I love it but not sure I could live there… Can’t pick out one favourite part, it’s the whole of its parts really, from goggling at the rosetta stone to fighting on the underground

Not a place I visit much (and happy that way) but the best thing about it is a working, reliable and usable public transport system. Not used to that

I like the fact it keeps the more snotty, superior, self-absorbed, condescending and patronising members of our society all concentrated together in one place

🙄

I always turn up at my sisters in London,

Us Londoners stick by our families.

We held the best Olympic Games ever!

I like the fact it keeps the more snotty, superior, self-absorbed, condescending and patronising members of our society all concentrated together in one place

I though that was Yorkshire? ❓

Favorite thing about London?

The road(or rail) home to the coast.

I hate the place, horrible noisy, hustle, bustle, my daughters, Eurotrash, can’t think of a single endearing quality..

MrSmith – Member

I though that was Yorkshire?

No, they’re all “Honest” Yorkshire men, everything Yorkshire based is prefixed with the word ‘honest’ which leads me to believe that once upon a time probably there were not many folk or things that were, if they have had to get into the habit of ‘honest’ self description.

Mind you the women up there must be rogues you never seem to hear of the word being used to describe a Yorkshire woman, do you?

sbob – Member

I was walking through London with a friend who was talking about how great the city was (she knows I don’t like the place) with particular reference to how multicultural the place is, pointing out all the people of differing ethnicities and backgrounds.

Right as a (black) bus driver, who was arguing with a (partially black) pedestrian came out with:
“You’re not even properly black! Your mother must’ve been a slag!”

Such harmony in the capital!

Minefield! Eh, mark… 😉

Just surprised me to be honest.
I’ve encountered racism between differing races on a few occasions, but never like the above.

I get to visit ‘the smoke’ a couple of times a month and I love travelling by tube so I can watch all the sour faced, miserable, down trodden commuters who wouldn’t live anywhere else.

It makes me smile every time 😆

igrf – Member
Favorite thing about London?

The road(or rail) home to the coast.

I hate the place, horrible noisy, hustle, bustle, my daughters, Eurotrash, can’t think of a single endearing quality..

I’m pleased you got involved in a “What’s your favourite thing about London” thread 😉

I get to visit ‘the smoke’ a couple of times a month and I love travelling by tube so I can watch all the sour faced, miserable, down trodden commuters who wouldn’t live anywhere else.

It makes me smile every time

ah so you are the weirdo wearing snow wash denim and a smile i sometimes see on the northern line.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDQkQ7Zmcfs[/video]

MrSmith

ah so you are the weirdo wearing snow wash denim and a smile i sometimes see on the northern line.

Nope I am the weirdo in a black suit on the Bakerloo line smiling 😉

EDIT: I am sometimes seen Covent Garden with a beer or 2 in-hand (Summertime only)

I am sometimes seen Covent Garden

Tourist. 🙄

There’s lots of great things about London. The amount of free galleries and museums, the live music, even the tourist bits. Whenever I visit I can’t understand why everyone looks so bloody miserable. Maybe it’s the black snot????

He’s also encapsulated, neatly and concisely, why the rest of us, in the ‘provinces’ are all more than happy for you oh-so-cosmopolitan sophisticates not to demean yourselves by gracing us with your presence

Why does this have to be a ‘them and us’ thing? The thread is called whats your favourite thing about London, not what do those of you who live outside London think of ‘Londoners’ if there is even such a thing. Your comment seems like it’s meant to be derogatory to those who live in London. We’re not all stuck up chelsea tractor driving nob heads you know :p

I live in London for work – you start a good career in my area of employment in London, San Francisco, New York, Paris or Hong Kong. It’s where talent is appreciated, rewarded and tested, and it’s home to the best creative Agencies in the world, bar none. That’s just how it is, and I do Love living in London. It just so happens that it’s also the entertainment capital – it’s a great place to live for the most part, but not somewhere I would want to be for the rest of my life. Does that mean I’m not welcome elsewhere lol? I mean, my family is based on the South Cost and I’m there a lot, it’s where we’ve lived for 10 years or so and I consider it a home. But I do enjoy getting out of London some weekends mainly because I love the country.

Whenever I visit I can’t understand why everyone looks so bloody miserable. Maybe it’s the black snot????

It’s just the daily grind mate. And yes the black snot is a major issue of contention lol, it’s just something you get used to. But it’s a case in point of London being a great place to live, but perhaps not for your whole life? I get a renewed sense of value in real, south coast fresh air when I’ve been in London 3 months and then go down saaaf.

Its 471 miles away, plenty close enough

Marmite that place, I can’t stand it. Plenty of friends live there and love it.

Nuffink.

My favourite things about London are the music venues and the museums, along with the quirky little corners that are crammed with the history of people living on top of each other for hundreds of years.

I think the reason it becomes ‘them and us’ is because it polarises people. It’s not a great place to live unless you love living there and vice versa. On the other hand, there is no similar debate about Scarborough.

HENRY V for a fiver at THE GLOBE

I love most the infectious energy of the place, I find myself doing things I just wouldn’t normally do anywhere else.
I almost always make time to walk rather than tube, where practicable. Not long in from a walk from Waterloo to Euston. Just so many sights, experiences every second of the way. Superb.

Not much I dislike. Not much of a fan of canary wharf, seems to be a microcosm of intense snobbery, very much unlike central London.

Worked in London for about 20 years on and off, I’d rather be based in the City than where I am in the west End.

I like the character especially knowing shortcuts, alleyways and little courtyards that date back years in the older parts of town, still loads I’ve yet to see and actually take the time to visit.

Canary Wharf is the most soulless place on earth, trying to be something but doesn’t really know what in my view.

He once did The Roof Gardens (Kensington high street) to Tufnell park in just under/about 15 minutes…. It’s 6 miles lol.

There are people on here could bike that distance in less than that. (They’re from the North though)

What is this London you people talk about?

I lived in the big smoke for a bit – Stockwell/Kennington/Brixton border.

One thing that struck me about the people who professed to be ‘London-types’ was how they ran to the countryside on every bank holiday and spent their entire lives trying to accumulate enough wealth to move further out of the city.

However, good things about London:

Sheer variety of restaurants – I can heartily recommend the Eritrean (only one in the UK at the time) on Brixton Road. Just take their word for it when the dish is described as ‘spicy’. I think the spice mix used is called berbere and is mostly cayenne pepper.

Some very nice pubs that aren’t ‘locally’, but not impersonal either.

That’s about all folks.

Shopping parties on Carmaby Street, where they get bands in the streets, give you free beer and knock 20% off everything. Pointless fun even if you don’t want to buy anything.

“Mad Pierre – Member

Not a place I visit much (and happy that way) but the best thing about it is a working, reliable and usable public transport system. Not used to that”

Ehhhh?!!!! I can tell you don’t visit often if you think the public transport system is even approaching acceptable! You’d think on if you had to use it daily.

Sorry that’s a negative comment but I nearly passed out reading it.

it’s better than just about anywhere else in the country…

(although it should be a source of national shame that the public transport in our Capital City essentially shuts down at midnight, if not earlier)

Boris
Bikes.

Now these are one of the best things that’s happened to/in the City, like eva init.

Certainly they’ve created both havoc and enjoyment for City dwellers, and it’s hard to understand life without them, or even pre Boris Bikes come to that. I know it was all Red Ken’s idea and he should get a little finger handshake for it, but Boris took it on board and has built up a decent network and has invested both time and money into the project.

They’ve encouraged non cycling mates of mine to jump on them and wear a floppy scarf and rolled up trews leg and of course Girlies who will insist on riding them with short skirts.. I do hope that trend doesn’t end soon. They’ve helped Tourists get around the same square for the 150th time only to find they’ve been going around in circles for the last 4hours and the wrong way which leads me onto I have to say I’ve noticed a mellowing of some car/van/bus drivers attitudes over the years, I must be one of the few to notice, but I do remember years ago riding like I needed to keep alive, now it’s a bit of a breeze unless you are on a main route then it’s a bit mental but there seems to be more Boris Routes popping up on these and more planned.

Can’t get MrsBouy on a bike though, but then she’s a bit of a whiner when it comes to cyclists in the City, still has her 1990’s head on in a Daily Mail “they don’t pay tax” despite the fact that I’m often in the car with her when she flips.. Wiminz eh.

We’ll never become a City like Copenhagen or Amsterdam, we’re not flat enough nor our mentality to live and let live, but we go some way towards a better infrastructure for bikes and commuting and in general road users are most definitely aware of these blue and silver wobbly targets with skin exposed.

So I’m going to vote, my final vote, for Boris Bikes.

+1 for the food ,there’s good stuff everywhere!
I love nothing more than walking through Hyde park
to Kensington & “stick & Bowl” ,a cheap & cheerful Chinese cafe.
I like Soho – people watching & some quality ales and more food.& coffee.
Liberties rates highly for me, a shop I don’t mind going to as it’s
never mental busy.
Lived all over London Village & have settled for now in the North London Alps 🙂 I love the views from Ally Pally & the Heath.
i don’t party like i used to(at all actually) , but crikey I’ve had fun hooning from
West london to East , South to North in search of “fun”! ha….

The Donmar Warehouse (best Theatre in the world)
The National Theatre (saw the 1982 production of Guys and Dolls here, and slightly more recently Glenn Close in a Streetcar named Desire)
Gordon’s Wine Bar (full of rats and hipsters, but ace all the same)
The concentration of Sam Smiths Pubs
Tate Britain
The V&A
The flat I had the use of for 9 months in County Hall
Walking back to the flat across Westminster bridge at 2am a bit pissed
Eddie Richards, Fat Pockets Terry Francis and Nathan Coles @ Wiggle

So I’m going to vote, my final vote, for Boris Bikes.

Doesn’t it seem somewhat pointless having an elaborate public bike system when you don’t have any useable and safe cycle routes?

On my daily commute I see foreign tourists and British tourists alike, riding the wrong way down dual carriageways into oncoming traffic, swerving across roads and pavements etc. all on Boris Bikes, all without a helmet and all without adequate lights. Someone riding one even ploughed straight into the back of me at a red light once.