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Snobbiest places in the UK

(280 Posts)
Mollygo Sun 16-May-21 12:02:44

I noticed a thread in Mumsnet asking this question. What do GNs think?

Aveline Sun 16-May-21 15:53:33

I'm feeling snobbish just reading this thread. 'Snobby' indeed. I'm glad some of you have used the correct terminology!

GrannyGravy13 Sun 16-May-21 15:54:38

I definitely let the side down during lockdown, on the weeks I couldn’t get a Waitrose delivery I had to have Tesco’s and one week Morrison’s ?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️

hollysteers Sun 16-May-21 15:56:30

Golf clubs and Little Theatres can be very snobby and unwelcoming.

monk08 Sun 16-May-21 16:07:12

Back in the 70s after a day out myself and friends stopped at a pub in the village of Ullenhall, ordered our drinks in the lounge and was told there was plenty of room in the bar. We obviously did not fit in with our brummie accents ?

Tea3 Sun 16-May-21 16:08:13

Katyj - I shall have to think of some further sister in law snobbish outrages to see if there are further similarities. How about she finds some of the extended family’s football interests showing very low taste? In the past they’ve been tempted to turn up to family meals with her in hats and scarves and swinging rattles.

Nannarose Sun 16-May-21 16:09:04

This is fun! A friend of mine was at a party, and someone said to her " come and meet X, she's moving to Village (where I lived at the time) she doesn't know anyone there, perhaps you can introduce her to your friend " (me).
So my friend said "Hello, I hear you are moving to Village" and before she could say anymore, the woman said "Isn't it dreadful, but we either had to move there as it's cheap, or send the children to state schools". My friend decided not to mention my name! However, I did work out who it was, and would give her a bright smile as I went by!

Calendargirl Sun 16-May-21 16:23:05

Years ago went into a rather posh department store to look for an outfit for a wedding. The assistant soon summed me up as someone who didn’t normally shop there, and was rather off hand with me.

“Will it be a smart wedding?” she asked.

‘It will be a nice wedding” I replied, “but I really don’t think you have anything to suit so I will leave it for now”.

She knew she had boobed, looked embarrassed and tried to backtrack, but I swept out, feeling rather sad.

As an old auntie used to say “They’ve got the goods, but I’ve got the money!”

GillT57 Sun 16-May-21 16:24:24

Not so much snobbery as being completely out of touch. At 11+ time ( we have it here), one Mother was talking about fee paying secondary school for her DD, another Mother remarked that it just wasn't one their radar at all. Mother 1 ' well, we all have to make sacrifices' without even thinking that the fees for an independent school would be more than the take home salary of the person she was addressing ( a single parent, paramedic).

DanniRae Sun 16-May-21 16:26:23

My mum was lovely but also a terrible snob. She was appalled to find that I bought some of my food shopping from Woolworths - this was a good few years ago when Woolworths had a food counter. Of course now they don't even exist sad

hollysteers Sun 16-May-21 17:17:48

A much older colleague in the mid 1960s who had moved out of the inner city (where her mother still lived) to the leafy suburbs, told her mother she must remember to wear a hat when she visited.
Must have been a 1950s thing, I was bemused.

Parsley3 Sun 16-May-21 17:24:16

My OH had an aunt who married well and talked about 'the masses'. She grew up with 7 people in a two bedroom council house but looked down from a great height on the likes of us. People, not places are snobs.

Peasblossom Sun 16-May-21 17:28:28

I was showing a prospective parent round the school.

‘My dear”, she said in plummy tones, “I’m sure you do your best but you can’t teach them like what the private schools do.”

Chardy Sun 16-May-21 17:30:17

Grandma70s When we moved to a certain part of Surrey, most of the other young mums I met automatically asked me what my husband did. I was my own person, and had recently put my own career on hold. After a while, it really got to me, and though he stayed in his job, we moved.
I need to add that I came from a different part of Surrey 25 miles away, and deeply regretted returning to the county of my youth.

SueDonim Sun 16-May-21 17:35:12

A local ‘pre-loved’ clothing shop advertised that they needed more stock recently, so I contacted them with a view to offloading some as-new formal items that I’ll never wear again.

I received a reply that said ‘We don’t normally stock those kind of labels.’ confused. I almost expected her to say ‘Modom’ at the end. grin

Maggiemaybe Sun 16-May-21 18:13:00

When DH heard that a friend he was out with one Boxing Day had no plans for New Year’s Eve, he invited him and his notoriously snobbish wife to our party. I was so cross with him, knowing what she was like. Even more so when the two of them turned up on our doorstep a couple of days later - they wouldn’t come in, but just wanted to “check where we lived”. Our terraced house obviously didn’t pass muster, as they declined the invitation. Thank goodness. grin

Of course there are snobs everywhere, but I can think of a few places round here with more than their fair share. These are the ones the Hyacinth Bucket above aspired to.

Charleygirl5 Sun 16-May-21 18:45:55

I definitely lower the tone here. One of my neighbours wanted to chat and she said to me that saw online deliveries from Morrisons and shock horror, Iceland!

I own a Skoda and my neighbour's AC looked down their noses at my car. I wanted to ask if they had paid for theirs because mine certainly was and I had no debts.

3nanny6 Sun 16-May-21 20:02:01

My mothers sister married well although she had been sent to live with an aunt as there were quite a few children in my mothers family and she had an easier upbringing.
Even though she married well she maintained a close relationship with her siblings. To cut along story short my aunt and her husband owned a beautifull mansion type house that was set back from the River Thames. Every summer she would host garden parties for a charity or local church. My aunt had a lovely speaking voice so I think she would have been called posh although to me she was just auntie.
My mother and father bought our modest council house and I liked living there. I got a part-time Saturday job when I was 16 and asked a few people to come to my aunts garden fete they laughed and asked if it was near the shops where I lived. I told them where it was and two of them came their jaws fell to the ground when they saw the house and grounds and I was showing off just a bit when I showed them around the out-door swimming pool and the boathouse. It was fun having a rich aunt like that although now sadly passed away.

Lollin Sun 16-May-21 20:14:32

SueDonim

A local ‘pre-loved’ clothing shop advertised that they needed more stock recently, so I contacted them with a view to offloading some as-new formal items that I’ll never wear again.

I received a reply that said ‘We don’t normally stock those kind of labels.’ confused. I almost expected her to say ‘Modom’ at the end. grin

I went into one of those shops years ago because they had a handbag I liked the size of. Snobby woman serving, but perhaps I was the snobby one as I’ve never been back because (that day) I’d seen far better quality in charity shops and at a fraction of the price.

Urmstongran Sun 16-May-21 20:35:35

No wonder we all LOVE that scene in the film ‘Pretty Woman’ with the beautiful Julia Roberts where she goes shopping on Rodeo Drive ...

In Pretty Woman, there’s a revenge scene that’s one of the best in modern cinema. Vivian, played by five-time World’s Most Beautiful Woman Julia Roberts, returns to a Rodeo Drive boutique whose employees originally refused to help her because she was dressed like a prostitute.

Second time round, outfitted in a floppy hat and button-down white dress – her arm a bar on which a hundred bags have been hung – she strides up to the sales clerk and asks, ​“Do you work on commission?” The woman confirms she does. ​

“Big mistake. Huge!” Vivian says, gloating in the face of the stunned clerk, alluding to the commission she could have made if only she’d agreed to help first time round!

Millie22 Sun 16-May-21 20:47:04

My favourite film.

Witzend Sun 16-May-21 20:54:18

From what I’ve seen of the MN thread which is most of it, a lot of people seem to be interpreting their own feelings of insecurity/inferiority, as other people’s snobbishness.

As they say, nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.

Though having said that, you can probably find a minority of unpleasant, snooty people just about anywhere. They are best ignored - or perhaps better, smiled at as if you are blithely unaware of what they might be thinking.,

NotSpaghetti Sun 16-May-21 21:14:42

Urmstongran
Here it is:

youtu.be/tTtVVHg41kU

NanKate Sun 16-May-21 21:23:11

I’m sorry if I have let the side down Lemongrove.

I seem to remember from your last Lemongrove Towers Party you have servants and and perhaps even gardeners ?

ninathenana Sun 16-May-21 21:39:21

nanna8 had to smile at you saying Islington was rough in 1974.
That's where DH lived with his family at that time. I came from out of town and didn't notice it as such.
We still have family in the borough, it certainly has come up in the world judging by the house prices

Chewbacca Sun 16-May-21 21:55:00

Pensioner Peter Maddox was criticised by posh locals and tourists who claimed his vehicle was a blot on the rural idyll of the village in Bilbury, Gloucestershire. Vandals scratched the word "MOVE" into the paintwork and smashed its windows causing so much damage that the pensioner was forced to replace it.

After hearing about his plight hundreds of sympathisers in yellow vehicles descended on the village for a rally gringringrin