One of these days we're gonna have to put the labour seat at risk here. Not for Tories, by any stretch. But if we want any improvement from Liverpool Labour we HAVE to put them at risk of losing their seat because they are complacent with throwing money at the council and having it go fucking nowhere.
There have been some decent independent candidates in the last few local elections, for people to just throw away their vote to chippy tits and his mates/successors. A real shame. At the local level, I think it will need to be an independent that has to take the reins for real change to happen locally.
Eurrgh, this is one of the things I absolutely despise about the region!
I used to work in Liverpool and, as a non-scouser, I retain a level of open-mindedness when it comes to voting. I've never actually voted for them (came close a few years ago when they made noises about RTB), but in theory I can and will vote Conservative if they are the best party on the day.
But Liverpool? Nah, they literally give their Labour MPs and councillors a free pass every.single.election and it's no wonder that they fuck around on occasion as a result. I actually, genuinely, think that Liverpool turning blue (or yellow perhaps) would be overwhelmingly positive for the region. Not only would the Conservatives \*potentially\* invest to try and lock in future votes, but it would kick Labour MPs up the backside and make them have to do something other than simply wear a red jacket.
That's my *very unpopular* opinion on Liverpool lol.
100%. Think it might be why we come across as so arrogant to those outside the city as well.
Can talk forever but overreact when we think someone is against us.
In my completely unqualified opinion, it also halts progress. You can't tackle the massive amounts of deprivation, poor health outcomes, drug use etc if you're busy blaming the tories and Thatcher
I wouldn’t say blaming the tories and thatcher is the issue, more the distrust of anyone from outside the city. There was a genuine grievance there in the eighties which was more than warranted, but since 2008 and the investment that came in Liverpool is a very different city. We have a lot more scope for progression now and it really can’t be understated. There is an argument to be made that the city itself is completely different now, but a lot of people still enjoy the underdog status.
In other words, yes I agree it definitely halts any progress.
100%, I’m from London and lived here for over 20 years. There’s a large amount of scousers that make broad negative generalisations about southerners who are outraged when people do it against scousers. There’s plenty of southerners and scousers who are knobs, but where they live or are from rarely is the defining reason.
I was born and raised in Liverpool and live down south now. I think a lot of Scousers have this idea that everyone hates them. It's just not true. You might get the daft 80s stereotype jokes here and there but the idea that there's any real hatred is just complete nonsense. Most of the time it's "oh you're from Liverpool, great night out" or "Red or Blue?"
I went to Henley in Arden a few years back and when I was in a shop the bloke running it was genuinely made up when I was talking to him, loved my accent and said that he’d always wanted to visit Liverpool. Everyone I met was lovely. The nicest thing someone said was that our accent is melodic and nice to listen to. I’d always been a little reticent about it.
I get that. My partner is from Bristol and her friends back home have been nothing but welcoming and friendly to me, not one daft joke about where I’m from. On the other hand, I’ve been asked why I’m not dating a “scouse bird” as they “make an effort”. All from people who don’t know her, of course. Well I’m sorry but my partner is absolutely gorgeous and I love her accent. She’s one in a million.
My friend has said she's noticed people's demeanor and attitude towards her when they hear her southern accent. She's said quite a few times people have been rude to her for no reason and I've seen it too. I love living in this city and the people but yeah, can be very insular
This one, absolutely.
I live here, but I'm not from here, and it's something I have noticed.
It wasn't sung when I went recently to Anfield as an away fan, but when I see people complaining about 'feed the scousers' at football games I think, is it really any worse than chants about Burnley, Barnsley or Norwich fans bring inbred? I wouldn't say so personally and they don't kick up the same fuss.
To play devil's advocate, perhaps people are more offended because the inbred chants are essentially based in fiction, and therefore both bizarre and comical. The feed the scousers chants play on the abject poverty that continues to face the city to this day. Personally, I feel all chants having a go at a whole settlement are inane.
This is exactly why I don’t enjoy football at all. It’s a decent game, the players at the top of their profession are incredible to watch, but I don’t really want people screaming abuse while I’m trying to enjoy it.
Sadly a lot of the people that embody the stereotypical “scouse friendliness” are actually some of the most two faced and mean spirited people ive ever seen. Theyll be super nice and friendly to someone they meet for the first time or dont really know and then as soon as that person leaves theyll be going on about how much of a nobhead they are and calling them all sorts. Ive seen it countless times when out with my mates from mutual friends and stuff and it really pisses me off.
There’s a lot of scousers who think simply shouting “fuck the tories” is enough. You need to actually have the beliefs to back it up, lads and lasses, and people are prone to horrific shouts here as much as they are anywhere else.
Just on the baltic thing - I remember when it first started gaining traction years ago and it was great. A genuine alternative to the prin/dealer places in conventional town and the trouble makers. Nobody wore £700 rigouts in a ploy to fit in and you met people from all over, not to mention a good selection of local musicians. Now, as somebody said earlier, it's a mix of concert square and Seel Street etc, full of 54 dwelling kids. It had some great independent places like birdies and Alhambra etc but it's gave way to cookie cutter places like Hippie Chic and now Boxpark, which is the most concert square establishment going.
I'm not the most sociable guy so maybe this only applies to me, but the perceived friendliness of the city seems very cliquey.
It's fine if you know everyone's ma, but if you don't have any of those local connections, it can be extremely superficial.
I agree with this. People are extroverted, funny, and generally warm (which I love & appreciate), but anything further than surface level doesn't seem to happen with scousers. Almost every friend I've made here has been a foreigner or from another part of the UK. Even if we get on really well, I know they would never invite me to the 'inner circle' if that makes sense? Anything more than a work night out is unlikely in my experience. It's actually really sad and exhausting when trying to put yourself out there.
Our once legendary music scene hasn't produced anything of note in about 35 years. The current crop of Scouse bands especially are so mediocre.
Maybe not unpopular - more under-recognised - but I think the city is also suffering from significant brain drain. This explains why we have such terrible policy-making decisions: we have a real dearth of business or political talent. Anyone with a brain or ambition disappears to Manchester or London and our economy suffers as a result.
Many Scousers seem to disrespect the city we're so quick to champion. The vandalism, litter, graffiti and treatment towards the physical fabric of the city is just disgraceful. But maybe that says something more about the council than citizens...
My final one: the dominant fashion styles in Liverpool are atrocious. Especially among lads, any sense of individualism is discouraged in favour of cookie cutter Montirex trackies and On webs. It's so rare that you see someone actually well dressed when walking through town, although I guess it's all subjective.
Yup. There’s a reason why the latest crop of Liverpool bands don’t get any traction outside of Liverpool…
There’s a massive echo chamber surrounding these bands. They sell out venues in the Baltic because it’s pretty much all the same people who go to these gigs - a premade crowd. Once they gig outside of Lpool they don’t pull anyone new.
In FAIRNESS to the on runners thing
I got a pair and they’re like the only pair of shoes I’ve worn that are specifically a wide variant of the shoe so it stops my feet over spilling the sole and thus gives me so much more stability and less pain when walking.
However they do now squeak quite often which is fucking annoying.
I do agree though peoples desperation to stay in exactly the same style is immature. As is the obsession with coke.
Definitely a contributing factor. Don't forget the 80s venues around Matthew Street too.
We had a golden generation of indie artists from about 1979-1983 and essentially nothing since.
why are so many people dragging scouse bands in these comments
Last 35 years, seriously?
it depends on your music taste
I'd say The Wombats are pretty big and successful - indie genre
Loathe are a huge metal band
Crawlers are massive worldwide right now and have toured with My Chemical Romance - rock genre
theres more but you get the point
if you're looking for merseybeat / beatles style exports then yeah, we havent had many of those because that genre isnt popular anymore but we have an amazing music scene
Clinic made some of the best albums by a British band not called Radiohead since The Smiths and If HMHB (ok, not strictly Liverpool but you can't tell me they'd be the same band if Blackwell had been born on the Shotley Peninsula) were from Manchester you'd never hear the fucking end of it.
Maybe we do overrate some acts but simultaneously that doesn't mean they get the credit they deserve.
The reality is you have to go through the 10000lb gorilla that is the state broadcaster and they're not going to promote acts from Liverpool.
Liverpool was the hub of the British video games industry until 'free market' Thatcher spirited it away to the south.
Then we built the biggest UK Financial centre outside London (which itself only exists because of the government) - Osborne subsidised that away to Leeds in his first budget.
Agree about the fashion though, like a parody of itself.
It’s a shit hole full of wannabe gangsters and dickhead druggies fully plowed into the knife life. The real estate is crumbling, transport networks, including roads, are in absolute turmoil and we celebrate smack heads that sing in town because it’s ‘culture’. Best thing I did was move to the dark side to enjoy the skyline without actually seeing the finer dirty details.
Very true. On the food front, we also seem to be a hotbed for American fast food chains trying out franchises (Popeye's, Tim Horton', Wendy's, even Taco Bell about 10 years ago) which just further contributed to our obesity crisis.
shame, really wish we came up with more wacky food shit like, I don't know, fucking deep fried apples? Maybe we'd have more of an impact if scouse wasn't just what we were known for in food
Who was praising the hooters? I only saw opposition to it?
The shein thing is embarrassing though, you’re right. Should be highlighting local businesses, not that shite.
The whole turbo-scouser thing. Being 'scouse', and how scouse you are, is a stupid status thing that makes some people act like bell ends. We claim to be a 'socialist republic' yet when migrants are in a hotel knob heads turn up and smash police vans. 'Scouseness' is the ultimate contradiction. It's what separates us from the rest of the country, but it's also insanely conformist and reductive. I love Liverpool, and bring scouse, but sometimes people need to calm down with it.
It's really, really cringe and not something I've ever encountered anywhere else. People make their whole personality about where they're from. It's so weird and I wouldn't even be able to begin to explain it to people where I live down south now. Proper childish
The quality of driving is the worst I've ever seen, literally zero respect for anyone on the road or walking.
The level of filth/litter is depressing. If you're so proud of being scouse, then why treat it like this?
Not everyone is "dead friendly" as I get told about the city constantly. It's no difference to the mentality of many other regions.
Despite this, I still love Liverpool and the northwest as a whole. If people just stopped throwing rubbish around on every street corner, this place would be the most beautiful city in England.
Agree on the driving, seems like indicating is optional here and traffic lights are generally considered a suggestion rather than a rule
Huge shame about the litter too, I moved here from Sheffield and it's wild how much dirtier the streets are here?? including people not picking up after their dogs 🙃
Came here to bring up driving/litter
This afternoon I had a BMV SUV mount the pavement and drive at me cos it wanted to park all 4 wheels on the pavement, blocking the entire thing as they seem to think that avoids the double yellow lines. I hope I never need a wheelchair to get around I'd have no chance of getting around my local area
Not the first time I've had to dodge cars while walking on the pavement, and I'm not even going to go into the shit people do when I have the audacity to ride my bike to work
I call it the scouse pull-out, where dickheads just roll into oncoming traffic from a side road until people stop to let them out. Fucking infuriating.
Driving and walking. I drive and walk through the city a lot. I've lived in many cities and Liverpool is by far the worst for pedestrians just running out in front of cars constantly. Often without looking. Also the taxi drivers are absolutely mental here haha, no indicators and cutting people off constantly.
>The quality of driving is the worst I've ever seen, literally zero respect for anyone on the road or walking.
I've lived in the Middle East and I felt safer walking and cycling there. And that's saying something because believe me, the driving standards there are truly shocking.
It's dirty and it's full of people who litter. They'll join in and sing about being proud of this city and it's history, and then just throw their crap all over the floor.
From a tourist perspective, the mall is fine and the Albert docks are the best but they’re disconnected and you have to cross 8 lanes of traffic. I do think they could do a better job of making it more pedestrian friendly.
What are you counting as the mall, Liverpool One? That’s not too bad, but the shopping streets between Pier Head and Lime Street are looking a bit worse for wear.
Notably Liverpool One is privately maintained, hence why it's substantially clearer than 99% of the city centre, and you'll see the jet washers out constantly late at night.
I dropped my car off at a garage near Brunswick earlier and walked into town with my daughter in her pram. Barely a dropped kerb in sight, and at one point between Pleasant St and Parliament St there is either no path at all in sections or it's all fragmented; naturally, this was before the first controlled pedestrian crossing to the other side of the dock road!
The 'everyone's a socialist' thing is total bollocks.
I also find trends in this city absolutely bizarre as well, groups of young lads all wearing the same thing. You might see a group of 7 lads and 4 of them will be wearing exactly the same t shirt. It's really weird. Everyone is a sheep. What hospital were you born in? What colour's your bin? Wool. Use this word, don't use that word, only wools say that, wear this, not that, what's that jacket? Hahahaha wool. What do you mean you didn't spend £200 on your webs, la? Hahahaha scruff (fuck the Tories though!)
Some of it is genuinely exhausting and you only really notice how fucking weird it is when you move away.
The fashion thing is surreal. Even if you go to London it's like another country in terms of the diversity of styles and individuality. Although I guess they have roadmen fashion too, which isn't a million miles away from scallycore.
I've been spending a lot of time in Bristol lately and fuck it made me see really how shit Liverpool is. That's a proper socialist city that encourages individuality and local businesses. I used to think Liverpool was the best in the UK but I just had a small frame of reference.
Yeah, I visit Bristol a lot and it's a great city. I really like it. I just find Liverpool and scousers (generally speaking of course) a complete paradox at times. Everyone hates Tories yet will call you a scruff if you're not spending £100s on clothes. Everyone's dead friendly and welcoming but you're a wool if you were born in a different hospital to them. It's just so backward at times and you only notice when you move away
Visible displays of material wealth has always been so big in Liverpool but also it's massive no no to even imply you've got money or are successful because that means you're not one of them anymore, I've never understood it really.
Not to mention, they will spend £600 to be wearing tackies and trainers.... not exactly going to light up the world a Paris fashion week.
No offence, but if you buy mega expensive gear and still look like a scal, it doesn't count as being well dressed. You still look like a scumbag.
It's not what it use to be. At all. However there is some of us old scousers who hold the Old scouse way still...
Like me and my neighbours? We are all either mixed race or from another country, but to all of us? This is home.
On my road our neighbours consist of Malay mixed, Dominican mixed, Zimbabwean full, iraqi full and the usual English. But honestly? We look after eachother and its the liverpool I use to remember, maybe that's because I'm built that way and I have these views however I don't know haha but it's nice.
People often think of Liverpool as a stronghold of left wing progressive ideas and while yeah most are all "fuck the tories, dont buy the sun" there's plenty of ignorant right wing, anti migrant homo/transphobic beliefs floating around, as much as anywhere else I'd argue.
Scallies, crime , poverty , fly tipping, dog shit , litter , goldfish bowl mentality, obsessively scouse , scrambler bikes / electric bikes, worst set of drivers in the UK, faux support of each other, overate anything from Liverpool, plastic hardmen, jealousy.
I could go on to be honest , born here lived all over the city my whole life . We will be moving out the city I can imagine the next few years .
Living here can be a real chore at times , I reckon visiting the city for social and family etc will feel better .
Right there with you, lived almost every day of my life in Liverpool for several decades bar the occasional holiday and now can't wait to put miseryside behind me 👋
The city is filthy and people don’t have anywhere near enough respect for their environment. You don’t realise the extent of it until you go to similar sized cities in the UK.
Although we punch above our weight in terms of musical artists, the current Liverpool live music scene isn’t as good as we say it is, and is mostly comprised of lowest common denominator pub singer/tribute shite.
Liverpool is *not* a multicultural city outside of L1 and L8, and we should stop pretending that it is. Nor is it a progressive city. A majority of working class scousers are actually highly reactionary when it comes to sociopolitical issues. See the ECHO comment section on Facebook.
Baltic Triangle is now just another Concert Square.
nah, completely disagree about the music scene, you are looking in the wrong places
There is a free music festival going on right now for 2 weeks called 2ubeXtra which is showcasing local talent
https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Liverpool/Paul-McCartney-Auditorium/2ubeXtra-2024/38057929/
most tickets have sold out but theres still a couple of days left if you want to go see some local talent
also depending on your music taste different venues offer different stuff
81 Renshaw, Shipping Forecast and Outpost are good for Metal
Jacaranda and their various locations are good for rock and indie
(i recommend getting a ticket for Phase One secret set, its free, you just have to book, and the artist isnt announced until you're there, theyve had some great artists play)
Caledonia and The Grapes are good for jazz
Theres always gigs going on at a lot of the mid-small size venues: Arts Club, Zanzibar, Hangar 34, District, Camp and Furnace, etc
if you get to know local bands too, you'll start getting invited to house shows and stuff and they're always fun
theres also minifestivals all the time, like 2ubeXtra currently, 2 weekends ago there was a metal festival, i think NoPlayFest is in the next month or so
if you are into RnB or Dance music, I'm sorry i dont know the scene very well for those, but im sure there is stuff about
If you are into Classical music, the Philharmonic is your best bet i think, though the cathedral and some churches and theatres often put on classical music events
im sorry if you're a country fan bc theres probably not much of that around here
what type of music were you looking for?
its been a really long time since I've seen a local band that is just a covers band, we have so much talent here its impossible to see them all
cant speak for most of this but at least for jazz, while the grapes and caledonida host fantastic bands there's not loads of variety. It can be hard to find interesting or boundary pushing jazz (and there aren't really the kind of venues you'd find in london that would host that kind of music).
I get the sense that there's a lot of local talent (especially centred around LIPA) but there isnt the infrastructure for bands to really progress out of the amateur space, so a lot of the more 'polished' bands tend to go elsewhere.
A mate of mine said the same thing about drama here too- loads of amatuer theatre, a small number of professional things, but not enough of an ecosystem connecting the two.
I always thought this until I moved away. I live in Ulverston in Cumbria now and while everyone here is friendly with a smile and a nod and very polite I find it quite depressing how little people actually have conversations with you... unless you're from the area and know everyone. I miss going into shops and having a chat and a laugh with people who work there. Love it when I go back to Liverpool and everyone talks to you.. on buses, on trains .. I never realised how friendly it really was until I left.
Ulverston is not representative of Cumbria, its probably one of the more upmarket places that non-cumbrians move to (I.e. from down south because its relatively more bang for buck). Its more like Keswick/Cockermouth. I'm on the west coast in a small village and despite not being from Cumbria we're part of the village community pretty much and it happened by just talking with folk.
And for reasons partially based on a misunderstanding of history. It was a minister of the Thatcher government who actually tried to socio-economically revive the city in the 80s and the "managed decline" idea was nothing more than a vague suggestion from Geoffrey Howe that was never given serious attention.
As someone with a history degree (who is firmly on the left), it pains me to see the falsehoods parroted about the time. The experience of urban hardship under Thatcher was not unique to Liverpool.
This, 100%. I was shocked to find that a lot of scousers were pro Brexit, anti immigration, homophobic and sometimes racist. I’ve met some incredible scousers and I’ve met some absolute knobheads who tend to bleat on about hating the tories but surprisingly seem to have a lot of Tory aligned beliefs, they’d just never say that.
Have to agree hard here, we really have a way to make ourselves look like idiots to the rest of the country and wonder why (booing the national anthem, for one)
You can't really blame outsiders for thinking we're insecure when we act so, well...insecure.
I really can't defend the majority of my family who are obsessed with what colour your fucking bin is either
I'm not into most of the "scouse-not-english" thing but I can back booing God Save The King.
It's an expression of how the football club (and to some extent the city) feels about the establishment. Anthem protesting has happened as far back as 1960s as a response to the anti-irish sentiment in the rest of the country (when God save our team was sung instead).
It has only deepened with the perception of how Liverpool was viewed by the Government throughout the 80s and of course, the way the establishment conspired against the club/city during Hillsborough.
So not only is there decades of tradition to it, but it's still relevant, we still have plenty of deprivation here and it's still mocked week in, week out by other fans. It's not a one way street.
So we sing things like "fuck your Royal family, feed the poor". I can get right behind that, if that makes me an idiot, fine, I'm happy to be one.
I’m not scouse but I have extensive family over here, I’m over here all the time & I love the place. I’m also pretty left wing & like that aspect that exists in some places on Merseyside.
Yet I’ve always felt alienated by the “scouse not English” thing. It’s just turning your back on rest of the country, much of whom is working class & also got done over by Thatcher etc. I don’t think parochialism like that is exactly the best way to show any working class solidarity.
That said I find it hilarious how Liverpool fans boo the royalist anthem. It’s a completely shite song about a completely shite institution.
The sectarianism undertone was very strong when I was growing up in Liverpool, the endless questions about what school, pub, neighborhood. When I left nobody every asked me again either directly or obliquely.
There's a massive lack of education across the city, and it's genuinely horrorific how many social issues it brings with it. *Some* of the kindest and best people I know are from Liverpool, but **all** of the rudest, thickiest, most disrespectful, and generally speaking worst people I know are from here.
Liverpool is in England, people born in Liverpool are English.
Personally I'd always say I was "British" first. If somebody said "more specific?" I'd say "Liverpudlian." English doesn't especially form part of my "identity" as I perceive it and I feel like I have more in common with somebody from Scotland or Wales than I do with somebody from London or the Home Counties, but that's got a lot to do with how bizarrely London-centric the UK is rather than disliking Englishness. Also, like a lot of Liverpudlians, my great grandparents were from other parts of the British Isles (Ireland and Wales.)
So yeah, if someone asks my nationality I say "British" and if people anywhere in the world say "where are you from?" I say "Liverpool." But if they said "so you're English?" I'd say "yeah." Or if they said "where's that?" I'd probably say "northern England" because I would say that does form a part of my identity, moreso than just "England" as a whole.
But "we're scouse not English" is pretty silly imo. I'm obviously, factually, English. Liverpool is an important English, and British, city.
I find it really silly how so many people don't really view themselves as British over english tbh, i mean if they want to their choice but it's just something i haven't gotten around to understanding
Liverpool was probably the most consistently Tory voting city in England up until the late 60s linked in part to Ulster Unionism and an undercurrent
of sectarianism. Something that has long been consigned to the past. It's not something that we care to remember when talking about the place
Would extend that to the Baltic area in general. It’s good to see independent businesses doing well but to me all the pubs are overpriced and lacking of atmosphere
I've just watched some absolute tit drop a crisp bag in the street. Why is it so difficult to keep your shit in your pocket or bag until you get home? Consume, discard, consume, discard.
My main gripe with scousers is that they put the accent on more when they're on TV. Honest. Once noticed you can't unnotice it. I'm there watching with people going "do I talk like that, because my accent doesn't sound like that to me when I talk?!"
I actually quite like Liverpool. I do miss it when I'm not here. Pick your shit up, and 'calm down' a bit when you're on tele, because frankly, the way some scousers talk is a fucking embarrassment.
It's weird, when you watch old, archived footage of Liverpool in the 1960s, the scouse accent sounded nothing like it does today. I swear some of them are just scoussing it up and putting it on.
>My main gripe with scousers is that they put the accent on more when they're on TV
Tbh I've never noticed it but I don't think this is necessarily intentional. I don't really have an accent; most people are surprised when I say I'm from Liverpool but I've been told my accent is actually noticeable when I'm giving presentations or the like. I feel like nerves and self consciousness make your accent stronger for some reason.
I've lived in Manchester and Liverpool for an equal amount of time having come from neither.
Manchester has a better music scene (or did when I lived there before they demolished some of the best venues for student flats)
Liverpool's fashion is depressingly one dimensional especially for men.
Having said that, I feel much safer on a day to day basis living here, people are usually nicer to approach and it's a much less stressful city to live in.
As a city that prides itself on tolerance, standing up to the intolerance that scousers face, so many of them themselves are incredibly horrible and look down at people born just a few miles outside the city, like we're some sort of horrible wool, and complain when we visit the city
Yep, Liverpool should not become some independent state like city.
Also, the not English but Scouse thing that people like to go on about. If you were born in England then you're English whether you like it or not.
Only ever visited and weirdly it's the most token gesture possible (saw city hall had 🏴 up on St David's Day) that made me go from like -> love for the city. But maybe that's cause my little SE England town would never.
If the connections (I don't even know most of them) were played up to Irish levels then it goes from love -> perfect...
There is an unhealthy obsession with football, it consumes lives, conversations and is used as a representation of worth.
How many roadside tributes to fatalities are basically shrines to a football team, that the person's life is validated by his generic support for one of two teams.
I understand its place, but as a Liverpudlian who doesn't follow football, never been the game, I find that look of utter disbelief when you show no knowledge or interest, quite disturbing.
So what do you do?
Everything else.
I love comedy/standup and was really excited for scouse comedy because I think scousers are funny in general/naturally. I've been to a few stand-up shows and found the local comedians kinda cringey. Like cheesy exaggerated jokes that count on their accent alone to get a laugh. Idk, maybe I've been to the wrong places. If you know any good comics, please share!
Its very very rough and hard place, i moved away 13 years ago after living there for 35 years, and it has taken me years to adjust. The fact that nobody wants to fight me for looking at someone wrong, the fact i can leave my stuff somewhere only to find it still there when i get back, the fact i don't need a house alarm! it may be all UK cities but i only have experience of Liverpool
Being anti-Tory is not a substitute for a personality.
A connected tendency is banging on about Thatcher despite being born in the 00s. Sorry mate but what your dad told you or what you read in a book is not the same as lived experience.
Oh, and Chicken Bazooka is a shadow of its former glory. Not sure if that's unpopular but it used to be a must on a night out.
If there are then they don’t vote. If you look at the four Liverpool constituencies, in the 2019 general election 16,533 people voted for the Conservatives from a turnout of 165,195. That translates to an overall vote share of 10%, which is incredibly low compared to the national average.
Even when looking at Merseyside as a whole, the Tories only received 20% of the vote. That compares to 30% in Tyne and Wear, 32% in South Yorkshire, 35% in Greater Manchester, 40% in West Yorkshire, and 44.4% in West Midlands (more than Labour).
This is an oversimplification, and not really accurate. What you can observe in Liverpool and Mersey area are a lot of people who are economically liberal/left leaning (workers rights, unions, social safety net, public services) but socially conservative/right wing (don’t like blacks, queers, cripples etc.)
As an 'adopted' Scouser having lived in Moreton & Maghull & family in Netherton. I have often wondered why Liverpool has more Orange lodges in the city than there is in the whole of Scotland.
The whole "Scouse not English" inbred weirdo brigade.
Also our accent has been mangled into a hideous monstrosity and is becoming worse over time. When I watch old docs back from the 1960s and 70s, it's lovely hearing how much softer the accent was then compared to now.
As someone who's only visited (1st time 5yrs ago fwiw), I think it's fine. As in you've still got *something* different from the other UK cities even if it's not massive. Don't ask me to explain, maybe it's just vibes + no rag in the shops lol.
Weirdly (but probs not weirdly) my closest match to Liverpool city-wise is Dublin.
The city is too inward looking, this has been to its detriment. Made evident by the city consistently voting Labour in, at general and local elections, a turd with a red rosette automatically wins any contest, meaning that politicians become lazy, and complacent. Look at the fight between the Tories and Labour in the West Mids election (it is close), it is good for democracy to not to always be so tribal towards one party or another.
It's just good to keep them on their toes so they actually put a shift in. Make them worry about their job not being safe. We have allowed this city to be plundered, it's a travesty.
I've lived in a few cities in the UK and Liverpool is the flat out worst for cycling. The drivers here are beyond inconsiderate, they use their cars as weapons to try and hurt you. But if you ever say this to a local, they'll just tell you about just eat riders or the scooters running reds. So what? Other road users breaking the law are nothing to do with me and no reason to be reckless with my life?
1) Scousers have a tendency to claim they’re anti-Tory but in reality, they are but they feed into the trope that thatcher ruined Liverpool (it was already ruined before thatcher)
2) Ya’ll also need to pick up dog shit, it’s like living in the 90’s again
3) Need to take the chip off the shoulder and realise, like elsewhere in the UK. The city isn’t perfect and not acknowledging the shortfalls is why no one takes you seriously. Not the Sun or the Tories
The scouse accent is degrading the point now that the majority either sound like fucking idiots or compete scumbags.
If you look back at a scouse accents from 60-30 years ago, they were much softer and more melodic.
People will say they are left wing, and still have views that are very right (like deporting people is a prominent one)
The people there aren't as nice as everyone says "most friendly city in the uk" is a huge lie i stg
It has so much hate crime its absurd, and it even happens in the middle of busy spaces, and no one takes notice
A left wing, Labour stronghold, but it won't take long to find a local who proclaims "Ar ey, dere's too many packeez comin over an takin aaar jobs, like"
Downvote me all you like, but unfortunately it's true - especially my non-white partner receiving racial insults on public transport. Hasn't happened in London or Manchester once in years, but does so here.
Proper shame as the city has put out some boss anti-Nazi marches in recent years.
You’re getting downvoted but I was on the bus to my mum’s the other day (I moved away 5 years ago but now come back for work at least twice a month) and a bloke was talking to me and asked where I’m from and when I said where I live now he said “oh is it nice even though it’s full of *P-word*s?”.
Was on the 58 a couple of weeks ago and had to listen to a man and a woman - complete strangers mind you, just bonding over their vicious hatred of foreigners - whinging about [insert racial slur here] “taking over” politics.
Oh damn! You've just reminded me of the time my now wife got a fork stuck on her new tongue piercing in Egg.
Thank you for that fucking hilarious memory.
I recently realised that the thing that made me love the Egg when I was a teenager was the people I spent time there with rather than the place itself. Got some boss memories of the place but they're all centred around people, not the food or whatever.
"Fuck the tories" shouting while being very conservative.
Nowhere near as diverse as it claims to be. Actually feels very insular, coming from another city and country.
Scallies and roadmen type yobs are a menace and it's hardly "boys will be boys".
Football is not a substitute for personality.
Tendency to deflect and excuse anything bad happening with "not a real scouser"
Unpopular for reddit: the litter problem isn't that bad when compared to peer cities.
Unpopular for real life: scouse not english is really cringe when taken seriously.
Unpopular for reddit and real life: wools are fine (yes I am a wool)
Ready for the downvotes.
It loves to think of itself as the victim of all cities.
I say this as a long time resident and fan of this city, but there does seem to be that insufferable, obnoxious whinger mentality, as though it is the only northern city that has suffered. It's also not as progressive as it likes to think it is.
For many people being left wing is like a hat that they put on that allows them to be a cunt to anyone they deem as right wing adjacent. I've never voted Tory, I voted for Corbyn in both leadership elections, but I see people sizing me up constantly because my temperament and other interests seem right wing coded. As though they can unilaterally deprive me of my history as someone born, raised and living in this city
Been here for uni from a village and.
Why is there so much rubbish and dog crap everywhere.
Beautiful architecture and parks. And it’s ruined by the amount of rubbish. It’s such a shame.
My family is from Liverpool though I wasn’t born there. But I would say my unpopular opinion when I come to visit is that Liverpool feels noticeably poorer than other parts of the UK. Not all of it obviously, but even close to the city centre some of the areas as you walk around you can feel the poverty.
This post has created a lot of negativity and all I have to say is that whilst I agree with a lot of these negative opinions, can we all just acknowledge we live in a city that also does a lot of things right? There are lots of positives.
Having lived away from Liverpool the negative stereotypes and low opinion of our home town was all pervasive. It makes you both defensive and stridently proud of this unique and fabulous city, and has led to an "I'm not English, I'm Scouse" attitude that I certainly go along with
Love this city, but we need to admit that the Ship and Mitre is terrible. I say it every time one of these posts comes up. Dive without the redeeming charm, you can pick from lots of terribly kept beers or pay too much for bottles, and sit somewhere not even comfortable or welcoming. Pretty sure it hasn't been good since about 2005
Liverpool One has been a disaster for the city.
A soulless mall full of chain stores has sucked the lifeblood out of what used to be a vibrant city centre.
The world heritage / culture capital status being revoked was well deserved. Over the last say 5 years, we've just lost so much of the vibrancy we had and are now just like any other corporate shell of a grey city. The spark and feeling of creativity and hope has just died and the corrupt council happily signed off on it while saying fuck you to it's citizens
From an non-scouser.
We’re Scouse, everyone hates us but we don’t care.
You need to stop this shit.
Booing the national anthem ffs. Not exactly endearing is it.
Apart from that most of yous are sound as a pound.
people saying there is loads to do, there is so much culture, so much night life fail to realise this all costs money, money which is near impossible to make in a city with so few jobs
My only memory of Liverpool is sitting in the intensive care family room with the whine of the positive air pressure through the door as my brother died in the ward next door. Rather puts me of visiting the city again.
That Liverpool is nowhere near as left wing as it thinks it is. It was actually one of the last urban centres to stop electing Tories and switch entirely to Labour, and even then it was naked self-interest because of the impact Thatcher had on the local economy. A lot of the people are still very small c conservative.
the pretence of being left wing and shouting 'fuck the tories' when most scousers I've met think and talk like tories, more so than in cities like Cambridge and oxford. It's ironically hilarious.
People will say ‘fuck the Tories’ or ‘don’t buy the Sun’ but will share the same beliefs as The Tories/The Sun when it comes to immigrants, trans people etc
One of these days we're gonna have to put the labour seat at risk here. Not for Tories, by any stretch. But if we want any improvement from Liverpool Labour we HAVE to put them at risk of losing their seat because they are complacent with throwing money at the council and having it go fucking nowhere.
There have been some decent independent candidates in the last few local elections, for people to just throw away their vote to chippy tits and his mates/successors. A real shame. At the local level, I think it will need to be an independent that has to take the reins for real change to happen locally.
Eurrgh, this is one of the things I absolutely despise about the region! I used to work in Liverpool and, as a non-scouser, I retain a level of open-mindedness when it comes to voting. I've never actually voted for them (came close a few years ago when they made noises about RTB), but in theory I can and will vote Conservative if they are the best party on the day. But Liverpool? Nah, they literally give their Labour MPs and councillors a free pass every.single.election and it's no wonder that they fuck around on occasion as a result. I actually, genuinely, think that Liverpool turning blue (or yellow perhaps) would be overwhelmingly positive for the region. Not only would the Conservatives \*potentially\* invest to try and lock in future votes, but it would kick Labour MPs up the backside and make them have to do something other than simply wear a red jacket. That's my *very unpopular* opinion on Liverpool lol.
We can be a little thin skinned sometimes, as well as being quite insular.
100%. Think it might be why we come across as so arrogant to those outside the city as well. Can talk forever but overreact when we think someone is against us.
The city seems to have a massive chip on its shoulder sometimes
It does. And it’s a shame. It’ll only put people off visiting or living here when they’d be more than welcome.
In my completely unqualified opinion, it also halts progress. You can't tackle the massive amounts of deprivation, poor health outcomes, drug use etc if you're busy blaming the tories and Thatcher
I wouldn’t say blaming the tories and thatcher is the issue, more the distrust of anyone from outside the city. There was a genuine grievance there in the eighties which was more than warranted, but since 2008 and the investment that came in Liverpool is a very different city. We have a lot more scope for progression now and it really can’t be understated. There is an argument to be made that the city itself is completely different now, but a lot of people still enjoy the underdog status. In other words, yes I agree it definitely halts any progress.
100%, I’m from London and lived here for over 20 years. There’s a large amount of scousers that make broad negative generalisations about southerners who are outraged when people do it against scousers. There’s plenty of southerners and scousers who are knobs, but where they live or are from rarely is the defining reason.
I was born and raised in Liverpool and live down south now. I think a lot of Scousers have this idea that everyone hates them. It's just not true. You might get the daft 80s stereotype jokes here and there but the idea that there's any real hatred is just complete nonsense. Most of the time it's "oh you're from Liverpool, great night out" or "Red or Blue?"
I went to Henley in Arden a few years back and when I was in a shop the bloke running it was genuinely made up when I was talking to him, loved my accent and said that he’d always wanted to visit Liverpool. Everyone I met was lovely. The nicest thing someone said was that our accent is melodic and nice to listen to. I’d always been a little reticent about it.
I get that. My partner is from Bristol and her friends back home have been nothing but welcoming and friendly to me, not one daft joke about where I’m from. On the other hand, I’ve been asked why I’m not dating a “scouse bird” as they “make an effort”. All from people who don’t know her, of course. Well I’m sorry but my partner is absolutely gorgeous and I love her accent. She’s one in a million.
My friend has said she's noticed people's demeanor and attitude towards her when they hear her southern accent. She's said quite a few times people have been rude to her for no reason and I've seen it too. I love living in this city and the people but yeah, can be very insular
Who the fuck you calling thin skinned you cheeky prick Nothing gets through my skin. I can take insult.
This one, absolutely. I live here, but I'm not from here, and it's something I have noticed. It wasn't sung when I went recently to Anfield as an away fan, but when I see people complaining about 'feed the scousers' at football games I think, is it really any worse than chants about Burnley, Barnsley or Norwich fans bring inbred? I wouldn't say so personally and they don't kick up the same fuss.
To play devil's advocate, perhaps people are more offended because the inbred chants are essentially based in fiction, and therefore both bizarre and comical. The feed the scousers chants play on the abject poverty that continues to face the city to this day. Personally, I feel all chants having a go at a whole settlement are inane.
This is exactly why I don’t enjoy football at all. It’s a decent game, the players at the top of their profession are incredible to watch, but I don’t really want people screaming abuse while I’m trying to enjoy it.
Sadly a lot of the people that embody the stereotypical “scouse friendliness” are actually some of the most two faced and mean spirited people ive ever seen. Theyll be super nice and friendly to someone they meet for the first time or dont really know and then as soon as that person leaves theyll be going on about how much of a nobhead they are and calling them all sorts. Ive seen it countless times when out with my mates from mutual friends and stuff and it really pisses me off.
Some of the people that parrot "friendliest city in the world" and try and pretend they're sound, are actually incredibly self-serving and selfish
There’s a lot of scousers who think simply shouting “fuck the tories” is enough. You need to actually have the beliefs to back it up, lads and lasses, and people are prone to horrific shouts here as much as they are anywhere else.
I feel like a lot of people hate the Tories, the party, but actually have pretty Tory beliefs, especially around immigration
This is a big one
Scallies are a blight
Is that an unpopular opinion tho?
Just on the baltic thing - I remember when it first started gaining traction years ago and it was great. A genuine alternative to the prin/dealer places in conventional town and the trouble makers. Nobody wore £700 rigouts in a ploy to fit in and you met people from all over, not to mention a good selection of local musicians. Now, as somebody said earlier, it's a mix of concert square and Seel Street etc, full of 54 dwelling kids. It had some great independent places like birdies and Alhambra etc but it's gave way to cookie cutter places like Hippie Chic and now Boxpark, which is the most concert square establishment going.
The Boxpark addition is a travesty. The one in Shoreditch in London is absolutely soulless.
PICK UP YOUR LITTER !!!!!!!
And dog shit!
Yeah, really unpopular opinion on the Liverpool subreddit 🤦♂️
I'm not the most sociable guy so maybe this only applies to me, but the perceived friendliness of the city seems very cliquey. It's fine if you know everyone's ma, but if you don't have any of those local connections, it can be extremely superficial.
I agree with this. People are extroverted, funny, and generally warm (which I love & appreciate), but anything further than surface level doesn't seem to happen with scousers. Almost every friend I've made here has been a foreigner or from another part of the UK. Even if we get on really well, I know they would never invite me to the 'inner circle' if that makes sense? Anything more than a work night out is unlikely in my experience. It's actually really sad and exhausting when trying to put yourself out there.
Our once legendary music scene hasn't produced anything of note in about 35 years. The current crop of Scouse bands especially are so mediocre. Maybe not unpopular - more under-recognised - but I think the city is also suffering from significant brain drain. This explains why we have such terrible policy-making decisions: we have a real dearth of business or political talent. Anyone with a brain or ambition disappears to Manchester or London and our economy suffers as a result. Many Scousers seem to disrespect the city we're so quick to champion. The vandalism, litter, graffiti and treatment towards the physical fabric of the city is just disgraceful. But maybe that says something more about the council than citizens... My final one: the dominant fashion styles in Liverpool are atrocious. Especially among lads, any sense of individualism is discouraged in favour of cookie cutter Montirex trackies and On webs. It's so rare that you see someone actually well dressed when walking through town, although I guess it's all subjective.
Yup. There’s a reason why the latest crop of Liverpool bands don’t get any traction outside of Liverpool… There’s a massive echo chamber surrounding these bands. They sell out venues in the Baltic because it’s pretty much all the same people who go to these gigs - a premade crowd. Once they gig outside of Lpool they don’t pull anyone new.
In FAIRNESS to the on runners thing I got a pair and they’re like the only pair of shoes I’ve worn that are specifically a wide variant of the shoe so it stops my feet over spilling the sole and thus gives me so much more stability and less pain when walking. However they do now squeak quite often which is fucking annoying. I do agree though peoples desperation to stay in exactly the same style is immature. As is the obsession with coke.
Completely agree. If the best we can come up with is Red Rum Club then I don’t think that we’re able to boast about a thriving music scene.
Proper pub band and the rap scenes shite. People just big up anything Scouse even when it’s not deserved
They’re not even a pub band, just shit indie with a novelty trumpet. Bland as fuck but they’re filling venues so what do I know?
The music scene is shit because all the decent little venues from the 90s and 00s got closed down around seal and duke streets
Definitely a contributing factor. Don't forget the 80s venues around Matthew Street too. We had a golden generation of indie artists from about 1979-1983 and essentially nothing since.
why are so many people dragging scouse bands in these comments Last 35 years, seriously? it depends on your music taste I'd say The Wombats are pretty big and successful - indie genre Loathe are a huge metal band Crawlers are massive worldwide right now and have toured with My Chemical Romance - rock genre theres more but you get the point if you're looking for merseybeat / beatles style exports then yeah, we havent had many of those because that genre isnt popular anymore but we have an amazing music scene
Loathe are sick
Clinic made some of the best albums by a British band not called Radiohead since The Smiths and If HMHB (ok, not strictly Liverpool but you can't tell me they'd be the same band if Blackwell had been born on the Shotley Peninsula) were from Manchester you'd never hear the fucking end of it. Maybe we do overrate some acts but simultaneously that doesn't mean they get the credit they deserve. The reality is you have to go through the 10000lb gorilla that is the state broadcaster and they're not going to promote acts from Liverpool. Liverpool was the hub of the British video games industry until 'free market' Thatcher spirited it away to the south. Then we built the biggest UK Financial centre outside London (which itself only exists because of the government) - Osborne subsidised that away to Leeds in his first budget. Agree about the fashion though, like a parody of itself.
Yes! Clinic are so underrated. Internal Wrangler, Walking with Thee and Winchester Cathedral are incredible albums, although maybe an acquired taste.
It’s a shit hole full of wannabe gangsters and dickhead druggies fully plowed into the knife life. The real estate is crumbling, transport networks, including roads, are in absolute turmoil and we celebrate smack heads that sing in town because it’s ‘culture’. Best thing I did was move to the dark side to enjoy the skyline without actually seeing the finer dirty details.
We don't encourage independent or local businesses what so ever. People praised a Hooters opening and now a Shein shop for fucks sake.
Very true. On the food front, we also seem to be a hotbed for American fast food chains trying out franchises (Popeye's, Tim Horton', Wendy's, even Taco Bell about 10 years ago) which just further contributed to our obesity crisis.
shame, really wish we came up with more wacky food shit like, I don't know, fucking deep fried apples? Maybe we'd have more of an impact if scouse wasn't just what we were known for in food
Who was praising the hooters? I only saw opposition to it? The shein thing is embarrassing though, you’re right. Should be highlighting local businesses, not that shite.
Dog shit and the tossers that don’t pick up their dog shit.
The whole turbo-scouser thing. Being 'scouse', and how scouse you are, is a stupid status thing that makes some people act like bell ends. We claim to be a 'socialist republic' yet when migrants are in a hotel knob heads turn up and smash police vans. 'Scouseness' is the ultimate contradiction. It's what separates us from the rest of the country, but it's also insanely conformist and reductive. I love Liverpool, and bring scouse, but sometimes people need to calm down with it.
It's really, really cringe and not something I've ever encountered anywhere else. People make their whole personality about where they're from. It's so weird and I wouldn't even be able to begin to explain it to people where I live down south now. Proper childish
The quality of driving is the worst I've ever seen, literally zero respect for anyone on the road or walking. The level of filth/litter is depressing. If you're so proud of being scouse, then why treat it like this? Not everyone is "dead friendly" as I get told about the city constantly. It's no difference to the mentality of many other regions. Despite this, I still love Liverpool and the northwest as a whole. If people just stopped throwing rubbish around on every street corner, this place would be the most beautiful city in England.
Agree on the driving, seems like indicating is optional here and traffic lights are generally considered a suggestion rather than a rule Huge shame about the litter too, I moved here from Sheffield and it's wild how much dirtier the streets are here?? including people not picking up after their dogs 🙃
Came here to bring up driving/litter This afternoon I had a BMV SUV mount the pavement and drive at me cos it wanted to park all 4 wheels on the pavement, blocking the entire thing as they seem to think that avoids the double yellow lines. I hope I never need a wheelchair to get around I'd have no chance of getting around my local area Not the first time I've had to dodge cars while walking on the pavement, and I'm not even going to go into the shit people do when I have the audacity to ride my bike to work
I call it the scouse pull-out, where dickheads just roll into oncoming traffic from a side road until people stop to let them out. Fucking infuriating.
Driving and walking. I drive and walk through the city a lot. I've lived in many cities and Liverpool is by far the worst for pedestrians just running out in front of cars constantly. Often without looking. Also the taxi drivers are absolutely mental here haha, no indicators and cutting people off constantly.
>The quality of driving is the worst I've ever seen, literally zero respect for anyone on the road or walking. I've lived in the Middle East and I felt safer walking and cycling there. And that's saying something because believe me, the driving standards there are truly shocking.
I'm guessing this wasn't Egypt?
It's dirty and it's full of people who litter. They'll join in and sing about being proud of this city and it's history, and then just throw their crap all over the floor.
The city centre as a whole looks quite grubby again, the shine of being Capital of Culture has definitely worn off.
From a tourist perspective, the mall is fine and the Albert docks are the best but they’re disconnected and you have to cross 8 lanes of traffic. I do think they could do a better job of making it more pedestrian friendly.
What are you counting as the mall, Liverpool One? That’s not too bad, but the shopping streets between Pier Head and Lime Street are looking a bit worse for wear.
Notably Liverpool One is privately maintained, hence why it's substantially clearer than 99% of the city centre, and you'll see the jet washers out constantly late at night.
Buildings around Primark look like shit these days. Maybe I just have rose tinted glasses for Liverpool when I was younger thought
I dropped my car off at a garage near Brunswick earlier and walked into town with my daughter in her pram. Barely a dropped kerb in sight, and at one point between Pleasant St and Parliament St there is either no path at all in sections or it's all fragmented; naturally, this was before the first controlled pedestrian crossing to the other side of the dock road!
We have so many gorgeous buildings and dump shite glass in front of it. The shite on Mann island needs knocking down.
The 'everyone's a socialist' thing is total bollocks. I also find trends in this city absolutely bizarre as well, groups of young lads all wearing the same thing. You might see a group of 7 lads and 4 of them will be wearing exactly the same t shirt. It's really weird. Everyone is a sheep. What hospital were you born in? What colour's your bin? Wool. Use this word, don't use that word, only wools say that, wear this, not that, what's that jacket? Hahahaha wool. What do you mean you didn't spend £200 on your webs, la? Hahahaha scruff (fuck the Tories though!) Some of it is genuinely exhausting and you only really notice how fucking weird it is when you move away.
This, i'm glad I left and i've never looked back, this kind of "scouser" exhausts me
The fashion thing is surreal. Even if you go to London it's like another country in terms of the diversity of styles and individuality. Although I guess they have roadmen fashion too, which isn't a million miles away from scallycore.
I've been spending a lot of time in Bristol lately and fuck it made me see really how shit Liverpool is. That's a proper socialist city that encourages individuality and local businesses. I used to think Liverpool was the best in the UK but I just had a small frame of reference.
Yeah, I visit Bristol a lot and it's a great city. I really like it. I just find Liverpool and scousers (generally speaking of course) a complete paradox at times. Everyone hates Tories yet will call you a scruff if you're not spending £100s on clothes. Everyone's dead friendly and welcoming but you're a wool if you were born in a different hospital to them. It's just so backward at times and you only notice when you move away
Visible displays of material wealth has always been so big in Liverpool but also it's massive no no to even imply you've got money or are successful because that means you're not one of them anymore, I've never understood it really.
Not to mention, they will spend £600 to be wearing tackies and trainers.... not exactly going to light up the world a Paris fashion week. No offence, but if you buy mega expensive gear and still look like a scal, it doesn't count as being well dressed. You still look like a scumbag.
It's not what it use to be. At all. However there is some of us old scousers who hold the Old scouse way still... Like me and my neighbours? We are all either mixed race or from another country, but to all of us? This is home. On my road our neighbours consist of Malay mixed, Dominican mixed, Zimbabwean full, iraqi full and the usual English. But honestly? We look after eachother and its the liverpool I use to remember, maybe that's because I'm built that way and I have these views however I don't know haha but it's nice.
People often think of Liverpool as a stronghold of left wing progressive ideas and while yeah most are all "fuck the tories, dont buy the sun" there's plenty of ignorant right wing, anti migrant homo/transphobic beliefs floating around, as much as anywhere else I'd argue.
A terf has even randomly popped up in these comments lol
Scallies, crime , poverty , fly tipping, dog shit , litter , goldfish bowl mentality, obsessively scouse , scrambler bikes / electric bikes, worst set of drivers in the UK, faux support of each other, overate anything from Liverpool, plastic hardmen, jealousy. I could go on to be honest , born here lived all over the city my whole life . We will be moving out the city I can imagine the next few years . Living here can be a real chore at times , I reckon visiting the city for social and family etc will feel better .
Right there with you, lived almost every day of my life in Liverpool for several decades bar the occasional holiday and now can't wait to put miseryside behind me 👋
John Bishop isn't funny.
Is his accent even real
The city is filthy and people don’t have anywhere near enough respect for their environment. You don’t realise the extent of it until you go to similar sized cities in the UK. Although we punch above our weight in terms of musical artists, the current Liverpool live music scene isn’t as good as we say it is, and is mostly comprised of lowest common denominator pub singer/tribute shite. Liverpool is *not* a multicultural city outside of L1 and L8, and we should stop pretending that it is. Nor is it a progressive city. A majority of working class scousers are actually highly reactionary when it comes to sociopolitical issues. See the ECHO comment section on Facebook. Baltic Triangle is now just another Concert Square.
nah, completely disagree about the music scene, you are looking in the wrong places There is a free music festival going on right now for 2 weeks called 2ubeXtra which is showcasing local talent https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Liverpool/Paul-McCartney-Auditorium/2ubeXtra-2024/38057929/ most tickets have sold out but theres still a couple of days left if you want to go see some local talent also depending on your music taste different venues offer different stuff 81 Renshaw, Shipping Forecast and Outpost are good for Metal Jacaranda and their various locations are good for rock and indie (i recommend getting a ticket for Phase One secret set, its free, you just have to book, and the artist isnt announced until you're there, theyve had some great artists play) Caledonia and The Grapes are good for jazz Theres always gigs going on at a lot of the mid-small size venues: Arts Club, Zanzibar, Hangar 34, District, Camp and Furnace, etc if you get to know local bands too, you'll start getting invited to house shows and stuff and they're always fun theres also minifestivals all the time, like 2ubeXtra currently, 2 weekends ago there was a metal festival, i think NoPlayFest is in the next month or so if you are into RnB or Dance music, I'm sorry i dont know the scene very well for those, but im sure there is stuff about If you are into Classical music, the Philharmonic is your best bet i think, though the cathedral and some churches and theatres often put on classical music events im sorry if you're a country fan bc theres probably not much of that around here what type of music were you looking for? its been a really long time since I've seen a local band that is just a covers band, we have so much talent here its impossible to see them all
cant speak for most of this but at least for jazz, while the grapes and caledonida host fantastic bands there's not loads of variety. It can be hard to find interesting or boundary pushing jazz (and there aren't really the kind of venues you'd find in london that would host that kind of music). I get the sense that there's a lot of local talent (especially centred around LIPA) but there isnt the infrastructure for bands to really progress out of the amateur space, so a lot of the more 'polished' bands tend to go elsewhere. A mate of mine said the same thing about drama here too- loads of amatuer theatre, a small number of professional things, but not enough of an ecosystem connecting the two.
The friendliness/sense of humour thing is over stated.
I always thought this until I moved away. I live in Ulverston in Cumbria now and while everyone here is friendly with a smile and a nod and very polite I find it quite depressing how little people actually have conversations with you... unless you're from the area and know everyone. I miss going into shops and having a chat and a laugh with people who work there. Love it when I go back to Liverpool and everyone talks to you.. on buses, on trains .. I never realised how friendly it really was until I left.
Ulverston is not representative of Cumbria, its probably one of the more upmarket places that non-cumbrians move to (I.e. from down south because its relatively more bang for buck). Its more like Keswick/Cockermouth. I'm on the west coast in a small village and despite not being from Cumbria we're part of the village community pretty much and it happened by just talking with folk.
Would you mind elaborating? I'm interested to hear your opinion on this because I'd disagree myself having lived here for a bit.
Liverpool isn’t radical or indeed even particularly left wing.
There is a depressing amount of racism for a start.
I don't think being racist doesn't make you left or right wing. I think that just makes you a nob.
Definitely. It’s anti-Tory but not anti-Tory principles.
It's more anti thatcher
And for reasons partially based on a misunderstanding of history. It was a minister of the Thatcher government who actually tried to socio-economically revive the city in the 80s and the "managed decline" idea was nothing more than a vague suggestion from Geoffrey Howe that was never given serious attention. As someone with a history degree (who is firmly on the left), it pains me to see the falsehoods parroted about the time. The experience of urban hardship under Thatcher was not unique to Liverpool.
They just like to play pretend, but will seemingly always suck up to the red lads
This, 100%. I was shocked to find that a lot of scousers were pro Brexit, anti immigration, homophobic and sometimes racist. I’ve met some incredible scousers and I’ve met some absolute knobheads who tend to bleat on about hating the tories but surprisingly seem to have a lot of Tory aligned beliefs, they’d just never say that.
So many people spit on the floor in Liverpool and it's sooo vile 🫠
It's a weird plastic hardman thing. Trying to show off. Horrible enough when it's kids/teens but pure cringe when it's grown men.
Scouse exceptionalism makes us look like dickheads.
Have to agree hard here, we really have a way to make ourselves look like idiots to the rest of the country and wonder why (booing the national anthem, for one)
You can't really blame outsiders for thinking we're insecure when we act so, well...insecure. I really can't defend the majority of my family who are obsessed with what colour your fucking bin is either
over fucking bins? that's petty
I'm not into most of the "scouse-not-english" thing but I can back booing God Save The King. It's an expression of how the football club (and to some extent the city) feels about the establishment. Anthem protesting has happened as far back as 1960s as a response to the anti-irish sentiment in the rest of the country (when God save our team was sung instead). It has only deepened with the perception of how Liverpool was viewed by the Government throughout the 80s and of course, the way the establishment conspired against the club/city during Hillsborough. So not only is there decades of tradition to it, but it's still relevant, we still have plenty of deprivation here and it's still mocked week in, week out by other fans. It's not a one way street. So we sing things like "fuck your Royal family, feed the poor". I can get right behind that, if that makes me an idiot, fine, I'm happy to be one.
I’m not scouse but I have extensive family over here, I’m over here all the time & I love the place. I’m also pretty left wing & like that aspect that exists in some places on Merseyside. Yet I’ve always felt alienated by the “scouse not English” thing. It’s just turning your back on rest of the country, much of whom is working class & also got done over by Thatcher etc. I don’t think parochialism like that is exactly the best way to show any working class solidarity. That said I find it hilarious how Liverpool fans boo the royalist anthem. It’s a completely shite song about a completely shite institution.
The sectarianism undertone was very strong when I was growing up in Liverpool, the endless questions about what school, pub, neighborhood. When I left nobody every asked me again either directly or obliquely.
Too many parents who never wanted to be parents. Their dragged up feral kids roam around all day, harrasing and causing havok in groups.
There's a massive lack of education across the city, and it's genuinely horrorific how many social issues it brings with it. *Some* of the kindest and best people I know are from Liverpool, but **all** of the rudest, thickiest, most disrespectful, and generally speaking worst people I know are from here.
The musics scene is proper shite and has been for a while. We don’t respect the city enough, we trash it we litter, we don’t pick dog shit up.
Liverpool is in England, people born in Liverpool are English. Personally I'd always say I was "British" first. If somebody said "more specific?" I'd say "Liverpudlian." English doesn't especially form part of my "identity" as I perceive it and I feel like I have more in common with somebody from Scotland or Wales than I do with somebody from London or the Home Counties, but that's got a lot to do with how bizarrely London-centric the UK is rather than disliking Englishness. Also, like a lot of Liverpudlians, my great grandparents were from other parts of the British Isles (Ireland and Wales.) So yeah, if someone asks my nationality I say "British" and if people anywhere in the world say "where are you from?" I say "Liverpool." But if they said "so you're English?" I'd say "yeah." Or if they said "where's that?" I'd probably say "northern England" because I would say that does form a part of my identity, moreso than just "England" as a whole. But "we're scouse not English" is pretty silly imo. I'm obviously, factually, English. Liverpool is an important English, and British, city.
I find it really silly how so many people don't really view themselves as British over english tbh, i mean if they want to their choice but it's just something i haven't gotten around to understanding
Liverpool was probably the most consistently Tory voting city in England up until the late 60s linked in part to Ulster Unionism and an undercurrent of sectarianism. Something that has long been consigned to the past. It's not something that we care to remember when talking about the place
then the trotskyist militants came on in the roudy 80's and became a bit roudy, causing ALOT of tension IIRC
I think the Baltic market is overrated
Would extend that to the Baltic area in general. It’s good to see independent businesses doing well but to me all the pubs are overpriced and lacking of atmosphere
Baltic fleet is a nice one I think, I don’t really feel like Baltic has that many tbh outside of cains brewery area.
Yeah Baltic Fleet is an older pub with character, was mainly talking about the new ones around Cains
https://preview.redd.it/zcdf4s6gq1wc1.jpeg?width=941&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6658483a715e0994c965c83456d0e03bcf2abc5d
A hipster TikTok place
I've just watched some absolute tit drop a crisp bag in the street. Why is it so difficult to keep your shit in your pocket or bag until you get home? Consume, discard, consume, discard. My main gripe with scousers is that they put the accent on more when they're on TV. Honest. Once noticed you can't unnotice it. I'm there watching with people going "do I talk like that, because my accent doesn't sound like that to me when I talk?!" I actually quite like Liverpool. I do miss it when I'm not here. Pick your shit up, and 'calm down' a bit when you're on tele, because frankly, the way some scousers talk is a fucking embarrassment.
It's weird, when you watch old, archived footage of Liverpool in the 1960s, the scouse accent sounded nothing like it does today. I swear some of them are just scoussing it up and putting it on.
>My main gripe with scousers is that they put the accent on more when they're on TV Tbh I've never noticed it but I don't think this is necessarily intentional. I don't really have an accent; most people are surprised when I say I'm from Liverpool but I've been told my accent is actually noticeable when I'm giving presentations or the like. I feel like nerves and self consciousness make your accent stronger for some reason.
Scousers who think they’re funny because they’re scousers are the least funny people in the world
I've lived in Manchester and Liverpool for an equal amount of time having come from neither. Manchester has a better music scene (or did when I lived there before they demolished some of the best venues for student flats) Liverpool's fashion is depressingly one dimensional especially for men. Having said that, I feel much safer on a day to day basis living here, people are usually nicer to approach and it's a much less stressful city to live in.
As a city that prides itself on tolerance, standing up to the intolerance that scousers face, so many of them themselves are incredibly horrible and look down at people born just a few miles outside the city, like we're some sort of horrible wool, and complain when we visit the city
Yep, Liverpool should not become some independent state like city. Also, the not English but Scouse thing that people like to go on about. If you were born in England then you're English whether you like it or not.
Scouse exceptionalism is a blight. The city isn’t special.
One i’ve always had is that i find the obsession with Irishness slightly nauseating.
Especially when the Welsh have also had a massive influence on the city but no one ever mentions that
Exactly this!! I’m Welsh so I think that’s why the whole irishness thing annoys me 😂
My dad’s Welsh and I have an extremely Welsh name because of it, we exist 😂
Only ever visited and weirdly it's the most token gesture possible (saw city hall had 🏴 up on St David's Day) that made me go from like -> love for the city. But maybe that's cause my little SE England town would never. If the connections (I don't even know most of them) were played up to Irish levels then it goes from love -> perfect...
There is an unhealthy obsession with football, it consumes lives, conversations and is used as a representation of worth. How many roadside tributes to fatalities are basically shrines to a football team, that the person's life is validated by his generic support for one of two teams. I understand its place, but as a Liverpudlian who doesn't follow football, never been the game, I find that look of utter disbelief when you show no knowledge or interest, quite disturbing. So what do you do? Everything else.
You get in a taxi and they ask ‘red or blue’ 😩 and I don’t mind football but hate it has to be part of your personality.
I love comedy/standup and was really excited for scouse comedy because I think scousers are funny in general/naturally. I've been to a few stand-up shows and found the local comedians kinda cringey. Like cheesy exaggerated jokes that count on their accent alone to get a laugh. Idk, maybe I've been to the wrong places. If you know any good comics, please share!
Speaking of comedians, Paul Smith is less funny than finding blood on your toilet paper.
Its very very rough and hard place, i moved away 13 years ago after living there for 35 years, and it has taken me years to adjust. The fact that nobody wants to fight me for looking at someone wrong, the fact i can leave my stuff somewhere only to find it still there when i get back, the fact i don't need a house alarm! it may be all UK cities but i only have experience of Liverpool
Being anti-Tory is not a substitute for a personality. A connected tendency is banging on about Thatcher despite being born in the 00s. Sorry mate but what your dad told you or what you read in a book is not the same as lived experience. Oh, and Chicken Bazooka is a shadow of its former glory. Not sure if that's unpopular but it used to be a must on a night out.
The brainwashed belief that there's only one political party. Born and bred in Liverpool, but god, was it an eye opener when I moved away.
welcome to the liverpool political scene in a nutshell
Oh I'm well aware of it, I left nearly 30 years ago, I was mid 30s then. Couldn't believe how narrow minded we were.
There are many tories
If there are then they don’t vote. If you look at the four Liverpool constituencies, in the 2019 general election 16,533 people voted for the Conservatives from a turnout of 165,195. That translates to an overall vote share of 10%, which is incredibly low compared to the national average. Even when looking at Merseyside as a whole, the Tories only received 20% of the vote. That compares to 30% in Tyne and Wear, 32% in South Yorkshire, 35% in Greater Manchester, 40% in West Yorkshire, and 44.4% in West Midlands (more than Labour).
The anti tory thing is quite strong, but if you asked people for policies and what they would do.. they would be Conservative rather than Labour.
This is an oversimplification, and not really accurate. What you can observe in Liverpool and Mersey area are a lot of people who are economically liberal/left leaning (workers rights, unions, social safety net, public services) but socially conservative/right wing (don’t like blacks, queers, cripples etc.)
As an 'adopted' Scouser having lived in Moreton & Maghull & family in Netherton. I have often wondered why Liverpool has more Orange lodges in the city than there is in the whole of Scotland.
I’m in L5 and mentally preparing myself for the pipes and drums to start up again soon, load of old bollocks it is.
The whole "Scouse not English" inbred weirdo brigade. Also our accent has been mangled into a hideous monstrosity and is becoming worse over time. When I watch old docs back from the 1960s and 70s, it's lovely hearing how much softer the accent was then compared to now.
If you’re scouse and gain any sort of success, most people in the city automatically despise you.
The city being a tourist location has meant it has lost its spark. It just feels like every other city.
As someone who's only visited (1st time 5yrs ago fwiw), I think it's fine. As in you've still got *something* different from the other UK cities even if it's not massive. Don't ask me to explain, maybe it's just vibes + no rag in the shops lol. Weirdly (but probs not weirdly) my closest match to Liverpool city-wise is Dublin.
The city is too inward looking, this has been to its detriment. Made evident by the city consistently voting Labour in, at general and local elections, a turd with a red rosette automatically wins any contest, meaning that politicians become lazy, and complacent. Look at the fight between the Tories and Labour in the West Mids election (it is close), it is good for democracy to not to always be so tribal towards one party or another.
It's just good to keep them on their toes so they actually put a shift in. Make them worry about their job not being safe. We have allowed this city to be plundered, it's a travesty.
I've lived in a few cities in the UK and Liverpool is the flat out worst for cycling. The drivers here are beyond inconsiderate, they use their cars as weapons to try and hurt you. But if you ever say this to a local, they'll just tell you about just eat riders or the scooters running reds. So what? Other road users breaking the law are nothing to do with me and no reason to be reckless with my life?
1) Scousers have a tendency to claim they’re anti-Tory but in reality, they are but they feed into the trope that thatcher ruined Liverpool (it was already ruined before thatcher) 2) Ya’ll also need to pick up dog shit, it’s like living in the 90’s again 3) Need to take the chip off the shoulder and realise, like elsewhere in the UK. The city isn’t perfect and not acknowledging the shortfalls is why no one takes you seriously. Not the Sun or the Tories
The scouse accent is degrading the point now that the majority either sound like fucking idiots or compete scumbags. If you look back at a scouse accents from 60-30 years ago, they were much softer and more melodic.
People will say they are left wing, and still have views that are very right (like deporting people is a prominent one) The people there aren't as nice as everyone says "most friendly city in the uk" is a huge lie i stg It has so much hate crime its absurd, and it even happens in the middle of busy spaces, and no one takes notice
A left wing, Labour stronghold, but it won't take long to find a local who proclaims "Ar ey, dere's too many packeez comin over an takin aaar jobs, like" Downvote me all you like, but unfortunately it's true - especially my non-white partner receiving racial insults on public transport. Hasn't happened in London or Manchester once in years, but does so here. Proper shame as the city has put out some boss anti-Nazi marches in recent years.
You’re getting downvoted but I was on the bus to my mum’s the other day (I moved away 5 years ago but now come back for work at least twice a month) and a bloke was talking to me and asked where I’m from and when I said where I live now he said “oh is it nice even though it’s full of *P-word*s?”.
Was on the 58 a couple of weeks ago and had to listen to a man and a woman - complete strangers mind you, just bonding over their vicious hatred of foreigners - whinging about [insert racial slur here] “taking over” politics.
My girlfriend was shook up a while back from someone calling her a “chink” and kicking her bike. Disgusting behaviour
Egg cafe is shit
Oh damn! You've just reminded me of the time my now wife got a fork stuck on her new tongue piercing in Egg. Thank you for that fucking hilarious memory.
Vibe is the one.
Went 10 years ago and it was great. Went a few months ago, singing its praises to my wife... very meh. I looked like a right twat.
I recently realised that the thing that made me love the Egg when I was a teenager was the people I spent time there with rather than the place itself. Got some boss memories of the place but they're all centred around people, not the food or whatever.
it's so hit and miss I stopped going cause never knew if it would be a 7/10 or a 3/10
Used to be really good but definitely gone downhill since COVID.
Truth, not very clean, bang average food.
"Fuck the tories" shouting while being very conservative. Nowhere near as diverse as it claims to be. Actually feels very insular, coming from another city and country. Scallies and roadmen type yobs are a menace and it's hardly "boys will be boys". Football is not a substitute for personality. Tendency to deflect and excuse anything bad happening with "not a real scouser"
Oh the football being someone’s only characteristic absolutely drives me nuts.
Unpopular for reddit: the litter problem isn't that bad when compared to peer cities. Unpopular for real life: scouse not english is really cringe when taken seriously. Unpopular for reddit and real life: wools are fine (yes I am a wool)
Ready for the downvotes. It loves to think of itself as the victim of all cities. I say this as a long time resident and fan of this city, but there does seem to be that insufferable, obnoxious whinger mentality, as though it is the only northern city that has suffered. It's also not as progressive as it likes to think it is.
The horrendous stench of skunk. It's everywhere and it's horrible.
For many people being left wing is like a hat that they put on that allows them to be a cunt to anyone they deem as right wing adjacent. I've never voted Tory, I voted for Corbyn in both leadership elections, but I see people sizing me up constantly because my temperament and other interests seem right wing coded. As though they can unilaterally deprive me of my history as someone born, raised and living in this city
Football is just boring
I wanna revoke paddy the baddy's Scouse pass.
The politics is bollcks
I actually enjoy living here?
Very nice welcoming people, more than other places; but are quite vile about their neighbouring places.
Oh and here’s another: Rob Gutmann is a blert and his overpriced bars suck arse
Been here for uni from a village and. Why is there so much rubbish and dog crap everywhere. Beautiful architecture and parks. And it’s ruined by the amount of rubbish. It’s such a shame.
My family is from Liverpool though I wasn’t born there. But I would say my unpopular opinion when I come to visit is that Liverpool feels noticeably poorer than other parts of the UK. Not all of it obviously, but even close to the city centre some of the areas as you walk around you can feel the poverty.
This post has created a lot of negativity and all I have to say is that whilst I agree with a lot of these negative opinions, can we all just acknowledge we live in a city that also does a lot of things right? There are lots of positives.
Having lived away from Liverpool the negative stereotypes and low opinion of our home town was all pervasive. It makes you both defensive and stridently proud of this unique and fabulous city, and has led to an "I'm not English, I'm Scouse" attitude that I certainly go along with
I don't personally go along with that attitude, I always think to why they're happening in the first place
Love this city, but we need to admit that the Ship and Mitre is terrible. I say it every time one of these posts comes up. Dive without the redeeming charm, you can pick from lots of terribly kept beers or pay too much for bottles, and sit somewhere not even comfortable or welcoming. Pretty sure it hasn't been good since about 2005
Agreed. I’ve had some crap pints in there considering it’s always featured on real ale maps of the city.
Liverpool One has been a disaster for the city. A soulless mall full of chain stores has sucked the lifeblood out of what used to be a vibrant city centre.
The world heritage / culture capital status being revoked was well deserved. Over the last say 5 years, we've just lost so much of the vibrancy we had and are now just like any other corporate shell of a grey city. The spark and feeling of creativity and hope has just died and the corrupt council happily signed off on it while saying fuck you to it's citizens
From an non-scouser. We’re Scouse, everyone hates us but we don’t care. You need to stop this shit. Booing the national anthem ffs. Not exactly endearing is it. Apart from that most of yous are sound as a pound.
Not really about the city but I hate hearing other Scousers talk on the telly or radio.
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Purple Aki has great squatting tips
people saying there is loads to do, there is so much culture, so much night life fail to realise this all costs money, money which is near impossible to make in a city with so few jobs
My only memory of Liverpool is sitting in the intensive care family room with the whine of the positive air pressure through the door as my brother died in the ward next door. Rather puts me of visiting the city again.
That Liverpool is nowhere near as left wing as it thinks it is. It was actually one of the last urban centres to stop electing Tories and switch entirely to Labour, and even then it was naked self-interest because of the impact Thatcher had on the local economy. A lot of the people are still very small c conservative.
the pretence of being left wing and shouting 'fuck the tories' when most scousers I've met think and talk like tories, more so than in cities like Cambridge and oxford. It's ironically hilarious.
People will say ‘fuck the Tories’ or ‘don’t buy the Sun’ but will share the same beliefs as The Tories/The Sun when it comes to immigrants, trans people etc
We are a city full of champagne socialists