The friendliest and least friendly places to live in U.K

westerlywind, that does sound annoying.
maybe polite passive resistance ?
or do you have any glasgow friends/relatives who could come down and big you up a bit in the face of the local snooties.
or you could play the slightly vague dotty card; when they are saying how disgusting the mess is, ought to have been swept up already..
you could smile sweetly and say,
oh, do you really think so, well you're probably right, i wouldn't know.
and drift away. do not respond to them in any way they are trying to manipulate you into doing.
do not acknowledge their self-appointed role.

Oh Welbeck It is almost like you know me.
I do know some of the worthies from Glasgow. They are from Glasgow and I know what areas and what those areas are like. One does not exist now! I am from another area in Glasgow and perhaps they do not like that.
I do play it dotty at times but I also refuse to comply with their demands.
I do not shriek like a fishwife like she does.
I do not back down any.
They have had hints dropped at them but they have not got the light yet.
The fact that no-one has stood up to them prior to me makes me wonder what level of cowardice this is. There are males living here but they comply too!
It puts me off my new area
Thanks for the response

RichmondPark1

I've moved around a lot and find the unfriendliest places are villages where you have to have six generations in the church yard before you're worthy of a smile.

To me people seem more relaxed, open and less wary in large towns and cities, but then I am a city type of person.

Well I moved to a very old village in Essex with many inhabitants having been born and bred here, whereas I was born and bred in London, but I was made welcome here from day one.

Another vote for Glasgow as the friendliest place. I'm from another part of Scotland but my first stay in Glasgow at age 16 on work experience (staying with a college teacher's mum in her own home) was just great. All the staff in the large store where we worked were so friendly and welcoming.

I live back near my childhood home town now but get to visit the city often as my DD lives near Glasgow.
Just met up with some friends there today.

On the downside I have bad memories of a holiday visit to central London in the 70's. Firstly I had my bag stolen in the cinema, apparently, so the police told us, thieves crawl commando style under seats to nab bags from the floor. The other occasion was when I asked a market stall trader how much his flowers were. I was horrified at the price so didn't buy any and he swore at me. He probably thought I was a tight fisted Scot! I was on my own that afternoon as DH was visiting a motorbike shop (not my thing) so just scuttled away embarrassed.
Burt that doesn't mean I think Londoners are unfriendly. I just happened to come across the wrong 2 on that visit.

I've lived up and down the UK and haven't really encountered unfriendly people. I did find London very friendly especially neighbours. In the east of Scotland I found it took quite a time to establish anything like friendship. May have been as I wasn't nor was DH involved in off shore industries at the time tgerefire we were "poor"

???? That was a nice comment- South Wales is definitely very friendly x

I started my married life in Wokingham (over 50 years ago) where I had to learn to stop chatting to strangers. We moved to the outskirts of Glasgow where I had to learn to chat to strangers again. After Glasgow it was Aberdeen, people were still friendly, but they were all nationalities. In the small group of houses we lived, on one side they were Norwegian, the other side Northern Ireland. Across from us were an American family and a French family. In my Art group, we had Japanese and Dutch, as well as Moroccan, I did meet the occasional Aberdonian and some English couples - everyone was very friendly. I now live in Harrogate, and find everyone very friendly here, too. Don't know if that helps!

I’ve only ever found one place where how I spoke identified me as someone not worth a welcome, but that wasn’t true of all areas round there. Other than that I’ve found most places welcoming, particularly the North West and Cumbria.

merlotgran - I'm not sure it's that we are "all different" in this scenario because obviously I am the same person moving around and living in different places. Maybe I was rather blunt in saying I found Norfolk to be hostile and I should have said there was a lack of acceptance. I did wonder if historically this was because it was relatively "off the beaten track" so fewer strangers had been passing through. It's also a place where many people I met had lived in an area where there family had been living for generations. RichmondPark1 says something along those lines too. I did meet a vicar in Norfolk once who told me he had lived there and worked in the community for (I think) 16 years and was just "settling in"!

This said, I still have good friends in Diss as it happens and did make friends in Norwich (mainly, I confess, as one local said "with other blow-ins").

I'm sorry if my feelings about Norfolk have upset people and as I haven't felt this anywhere else, really I'm not sure why. I'm the same person, and have no problem chatting and socialising. I'm not someone with hundreds of true friends but I do easily make friendly relationships. Good ones turn into friends over time.
I have good friends still, even from Norfolk.

I'm sorry if my feelings about Norfolk have upset people

I’m not upset?

OK good! Thanks ?

NotSpaghetti I lived in many places but escaped Norfolk after 20 years. I think you make some valid points.
Now looking to moving to East Yorkshire and slightly thrown by some negative remarks made. On visits there found it very friendly. Hope that is the case.

People move around from area to area so much these days.
It has to be the individuals that you meet.
One size does not fit all in any area.

I remember the tale of the stranger who was coming into a village and met an old man on the way.
“ Tell me, what are the people like here?” he asked.
“What were the people like where you were before?” said the old man
“ Oh, they were lovely, very friendly, kind and helpful”
“ Well, I think you’ll find them much the same here”

Later, another stranger came along and asked the same question.
“ What were the people like where you were before?” asked the old man.
“ Oh, they were very mean and unfriendly, always complaining and finding fault”.
“ Well, I think you’ll find them much the same here”.

Some of the Shire Counties can be a bit difficult to settle in if you’re not from there.
In Shropshire most of my friends are people who have moved here.
I was born in Shropshire but only lived here last few years. It’s the sort of place where if you strike up a conversation in a supermarket with a stranger they look panicked and head for the exit!

Parts of North Yorkshire if you are an 'incomer'. I was told early on that we would have to live there 25 years to be accepted. North East England very friendly and welcoming.

It was much easier for me to make friends when I had young children. The school gate is a friendship agency! In Nottingham, Leicestershire and Norfolk, I had friends in NHR (as it was then), mums and toddlers clubs and baby-sitting groups. In also got involved in politics which fortunately made me more friends than enemies. Fast forward to our move to Greater Manchester. I worked in the city and came home to a dormitory suburb and it was difficult to make friends at either end of the commute. The boys were teenagers and I no longer haunted the school gate. I had a few good friends, mainly through my political activities - I'm the sort of person who immediately becomes secretary of any group!
I don't think there was much difference in friendliness between any of the communities in which I lived. The difference was in my ability to get involved. U3A and NWR have been my lifelines in the small town where I have lived for 22 years.
Born and brought up in the West of Scotland, I know you can't beat the folk there for their friendliness. Everybody knew my mum and her family so everybody knew us kids and woe betide us if we got up to mischief which was immediately reported to mum! Och! maybe it's nostalgia giving me rose coloured specs!

Daddima
That’s perfect. Exactly what I have been trying to say.

Farzanah

Some of the Shire Counties can be a bit difficult to settle in if you’re not from there.
In Shropshire most of my friends are people who have moved here.
I was born in Shropshire but only lived here last few years. It’s the sort of place where if you strike up a conversation in a supermarket with a stranger they look panicked and head for the exit!

I've done that in Australia and they look at me as if I need to be led away and locked up.
DD said "You're not in Bristol now, Mum".

Bristol is friendly.

Not all of London is friendly. The part of London we moved to was unfriendly, not all welcoming. It was better after I joined in with the PTA and an ante-natal group but would have been impossible without those ways of introduction.

I see anno's point about school gates (and had 5 children so was there a very long time!) but this Shire county (Leicestershire) is very friendly. We live near NottinghamSHIRE and find that very friendly and I come from DerbySHIRE - one of the friendliest places in the country.

Farzanah

Some of the Shire Counties can be a bit difficult to settle in if you’re not from there.
In Shropshire most of my friends are people who have moved here.
I was born in Shropshire but only lived here last few years. It’s the sort of place where if you strike up a conversation in a supermarket with a stranger they look panicked and head for the exit!

I spent 25 very happy years living in Shropshire. Originally I was an incomer, but made so welcome right from the start. I keep the warmest of memories of Shropshire in my heart.
I've been in Oxfordshire for the last 11 years. Again welcome from the start. I have made many good friends here. In the past I've lived in Lancashire, Cheshire, North Wales, Yorkshire and Holland. I've been happy and welcome in all these places.

Did you notice Aldom I said most of my friends have moved here, as you did ?

We lived in a north west Tassie for a while and they were very clannish and called the rest of Australia that big island up there. We made friends with people like us who were there short term- the locals weren’t interested. That was a long time ago so hopefully things have improved.

Come to the North East - in Durham and Newcastle, we love everyone and strike up conversations with complete strangers! Some think we’re mad!

I’m off to pack my bags and join you mad people Georgesgran .

Bring your thermals - it a bit nippy up here!