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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am the poster who talked about having lost interest in London (well, one of them).

I loved London in the 1980s and 1990s because it felt very much like an English city. It wasn't New York, it wasn't Paris. Oh, yes, there were certainly diversity back then and many immigrants and their descendants who added wonderful touches to the London experience, but the big difference between now and then is that the balance has shifted decisively away from being "English" to becoming just another anonymous international city with little local flavour left. The experience you get in London is now not too different from New York. And it isn't just the immigrants from the Middle East or Africa, but the introduction of freedom of movement under the EU flooded London with hundreds of thousands (millions?) of Europeans, which is fine in a sense, but it has changed the character and personality of the city. Whenever I go into restaurants and cafes I hear so many different languages spoken around me, both the waitstaff and the other customers. 20 years ago it was English people serving me and English people around me. That made it neat because I was truly in a different country! But today, the vestiges of "Englishness" in London feels artificial, ironically, put on display for the sake of tourists rather than anything intrinsic and real. And it's because the actual English of traditional British heritage are a minority in London.

I am not passing a moral judgement on the changes in London. I am just observing it has changed greatly and made it a far less interesting place for me. The museums are still there (and excellent they remain) but I used to love walking around random neighbourhoods and observing local life, and it's simply just not the same. Even the other poster acknowledged it when she conceded no one shops at Harrods anymore except tourists, and especially Middle Eastern tourists. Large swathes of central London are now primarily owned and inhabited by the global superrich (of all nationalities) and that (similar to parts of New York) has also made it a less interesting place. There have also been positive changes through massive gentrification and explosion of the dining scene and it's also quite safer today, but I still prefer the slightly shabby, more low key and old fashioned London of the 1980s. I return to Britain all the time but it isn't until I leave London for other parts of the country that I feel I've actually arrived in Britain. [/quote]

I agree with this.

I spent a week in London recently for business, and I rarely encountered actual Brits with British accents (I'm not talking about skin color; I'm talking about accent). Tons of Poles, Canadians and Americans as waitstaff and shop girls. [/quote]

Zero chance you met an American working over there in the service industry. It's so hard for Americans to get Visas to work.[/quote]

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