British Cities

[vinteuil]

.

... I'm not sure whether London yet counts as a megalopolis -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalopolis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London_Built-up_Area

or a county -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London

.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_commuter_belt

Me, I happy with Cobbett's lovely term -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wen

And I wouldn't wish to be anywhere else....



.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

.


And I wouldn't wish to be anywhere else....



.

Are you referring to this bit, or to the conglomerate?

[MrGongGong]

I suppose it's like the former metropolitan counties of West Midlands, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cleveland, etc.

Merseyside still exists
West Midlands still exists
Greater Manchester still exists

Sadly Humberside doesn't (having been the South Humberside Composer in Residence at one point)

[gurnemanz]

Just been musing on all this: I can remember becoming a "Londoner" in the 1960s when the place where I lived (Coulsdon, Surrey) became part of the London Borough of Croydon. We didn't get a London postal district and people continued to use Surrey in their address (as in Middlesex). I had assumed London stopped being a county when the LCC was abolished but according to Wiki, both Greater London (the 32 Boroughs) and The City are counties, which together make up a "region".

I assume London as a "town" is purely historical and colloquial. My father commuted daily to the City and would talk about "going into town". I can remember a BBC radio programme called "In Town Tonight". If we were going to the town where we lived we would add "the", as in "I'm going to the town" or "down the town".

I got a shock recently when someone claimed that the team I support (Crystal Palace) is actually in Kent.

[teamsaint]

Or could it be London, Ontario?

When I google "BBC weather London", the first option for which London I want is London, Canada.

Which is silly.

In other news, people in Southsea routinely use the address Southsea, Hants, rather than Southsea, Portsmouth.
It is certainly in the administrative city of Portsmouth.

[teamsaint]

Just been musing on all this: I can remember becoming a "Londoner" in the 1960s when the place where I lived (Coulsdon, Surrey) became part of the London Borough of Croydon. We didn't get a London postal district and people continued to use Surrey in their address (as in Middlesex). I had assumed London stopped being a county when the LCC was abolished but according to Wiki, both Greater London (the 32 Boroughs) and The City are counties, which together make up a "region".

I assume London as a "town" is purely historical and colloquial. My father commuted daily to the City and would talk about "going into town". I can remember a BBC radio programme called "In Town Tonight". If we were going to the town where we lived we would add "the", as in "I'm going to the town" or "down the town".

I got a shock recently when someone claimed that the team I support (Crystal Palace) is actually in Kent.

I imagine they were confusing the Eagles with Charlton?

Unfortunately some people are careless about such things........

[Lat-Literal]

Just been musing on all this: I can remember becoming a "Londoner" in the 1960s when the place where I lived (Coulsdon, Surrey) became part of the London Borough of Croydon. We didn't get a London postal district and people continued to use Surrey in their address (as in Middlesex). I had assumed London stopped being a county when the LCC was abolished but according to Wiki, both Greater London (the 32 Boroughs) and The City are counties, which together make up a "region".

I assume London as a "town" is purely historical and colloquial. My father commuted daily to the City and would talk about "going into town". I can remember a BBC radio programme called "In Town Tonight". If we were going to the town where we lived we would add "the", as in "I'm going to the town" or "down the town".

I got a shock recently when someone claimed that the team I support (Crystal Palace) is actually in Kent.

We were neighbours as I was born in Purley Hospital in 1962 and lived in Old Coulsdon. Were you the man who mentioned Cearn Way and also doing cross country running on these hills? I think you may have been the first but not the second. I still live in Old Coulsdon although officially it is all now just Coulsdon. I'd been elsewhere in the early-mid 1980s and between the early 1990s and 2005. We originals still use "Old" and put Surrey in the address, mainly to be bloody minded. Many of the older ones moved out from London areas and didn't want some administrative change to boundaries telling them that had never happened. You could call it pomposity. Given the way the property prices increased in inner London, it is the only thing they can cling on to. Everything in that sense went into reverse. In my case, it is different. I am as indicated Surrey born and I only officially became London born retrospectively when I was two. Wherever it is, or whatever it is, all of the mucking about tends to play havoc. I've never loved the people of suburbia. I have always loathed Croydon. The main identification is "Londoner" because of family background, social life when young and employment. At the same time, there is an alignment with the countryside more than cities or towns. And I really don't identify with London, Croydon or Surrey now - or anywhere else. Those who have just arrived and feel completely at home here have more than I do.

Anyhow, I think it was possibly 2008 when Ken Livingstone realised he was going to lose the London Mayoral election. In a last ditch attempt to prevent that happening, he offered a referendum to us. That is, the residents of what had been Coulsdon and Purley Urban District Council prior to 1965 to return to that status. Ironically, the old town hall had only recently been sold off and was changing into something else. The idea appealed to me but, of course, so many in the area hadn't been alive before we were a part of the London Borough of Croydon plus the old folk didn't want to lose their bus passes by having a council that would be under the broader umbrella of Surrey CC. Recently, I said to Chris Philp MP that I wanted all of the London boroughs to be redrawn to have equal populations. My proposal would have placed us in Sutton rather than Croydon. I also suggested that his constituency should incorporate Wallington. He told me to write to the Boundary Commission but they said the constituency deadlines had been missed. No comment from them on the borough boundaries.

[teamsaint]

Carshalton Ponds. Just the name makes you want to go there.

Here's an old Surrey Folk Rhyme I had never heard before.



"Sutton for mutton,
Carshalton for beeves,
Epsom for whores,
and Ewell for thieves."[11]

Any truth in it , I wonder? I guess it depends where the stockbrokers hang out these days ......

[Lat-Literal]

Carshalton Ponds. Just the name makes you want to go there.

Here's an old Surrey Folk Rhyme I had never heard before.



"Sutton for mutton,
Carshalton for beeves,
Epsom for whores,
and Ewell for thieves."[11]

Any truth in it , I wonder? I guess it depends where the stockbrokers hang out these days ......

There's Carshalton and there's Carshalton. It's all a bit urban for me as is Sutton. My proposal would have linked Carshalton with South Sutton and there would have been a third Sutton seat to the north with bits of Merton. I was proposing the end of the London Borough of Merton. To try to tackle that sort of thing is by definition banging your head against a brick wall.

But they want the massive Croydon borough to have just three constituencies, one of which would incorporate parts of Lambeth. It used to have four and it currently has more people under the age of 18 than any other London borough. Consequently, no sooner is it introduced and it will all have to be revised again. Three seats in the medium term can only make sense if Coulsdon and Purley are sent off to Sutton Borough and Croydon fully incorporates parts of Lambeth. There's a lot going on. Nationwide, the boundary review of constituencies is ongoing if stop-and-start. On the quiet, Croydon's Labour Council has redrawn all of the wards so that presumably it will be a shoo-in for them in May. Hardly anybody knows. And yet when it comes to the London boroughs, no one is interested in evening up the population numbers. Well, I am. It's another example of selective unfairness/democracy where it suits.

[Lat-Literal]

Carshalton Ponds. Just the name makes you want to go there.

Here's an old Surrey Folk Rhyme I had never heard before.



"Sutton for mutton,
Carshalton for beeves,
Epsom for whores,
and Ewell for thieves."[11]

Any truth in it , I wonder? I guess it depends where the stockbrokers hang out these days ......

Apparently an alternative is:

Sutton for good mutton,
Cheam for juicy beef,
Croydon for a pretty girl,
And Mitcham for a thief."

I have never heard of either verse but they sound to me like skipping rhymes.

Guess it would be best to find some further comment on cities given the title of the thread.

How about Carlisle is the worst city for bed and breakfast accommodation?

[subcontrabass]

How about Carlisle is the worst city for bed and breakfast accommodation?

Worst on what criterion? Quality, quantity, or something else?

[Lat-Literal]

Worst on what criterion? Quality, quantity, or something else?

My comment was jokey as was my one to Eine but here it is based on personal experience. It was quality and quantity. Tearing around at around 10pm to find something. Ending up in somewhere awful because there was apparently nowhere else. It was just unfortunate. It could have happened anywhere - and, yes, it was a very long time ago. But Carlisle is oddly positioned. It's not wonderful for the Lake District with which I have a strange relationship in any case although I would always defend its National Park status to the hilt. And it isn't a great city of itself. From what I have seen on television, I'm rather taken as an alternative by Dumfries and Galloway on the other side of the border. But I doubt I will ever get there.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Merseyside still exists
West Midlands still exists
Greater Manchester still exists

Not really. The were fully devolved into unitary authorities in 1986.

Sadly Humberside doesn't (having been the South Humberside Composer in Residence at one point)

Humberside went the way of the above, but not until 1996. Whoever thought up that ludicrous "county" must never have been there. But the splitting into unitary authorities wasn't well done either.

[cloughie]

I imagine they were confusing the Eagles with Charlton?

Unfortunately some people are careless about such things........

Well they did ground borrow for a while!

[cloughie]

Is this Truro? Or Falsro?


With thanks and apologies to Milton Jones. But not Milton Keynes.

Trurer!