Sheffield is a green city and apparently has more trees per capita than any other city in Europe.

And Glasgow has the highest amount off open space.

It’s the view I go past every night on the way to my local 12 mile off road route. If you must know, it’s Richmond Terrace.

Here’s link for you. Careful it’s all concrete, no history, no architecture, no character, no culture, no tree, no grass, the water is toxic and the place is full aggressive people that will stab you if you so much as look at them or speak to them. There are high rises everywhere, much like the ones in Edinburgh that I guess don’t exist anymore

Hate away:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/image_galleries/richmondhill_gallery.shtml?1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/in_pictures/viewsoflondon/richmond/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/panoramas/richmond_hill_360.shtml

Redcar
Middlesborough
What a pair of depressing sh*tpits

Chunkty – I didn’t say London had

no history, no architecture, no character, no culture

You can make a defence of it on those grounds easily.

I know Richmond park. Nice park. Not really countryside tho is it. 🙂 I used to go there to attempt to get a bit of green

So how long to cycle from the centre of London into real countryside? that the major drawback to me. We all have things that are important to us and to me the views and being able to see the Horizon and the access to the countryside are important.

Chunky – where is that view – genuinely I am interested.

Looks like the view down to the Thames from Richmond at a guess (beaten to it!!)

London is not a green city

Other major open spaces in the suburbs include:

* Hampstead Heath, 320 hectares [3]
* Clapham Common, 89 hectares [4]
* Wimbledon Common, about 460 hectares [5]
* Epping Forest, 2,476 hectares [6]
* Trent Park 169 hectares [7]
* Hainault Forest Country Park 136 hectares [8]
* Mitcham Common 182 hectares [9]
* South Norwood Country Park 47 hectares [10]
* Wildspace Conservation Park 645 hectares [11]
* Watling Chase 18,840 hectares [12]
* Thames Chase 9,842 hectares [13]

then the royal parks;

There are today eight parks formally described by this name and they cover almost 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of land in Greater London.

* Bushy Park, 445 hectares (1,099 acres) [1]
* The Green Park, 19 hectares (47 acres) [2]
* Greenwich Park, 74 hectares (183 acres) [3]
* Hyde Park, 142 hectares (350 acres) [4]
* Kensington Gardens, 111 hectares (275 acres) [5]
* The Regent’s Park, 166 hectares (410 acres) [6]
* Richmond Park, 955 hectares [7] (2360 acres)
* St. James’s Park, 23 hectares (58 acres) [8]
* Brompton Cemetery, 16.5 hectares [9]
* Victoria Tower Gardens not listed on the Royal Parks web-site but confirmed by themselves as a Royal Park

and then add on all the little parks and recs.

and it is not easy to get out of.

Todays club run;

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/76890170

we cycled over M25 to Peaslake for tea and cake. 😉

I’ve never liked Luton and Newport is indeed a dump

I can’t be arsed. That view is not Richmond Park. That view takes in major SW London suburbs.

Haven’t been to every city in the uk so can’t give a fully balanced opinion (much like most people in this thread I’m sure) but Stoke and Newport both stick in my mind as being particularly wretched. The dilapidation and general depression that seems to affect old industrial towns is especially prevalent in both.

Ok – so London is a small city easy to cycle out of in a few minutes and with loads of green space. 🙄 Infact it is smaller more vibrant and has more in it but remains more green than any other UK city

can’t give a fully balanced opinion

Pfft, this is the internet, don’t let that stop you! 😛

TandemJeremy – Member

Ok – so London is a small city easy to cycle out of in a few minutes and with loads of green space. Infact it is smaller more vibrant and has more in it but remains more green than any other UK city

Ignorance is bliss.

London.

+1 for Luton (not a city of course and never will be)

I was born there and couldn’t wait to escape.

Also;

Bracknell (ever tried shopping there?)

Leyland (characterless but improved immensely since Tesco arrived)

Tranent nr Edinburgh (OMG awful)

Ok – so London is a city easy to cycle out of and with loads of green space. In fact it is more vibrant and has more in it but remains more green than Scotland

FIFY 😀

Chunky – not ignorance – experience and opinion

More bullshit. I can be in a forest within 30 mins of riding from my house. Jump on a train and I can be in’t countryside in about the same, or even less. If I get a train from Waterloo, I can go down to Farnborough, for example, meet Poddy and go for a ride. Train takes 35-40 mins,

He’s right you know. That is actual proper factual information you know!

I’ve lived in London (well, Ilford and Canning Town) for the best part of a year and it was fine. As far as I can see being a Midlander who moved South, this unfriendly attitude that people go on about with London and the South East is down to THEM not the locals. There’s no difference apart from the accent. And I’ve been around a bit.

I love London. I love being 45 mins on the train from the centre of the greatest city in the world. My favourite day out is to do something touristy, a meal in Soho and tickets to a West End show or Hecklers. It’s brilliant.
If I wasn’t on the phone I’d post a few of the shots I took on our London urban ride. The City can also be just as beautiful as the hills….. 🙂

My bit of London is ace, just got back from a day at London zoo with the kids, we took the train to Brighton yesterday. Where we live has a really good community feel about it. Certainly aware of the drawbacks,and from most of the main thoroughfairs it looks like a toilet, but it’s SO big you can’t judge it all like other cites. I’m from teeside, then Leeds and I nominate them and would much rather bring up a family down here. Bloody expensive though!

Stoke, such a shame that Brian Rourke is located there, about the best thing going for the place.

I love London. I love being 45 mins on the train from the centre of the greatest city in the world. My favourite day out is to do something touristy, a meal in Soho and tickets to a West End show or Hecklers. It’s brilliant.

People always say this – it’s funny though cos none of the people I know in London EVER do anything of the sort. They always go to the same pubs/bars/restaurants in their own little area, and very rarely bother to venture to a different part of London – so might as well live in a small town, which would be much less expensive.

If London people are being honest – I suspect the number of times they really go to a great art gallery/museum/show or whatever is very very minimal – probably a similar number to people who take the occasional day trip to London from somewhere nicer. 😉

I don’t know why people are voting for London so much, I love this place. Never boring.

My vote would have to go to Blackpool.

People always say this – it’s funny though cos none of the people I know in London EVER do anything of the sort. They always go to the same pubs/bars/restaurants in their own little area, and very rarely bother to venture to a different part of London – so might as well live in a small town, which would be much less expensive.

Maybe some people you DON’T know do do it though.
Just a wild theory but, well, you never know…..

london

PP I’m not suggesting it doesn’t happen of course – I just don’t think it happens half as much as people like to make out when they go on about how great London is.

I think i would throw Bradford into the mix, ok for me it’s the gateway to the dales and beyond. It pains me every time i drive through, so much so that if there is a shop/dealership nearest to me and it’s in Bradford i will go to the next furthest shop/garage so i don’t have to go near Bradford. I even chose my last house on the basis it didn’t have a Bradford Postcode which was both cheaper and bigger than our current pile.

*shrugs*

It’s all irrelevant to me, as I choose to live somewhere amongst the houses in this pic.

Sheffield is half an hour in one direction, Derby half an hour in the opposite. Manchester is an hour away.

That’s as close to living in a city as I fancy, thanks

Just got back from that cultural midlands gem that is Birmingham, can I add that to my list!

PP I’m not suggesting it doesn’t happen of course – I just don’t think it happens half as much as people like to make out when they go on about how great London is.

True, but either way it makes no difference to how great the city is either! 🙂

I love London………. the greatest city in the world.

This is of course FACT. Fact based on quantitative data and the author’s personal experience enabling him to compare it against every other city in the world.

Or it could just be old bollocks.

Where’s dd ? we’ve another entry for his book.

London.

I think Middlesbrough are hoping to get city status. When they do then it’s a shoe in for the title.

I can think of no redeeming feature for the place. It might be near some nice places but Boro itself is a hole.

London.

Isn’t the city of London actually quite small and couldn’t possibly contain all the museums, clubs and whatever else that people are making claims about?

Hull, Middlesbrough, Sunderland. All east coast and fortunate that Newcastle makes up for them.

Birmingham its not sh*t

As a Londoner, for those who think its bad, Jealousy is a cruel mistress.

Wow, no-one has mentioned Hull. While not my worst city as it’s my home city, it tends to top “worst city in Britain” books. While not a city, my most hated town is Bournemouth. Completely lacking soul imv (I lived there). Very glad to leave.

As a Londoner, for those who think its bad, Jealousy is a cruel mistress.

This is another hilarious argument. If I actually loved London, why wouldn’t I just move there? It’s particularly funny for people on a mountain bike forum to go on about how great London is.

To me, the ‘greatest city in the world™’ would have some decent mountain biking nearby that you wouldn’t have to drive for 4 hours to get to. 😆

Londonderry / Derry

a) cos it is
b)

Face of an angel voice of a skip….

And yes that’s just the women 🙄

Londonderry / Derry

a) cos it is –
b)

Face of an angel voice of a skip….

And yes that’s just the women 🙄

You don’t choose to live in a city for it’s rural delights; you choose to live there for it’s cultural diversity, entertainment facilities and transport links.
I realise there’s no point (or reason) trying to defend ‘that there London’ to it’s naysayers, but it’s certainly the most diverse and varied city in the UK.
Whatever your social class or cultural preferences there’s an endless list of things to do, places to go and people to meet.
Like any city it’s going to have parts or aspects you don’t care for, but IMO this is more than made up for by it’s wonderful variety and character.
It does take time to get to know, I lived there for 30 years of my ‘adult’ life in over 10 different postcodes and still found places that surprised & delighted me with their unique blend of old, new and downright weird.
Is it better or worse than any other city, not for me to say, but if you’re prepared to blithely dismiss it as crap then you possibly haven’t dug deep enough or you’re just not a big town person.
I’ve lived in other cities, and to be honest found them far less interesting and engaging – I don’t want a city I can cycle across in a few hours. I want a city in which I can spend a lifetime getting to appreciate and know it’s back roads, alleys, riverside/canalside paths, parks, galleries, museums, street markets, dodgy boozers, fine dining, specialist shops, abandoned buildings, monuments, parades, parties and above all it’s people.
London, yeah – it’s pretty damn good 😀

emsz – are you actually from Gloucester?

ermmmmm *hesitates as there seems to be a good chance of being at the butt end of a joke..* yes?

Why?

Yarp……… 😆