Apologies appletree, my mistake. I remembered it as being related to the comments relating to

Maybe the OP has played it similarly to the way you did so I may have been wrong there as well!

By the way, did you find that your replies on the forum to be an accurate reflection of how it actually is around here?

I didn't post on the forum, just read it for a while before deciding to move to the area. Still am relatively new so can't comment yet on my impressions and reality. But we like it so far!

To be honest, what better way to gauge an area, than post on the local forum and see what sort of replies you get. Needless to say Gabbi has done a runner, and decided on settling in the asylum instead, where at least the residents are on meds to control their extraordinary and eccentric behaviour lol !

I'm sure a visit to the area will come at some point, but nothing wrong with feeling your way around first. Maybe its just not practical to spend half a day in every town you have considered.

I have to chuckle at some of the opposing opinions posted, and some of the more extravagant ones too.

For an area of its size, sliced up with a train line (which apparently there is a right and wrong side to live on) The A205 South Circ, which slices right through the middle of the area, some housing estates, some very old and history filled buildings, a couple of stations, an abundance of schools and convenience stores of all kinds, there sure seem to be some differences within such a small distance.

At the end of the day, there are quiet little leafy streets, main road, wide roads, narrow roads, noisy ones and quiet ones. But to for one second to believe that there is a wild difference in total quality of living within such a small area, is quite frankly madness.

Just my opinion of course, but what would I know, I am in the bottom bracket of almost every measurement on the social judgement scale.

I shall leave you with a somewhat interesting, local info link. And a map to remind a few how small the area is in reality, and just how close by disruption to paradise is.

http://www.postcodearea.co.uk/postaltown...ographics/

   

Appletree, probably a good thing you didn't do a similar thread first eh, you would have probably run a mile.
Glad you like it so far.

I return from holiday to find this entertaining thread which seems to have provoked a lot of responses for so simple a question.
I think FH has improved a lot over the past few years helped no doubt by the Overground. Certainly the graffiti epidemic from the late 90's early 00's has now all but gone which makes the area look a lot more appealing. If a few of the tatty shops smartened up their image (especially away from the centre) it would help no end. What happened to that high street initiative? Did it just peter out?
Vehicle crime and petty theft seems to the things most talked about amongst the people I know in the area but that's probably true of most inner city areas so all in all I think its a good place to live this far into London.
PS
I thought the 'c' word only applied to a small group of readily identifiable folk who love Burberry and not to 'The working class' in general? I was going to give the Owen Jones book a read when it first came out but it received quite mixed reviews and I decided not to bother - maybe I will take Pico's recommendation and see what he has to say for himself as it is a bold title.

John, I think the point is that you can't really have an upper class chav. "Working class" (whatever that means these days) is a necessary but not sufficient condition of chavviness.

That seems to be no point at all unless you are suggesting that all the working class are Chavs? Is that the point of his book?
Which would be a little like suggesting that any sub-set of a group can be used to define the group itself. When I grew up in my thoroughly working class home the particular sub-set of the working class that people looked down on were the Skinheads but nobody ever though define all working class folk as skinheads.
I would still define myself as working class and have a very clear understanding of what that means..to do otherwise would be to betray my roots.

No, it's not a statement that all working class are chavs. Chavs are a subset of the working class, so one must be working class to be a chav, but one isn't necessarily a chav because one is working class.

The objection that some people have to this term is that it is a derogatory comment that can only potentially apply to a member of the working class so it is seen as being a "classist" term. Some feel that it is an attempt to "keep people in their place".

Most of the people I have seen object to chav very happily use terms like trustafarian without a trace of irony.

What characteristics do these working class chavs exclusively have that could not be applied to a sub set of the middle or upper classes?

Perryman, according to the Oxford Dictionaries, a chav is: "[a] young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour".

So, by definition, a middle or upper class person who exhibits "brash and loutish behaviour" is not a chav. Those people can act like chav, but they cannot be a chav by definition.

This is why the term is arguable elitist. This is why some non-chav Guardian readers get upset by the term [arguably validly so].

Thanks - It is not a word I've ever understood, but its popular use seemed to feed off the success of Little Britain a few years ago - a show I never really watched.

I get the feeling that I haven't missed out to any extent.

I see more of those loutish types for whom the 'C' word is deemed inappropriate out and about late at night in Bromley than I have ever seen around FH or HOP. Although given Bromley's obvious affluence perhaps these are middle class oiks?

Croydon

Wash your mouth out!!!

Yes there are a lot of them in Croydon as well.

I believe you will find the variant of c*** in Croydon to be unique, and identified as a "Croydonite"

Alas for Croydon - destroyed by the same vile combination of the Luftwaffe and post war town planning / highways engineers which ruined so many places around the country. No wonder it's inhabitants warrant a specific monnicker.

The spirit of Mr Betjeman lives on?