Misconceptions about where you live

I live in Dartford, Kent - which often gets a pretty negative response from people when I mention it! It's just seen as 'chavvy,' rough etc - and if I'm completely honest I don't particularly like living here as I don't really feel it's 'home.'

There are some good points about it, we've been here 3 years in February and I do like our particular little close where we live, as it's quiet and set back a bit, and fairly new. The people living in our close all seem to be a pretty similar age to us, young couples or sometimes single people, etc, people seem to keep themselves to themselves really.

It's also really quick to get around as we're so close to the M25, M20, A2, Bluewater, Dartford crossing etc. I also like the fact that the train station has so many lines going through it so it's really easy to get to London etc. I do quite like The Orchard theatre too - while it's small and a bit shabby, there are often some good acts there - like Russell Howard and Jimmy Carr who OH and I went to see recently and really enjoyed.

I find the actual town centre really horrible and quite run-down though - the pubs and bars are awful too. I think the one memory I can't get rid of was the first time I thought I'd go and check out the shops in the centre - I wandered into Primark and saw a girl of about 14 in a tracksuit sipping at a can of Stella ?

They're apparently putting a fair bit of money into renovating Dartford though so it will be interesting to see what they do.

I actually grew up in Sidcup, not too far away, and that's gone quite downhill now too - but I loved it and will move back there after the wedding hopefully. Right within walking distance of all my friends and family and some of the more suburb-y bits are lovely. The high street is pretty rubbish though and like a magnet for hoodies!

Well I live close to a tiny village in the South of France and I think people tend to make sweeping generalisations about living here.

It is faily backward but in a nice way, we don't have to lock our doors and everyone does know everyone else. Put it this way, I've yet to meet any rude French people on bicyles wearing striped tops with onions around their neck.

Like Flowery, I also live in Switzerland and got/had so many stereotypes before coming here. No, the trains dont always run on time, but they do mostly and are fantastically cheap. It has the impression of being boring, but google Zurich Street parade and thats clearly not true (1m people partying in the streets, mostly semi-naked!). It is expensive, but not THAT bad (at least no worse that Europe generally with the week pound) and somethings are positively a bargain. It is however, clean, has low crime (I cannot tell you the number of times I have left my bag in public with my wallet, phone, etc and its been where I left it or handed in) and lots to do - love it and would love to stay here permanently...

I live in Glasgow and I love it here. Yes, there's knife crime which is a big issue for 15-24 year old males in the city but if you're not part of that 'group' and aren't involved in drugs then there's really not much random or petty crime.

I live in the Southside which is beautiful, has loads of lovely parks, huge 100-year-old apartment buildings and excellent public transport. There are lots of nice bars and restaurants near where I live too, as well as a brilliant deli and greengrocers which is open til 9pm all week (I'm campaigning to make my butcher do the same!). Because it's a small-ish city, I can be at my work in the city centre within 10 mins in rush hour and enjoy some of the best shopping in Britain on my lunch break (in nice streets, not an out-of-town sprawling mall). There are lots of really good music venues and young, new music scene here is really great. The galleries and museums are all free and really excellent.

We're less than an hour from Loch Lomond and the start of the Trossachs Highlands and less than an hour from Edinburgh which is always nice for a change (but not quite as good ?)

The weather is not as good as I'd like (living in the middle of a valley isn't the best) and as much as I love not living in 'suburbia', we'll probably move about half an hour out of the city to a little village I have my eye on. It's near my parents and the schools are better and there's more space for horse-riding etc, all the things I loved as a kid. If I stayed here, I wouldn't be able to let young children play out and that would make me feel a bit sad.

I'm from, and live in, Rainham in the medway towns. The Kent one, not the Essex one. Medway has a very bad reputation but I like where I live. Ok, I don't think I'd really like to live in Chatham or (bits of) Gillingham, but Rainham is the last village in the 'chain' of towns that make up Medway and we are right on the edge of the countryside. The little estate where I live is really rather nice. The village centre has a decent butcher, fishmonger, greengrocer and a mini Tesco (plus about a hundred estate agents, for some reason). There's quite a community feel about the place and although far too big for everyone to know everyone, I usually recognise a few names on the hatch/match/dispatch pages of the local parish magazine. The church has a thriving life and the village really came together recently to raise enough money for essential repairs.

There's bigger shops in a couple of nearby shopping centres, we have an outlet centre now as well and a good cinema. Plus bluewater is just up the road, and Canterbury not far in the other direction. Rochester, with castle/cathedral, restaurants etc and nice shops is a ten minute drive.

I'm an hour from Central London on the train and the commute is actually quite pleasant with lots of fields and trees and greenery to look at, plus the trains are comfortable and generally run more or less on time (shhhh). House prices here are good - I moved from Sidcup (another underrated place which I loved living in) and exchanged a 1.5 bed flat for a 4 bed house for less money.

I love being this close to the Kent countryside and the river - whilst a bit industrial, the medway coastline, it is somehow rather bleakly appealing. Towns like Whitstable, Faversham, Canterbury etc are all within easy reach. Plus there's good links to the rest of the world - Gatwick in 45 minutes, M2/M20/M25 all very close. And of course France - Ebbsfleet is 20 mins drive; door to door just over 3 hours to Paris. The only annoying thing about being stuck out on the bottom right hand corner of the country is that going almost anywhere involves the M25.

Downsides? Chavs, hoodies, etc - get a few, but nothing too bad. I generally just ignore them, they're only kids and I don't find them threatening. There's no nice pubs in Rainham, well none that I like, although they did have a decent go at one of them recently its still not my pub of choice. Great curry house and chinese restaurant, but no 'proper' restaurants until you go further afield.

I live in West Oxfordshire which has the reputation, if any, of being nice, dull and middle class. It is all of these things.

Northampton, whoever is from there, I think has the distinction of being the most average town in the uk.

L
xx

I live in Bermondsey which most people associate with Millwall or Jade Goody, I love living 5 minutes from the river, Tower Bridge etc. It takes me an hour to walk to work and it’s an amazing walk (people come from all over the world to see what I see everyday). Plus the best bit is that it’s still reasonable to buy here as most people think that it is scumbagville still. Oh and in my pre-baby days the bars and restaurants in Shad Thames aren’t too bad either.

No decent pubs !!! - What about the Manor Farm and The Crickerters (I am of course joking). H is from Rainham so I know it very well (I grew up just down the A2 in a God awful town).

KTC - My OH and PILs both talk like Mel B! Before I lived in Leeds, I always thought that you had to get up at 6am to do your hair and make-up if you wanted to go shopping... a view confirmed after living there for two years (Victoria Quarter, not White Rose, of course). I always thought that Leeds would be quite a grimy industrial place and was surprised at how rural its surroundings are.

I'm from Fleetwood, which is near Blackpool. I always say I'm from Blackpool if people ask as most have not heard of Fleetwood. If people have heard of Fleetwood, then it's because they went on a coach trip to the market, which is grim although does sell fab kitschy tea-towels with local scenes on (I bought my friend one as a wedding present. They're *that* good). Locally, Fleetwood is the poor cousin of the area and I've often been met with looks of sympathy when I saw where I'm from. Granted it is poor, and quite rough in parts, but I'd feel safe walking home at night and the people are friendly (if slightly addicted to sunbeds and white tracksuits). There is also the impression that it smell of fish. It is a fishing town, but the wind has to be blowing a certain way to get a whiff!

I currently live in Sheffield. I don't know what impressions I had about it before I first lived here. When I left to move to Leeds, I was bored with its smallness. Yet nine months later I wanted to be able to walk to its small (but perfectly formed) town centre without navigating public transport and taxis, so I came back! Sheffield is lovely. Hilly, but lovely.

Hear hear P&P.

An acquaintance of mine, who used to live somewhere in the area, she went to Alleyns, so perhaps in the posher bits, said "oh yes I remember driving through Forest Hill, it's a shit hole."

Ummmm 1) I live there, so thanks for that. 2) That was a while ago so thanks for your updated opinion and 3) No it's not. It has decent pubs, nice parks, the Horniman of course, a collection of artists' studios, decent schools, is 15 minutes from London Bridge by train, on the nightbus route and just a whisker away from the delights of Crystal Palace, Dulwich, ED, etc etc.

As a northwest Londoner born and bred I'm delighted to have defected.

I live in Hove right on the Brighton border and whenever I tell people where I live they think that I must be rich or old. I'm neither, the area I live is mainly pretty youngish people and it has a community feel. I love living where I, its 10mins to the seafront 10 mins to centre of Brighton and I can walk to walk in 20 mins and at the top of the road we have some great pubs, restaurants and shops in the seven dials area. However like someone else mentioned Brighton can be a pretty scary place especially West Street at night which can resemble Beirut, but we tend to stay away from there anyway, unless going to the cinema. Its the best place i've ever lived as I am originally from the north just near Sheffield.

Ha ha - love it, sums it up well

Sounds like she might have been from "the village".

Would explain a lot.

I live in Aldershot which most people know as the Home of the British Army. I moved here from in between Sutton & Croydon, where I was raised 8 years ago, when I met my now H and despite quadrupling my commute distance the time was the same!

Best bits: reasonable house prices (3 bed detached for £250k); 10 mins from A3 & M3, 20 mins from M25 J10 or £12; close to Farnham Guildford, Camberley for shopping, nights out.

Worst bits: wanting to say we live down the road in Farnham; only 2 sit down restaurants in Aldershot (Pizza Hut and a chinese buffet - I kid you not!); rowdy town centre reputation; no of young/single Mums

Indeed!

I am from Devon, by the sea but moved to Bedforshire (edge of Luton area) 5 years ago - I LOVE Milton Keynes so much. It has shops, bars, good eating places, fab cinema and when i feel homesick and miss the sea I head stright for furzton or Caldicotte Lakes, not the same but italways cheers me up. We always feed the ducks in the winter, sunday afternoons all wrapped up in coats and scarves and I love it lol

i like the big hall in the shopping centre at xmas, brings the spirit of xmas out i think, much nicer than the lights (and massive crowds) in London

I had only ever heard about it being an urban jungle beofre I moved up here, but i am so amazed by how green and prety it is. And I much prefer it to Luton any day of the week......

Wasn't there something on Top Gear about Northampton being the least sign posted place or something too?

I live in Bedford and I don't think it really has an undeserved reputation. I grew up in Luton though which definitely deserves its reputation!

That was part of the old St Giles Hospital that they left standing. I used to live in the flats that surrounded it. Small world.

Hickory - I grew up near you! Dumbreck, and school was HGS.

I wish people wouldn't assume where we live is all gin n jags and Cliff Richard (I live in Surrey). It's far more normal than that - nice small towns, ok it's commuterland, but we're really happy here. And I love the fact that we're in the countrside but still close enough to London to get anywhere fast. We also have the M25 M3 M23 A3 M4 and M40 within half an hour, and Heathrow is 20 minutes away, so we can jump in the car and get to plenty of places really quickly.

We've just left Stoke Newington, in NE London, for Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex. Lived in London for 10 years - most of the latter ones in Stokey. We left because I'd had enough of living in London and we wanted to reduce our mortgage. There is loads of stuff I will miss about London though and Stokey was a relatively good place to live. Our street was lovely - all our neighbours really nice (mix similar to Knownowt's in Highbury) and very friendly. It's very diverse and we liked the mix of Turkish/West Indian/random Euro/students/young families living in the area.

Stokey has a reputation for being very middle-class boho and being full of kids. It is full of kids, I have never seen so many anywhere. Some areas are very middle class and some people do conform to worst stereo types (I found things like baby groups very unfriendly and "closed") - lots of people do all their shopping in (not so) Fresh and Wild (ly expensive) and judge others based on how fair trade their shoes are. There's also a very poor uptake of MMR there. Still - there is loads to do, a fab leisure centre and green spaces everywhere.

We lived on the Hackney/Dalston borders though and although Hackney is certainly not the monstrous hotbed of crime and depravity it is made out to be, it can be a little "edgy". Still - it has a very diverse population and great things like London Fields Lido and the Columbia Road Flower Market.

Dalston has a growing rep as an up and coming area (listed by Italian Vogue no less) and I believe several designers have based themselves there. I have no idea why this is. Had to travel through most days for work or to get to Islington etc and it is truly and utterly vile. There's a horrible aggressive atmosphere and nothing to recommend it at all (except possibly the Rio cinema). Vile.

Well I would also big up my previous stomping ground - the bit between Dulwich Village and Herne Hill. Not quite in the village but not quite in HH either. but 10 mins walk from both centres - all of the nice bits mentioned previously, the gallery, the delis. the bars, the restaurants - two parks within v easy walking distance. Not totally cloistered either - big mix of housing, not all of us are like the snotty anti Forest Hill girl ?

Where I live now, I don't really think there are too many neg emotions. It's a small village in East Sussex, I suppose perhaps it's a bit in the shadow of its slighter bigger sister which is a commuter village and quite smart. But we're 7 mins away by car and yet have our own identity - less posh, less people commuting, more of a community feeling, less 4x4s ? We have a lovely church, beautiful village centre, a cafe and second hand bookshop. three pubs - one of which is supposedly being jushzed to become a proper village pub rather than the run down wreck it currently is. Proper village shops - butchers, greengrocers, chemist, village store etc where people know your name and stop you in the street to chat.

I love it. Beautiful countryside, a pub on my doorstep, birds singing, sheep bleating - what's not to like? half an hour to the beach, 20 mins to the flesh pots of Tunbridge Wells (where I was born - a much maligned place in itself)

I'm on the border of South East London and Kent (closer to Kent but a London address and postcode), squished between Bromley and Eltham. Hmmmm. Eltham which is mostly known for Stephen Lawrence and Bromley which is known for chavs, underage drinking and people getting drunk and stabbed.

In spite of all that I dont mind it really, we chose to come back after renting a bit further away. Bromley is a decent enough place when you need a bit of shopping, Bluewater and Lakeside are short drives away, am between 4 NHS hospitals (cough cough) and it's 20 mins by train into central London.

It's also one of those places where there are lots of horrible teenage hoodies but I grew up here and actually laugh at them because I know all their mums and dads. My neighbours are mostly nice and the road we live is ok (although I guess it depends if you bother looking outside when you see flashing lights ?). Seriously, it's not that bad really. Not sure we'd stay here with children growing up but that's only the specific area I am not the area as a whole.

I was born and lived in Chelsea for about 6/7 years, we then moved to Devon which is where i live now, i live in Exeter, its a tourist trap in the summer, but nevertheless its a vibrant, upcoming city with some fab restaurants and steeped in History.

I lived In Ashton-Under-Lyne with my Ex-H, it was ok i guess, but as someone else said in the thread its not all terraced houses and the gallagher brothers. We used to go walking on the moors, and have fish and chips at Compos which was gorgeous, but apart from that it was pretty ......Meh. Although being an hour or so away from the Trafford centre was an added bonus.

Sometimes i wish i still lived in london, the buzz, energy and the fast pace of life still fascinates me, although i love the sleepy countryside of where i'am now and plus can be at either one of 5/6 beaches in less than 20 minutes, plus Plymouth, Torquay, North Devon, Cornwall are all just over an hour away.

I live in Dundee, or as it's commonly known, Scumdee! To be honest, I think as a city it's probably improved from it's dodgy days in the 70's and 80's. I came here for uni, and it's a fantastic uni city - the campus is right next the city centre, so students tend to walk everywhere and live close to the city centre, which although small, still have good bars pubs. It's a bit lacking on the good restaraunt front, but I survive. Dundee's worst areas are spread out and are big housing estates developed from the 60's onwards - but to be honest, it's not that scary a place. I live in what could be a slightly dodgy area, right next to (both) football grounds, but I love it - can walk into town, and am straight onto the main road to glasgow or aberdeen. From living in a small town outside glasgow (surburbia really) to living in the actual city, I love it. My husband who grew up here doesn't!

I like it for being next to countryside, perth, fife, angus are also incrediably close. I couldn't live any further north in Scotland - at least this way edinburgh/glasgow are about an hour and a half away, as is aberdeen. The Tay is lovely. Upside, it's a village of a city really, everyone knows one another somehow - but thats a downside as well! I'd reccommend it, although I know it still has a bad rep. Teenage pregnancy capital of western europe though - what a thing to be famous for!

This thread seems as good a place as any to repost this picture of my street recently ?

I grew up in a village sandwiched right between Crawley and EG, and lived there until I moved abroad 6 years ago - I loved the fact that you could be in London in 30 mins on the Gatwick express, but Crawley is a bit of a dive! It suited me well as a teenager who liked clubbing! We now live in Kent - but go back to Sussex as our families still live there.

I can't believe no Swindoners have posted yet! I have lived elsewhere but I love it here. Lots of people judge it by the view from the train station, or driving past it on the motorway. I work here too now and am 10 mins on my bike from work to the Ridgeway. Will post some pics. There is lovely countryside round here and lots of good shopping and nightlife too.

I used to work in Milton Keynes and I love it there. I loved St Albans too, although I must admit I found Hemel a bit crappy... maybe as I was also working in St Albans, MK, Berko, central London and Oxford at the same time so it seemed a bit, well, crap ? Having said that, Minute Baguette does the BEST brie & cranberry baguettes!

Fabulous pic KN, what on earth was going on?

I live in an inbetweeny part of London that doesn't really have a reputation I don't think, other than being Very Turkish. I drove up through London from Brighton a few weeks ago and it was interesting to pass through so many different areas. South London's a bit crap, isn't it? <runs and hides> ?

I grew up in Reading, which has a wholly deserved reputation for being boring and pointless.

Big drugs/stolen goods raid on the Blackstock Road (ie they raided everywhere ?)

I agree re South London- it doesn't seem to have proper places in the way North London does (apart from Brixton, I suppose), just miles of random crappy high streets. Also why can noone in South London drive properly?

Ooo, you might know my BIL, thats where he went , I think he is about 35/36

I am also from the Southside of Glasgow, though a bit further out than Hickory (I think she stays where I grew up)

It is close to parks, leisure centre, lovely restaurants and a lovely bar that is part of a hotel. It is also walking distance to the supermarket, and it is 15 minutes on the train into the Centre of Glasgow.

Glasgow gets a bad reputation, and I have to say sometimes in broad daylight in the city centre it is a bit scary with all the neds wandering about out of their faces, but I guess you get that in any centre.

We are considering moving further out, as the bigger houses in this area are well out of our pricerange, but i would miss everything being so close to hand, so it is a big decision over house size vs location.

I would love to move to Jersey though. ? The weather in Glasgow does get to you after a while.

I used to live near Swindon, but it was a right shithole back then so I used to say I lived in the Cotwolds (which was a lie by 2 miles!) But my sis lives in Old Town in Swindon and I love going back to see her, the town is so much nicer and has a lot going on.

By contrast, I live in Wilmslow - which should be 'all that' - it's so not. There are gangs of hoodies as there are in any town centre, but mixed in with disgustingly orange people who abandon their Range Rovers miles from the curb (and usually on double yellow lines) rather than bother with the hassle of finding a parking space. There are more charity shops than 'normal' shops and NO decent pubs (although some lovely restaurants). It's saving grace is it's proximity to Manchester and the fact that there are lots of affluent families who want music lessons so I can earn a decent living!

I live in Rotherham. Jamie Oliver has done us no favours!

we arent all on the dole, fat and ugly...well...i am fat?

the village my parents live in has won the Britain in Bloom small village award last year. i live in an old mining village, with a boating lake. its beautiful!! have always lived here and doubt i will live anywhere else.