The Worst Thing About London Is... (An Historical Perspective)

M@
By M@ Last edited 7 months ago

Last Updated 12 July 2024

The Worst Thing About London Is... (An Historical Perspective)
Green bin bags surround a bin
Image: Matt Brown

"What's the worst thing about London", according to people in decades gone by.

This is a positive website. We like to celebrate the best that London has to offer. But throw in an historical edge, and we're quite happy dabbling in the dirtier side of the city.

To that end, we used the newspaper archives to look at what Londoners (and visitors) of the past had to gripe about. Clearly, olden times London had a lot of awful problems, such as plague, crushing poverty and (latterly) bombs falling out of the sky. But people tended to grumble more about everyday stuff. Here, then, are some of the "worst things about London" of yesteryear. How many are still with us?

1886: "The worst thing about London is that its heart is seething with unfortunates of every kind and nation. The refuse of the wasted lives of the whole United Kingdom has flowed in large streams to the Capital, and a large reservoir of misery is of course the natural result." - Oban Times, 27 Feb

1902: "The worst feature of London: Its villainous service of omnibus traffic. No other metropolis in the world would stand such an antediluvian system." Three foreigners, American, French and Austrian, interviewed by the Evening Post, 26 Dec
> Buses were still largely horse-drawn at this point, and frequently caught in jams. An omnibus omnishambles.

1907: "The worst thing about London is the depression of spirit caused by the omnipresent dirt, the mud-stained gloom of the murky house fronts, the total cessation of all idea of neatness at the door step as though the public domain was a void of things with which nobody had any concern." - Bolton Evening News, 2 Feb

An alley called Dirty Lane
These days, London wears its dirt with pride. Image: Matt Brown

1913: "The worst thing about London — having to wear a clean collar every day." School child on being interviewed about a trip to London. Daily Citizen, 16 May

1934: "The collection and disposal of refuse is one of London's biggest problems." London Gossip and News, 13 Aug

1940: "One of London's biggest problems — evacuating the homeless from the East End — is causing more and more concern to the authorities." Daily Mirror, 19 Sep
> It took almost a year from the second world war's declaration before the bombing raids of the Blitz began. By then, many residents, including families, had decided to stay put rather than evacuate.  

1957: "What has for many years now been one of London's biggest problems — lack of accommodation for visitors." Belfast News-Letter, 4 May
> Hotel space seems to have been an issue in the 1950s, with the sector not keeping apace with developments in international travel.

1981: "The worst things about London are the traffic and the litter." According to a survey of visiting businessmen. Evening Standard, 30 Nov
>Two issues many would complain about in any era. The 70s and 80s were, however, particularly bad for litter in central London.

The north circular with bad traffic jam
Ah, the North Circular. Image: Matt Brown

1988: "The biggest problem in London is the price of property for young people." Proms organiser John Drummond, Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle, 21 Jul
> You should try the 2020s, mate.

1991: "One of the worst things about London is the lack of civic pride. But one of the best things is that a lot of people are trying to change it." Shirley Porter in the Marylebone Mercury, 4 Jul
>
Among her complaints is the scrapping of historic county names, like Middlesex, in favour of "silly fads".

1995: "The worst thing about London, I think, is the tipping system. We have no such system in Japan. It is difficult for me." Yusuke Tadaki, a "token tourist" interviewed in The Independent, 5 May
> Tipping is still uncommon in Japan.

1998: "Tap anyone on the shoulder and ask what is the worst thing about London and he will cry 'The Tube'." Simon Jenkins, Evening Standard, 23 Jan
> Jenkins, as is his wont, immediately alienates half his potential readership with his pronoun choice.

2001: "One of the worst things about London is that you have to start your evenings out really early." Evening Standard, 23 Nov.
> The comment is by a random punter, Jennifer Ramsay (33), found sipping coffee outside Bar Italia. Her problem was the difficulty of getting home later on, which would be partly addressed by the introduction of the Night Tube in 2016.

2002: "What I hate about London is first of all the fact that every single thing is man-made. It's concrete and pavements and roads. Secondly, I hate the traffic — the congestion. The third thing I hate is the aggression, the lack of humanity, the lack of sociability." Daily Telegraph, 30 Nov
> The comment comes from Mark Leatham, founder of company Merchant Gourmet, who seems to not like London very much at all.

2003: "The worst thing about London is the lack of a good, reliable transport system." Survey results presented in the Evening Standard, 22 Jul
> I seem to remember the Tube being pretty reliable around then compared to other rail networks, although I am an optimist.

A sign saying do not even think about parking here
This means you, Neil. Image: Matt Brown

2008: "Worst thing about London: Having a standing order with the local council to pay my parking tickets, bus lanes and everything. When I park the car I feel like they are round the corner waiting to pounce and interrogate me. You don't get that up north." The Independent, 10 May
> This is according to Football manager Neil Warnock, who should probably try not driving in bus lanes or parking illegally. Or perhaps get a bike.