Incomers v locals.
Discussion
I live in a small but rapidly expanding seaside town.
The local Facebook page is busy with the usual dog crap/where can I buy socks stuff but occasionally there is a dig at ‘incomers’ which really pisses me off.
I’m what you would call a local having lived here for most of my life and just can’t understand the mentality. Us Scots are supposed to be welcoming (Covid 19 border issues excepted) but they make me ashamed.
If it wasn’t for the new housing we wouldn’t have half the shops on the High Street or the local businesses or the employment opportunities.
Is this just small town mentality or do incomers get this everywhere?
The local Facebook page is busy with the usual dog crap/where can I buy socks stuff but occasionally there is a dig at ‘incomers’ which really pisses me off.
I’m what you would call a local having lived here for most of my life and just can’t understand the mentality. Us Scots are supposed to be welcoming (Covid 19 border issues excepted) but they make me ashamed.
If it wasn’t for the new housing we wouldn’t have half the shops on the High Street or the local businesses or the employment opportunities.
Is this just small town mentality or do incomers get this everywhere?
The village I grew up in, in the north east of Scotland, you were only considered a local if a previous generation grew up there.
Maybe you are still considered an "outsider" without realising it? And god forbid you challenge the status quo of those mindsets FFS. I'm surprised you haven't been "run out of town" or chased down the street with pitch forks/broken bottles/ etc
Maybe you are still considered an "outsider" without realising it? And god forbid you challenge the status quo of those mindsets FFS. I'm surprised you haven't been "run out of town" or chased down the street with pitch forks/broken bottles/ etc
DoubleTime said:
The village I grew up in, in the north east of Scotland, you were only considered a local if a previous generation grew up there.
Maybe you are still considered an "outsider" without realising it? And god forbid you challenge the status quo of those mindsets FFS. I'm surprised you haven't been "run out of town" or chased down the street with pitch forks/broken bottles/ etc
No doubt. But if people are treated essentially the same be they outsider or insider, what is the practical difference? Is there some kind of barn dance with a keg of home brew I'm missing out on?Maybe you are still considered an "outsider" without realising it? And god forbid you challenge the status quo of those mindsets FFS. I'm surprised you haven't been "run out of town" or chased down the street with pitch forks/broken bottles/ etc
I remember when I went to university my parents moved to Norfolk and in the Xmas holidays I got a job at the local pub.
Distinctly remember a couple of the crusty old locals saying “the trouble with [I’ve forgotten his name] is that just because he’s lived here for 25 years, he thinks he’s a local”
I think you’re only considered a local in Norfolk if you’ve shagged your sister
Distinctly remember a couple of the crusty old locals saying “the trouble with [I’ve forgotten his name] is that just because he’s lived here for 25 years, he thinks he’s a local”
I think you’re only considered a local in Norfolk if you’ve shagged your sister
I grew up on a Scottish island, I don't live there any more.
It's become very popular with tourists and second-homers. The local facebook group posts descend, 50% of the time, into a local / incomer argument. It became a lot worse when the ferry fares became much cheaper, and campervans became more popular. Then it's become much worse again with Covid-19 and an anti-visitor sentiment arose. It's quite embarrassing sometimes.
Now, how you define a local is vague, I'm not even going to start!
It's become very popular with tourists and second-homers. The local facebook group posts descend, 50% of the time, into a local / incomer argument. It became a lot worse when the ferry fares became much cheaper, and campervans became more popular. Then it's become much worse again with Covid-19 and an anti-visitor sentiment arose. It's quite embarrassing sometimes.
Now, how you define a local is vague, I'm not even going to start!
Wherever I've lived I've always made a point of not getting to know anyone in the same town so I'd have no idea whether anyone would resent my incomerness anyway.
I wouldn't want to be in a place where it became a potential issue so small islands et al wouldn't be high on my list of destinations.
I wouldn't want to be in a place where it became a potential issue so small islands et al wouldn't be high on my list of destinations.
thepawbroon said:
I grew up on a Scottish island, I don't live there any more.
It's become very popular with tourists and second-homers. The local facebook group posts descend, 50% of the time, into a local / incomer argument. It became a lot worse when the ferry fares became much cheaper, and campervans became more popular. Then it's become much worse again with Covid-19 and an anti-visitor sentiment arose. It's quite embarrassing sometimes.
Now, how you define a local is vague, I'm not even going to start!
Arran? It's become very popular with tourists and second-homers. The local facebook group posts descend, 50% of the time, into a local / incomer argument. It became a lot worse when the ferry fares became much cheaper, and campervans became more popular. Then it's become much worse again with Covid-19 and an anti-visitor sentiment arose. It's quite embarrassing sometimes.
Now, how you define a local is vague, I'm not even going to start!
I'm an English man in a small Scottish town. I know I'll ways be considered an incomer. As there are very few of us. Probably no different to the reception my dad got as a youngster moving to Cornwall.
Doesn't really bother me too much but I know although I don't really know many folk, most will probably know me.
thepawbroon said:
I grew up on a Scottish island, I don't live there any more.
It's become very popular with tourists and second-homers. The local facebook group posts descend, 50% of the time, into a local / incomer argument. It became a lot worse when the ferry fares became much cheaper, and campervans became more popular. Then it's become much worse again with Covid-19 and an anti-visitor sentiment arose. It's quite embarrassing sometimes.
It's been quite funny in recent weeks seeing posts in that group about rubbish being dumped, things being pinched, speeding cars etc when they haven't got any visitors to blame. I'm sure it'll be back to normal soon. As you say, it's an embarrassment to the island sometimes. It's become very popular with tourists and second-homers. The local facebook group posts descend, 50% of the time, into a local / incomer argument. It became a lot worse when the ferry fares became much cheaper, and campervans became more popular. Then it's become much worse again with Covid-19 and an anti-visitor sentiment arose. It's quite embarrassing sometimes.
I moved to a small town/big village in north Yorkshire a few years ago and, despite me being southern and sounding like Danny Dyer doing a Sid James impression, I've never sensed any antipathy towards me as an 'incomer'. If anything it's been the opposite, people seem to like the fact we've moved in and are raising kids here. I'm sure if I was a braying ponce or loudmouth loadsamoney type it might be a bit different, but then the problem would be with me, not them!
As a forces family we lived in all sorts of places all over the UK and abroad. Most prejudice was against us just because we were forces rather than "incomers" .
The only real confrontation over incomes v locals was when we went up to Glenrothes ,Fife ,Scotland . We were out for a drink the night before my sisters wedding , myself ,dad ,brother in law who was born in a concentration camp and is from a Polish family ,my future brother in law and his brother . My paternal grandfather came from the next town over (Leslie).
One of the locals started sounding off about soft english southerners etc etc .
My future brother in law tolerated it for about 20 minutes before confronting the whinger , the outcome was that us southern softies were actually more local via ancestry than 99% of those in the bar .
It is something that always has been fun within our family , Dads side from Fife Scotland, Mums side from Yorkshire, both moved to Deal in Kent to work in the coal mines with the twist that I have a sister who was born in Singapore.
I have been back in Deal for 30 years and I can understand why conflict can happen with "incomers" . A lot of houses around the town are second homes for those from London and further afield, they tend to arrive for visits with everything that they need and actually spend very little in the local businesses. This has been the same for hundreds of years . We also have the situation like so many areas that we are becoming more and more of a dormitory town for those working within the M25 ring .
Local wages barely get above the minimum so home ownership becomes a problem for the young as house prices are kept higher .
The only real confrontation over incomes v locals was when we went up to Glenrothes ,Fife ,Scotland . We were out for a drink the night before my sisters wedding , myself ,dad ,brother in law who was born in a concentration camp and is from a Polish family ,my future brother in law and his brother . My paternal grandfather came from the next town over (Leslie).
One of the locals started sounding off about soft english southerners etc etc .
My future brother in law tolerated it for about 20 minutes before confronting the whinger , the outcome was that us southern softies were actually more local via ancestry than 99% of those in the bar .
It is something that always has been fun within our family , Dads side from Fife Scotland, Mums side from Yorkshire, both moved to Deal in Kent to work in the coal mines with the twist that I have a sister who was born in Singapore.
I have been back in Deal for 30 years and I can understand why conflict can happen with "incomers" . A lot of houses around the town are second homes for those from London and further afield, they tend to arrive for visits with everything that they need and actually spend very little in the local businesses. This has been the same for hundreds of years . We also have the situation like so many areas that we are becoming more and more of a dormitory town for those working within the M25 ring .
Local wages barely get above the minimum so home ownership becomes a problem for the young as house prices are kept higher .
I moved to a village and I only really see it from one or two uneducated middle aged people, they seem to resent anyone who has more than them, they've never put any effort in to their life and expect everything to be handed to them. Anyone who has more is a bloody newcomer.
Another example which I'm sure was tongue in cheek was two old boys arguing about some village history when one snapped well you're a bloody newcomer, the other exclaiming I've lived here since 1976!!
Another example which I'm sure was tongue in cheek was two old boys arguing about some village history when one snapped well you're a bloody newcomer, the other exclaiming I've lived here since 1976!!
vixen1700 said:
Lived in a village in North Essex that when you scratched the surface it was really full of the incomers/locals thing.
Glad I'm back in London.
What's the actual difference under the surface. Just people gossiping? Does it mean anything in practice? Some people just like to whine about the closest thing to hand. Glad I'm back in London.
sambucket said:
What's the actual difference under the surface. Just people gossiping? Does it mean anything in practice? Some people just like to whine about the closest thing to hand.
I presume defection through one's letterbox, your hamster being kidnapped and fired at your house via cannon and it ends on fireworks night with the hordes storming you while you're in the bath. I have no idea what anyone local thinks of me nor am I interested in the slightest. I guess it affects the civic minded who wants to put themselves about.
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