10 places you shouldn't visit in London

[levaniX]

Originally Posted by Gavrosh

From the point of view of anyone that lives in any city, 95% of the time theyre going to be in work or close to home, and 4% of the time they will be out shopping or socialising. You dont get much of any of that done outside Buckingham Palace or up the London Eye.

Oh, ok))

[SE23 Man]

Originally Posted by shard97

Debtford,

and yes that would be my number 1 place not to visit in London but tied at number 1 are the areas of Bellingham and Downham not that anyone in the right mind would want to visit these areas anyway.

[Core Rising]

Harsh, Thamesmead has far less going for it than Deptford!

[levaniX]

Deptford is historical place, by the way.

Our emperor, Peter The Great lived exactly here, and learnt here how to build ships, how to create one of the most powerful navies in Europe.

His teachers were amazed by his abilities. They were amazed by his interests in everything, especially in everything about navy, about building ships

[Limerick]

Deptford is a terrible town
The mere mention of it does make me frown.
It's dreadfully squalid
And altogether horrid
Would be best if they tore it all down.

[bazzup]

Deptford is great and you don't know what you are talking about.

It's a really unusual and fascinating place at the moment, with some absolute gems. In 5-10 years, it's going to be one of the hippest places in the city.

@SE23 Man - Forest Hill and Deptford are roughly equidistant from my home in Brockley, but, the occasional visit to the Horniman aside, there is no reason to visit FH, whereas I visit Deptford about one every two weeks. Not that there's anything wrong with Forest Hill - it's fine. But Deptford has far more to offer the visitor.

[LondonerN1]

Agree with bazzup about Deptford. The next Dalston, imo.

M&Ms World would be on my list of places to not visit (even though I love peanut M&Ms).

[flare]

Any nightclub within 200m of Leicester Square
Oxford St on a Saturday in December
Clapham North underground station before 9.30am
Primark
Tottenham
Madame Turds
Angus Steakhouses
the area around Victoria Station with all the roadworks
Stroud Green Road Tesco
Pubs in the City between 6pm-9pm

[jamiefearon]

Originally Posted by aegisisc

--> British meseum
--> tate modern
--> national gallery
--> natural history museum
--> EDF energy london eye
--> science museum
--> victoria and albert museum
--> madame tussauds
--> Royal museums greenwich
--> the tower of london

tate modern
national gallery
natural history museum
science museum
victoria and albert museum

Are you crazy? These are some of the best and most respected museums and gallerys in the world; and they are free!

[siberian dreamer]

From this sig they could be some kind of bot? The museums are one of the greatest things about London.

[jamiefearon]

Must be a pretty intelligent bot as it has discerned the subject of the thread and answered accordingly.

Although it failed the Turing Test as its answers are CRAZY!!

[levaniX]

Originally Posted by jamiefearon

tate modern
national gallery
natural history museum
science museum
victoria and albert museum

Are you crazy? These are some of the best and most respected museums and gallerys in the world; and they are free!

Yeah, but only Tate Modern can be hated by those who rather prefer traditional art(they will go to the Tate Britain for that)

[Growing London]

Who goes to oxford street to look at buildings, its about the shops, the people, the atmosphere, not about the buildings

[levaniX]

Originally Posted by Growing London

Who goes to oxford street to look at buildings, its about the shops, the people, the atmosphere, not about the buildings

You're right.

[anonymous1]

Avoid the stairs that lead down from Waterloo Bridge to Embankment on a Saturday and Sunday morning. You're nostrils will be deeply offended if you do.

[the spliff fairy]

West Hampstead

Morden

Barking

Dagenham

Neasden (ok the temple's great, but everywhere else, NO)

Elephant & Castle

[Retro Specs]

The area alongside the Blackwall road near Bromley-by-Bow (empty buildings with broken glass, terrible noise from the road). Why the hell they are building new flats right next to this awful road I don't know.

Canary Wharf - confusing layout, nothing there at weekends when those who work there have gone home

Harrow - unless you want to feel like your in a crappy down anywhere else in Britain

Hendon / Brent Cross - remind me again why people like to live in suburbia like this? It's just massive roads and houses that look like they'd be really hard to maintain. Your escaping the centre to live by an even louder motorway if you move here.

Excel centre area - if the DLR shuts and you don't want to pay for a taxi you really are stranded

[Blindfold]

Originally Posted by Core Rising

Harsh, Thamesmead has far less going for it than Deptford!

Depends what you are there for. Its been some time since i've been to either but Deptford was just like any neighbourhood in inner London, especially those in East and South London. Deptford's only redemption was the foot path along the river near the Pepys Estate. Personally Thamesmead is far more interesting as a place to visit. There might not be any shops of note or sense of community but from and architectural and/or urban planning perspective it is absolutely fascinating.

[DarJoLe]

Originally Posted by Retro Specs

Canary Wharf - confusing layout, nothing there at weekends when those who work there have gone home

Canary Wharf was packed this weekend.

[Rev Stickleback]

Originally Posted by capslock

I mostly agree with that list. I certainly agree with the idea of it. Too many 'must see' tourist places in any city become parodies of themselves and flooded with tourists, so locals then avoid them like the plague, and they then lose their soul because they're only catering for tourists.

I'm always baffled by tourists complaining about places being overrun with tourists.

I remember a group (not in London) at some place moaning at "all those tourists" cluttering up the place, and asking scornfully "why do they all have to come at the same time?"

It somehow didn't occur to the person making the comment that she had the option of not going in the middle of the day, at the busiest time, and she was just as much a tourist as them. Putting on a backpack and eating off street stalls doesn't make you a cultural advisor for UNESCO.


Locals tend to avoid tourist places mainly because they've already been there.

People might want the Tower of London to be "more authentic", but what exactly would that mean? Truly authentic would have it as a working prison, in which case nobody would be allowed in.

I ask, if there's anywhere anyone considers "too touristy" what exactly would you like to be changed to make it "less touristy"?