London is definitely dirty tbf. The first thing I notice whenever I go to Europe is how clean the streets are
“People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals” – K, Men in Black
I agree not true, went to Paris several years ago and that’s some next level shit hole. On arrival I was greeted by a drunk just pissing on the pavement right next to the train station, at least our drunks have some consideration.
Naples anyone?
I was in London a month ago and my family and I all remarked how clean it was. I mean, if you’ve been to New York, or Milan, or Paris, or LA, or…really any city, you can see how well maintained most of London is.
It’s sort of like when you’re annoyed with, say, your mum, and you’re moaning about her, and then the person you’re moaning to AGREES – transgressively – and you’re immediately like “hey! Stop slagging off my mum!”
Definitely too much littering though.
Discussing whether London is clean or not is useless without being area specific. Already crossing the border between Tower Hamlets & Hackney makes a huge difference, etc. But even then, Canary Wharf is pristine due to its wealth, whereas Shadwell is a shitshow.
This is probably true for all big cities as pointed out. That said, I’ve never seen as many people littering anywhere as I’ve see in London.
Ah yes, god forbid any criticism of our city, as if blowing smoke up our own arses is going to help bettering it in any meaningful way.
Depends where you are….the shit along some of the major roads like the A406 is absolutely disgusting.
London is significantly cleaner than any non-Midwestern US city. And most European cities.
This is a bunch of nonsense.
I lived in soho 2005/6, went back 5 years ago and was amazed how clean it was, as if all the buildings had been jet-washed of the black soot. I guess all the teslas have helped too in keeping the air clean.
I used to blow my nose at night after walking around oxford street and there was literal charcoal snot on the tissue, that’s how bad it was.
Is anyone surprised by how US-based social media is completely overrun by right wing bots putting down everything that isnt “hail trump, saviour of orange America”
Okay I also just came back from Sweden and I was about to ask the same question as that OP (but less dramatically)
Over the past few days it was quite windy in London and I kept getting dust (or pollen? or God knows what?) in my eyes and throat, as did my girlfriend. That never happens to us here in Sweden.
I wouldn’t say London is a dirty city and lord knows I love and miss this city. But getting so much dust in my throat and eyes truly made me wonder what was going on. Does anyone have an explanation?
I might get downvoted but I will try to ask something. Maybe its just a mentality of the general population regarding littering- “Some one gets paid for cleaning it so its not my problem”?
It’s like Quora innit
Fyi, Dirty Cities are a dogwhistle for blaming migrants/minorities
I will say there are clean places and dirty places. It mostly comes down to how much money is present in that area.
Kensington for example is clean and tree lined and beautiful. Croydon (as a local) is filthy and stinks. All the pavements are covered in that kind of layer of grime that looks like someone dropped a milkshake on a hot day, three days before.
I hate it and honestly it makes we want to whip out a power washer and go at it but I would probably get stopped by the council.
I lived in London in the ’80’s, its not got worse, probably a lot better overall.
I sense 5th column activism.
It really depends where you go. Go to some areas and everything’s lovely, especially in the sunshine. But I’ve noticed on the Victoria line a noticeable uptick in people either committing theft in the carriages or looking like they are about to do so.
On the weekend I said to myself “that person looks well dodgy but I could just be paranoid.” Then I looked down and they had an ankle tag from a prior offence… so yeah, instincts were correct that time.
London IS falling though. I was in London with my whole family two weeks ago and we all got murdered. Took the council two months to clean it up. No wonder London is so dirty all the time.
Tbf dalston needs a good pressure wash. With bleach
Most major cities have areas that are clean and areas that are not as clean (train/tube stations are a good example where both can exist). Most tourists will only ever really see the clean/nice side of a city.
I am not from London nor do I live there, but I’ve seen both sides and I still love it all the same. Same with my city, people on Reddit always remark on how clean and amazing it is, but I live in a non touristy area that is definitely not as clean as more downtown areas (not to mention the rats). Still love it though!
The obvious answer I don’t see anyone discussing is that the greater London area houses the same amount of people that live in *all of Sweden*.
Just went last week, I stayed in the center of every city I went to and it was not as clean as Paris surprisingly, but far cleaner than Amsterdam.
Paris had people actively picking up trash and washing streets, garbage cans were probably 2-3x as abundant. They really did a good job of reversing the negative stereotype.
London had far less garbage cans and I watched a lot of people just toss empty bottles, beers, and food in public areas, but it was not very widespread.
Amsterdam was covered in trash everywhere after Kings day and I didn’t notice anyone cleaning the mess.
Isn’t it Musk and Trump trying to change the mood over here so they can get Reform and Farage elected…
It’s probably working… many brits haven’t even been to London, and will chow down on the garbage that it’s become some kind of islamists dystopia where people LITTTER! Heaven forbid!
Besides when London looks rough it’s not because it’s dirty it’s just because it’s so goddamn stunning the mediocre bits hurt your eyes.
People totally missing the point here. There’s clearly a disinformation campaign against London on Reddit these last few weeks. All very easy to orchestrate with LLM’s. Sockpupeting etc has been going on for donkeys years but it’s turning up a notch – at least it’s noticeable for now.
London has fallen, millions must dump
It’s all relative
I grew up in London and just thought the level of litter was standard for a big city
After moving to Singapore for a bit and coming back, it becomes very clear that we need to get our shit together if we actually what to show some kind of pride in our own nation.
It’s not just London. It’s many internationally renown cities with vibrancy and diversity. No pathetic (“red neck”) small dying cities full of chavs though. It’s a pattern and concerted and effortful propaganda, the purpose of which is probably to add to the overall anxiety level of erstwhile successful people who aren’t small town conservatives.
We see it on local message boards too. It’s a big effort.
I started following this sub and other related groups before visiting London for the first time last year. The negative posts are, from my experience, greatly exaggerated.
Sure, there is some trash, but it is cleaner than most other cities I’ve visited. Every restroom was clean. People were nice. The trains were reliable and clean-ish (best you can hope for, really) and I have no complaints. None.
For reference, I was born in NYC in the 70’s and live in a post-industrial city north of Boston, USA.
Anyone who would complain about London transport needs to see the subway in New York. I say as someone who loves New York, but London is just far cleaner.
What do you mean? Every British person uses the terms “trash” and “gums”
I was just in London and I thought it was clean and well maintained compared to Paris, New York. London is officially one of my favorites places.
Been in London 4 different times already this year and didn’t notice anything egregious compared to German standards, it’s hilarious how overblown all the London doom propaganda gets
Edit: changed season to year, I was still thinking of Spurs lmao, I’ve been more than 4 times this “season”!
every city is dirty (except maybe like Copenhagen and Stockholm). People are just wimps
I don’t think London is dirty. It’s not the cleanest in the world, but also much better than a lot of cities compared to the population it has. Just look at the indexes here:
Can it be cleaner? Yes of course. I personally would prefee that money to go to the Met police for catching the phone snatchers/other criminals or NHS though, there are more urgent things to solve.
The Russian bots did their work in the US, now they are working on the UK to get their boy farage in power.
I just went to London for the first time in a few years and it is much cleaner than it used to be if anything, and way tidier than some parts of New York, and cleaner than basically every place in Paris I went besides tourist attractions. And don’t get me started on Barcelona.
I always think London is really clean. I think New York City is super gross
Sweden is a utopia in some aspects but terribly conformative in others, they’re a very happy society but they’d never have birthed the punk movement.
Respect for others/surroundings is missing in this country but that’s mostly due to a lack of investment in third spaces, not to do with Sweden
London was so clean when we were there last summer. Come to the states if you want to see dirty.
This sort of attack is obviously orchestrated to fit a narrative about how run down everything is and a huge political change needs to happen to fix it
I’d put London up against most of the top cities in the world as far as cleanliness and air quality is concerned
I’ve seen some pretty grubby looking tourist areas on the continent too
The buildings and areas look a damn sight cleaner than they used to be a few decades back
Even though London is pretty clean, I’m quite surprised how far it is to find waste bins
43 comments
London is definitely dirty tbf. The first thing I notice whenever I go to Europe is how clean the streets are
“People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals” – K, Men in Black
I agree not true, went to Paris several years ago and that’s some next level shit hole. On arrival I was greeted by a drunk just pissing on the pavement right next to the train station, at least our drunks have some consideration.
Naples anyone?
I was in London a month ago and my family and I all remarked how clean it was. I mean, if you’ve been to New York, or Milan, or Paris, or LA, or…really any city, you can see how well maintained most of London is.
It’s sort of like when you’re annoyed with, say, your mum, and you’re moaning about her, and then the person you’re moaning to AGREES – transgressively – and you’re immediately like “hey! Stop slagging off my mum!”
Definitely too much littering though.
Discussing whether London is clean or not is useless without being area specific. Already crossing the border between Tower Hamlets & Hackney makes a huge difference, etc. But even then, Canary Wharf is pristine due to its wealth, whereas Shadwell is a shitshow.
This is probably true for all big cities as pointed out. That said, I’ve never seen as many people littering anywhere as I’ve see in London.
Ah yes, god forbid any criticism of our city, as if blowing smoke up our own arses is going to help bettering it in any meaningful way.
Depends where you are….the shit along some of the major roads like the A406 is absolutely disgusting.
London is significantly cleaner than any non-Midwestern US city. And most European cities.
This is a bunch of nonsense.
I lived in soho 2005/6, went back 5 years ago and was amazed how clean it was, as if all the buildings had been jet-washed of the black soot. I guess all the teslas have helped too in keeping the air clean.
I used to blow my nose at night after walking around oxford street and there was literal charcoal snot on the tissue, that’s how bad it was.
Is anyone surprised by how US-based social media is completely overrun by right wing bots putting down everything that isnt “hail trump, saviour of orange America”
Okay I also just came back from Sweden and I was about to ask the same question as that OP (but less dramatically)
Over the past few days it was quite windy in London and I kept getting dust (or pollen? or God knows what?) in my eyes and throat, as did my girlfriend. That never happens to us here in Sweden.
I wouldn’t say London is a dirty city and lord knows I love and miss this city. But getting so much dust in my throat and eyes truly made me wonder what was going on. Does anyone have an explanation?
I might get downvoted but I will try to ask something. Maybe its just a mentality of the general population regarding littering- “Some one gets paid for cleaning it so its not my problem”?
It’s like Quora innit
Fyi, Dirty Cities are a dogwhistle for blaming migrants/minorities
I will say there are clean places and dirty places. It mostly comes down to how much money is present in that area.
Kensington for example is clean and tree lined and beautiful. Croydon (as a local) is filthy and stinks. All the pavements are covered in that kind of layer of grime that looks like someone dropped a milkshake on a hot day, three days before.
I hate it and honestly it makes we want to whip out a power washer and go at it but I would probably get stopped by the council.
I lived in London in the ’80’s, its not got worse, probably a lot better overall.
I sense 5th column activism.
It really depends where you go. Go to some areas and everything’s lovely, especially in the sunshine. But I’ve noticed on the Victoria line a noticeable uptick in people either committing theft in the carriages or looking like they are about to do so.
On the weekend I said to myself “that person looks well dodgy but I could just be paranoid.” Then I looked down and they had an ankle tag from a prior offence… so yeah, instincts were correct that time.
London IS falling though. I was in London with my whole family two weeks ago and we all got murdered. Took the council two months to clean it up. No wonder London is so dirty all the time.
Tbf dalston needs a good pressure wash. With bleach
Most major cities have areas that are clean and areas that are not as clean (train/tube stations are a good example where both can exist). Most tourists will only ever really see the clean/nice side of a city.
I am not from London nor do I live there, but I’ve seen both sides and I still love it all the same. Same with my city, people on Reddit always remark on how clean and amazing it is, but I live in a non touristy area that is definitely not as clean as more downtown areas (not to mention the rats). Still love it though!
The obvious answer I don’t see anyone discussing is that the greater London area houses the same amount of people that live in *all of Sweden*.
Just went last week, I stayed in the center of every city I went to and it was not as clean as Paris surprisingly, but far cleaner than Amsterdam.
Paris had people actively picking up trash and washing streets, garbage cans were probably 2-3x as abundant. They really did a good job of reversing the negative stereotype.
London had far less garbage cans and I watched a lot of people just toss empty bottles, beers, and food in public areas, but it was not very widespread.
Amsterdam was covered in trash everywhere after Kings day and I didn’t notice anyone cleaning the mess.
Isn’t it Musk and Trump trying to change the mood over here so they can get Reform and Farage elected…
It’s probably working… many brits haven’t even been to London, and will chow down on the garbage that it’s become some kind of islamists dystopia where people LITTTER! Heaven forbid!
Besides when London looks rough it’s not because it’s dirty it’s just because it’s so goddamn stunning the mediocre bits hurt your eyes.
People totally missing the point here. There’s clearly a disinformation campaign against London on Reddit these last few weeks. All very easy to orchestrate with LLM’s. Sockpupeting etc has been going on for donkeys years but it’s turning up a notch – at least it’s noticeable for now.
London has fallen, millions must dump
It’s all relative
I grew up in London and just thought the level of litter was standard for a big city
After moving to Singapore for a bit and coming back, it becomes very clear that we need to get our shit together if we actually what to show some kind of pride in our own nation.
It’s not just London. It’s many internationally renown cities with vibrancy and diversity. No pathetic (“red neck”) small dying cities full of chavs though. It’s a pattern and concerted and effortful propaganda, the purpose of which is probably to add to the overall anxiety level of erstwhile successful people who aren’t small town conservatives.
We see it on local message boards too. It’s a big effort.
I started following this sub and other related groups before visiting London for the first time last year. The negative posts are, from my experience, greatly exaggerated.
Sure, there is some trash, but it is cleaner than most other cities I’ve visited. Every restroom was clean. People were nice. The trains were reliable and clean-ish (best you can hope for, really) and I have no complaints. None.
For reference, I was born in NYC in the 70’s and live in a post-industrial city north of Boston, USA.
Anyone who would complain about London transport needs to see the subway in New York. I say as someone who loves New York, but London is just far cleaner.
What do you mean? Every British person uses the terms “trash” and “gums”
I was just in London and I thought it was clean and well maintained compared to Paris, New York. London is officially one of my favorites places.
Been in London 4 different times already this year and didn’t notice anything egregious compared to German standards, it’s hilarious how overblown all the London doom propaganda gets
Edit: changed season to year, I was still thinking of Spurs lmao, I’ve been more than 4 times this “season”!
every city is dirty (except maybe like Copenhagen and Stockholm). People are just wimps
I don’t think London is dirty. It’s not the cleanest in the world, but also much better than a lot of cities compared to the population it has. Just look at the indexes here:
https://bestlifeonline.com/cleanest-cities-world/
Can it be cleaner? Yes of course. I personally would prefee that money to go to the Met police for catching the phone snatchers/other criminals or NHS though, there are more urgent things to solve.
The Russian bots did their work in the US, now they are working on the UK to get their boy farage in power.
I just went to London for the first time in a few years and it is much cleaner than it used to be if anything, and way tidier than some parts of New York, and cleaner than basically every place in Paris I went besides tourist attractions. And don’t get me started on Barcelona.
I always think London is really clean. I think New York City is super gross
Sweden is a utopia in some aspects but terribly conformative in others, they’re a very happy society but they’d never have birthed the punk movement.
Respect for others/surroundings is missing in this country but that’s mostly due to a lack of investment in third spaces, not to do with Sweden
London was so clean when we were there last summer. Come to the states if you want to see dirty.
This sort of attack is obviously orchestrated to fit a narrative about how run down everything is and a huge political change needs to happen to fix it
I’d put London up against most of the top cities in the world as far as cleanliness and air quality is concerned
I’ve seen some pretty grubby looking tourist areas on the continent too
The buildings and areas look a damn sight cleaner than they used to be a few decades back
Even though London is pretty clean, I’m quite surprised how far it is to find waste bins
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