South of the river?
Discussion
Picking up on something Frank7 said in another topic, as a Northerner I've always wondered about the reluctance of black cab drivers to 'Go south of the river'. Is it just an unfair sterotype/myth? Are there cabbies on the other side with an equal aversion to going North of the river? How do you Londoners get to the other side?
I don't think it's something just confined to cabbies, I'm a north Londoner and I hate going South of the river too for the following reasons.
A) It's a pain to get to as you either have to go round the ring roads A406\M25 for miles or go across the river through the centre of town, both options fraught with potential for hitting huge traffic jams. I've known it take 3 hours to get South of the river, I could do half the UK in less time.
B) I don't like South London, for some weird reason it never feels like "proper" London to me but then I've had Southies say the same about North London too so the sentiment seems to go both ways. There is definitely a very distinct vibe to each half of London though and people generally seem to prefer one or the other.
A) It's a pain to get to as you either have to go round the ring roads A406\M25 for miles or go across the river through the centre of town, both options fraught with potential for hitting huge traffic jams. I've known it take 3 hours to get South of the river, I could do half the UK in less time.
B) I don't like South London, for some weird reason it never feels like "proper" London to me but then I've had Southies say the same about North London too so the sentiment seems to go both ways. There is definitely a very distinct vibe to each half of London though and people generally seem to prefer one or the other.
I'm North (born Paddington, lived Barking and Brentford).
Moved to sunny South Coast 20 years ago but "sarf of the river" so deep seated that I've worked it into one of my jokes in current Panto (Dick Whittington).
However, black cab reluctance is simple economics - lower density of prospective fares leaving venues, in turn wanting to ride to high density areas.
Moved to sunny South Coast 20 years ago but "sarf of the river" so deep seated that I've worked it into one of my jokes in current Panto (Dick Whittington).
However, black cab reluctance is simple economics - lower density of prospective fares leaving venues, in turn wanting to ride to high density areas.
Octoposse said:
I'm North (born Paddington, lived Barking and Brentford).
Moved to sunny South Coast 20 years ago but "sarf of the river" so deep seated that I've worked it into one of my jokes in current Panto (Dick Whittington).
However, black cab reluctance is simple economics - lower density of prospective fares leaving venues, in turn wanting to ride to high density areas.
This you want to get a fair back as well. Moved to sunny South Coast 20 years ago but "sarf of the river" so deep seated that I've worked it into one of my jokes in current Panto (Dick Whittington).
However, black cab reluctance is simple economics - lower density of prospective fares leaving venues, in turn wanting to ride to high density areas.
It is funny the whole north and south london thing as each applies such sweeping stereotypes to the other. South London is not just Peckham and north isnt just Walthamstow. Funny thing is somewhere like Fulham is north if you use the water as a dividing line but is clearly part of the southern 'feel' if there is such a thing.
As has been mentioned its all to do with economics, I grew up pre-Uber in SE London, going out in the West End was easy to get to, train to Charing X in 20 minutes but getting home could be a nightmare as more often than not Black Cabs would decline the ride, might take them 40 mins to get me home to Lewisham but they would have almost no chance of getting a fair back, so thats 40 mins dead time, occasionally you'd get lucky and find a Black Cabbie that lived out towards Bexleyheath, seemed to be a fair few out that way, and they would do it as their last run on the way home.
So most often it was the night bus and a KFC on the Old Kent Road ....
Nowadays with Uber its not the same challenge ....
So most often it was the night bus and a KFC on the Old Kent Road ....
Nowadays with Uber its not the same challenge ....
coldel said:
It is funny the whole north and south london thing as each applies such sweeping stereotypes to the other. South London is not just Peckham and north isnt just Walthamstow. Funny thing is somewhere like Fulham is north if you use the water as a dividing line but is clearly part of the southern 'feel' if there is such a thing.
Disagree. Fulham is solid west London. An SW postcode does not south London make. If it did, the queen lives in south London, and the houses of parliament is south too. I'm from west London. East London is a bit odd but I can cope. But south London, just no. I guess I'd live in Richmond or Kew at a push. Maybe Barnes or somewhere south but right on the river. But that's it. Proper south London is the badlands.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Disagree. Fulham is solid west London. An SW postcode does not south London make. If it did, the queen lives in south London, and the houses of parliament is south too.
I'm from west London. East London is a bit odd but I can cope. But south London, just no. I guess I'd live in Richmond or Kew at a push. Maybe Barnes or somewhere south but right on the river. But that's it. Proper south London is the badlands.
Funny enough Kew is more west and more north than Fulham.I'm from west London. East London is a bit odd but I can cope. But south London, just no. I guess I'd live in Richmond or Kew at a push. Maybe Barnes or somewhere south but right on the river. But that's it. Proper south London is the badlands.
I think it shows a somewhat naivety to think that 'proper south London is badlands' really. Sorry.
Cotty said:
I have got a black cab from London Bridge (south of the river) to Bromley also south of the river. It cost £60 but the trains were screwed due to a suicide so only way to get home.
I don't know when you took that ride Cotty, but when I was working, (up to early 2012), I would have guesstimated that at around £48, but with the meter rises since then, I’’d have thought maybe £55 now.The reason why Black Cab drivers were, or are, reticent about going south has already been guessed correctly, there’s virtually no chance of trapping a job back into civilisation.
In all honesty, it didn’t bother me where a job went, as long as I got what was on the meter, that suited me, being on a computer/radio circuit, there was always a chance, no matter how slim, that I’d nick a job going back in.
I may have been in the minority, but the way I saw it, if you didn’t want to take the job where the job wanted to go, you shouldn’t have been a taxi driver.
FWIW, to a Black Cab driver, anyone in the back is a job.
Frank7 said:
Cotty said:
I have got a black cab from London Bridge (south of the river) to Bromley also south of the river. It cost £60 but the trains were screwed due to a suicide so only way to get home.
I don't know when you took that ride Cotty, but when I was working, (up to early 2012), I would have guesstimated that at around £48, but with the meter rises since then, I’’d have thought maybe £55 now. .silverthorn2151 said:
Whenever I drive back north over the river I always give a big sigh of relief and mutter 'phew, made it back'. I liken it to going behind enemy lines. Will they know I am from Chingford and want to eat me? Or worse.
I don't think that any southerner would want to eat anyone from Chingford, it would leave a bad taste I imagine.Plus would anyone from the Elephant really want to dig in the drawer for their passport to go as far out as Chingford?
I know that it's north of the Thames, but is it in England? I went there once, it was shut.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Frank7 said:
Plus would anyone from the Elephant really want to dig in the drawer for their passport to go as far out as Chingford?
Don't insult Chingford, or he'll send Norman Tebbitt, Harry Kane and David Beckham round to sort you out. It is still shut on Thursday afternoons though.
I thought people from the Elephant had ankle tags rather than passports!
Driving around there the other day made me smile and think of Paris bizarrely. Cars were zooming in and out and just about every one had a dent, much like Paris.
In Chingford, the majority of daytime drivers are over 75 and go so slow they bump into each other, pedestrians, street furniture and nothing is damaged and nobody is hurt! My Mums car goes from her house to the co-op and back, like it has for 25 years! <200 miles a year. It could probably drive itself there!
What is it they say about London, a collection of villages, its so true.
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