What is the one thing London needs most?

What is the one thing London needs most?

Author
Discussion

Pan Pan Pan

9,777 posts

110 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
valiant said:
98elise said:
Digga said:
Lord Marylebone said:
Don’t forget the famous saying:

“If you are tired of London you are tired of life”

Derived from the original words of Dr Samuel Johnson in 1777.

“Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford”
When a man is asked to pay over £5 a pint, he soon gets tired of London.

From the orginal works of Digga, 2019.
So true. I was visiting family in Wales at Christmas. I bought a round for 11 people and the bill was about £27!!!
Saying that, I was in a pretty swanky hotel bar in the west end and went to order two drinks.

Handed over a twenty pound note and it turned into a silent Mexican stand-off. I’m waiting for change and the barman’s waiting for the rest of the money!

Certainly moderated our drinking that night!


I love London having lived and worked most of my life there but it can be very expensive and it does seem there’s a London tax to be paid for the privilege.
Did you tell him you tell him you were not a tourist, and you were waiting for your change? smile
I did much the same thing at Excel a little while ago when charged 20 quid for two glasses of a very indifferent red. I said I only wanted two glasses of red, not the whole bottle smile

Frank7

6,619 posts

86 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
psi310398 said:
Oh completely. Although it does say something about the sense of entitlement in parts of London.

He ended up leaving London and moving out to Stevenage.
Stevenage? Jeez, that’s like a semi civilised Basildon, did he not check out Dignitas?

psi310398

9,037 posts

202 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
Frank7 said:
Stevenage? Jeez, that’s like a semi civilised Basildon, did he not check out Dignitas?
No, that's Billericaysmile.

But I'd agree that parts of Stevenage seem a bit feral.

After years of under/un-employment, he seemed to have carved a niche doing a lot of antisocial hours film crew roadie/security work out in Hertfordshire/London borders so I guess it made sense to relocate there.

Apart from fags and booze, all he really wanted from life was his Arsenal season ticket.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Pan Pan Pan said:
valiant said:
98elise said:
Digga said:
Lord Marylebone said:
Don’t forget the famous saying:

“If you are tired of London you are tired of life”

Derived from the original words of Dr Samuel Johnson in 1777.

“Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford”
When a man is asked to pay over £5 a pint, he soon gets tired of London.

From the orginal works of Digga, 2019.
So true. I was visiting family in Wales at Christmas. I bought a round for 11 people and the bill was about £27!!!
Saying that, I was in a pretty swanky hotel bar in the west end and went to order two drinks.

Handed over a twenty pound note and it turned into a silent Mexican stand-off. I’m waiting for change and the barman’s waiting for the rest of the money!

Certainly moderated our drinking that night!


I love London having lived and worked most of my life there but it can be very expensive and it does seem there’s a London tax to be paid for the privilege.
Did you tell him you tell him you were not a tourist, and you were waiting for your change? smile
I did much the same thing at Excel a little while ago when charged 20 quid for two glasses of a very indifferent red. I said I only wanted two glasses of red, not the whole bottle smile
I met a couple of friends from work in the bar of The May Fair a couple of weeks ago, didn’t order us anything massively fancy, 3 glasses of Sauvignon Blanc, and it was £66 rofl

But it’s not too bad in there. You can spend your time eyeing up all the hot Russian prostitutes.

borcy

2,584 posts

55 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Bussolini said:
borcy said:
I think this is probably a question best answered by people who live in London. Hard for me to say before this year I think I'd been twice in my life. Not really avoided it just no reason to go.

What would you like to see?
Improved transport links south of the river.

More affordable housing. (Well, maybe not, as we are buying! But for London as a whole, it is required). So house building - including council housing - and restrictions on foreign ownership, empty properties, buy-to-lets, etc. etc.

More police, across London not just the touristy parts.

More spending on public services - it is appalling how difficult it can be to get things like GP appointments.

More robust policing in the rougher parts. I'd suggest that if you are convicted of gang related crime, the gang gets split up - particularly if you are in social housing, each individual convicted gets moved to a different part of the country and banned from certain postcodes.

Cars is the difficult one - I love cars, and have one and want to keep it, and it doesn't satisfy ULEZ - but at the same time, there are too many and it's too busy. I would reduce speed limits, limit the number of uber licences granted, improve bus and rail services, and continue with congestion charging in central London. I am not sure of the merits of emissions charging - seems pretty punishing for people that can't afford to drive anything other than old cars, and will lead to the scrapping of cars that are perfectly fit for purpose.

Edited by Bussolini on Friday 17th January 13:54
Thanks for that. It was a bit difficult for me to judge what it's actually like in London. The public transport, to me, seemed excellent but it was such a short visit had to really say.

It did seem odd looking at a map how the bulk of the underground is north of the Thames. I guess more people live on the north side? Still it does seem disproportionate.
I wonder why that came about?

Norfolk B-roads

2,981 posts

138 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
boxedin said:
Bring back Cardboard City.

<sigh> I bet the same moans about London have been going on since the Romans showed up.
Quite right too. What have the Romans ever done for us?

psi310398

9,037 posts

202 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
borcy said:
Thanks for that. It was a bit difficult for me to judge what it's actually like in London. The public transport, to me, seemed excellent but it was such a short visit had to really say.

It did seem odd looking at a map how the bulk of the underground is north of the Thames. I guess more people live on the north side? Still it does seem disproportionate.
I wonder why that came about?
Jokes apart, IIRC it's largely gravel south of the river and harder to tunnel and then keep the tunnels watertight (and unflooded).

Tannedbaldhead

2,952 posts

131 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
What London needs is massive amounts of regional aid and development aimed at the rest of the country.
We need to attract business and people out of the South East and into less wealthy but more sparsely populated parts of the country.
We also need to move the seat of government and civil service somewhere oop North.
Doing so would relieve some of the pressure in the pressure cooker.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Norfolk B-roads said:
Quite right too. What have the Romans ever done for us?
They made the film Gladiator and bought Chelsea.

valiant

10,072 posts

159 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
psi310398 said:
borcy said:
Thanks for that. It was a bit difficult for me to judge what it's actually like in London. The public transport, to me, seemed excellent but it was such a short visit had to really say.

It did seem odd looking at a map how the bulk of the underground is north of the Thames. I guess more people live on the north side? Still it does seem disproportionate.
I wonder why that came about?
Jokes apart, IIRC it's largely gravel south of the river and harder to tunnel and then keep the tunnels watertight (and unflooded).
Yep, geology was a major limiting factor during the heyday of expanding tube lines plus competition from surface rail. South London is generally well served by ordinary trains (although to a much inferior service pattern) and they lobbied to keep the tube out of South London to preserve their business.


borcy

2,584 posts

55 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
psi310398 said:
Jokes apart, IIRC it's largely gravel south of the river and harder to tunnel and then keep the tunnels watertight (and unflooded).
Thanks for that. Makes sense.

Pan Pan Pan

9,777 posts

110 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Lord Marylebone said:
Pan Pan Pan said:
valiant said:
98elise said:
Digga said:
Lord Marylebone said:
Don’t forget the famous saying:

“If you are tired of London you are tired of life”

Derived from the original words of Dr Samuel Johnson in 1777.

“Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford”
When a man is asked to pay over £5 a pint, he soon gets tired of London.

From the orginal works of Digga, 2019.
So true. I was visiting family in Wales at Christmas. I bought a round for 11 people and the bill was about £27!!!
Saying that, I was in a pretty swanky hotel bar in the west end and went to order two drinks.

Handed over a twenty pound note and it turned into a silent Mexican stand-off. I’m waiting for change and the barman’s waiting for the rest of the money!

Certainly moderated our drinking that night!


I love London having lived and worked most of my life there but it can be very expensive and it does seem there’s a London tax to be paid for the privilege.
Did you tell him you tell him you were not a tourist, and you were waiting for your change? smile
I did much the same thing at Excel a little while ago when charged 20 quid for two glasses of a very indifferent red. I said I only wanted two glasses of red, not the whole bottle smile
I met a couple of friends from work in the bar of The May Fair a couple of weeks ago, didn’t order us anything massively fancy, 3 glasses of Sauvignon Blanc, and it was £66 rofl

But it’s not too bad in there. You can spend your time eyeing up all the hot Russian prostitutes.
If that was the price of the wine, I guess just eyeing up all the hot (and they are)Russian prostitutes, would be all any of us mere mortals could aspire to! smile

Pan Pan Pan

9,777 posts

110 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
If I had been less surprised and more on the ball at Excel the other day, I could have just paid the barman, and asked him to bring the rest of the bottle over to our table when he had a spare moment! smile

Nickgnome

8,277 posts

88 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Pan Pan Pan said:
If I had been less surprised and more on the ball at Excel the other day, I could have just paid the barman, and asked him to bring the rest of the bottle over to our table when he had a spare moment! smile
I never understand why people knowingly let themselves be ripped off for at best mediocre food and drinks at exhibitions. It’s not compulsory, just take some water and go to somewhere decent afterward.

turbobloke

103,747 posts

259 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Q thread title
A a better Mayor

Nickgnome

8,277 posts

88 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
turbobloke said:
Q thread title
A a better Mayor
Democracy.

KL was elected as was BJ now London has SK.

There will be another election in due course and Londoners will choose to retain or change Mayor.

Quite a simple concept really.




Pan Pan Pan

9,777 posts

110 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Nickgnome said:
Pan Pan Pan said:
If I had been less surprised and more on the ball at Excel the other day, I could have just paid the barman, and asked him to bring the rest of the bottle over to our table when he had a spare moment! smile
I never understand why people knowingly let themselves be ripped off for at best mediocre food and drinks at exhibitions. It’s not compulsory, just take some water and go to somewhere decent afterward.
Lord Marylebone went somewhere else and still got ripped off because London init?. What you probably meant to say was just take some water, look at the exhibition, and then get the hell out of London to somewhere decent as quick as possible.

turbobloke

103,747 posts

259 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Nickgnome said:
turbobloke said:
Q thread title
A a better Mayor
Democracy.

KL was elected as was BJ now London has SK.

There will be another election in due course and Londoners will choose to retain or change Mayor.

Quite a simple concept really.
Better, worse: even simpler concepts. London deserves better.

Not necessarily from another Party, just better.

Nickgnome

8,277 posts

88 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Pan Pan Pan said:
Nickgnome said:
Pan Pan Pan said:
If I had been less surprised and more on the ball at Excel the other day, I could have just paid the barman, and asked him to bring the rest of the bottle over to our table when he had a spare moment! smile
I never understand why people knowingly let themselves be ripped off for at best mediocre food and drinks at exhibitions. It’s not compulsory, just take some water and go to somewhere decent afterward.
Lord Marylebone went somewhere else and still got ripped off because London init?. What you probably meant to say was just take some water, look at the exhibition, and then get the hell out of London to somewhere decent as quick as possible.
You don’t know LONDON very well if you can’t find pubs and restaurants that provide drink and food at the same price as in many other places in the U.K.

If you only stick to the tourist areas and city and west end then you’ve only got yourself to blame.

If you don’t like London don’t go there.

skyrover

12,668 posts

203 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Zero tolerance policing