Is London a sh*t hole?

I'm a Londoner, born and bread. I have not lived there for 25 years, but visit often.

It has changed a lot over the years, but areas that were very down at heel are now rejuvenated. This can only be a good thing.

However, it does worry me that 'ordinary' people are priced out. This drastically changes the demographics.

A couple of weeks ago DH and I visited the V&A. Walking around the area, very familiar to us, we remarked how families we knew and children we went to school with used to live in the area! No chance of that happening now!

x

That can't be the image of London held by all those rich people from the Middle and Far East who are snapping up properties at grossly inflated prices that ordinary citizens can't afford.

It's quite scuzzy looking along the embankment. The Shard is definitely over rated. It gives you a good view of the dreadful things mankind has done to nature.

No. I don't like London much.

Well, it's very traffic ridden, it's crowded, the shop fronts are the same as any other town in the UK. And there's that blue cockerel thing in Trafalgar Square.

I think it's over rated.

Lovely from the bridges by night though.

Probably depends which area you live in I suppose. City's all over the world have a shitty bit. I'm fairly sure London isn't seen like that. Wouldn't necessarily want to live there but surely it makes London what it is, diversity and all that.

And so many people want to live there too.

News to me!
Suggests a singular lack of intelligence to me; no, I don't live in London and my visits are few, but for vibrancy and a fantastic number of sights to see I don't think it can be beaten!
I lived there for three years when much younger, and with very little money as a student nurse, but I loved it!
I do think that perhaps it is a younger person's place but only because I can't do half as much walking around when I'm now visiting!

I guess it depends on your experience of London, if you've only visited the worst of it then that will be your perception. These people obviously haven't enjoyed all the wonderful things that are within our Capital. I've lived in London my whole life and I haven't seen it all by any means.

How can one of the most visited city in the World with all that it has to offer be perceived as a shit-hole?