. It's sad but it's just the way it is.

Wonderful place.

 

[Veggie Legs]

For the record, I don't dislike London. It's a great place to visit, but I'd absolutely hate to live there and that was my primary criterion for voting.

 

[Stevencc]

I've got another "Scot in London" tale for you all.

I was in my local Morrisons and they had one of those "old timey" black and white pictures of the area from the early 1900s. I was having a look at it, scratching my chin a little to appear pensive, when a Scottish gentleman came over to join me.

"Alright?" (me)

"Much better back then, wasn't it?" (him)

"It looks very nice, yes". (me)

"Not a black face in sight". (him)

"..." (me - I'm not a hero, a disgusted silence was enough).

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

It's true that if you don't like London, you are a small-minded, culturally disadvantaged, bigoted arsehole. It's sad but it's just the way it is.

Wonderful place.

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

In fairness, the only people I know who don't like London are proper country bumpkins who like tractors and shit.

 

[lordofthepies]

It's true that if you don't like London, you are a small-minded, culturally disadvantaged, bigoted arsehole. It's sad but it's just the way it is.

Wonderful place.

I didn't vote for London, mainly because I just don't know it that well. I've always had a lovely time when I have been and would love to spend more time there. There's always one northerner with a massive chip on his shoulder who claims to hate London. I didn't want to be that guy. silkyman had no problems with being that guy though.

 

[smat]

I didn't vote for London, mainly because I just don't know it that well. I've always had a lovely time when I have been and would love to spend more time there. There's always one northerner with a massive chip on his shoulder who claims to hate London. I didn't want to be that guy. silkyman had no problems with being that guy though.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I had a friend at uni who was from Garstang, Lancashire, and moved to London a few years ago. He wouldn't stop going on about how much he hated it, because the people were expensive and the drinks were unfriendly and bla bla bla. I went, mate, why don't you just leave then? Now he lives in Manchester.

Makes you think?

 

[Habbinalan]

In fairness, the only people I know who don't like London are proper country bumpkins who like tractors and shit.

Clearly, the reason that Coventry came next to bottom in the poll is largely because it lost its title of Tractor City in 2003, when Massey Ferguson closed the largest tractor factory in the world - whereas London is famous for the 1894 Manure Crisis.

........This problem came to a head when in 1894, The Times newspaper predicted... “In 50 years, every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure.”

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Great-Horse-Manure-Crisis-of-1894/

Essex offered a short term solution and home for the manure before Manchester (Trafford Park) and then Dagenham replaced the horses with Ford cars.

 

[SALTIRE]

I've got another "Scot in London" tale for you all.

I was in my local Morrisons and they had one of those "old timey" black and white pictures of the area from the early 1900s. I was having a look at it, scratching my chin a little to appear pensive, when a Scottish gentleman came over to join me.

"Alright?" (me)

"Much better back then, wasn't it?" (him)

"It looks very nice, yes". (me)

"Not a black face in sight". (him)

"..." (me - I'm not a hero, a disgusted silence was enough).

So we're all racist then though we are regarded as friendly by most other cultures around the world? Also who has parties like The National Front, the BNP, Britain First, Combat 18? Not Scotland thats for sure. The xenophobes reside south of the border.

 

[Stevencc]

So we're all racist then though we are regarded as friendly by most other cultures around the world? Also who has parties like The National Front, the BNP, Britain First, Combat 18? Not Scotland thats for sure. The xenophobes reside south of the border.

I don't remember saying all Scottish people are racist and that no English people are racist.

Your final sentence is a cracker, though.

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

Do you mind not diverting this thread to a mud-slinging match? Thanks.

 

[SALTIRE]

I don't remember saying all Scottish people are racist and that no English people are racist.

Your final sentence is a cracker, though.

You not-so-subtly implied it.

Anyway I back down to Cheese & Biccy's request as this thread has been an entertaining read and I don't want to carry on down another path.

 

[Stevencc]

I didn't.

*Slings a load of mug at Saltire's face*

 

[Aberstone]

Really enjoyed this thread C&B - your 'fact' for Oxford was my favourite, I'm not embarrassed to admit that I laughed at loud at it.

Bath was #1 on my list, a beautiful city with one of the best non-league grounds in the country. I need them to stay up so I can go back next season.

 

[silkyman]

For the record, I don't dislike London. It's a great place to visit, but I'd absolutely hate to live there and that was my primary criterion for voting.

Yep.

I visit reasonably regularly and have a fair few friends who have moved down. But jesus, you'd have to be a masochist to want to actually live there. Apart from the utterly ridiculous living costs (I mean for fuck's sake, if you want to live and raise a family in a two bedoom flat above a shop on a massively polluted street because it's all you can afford, fair enough.), it's so insular, self satisfied and smug. The (any) government is always so focused on it to the expense of everywhere else in the country. It's hellish to actually get around in, schools have catchment areas of quarter of a mile, 10,000 people a year die because of air pollution, and the imbeciles who live there thought that Boris Johnson would be a good person to have in charge!

But hey. You can get to the theatre.

 

[silkyman]

Really enjoyed this thread C&B - your 'fact' for Oxford was my favourite, I'm not embarrassed to admit that I laughed at loud at it.

Bath was #1 on my list, a beautiful city with one of the best non-league grounds in the country. I need them to stay up so I can go back next season.

Bath's a lovely place.

 

[silkyman]

It's true that if you don't like London, you are a small-minded, culturally disadvantaged, bigoted arsehole. It's sad but it's just the way it is.

Wonderful place.

Out of interest, how often do you actually go and experience all these wonderful cultural gems?

I went to Uni with a few lads from London who said the same sort of stuff. But they never actually DID any of it. Their life in London - going for a few drinks with mates, going to the footy and that, was no different to what I was up to in a small town south of Manchester.

 

[blade1889]

Cheers C&B

London didn't make my top list purely fo the cost of living. Based mine on where id want to live in future and as I doubt I'll be a multimillionaire and I want to live in a half decent house tat rules London out

Didn't make my worst either cos i just find Leicester so dull whenever I've been

 

[Jockney]

it's so insular, self satisfied and smug.

insular: we have a population larger than most countries. i assume the resident manc folk are always keenly aware of what's happening in preston or chorley, though, aye...

self-satisfied & smug: again, 13m people and most of us barely make above living wage. we're not smug about anything and we tend to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to grassroots activism.

and yes, we do take advantage of our cultural gems, cheers. a cracking transport system and publicly funded galleries, museums and parks form the basis for much of our summer weekend activity. also we can drink in public. so you can ogle the Vermeers rat arsed if you so please (just leave your can on the steps before you go in).

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

London (my #1) contains multitudes. It's an inkblot which can be used to prop up many partial and more or less plausible readings. There _is_ an air of smug, Capital of the Universe, outside the M25 = here be dragons insularity about the place and many of its people. It does have a gravitational pull that's deeply unhealthy for the rest of the country, and explains why lots of Scotland, Wales, the Norf, the Separatist Sons of St Piran etc would like to file for divorce at the earliest possible opportunity. It does exemplify and amplify the UK's worst traits, as the event horizon of a black hole of an amoral finance haven, with its sociopathic and presumably unsustainable property market. And yes, it's ok (and basically sensible) to watch Finisterre and want to hit everyone who appears in it in the face with a baseball bat.

But you have to try really hard to act like it's not anything else. And more than that, given the title of the thread, it seems to me that it's really hard to make an argument against London that isn't just an argument against cities (certainly English cities) full stop. If you like urban fabric as bricolage, accidental collisions, mould growing in a super sized petri dish, then London has scads and scads of that. If you want a worthily historic architectural gem around every corner then you're sorted. If you want a skyline of gleaming modern towers then London is the only one we've got. If you want great classical set pieces a la Bath there there's plenty of that. Hell, if you want infinite subtopian sprawl of three bed semis there's even a fuck load of that too. And so on.

Yes, it's full of shit loads of people - it's a city. An actually proper teeming city. "I knew some blokes from there and they were thick" isn't a great counter, really, is it.

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

This is one of my favourite things about London, the fact old and new stand side by side. You find views like this all over.

16th century church with a 21st century icon looming over it. Behind the camera here is the Lloyds Building, which is hideous in my opinion but another iconic building.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Only just seen the full published list and can largely agree with most of it. London's not really my cup of tea but most aspects of it intrigue me, particularly the Underground and the contrasting boroughs. Kingston on Thames, whilst once being in Surrey, is one of my favourite places in the country and if you've been to the riverside you'll know why! I'm very glad the forum saw sense to put Liverpool above Manchester as well with a deserved 68th place for Joke-on-Trent.

Can't believe how high Salford placed on the list as well, whenever I hear Salford on the news it's either about Media City or the latest gangland shooting in Greater Manchester.

Having been a resident of Manchester since 2013, I simply do not get what the fascination with it is. Sadly the course I chose was crap in Liverpool else I'd have moved to there in a Merseybeat. To me, Manchester lacks the character places like Bristol, Liverpool and York possess. Also if you're ever up in Manchester, try walking down Market Street, easily the worst street in the country to walk down!

It's by no means the worst city though, Coventry and Stoke are literally the two places that time forgot. Portsmouth is only saved by its redeveloped waterfront too.

 

[Hank]

Great to see Durham come in a respectable 16th with a lovely picture of Beamish Museum in the write up. Love walking in quieter areas especially on the banks of the Wear, just to see one of my favourite views

 

[Tilbury]

Well if it's a least of the most affordable cities..:
1. Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 3.38
2. Lisburn, Northern Ireland, 3.50
3. Belfast, Northern Ireland, 3.67
4. Stirling, Scotland, 3.81
5. Bradford, Yorkshire and the Humber, 3.98
6. Salford, North West, 4.11
7. Glasgow, Scotland, 4.23
8. Lancaster, North, 4.28
9. Hull, Yorkshire and the Humber, 4.32
10. Sunderland, North, 4.43

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...49217/Britains-10-most-affordable-cities.html

Interestingly London doesn't make the top 10 most expensive:
1. Oxford, South East, 9.66
2. Salisbury, South West, 8.57
3. Bath, South West, 8.23
4. Truro, South West, 8.15
5. Winchester, South East, 8.04
6. Brighton and Hove, South East, 7.67
7. Cambridge, East Anglia, 7.55
8. Chichester, South East, 7.44
9. Exeter, South West, 7.25
10. St Albans, South East, 7.09

 

[JaseTheVillain]

Interesting reading

Not surprised in the slightest that Walsall and Birmingham make the top 5.

 

[IanH]

Interesting reading

Not surprised in the slightest that Walsall and Birmingham make the top 5.

Wow. I'm from Woking, which is also right next to Guildford and they make up the top two spots on the least deprived list of that study. Far from a bad place to grow up, but if they are really the best the UK has to offer then it doesn't say much about the rest of the country.