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Does London have as much atmosphere as it used to have?

girasol said:
London was absolutely fucking brilliant in the 90s and 00s. Nothing to do with the fact that I was in my 20s/30s back then, having lots of fun ;)

London is fucking shit right now. Nothing to do with the fact that I'm in my 50s and don't really go out like I used to and everyone looks like they're 12 years old and when they look at me they think I'm old :D
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I feel you, brother ✊️😪
 
trabuquera said:
Where o where is the smog of the coalfired chimneys, the gentle glow of the gaslights on Bow Street, the caressing miasma of sewage in the river, the delicious aerial bath of tobacco & TB in the pubs, the gorgeous tang of leaded fuel fumes from vintage vehicles. How terrible modern life is, how void of fun.
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Puddy_Tat said:
smog-56a48c5c5f9b58b7d0d78109.jpg
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It turns out all that atmosphere was just pollution. Ask Urban, and get the truth 🙏👍
 
girasol said:
London was absolutely fucking brilliant in the 90s and 00s. Nothing to do with the fact that I was in my 20s/30s back then, having lots of fun ;)

London is fucking shit right now. Nothing to do with the fact that I'm in my 50s and don't really go out like I used to and everyone looks like they're 12 years old and when they look at me they think I'm old :D
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How are the youngsters these days supposed to have a good time when their trousers are falling down?
 
gosub said:
How are the youngsters these days supposed to have a good time when their trousers are falling down?
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:D I didn't even think that was a thing anymore, but my 8 year old granddaughter mentioned the other day that indeed, this is still a thing. A thing she finds puzzling - so there's hope. She didn't understand how some teen boys' trousers don't just fall off.
 
QUOTE=Lucky 888

Does London have as much atmosphere as it used to have?

London has never been that friendly and has always had crime.

What about the atmosphere of the city? Is it still special?

[/QUOTE]
Yes
No
Yes

girasol
London was absolutely fucking brilliant in the 70s and 80s. Nothing to do with the fact that I was in my carefree childhood and teenage years back then, having all sorts of fun and developing a lifelong love of my city. :)

90s were tricky, this century wild and wonderful (Covid-19 lockdown excepted). Nothing to do with me growing into the urban character and lover of world cities I am now. :)

London is fucking great right now. Nothing to do with the fact that I'm in my 50s and still try to go out like I used to and everyone looks like they're 12 years old and when they look at me they think I'm old. Nothing changes :D

Hollis said:
Hmm.. my cycle commute takes me past St Paul's, along the Embankment, sights of the South Bank, Parliament, Big Ben, the Thames... I still get a small thrill from it each day... despite having been here 30+ years.
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That's the ticket!
 
London is , and always has been special. Tedious and mundane journeys to work always highlighted by the city at all times of day and night - the vista leaving Camden Road eastbound on the North London line and looking over the city - walking through the enhanced St Pancras and looking up at the spotless 19th glass roof , the daily miracle of London Bridge station or Liverpool St with thousands of passengers traversing it in the peak - riding on a Double decker and enjoying the sights and even better the mundane but everlasting Victorian architecture ........

" rumbling under blackened girders , Midland , bound for Cricklewood" - Betjeman certainly appreciated his London - "Earth has not anything to show more fair" - another very well known poet.
 
Long term love/hate relationship with London. Miss it dearly, but couldn't have grown old there.

Very much disagreed with the cliche that Londoners were unfriendly. Some of the most friendliest people have met.
 
People sometimes say that London has a 'buzz' and I don't think it does. It's quite gloomy and there's a difference between a buzz and just being full of commuters. I mean, there are exceptions, my beloved Brixton is an amazing place that has an atmosphere but not the city as a whole.

At night most of the city is dead too. London has many things that Madrid (where I live now) doesn't have, but Madrid absolutely trashes London for atmosphere and street level energy. It's upbeat and London is very downbeat in comparison.
 
krtek a houby said:
Long term love/hate relationship with London. Miss it dearly, but couldn't have grown old there.

Very much disagreed with the cliche that Londoners were unfriendly. Some of the most friendliest people have met.
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Agreed - years living in the poorer end of SW19 showed an excellent community spirit , many , many random acts of kindness over the years - sometimes the humour and crashing logic and often willingness to help out "lost" souls , and not just lost tourists. Mentioned before I was Operations Manager for North London Railways and though it was hard work at times , the staff and especially the passengers were just so interesting multiculteral and multi-interesting: you had to use your discretion at times but that comes with some maturity. You would not get that in say parts of rural England or Wales - or even Scotland.
 
krtek a houby said:
Long term love/hate relationship with London. Miss it dearly, but couldn't have grown old there.

Very much disagreed with the cliche that Londoners were unfriendly. Some of the most friendliest people have met.
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Personally find London a very unfriendly place but of course there are many exceptions to that. I don't think the place I live now in is as friendly as people here think it is either. The friendliest places I have lived are Rio and Blackpool (!).
 
It´s hard to answer this, because it´s so subjective. I would say that in the post-war era of general affluence (say1950s to 1970s/maybe 1980s) it was easier to survive economically in London than now, and various circumstances during this period gave rise to a significant uptick in creativity: ´50s bohemia/jazz etc in Soho, "Swinging London" in the ´60s, then the rock scene of the ´70s which culminated in punk. Also, squatting was widespread and allowed a lot of more casual living than is permitted these days. There was the rave scene of the 1990s to early 2000s, and although it is still quite recent, it seems like some far-off bygone age, now that hyper-gentrification has swept everything before it. London is now beset by increasing exodus, the prospect of becoming a necropolis (many schools are closing, since no-one can afford to have kids in the city), and the growing impossiblity of surviving there as a working person.

There was a great documentary about "New York in the 1970s" (very similar to London in many ways) some years ago. It documented the explosion of disco, punk and rap in a very short time in the same place. At the end, all the commentators were asked if it could happen again. One astute observer shook his head, and said, "Nowadays, young people only move to New York to work in a bank." I think that also sums up London.
 
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Favelado said:
People sometimes say that London has a 'buzz' and I don't think it does. It's quite gloomy and there's a difference between a buzz and just being full of commuters. I mean, there are exceptions, my beloved Brixton is an amazing place that has an atmosphere but not the city as a whole.

At night most of the city is dead too. London has many things that Madrid (where I live now) doesn't have, but Madrid absolutely trashes London for atmosphere and street level energy. It's upbeat and London is very downbeat in comparison.
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Mostly I just feel unsafe at London at night or in the AM outside of very rare spaces

It’s definitely not a 24 hour city or even a particularly late night city unless you really like getting drunk
 
isvicthere? said:
It´s hard to answer this, because it´s so subjective. I would say that in the post-war era of general affluence (say1950s to 1970s/maybe 1980s) it was easier to survive economically in London than now, and various circumstances during this period gave rise to a significant uptick in creativity: ´50s bohemia/jazz etc in Soho, "Swinging London" in the ´60s, then the rock scene of the ´70s which culminated in punk. Also, squatting was widespread and allowed a lot of more casual living than is permitted these days. There was the rave scene of the 1990s to early 2000s, and although it is still quite recent, it seems like some far-off bygone age, now that hyper-gentrification has swept everything before it. London is now beset by increasing exodus, the prospect of becoming a necropolis (many schools are closing, since no-one can afford to have kids in the city), and the growing impossiblity of surviving there as a working person.

There was a great documentary about "New York in the 1970s" (very similar to London in many ways) some years ago. It documented the explosion of disco, punk and rap in a very short time in the same place. At the end, all the commentators were asked if it could happen again. One astute observer shook his head, and said, "Nowadays, young people only move to New York to work in a bank." I think that also sums up London.
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The exact point about New York and the 3 genres exploding around the same time is one ive made myself many times. Interesting post. NYC seems to be a shadow of its former self in some ways
 
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