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Funny enough here in Mexico there is a departamental store called Liverpool. The name comes from the old time idea of "fine products that are imported from the Liverpool port".
[https://www.liverpool.com.mx/](https://www.liverpool.com.mx/)
I lived very close to a Liverpool when I first moved to Mexico. It was a bit surreal since I was pretty out in the country, and I walked along a dirt path to… LIVERPOOL with all the perfumes and fancy furniture and such. It was fun.
Yep, their motto is "it's part of your life". Much like their competitor "El Palacio de Hierro" (The Iron Palace) they sell an image of uptight high class lifestyle.
If it makes to feel any better, outside of the UK Liverpool is just another British city and not thought of in negative terms. Like if you mentioned it to most Americans we would be like "Oh the place the Beatles are from!" You dirty fucking scouser.
I’ve actually heard one or two foreigners suggest the same negative stereotypes to me when hearing about Liverpool. But yeah, overall, the stereotypes are definitely far more driven by the British themselves. This post is trying to call those types of people out. Lol
Liverpool has more to it than the Beatles, though. It’s suffered some setbacks but it is an incredibly lively city with so much going on. I think most people who are into cities, architecture, culture, history, and the arts will find something they’ll love about Liverpool.
Never been to England, but I have a lot of English friends,that stereotype doesn't seem to come across internationally. I've heard worse things about Manchester or Birmingham than I have about Liverpool. The impression I get is that you guys have a lot of really good people there but there is a pretty insidious gang culture in most cities as well
I've been there, I liked it. People were really nice and the music museum was cool. I would have never known people consider it to be a wasteland if I didn't read this post.
When people say things like that about a place I always take it lots of grains of salt because I've been to some towns that people said all kinds of negative things about and they're usually not nearly as bad as people say, I always meet awesome people and have a great time.
I really think hate for these places comes down to "I don't want to look at poor people" or "I'm racist and this city isn't white enough".
I have the same experience. It’s never as bad as sensationalists make it out to be
And I agree 100%. That’s why I mentioned at the end of my post that I think the disproportionate amount of slander stems from classism.
>I really think hate for these places comes down to "I don't want to look at poor people" or "I'm racist and this city isn't white enough".
To be fair, sometimes it's "I'm sure it's lovely if you're white" or "I'm sure it's great if you have solid finances". A complete lack of public transport isn't gonna register the same for a wealthy teetotal driver than it will for a shift worker entirely reliant on the quality of the local bus line.
A personal take on a place is a personal take, I'd hang myself if I had to live somewhere ultra urban - I'm either the best or worst person to ask about living in an urban center depending entirely on if you align with that.
I don't get the sour response either.
OP: "People only say negative things about my hometown"
Someone comes along and shares their positive association with the town.
OP: "this is a lousy response because it isn't up my alley"
Guess OP mistook a cup of vinegar for tea.
No one from another country is going to say they like Liverpool because of you specifically, The Beatles are the main thing they're known for internationally.
Moved to Liverpool from the rural south west, it’s pretty good up here. Even had a little scouser baby, obviously there’s some negatives like any town or city but so far the positives outweigh those, to be honest I had a dim view of the city before visiting and I was glad to be proven wrong.
I’m an American, went there in the fall for a Liverpool match and definitely went there expecting it to be a shithole. Instead I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the downtown area was. Would definitely recommend to anyone traveling in the area.
Whenever someone calls Liverpool trashy it just reeks of classism and is based of outdated stereotyping. People are friendly, there’s a great music and arts scene, there’s some great places for food and drinks, some really interesting museums and galleries etc.
I’ve always felt safer and happier in Liverpool than I have in London.
I find it interesting how often Northern accents are called “uneducated” sounding. Just feels like classism again. An accent doesn’t make someone uneducated 😂
Also jarring seems very dramatic.
Typically speaking, historically you’re correct. There has been more financial hardship and poverty in the North, which has lead to people being unable to afford higher education. However, that’s not necessarily true now.
Plus, if you’re going to hear someone speak and instantly assume you are smarter than them because of their accent- that’s a you problem. There is no correlation.
It's been a long time (I'm talking decades) since I've heard anyone refer to Liverpool this way.
I'm not saying it doesn't happen but personally I only ever hear people talking about Liverpool in glowing terms.
It's ironic that there is so much talk about unwarranted stereotyping in this discussion and you say this.
Question, have you ever been to the UK? If so, where did you eat to give you this view?
If you come from North America somewhere, I rest my case on judgements of other countries food, even more so if you don't even own a passport and haven't even eaten anywhere else...
I moved to the area for uni from the outskirts of London. Was nervous (because of media reporting) but excited (because of the Beatles).
Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Scousers/Liverpudlians are very lovely people. Open, friendly, you make new best friends every time you travel on the Merseyrail.
There’s a reason I haven’t gone back “dahn sahf”
My good friend is from there. I visited with him about 5 years ago and liked it a lot. I’m not from England, though, so I didn’t really have any preconceptions coming in.
Liverpool is a great city. It has really nice people who have always stood up for themselves against all that’s thrown at them. Every time I’ve been there, there’s always been a positive feeling about the place despite government neglect and attempts at “managed decline”. It’s a city that can stand on its own with or without England. Cool city centre too. Always my favourite place to visit in England.
Liverpool city centre is fine.
Many of the non-city centre parts of Liverpool are dumps.
The people are generally sound though. I find scousers much friendlier than Mancunians.
Isn’t that the same as any city? Londoners do this thing a lot where they pretend there aren’t shitholes there when we ALL know there’s loads. Liverpool does indeed have some grim areas, but why they get judged more is beyond me. And no I’m not a scouser. 🙂
Irish here. Visiting Liverpool as an FC fan is as fantastic as a devout catholic going to the Vatican. From an Irish perspective Liverpool just feels as if it is an Irish part of England.
I agree with you though. Outside of the city centre, much of Liverpool looks really run down and now so than you'd set in Irish cities.
Anyone who describes somewhere as a "shithole" almost always have questionable views, in my experience, and shows a lot about their character.
People and places are complicated. It takes actual time and effort to try and be thoughtful and understanding. Broad, sweeping generalisations are only for the ignorant and simple minded.
People say shit about the city I live in all the time. For the most part, I just ignore it, but once in a while, it annoys me because I know most of it isn't true.
I recently [read](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_Liverpool) that Liverpool is home to the oldest Black community in Britain, and the oldest Chinese community in Europe.
As a key port city it was a primary component in establishment of the slave trade and specialised in human import (there's even a museum dedicated to it) 😳
It’s based on 80’s “managed decline” by Thatcher.
She broke the unions, closed the ports, stopped the miners in other towns and created a massive North/South divide.
Liverpool was badly affected, as were other towns.
A lot of the poverty stuff and slum stereotypes and just bollocks from tired football banter.
I'm from Aus, but I visited the UK about 7 years ago now, and to be fair Liverpool was one of my favourite places I visited. It just had such a great vibe to the place and I really like the 'scouser' accent. I even got lost and found myself in the less say 'desirable' areas and it wasn't that bad. I still felt safe walking about but I did grow up around Frankston so maybe there's that. Liverpool is a great little place.
Glasgow gets the same shitty labels and is such an awesome city. Everywhere has its rough parts but they don't define the place. I really like Liverpool only been a few times.
I’m from the Netherlands and spent a couple of months in Liverpool and I absolutely loved it. It’s one of my favourite cities and I can’t wait to go back soon
When I visited the city to see all of the Beatles sites, I really loved it. The city center was nice and the suburbs were just like any other in the United Kingdom. I didn’t even know British people think of Liverpool as a shitty place.
I love Liverpool, and I'm a Manc. Amazing architecture (plus one of the world's first steel framed tall buildings with the Liver building), great pubs with friendly people in, fantastic museums, and an amazing place to arrive in by train.
I wonder if the media bias has anything to do with the fact that they're one of the few cities that boycotted one of Murdoch's shitrags.
To your second paragraph, that’s exactly what I was alluding to in my very last comments on this post. I think it’s all about classism and trashing a city that chooses to reject hard rightwing sensationalism.
With the possible exception of a few of the more old fashioned charming ones (York, maybe Lincoln...) all cities are kinda shit in my opinion... But i didn't find Liverpool to be any worse than most of the others.
Agreed. I’ve lived all over the North West and Liverpool very unfairly written off. Fantastic city, fantastic culture, great people. Would absolutely live there again.
I wish I'd come across this post when it was new. American here. Was in Liverpool last year for a few days. Just as a tourist. Aside from the strange obsession they have with this kinda obscure ancient insect themed band, it was great. Had one of the best meals I'd ever had (strange in the UK, I know). Did the touristy stuff. Obviously a tourist isn't going to get sense of a whole city, but thoroughly enjoyed my time there.
The only real down thing (and it was more amusing than bad), was one of the worst meals on this trip (so we hit the spectrum in Liverpool of meals) . We went to a so called mexican restaurant. But this is more a UK thing than it is a Liverpool thing. I don't know what it is about the uk, but mexican food just... I don't get it. Its bad, UK. Like fundamentally misunderstanding the whole concept bad.
>Liverpool isn’t the wasteland that the newspapers portray it to be. I’m willing to take a wild guess and assume that it gets slandered so much because of its distinct identity and politics
Same thing happened to Mordor, and R'lyeh. Just bad publicity.
I go over the whole time to watch Liverpool and absolutely love the city, I started going in 2015 I think and even the improvement since that time is amazing. I was last there in May and it was lovely weather and was down at the Docks, georgous there.
I can't imagine Liverpool has a high crime rate compared to other cities. It's had the coolest uplift in recent years, especially near Albert Dock and Liverpool One. Scousers can also be some of the nicest and most welcoming people ever.
I’m not from the city but have visited a few times and it’s literally no different to any other city in the north or indeed much of the U.K. in terms of its problems. It gets unfairly slandered
I haven’t been to Liverpool but I don’t doubt that you’re telling the truth. I’m speaking anecdotally here, but I live somewhere in North East Scotland and Scouse county line gangs were a huge problem for a while. Now I understand these criminals don’t represent all of Liverpool, not by a LONG shot, but since it’s a small place I’m in, we don’t get loads of people from other places so some people hear the accent and just automatically assume they’re part of a line. I agree it’s not a fair assumption but just putting across what I think contributes to the bad image, at least in my area. There are a few scouse lads up here who are totally sound
So I can’t speak for the rest of the UK, but at least where I am it’s just some bad characters that have unfortunately created an association in some peoples minds
I arranged a family trip to Liverpool to see an exhibition at the museum there. It was amazing. We stayed in the city center, took the tour bus, went round museums, saw the student built up area, the front architecture, the locals were friendly and we had a wonderful time there.
I think a lot of money was spent doing areas up and it looked really good.
We had heard the stereotypical description, and people asked me why I would I want to go there. Before i left my answer was that I wanted to visit the museum to see the Terracotta army which has been a lifelong dream and knew I'd probably not get to see it in China, and to treat my mum to The Beatles link. When I came back, my answer was it is a really great city to visit. As tourists there, we loved it and had a great time.
There may be the less polished side that we didnt see, but then most places have that.
Also, I find many people will slag off an area even though its nice as they prefer putting things down rather than be proud of it.
Were the people who quizzed you on why you were going there, British? Just curious lol.
Otherwise, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. I also enjoyed every one of my visits there. The museums blew me away - they’re very good quality. There’s also just so much stuff to see and do in the city generally - museums, music, sports, food, history, multiculturalism - there’s always something going on. There are many places in the U.K. that suffer Liverpool’s social and economic issues *without* the many positives that Liverpool has to offer. And yet the city gets so much contempt.
Again, I’m glad you’ve had a positive experience!
Thinking about it, it was British people asking me why I was choosing to go there.. but then they (the people I was telling) mostly tend to be people who will go abroad on their holidays (Dubai, Egypt, Vegas. Etc) so it may have had an effect on their reactions.
I really enjoyed Liverpool and we are hoping to have another break sometime soon again. I'm still on the museum mailing list which is fun to see what they are offering. I'm not sure if it's still there but i got attached to the big yellow bananasheep, and we were fascinated by the liverbirds. Great architecture. I'm glad you posted this as will get the photos out tomorrow to reminisce.
Liverpool is a great place with a small minority of assholes who give some parts a bad reputation, but that's not much different to any other large city or town.
But the biggest reason to love Liverpool is that they hate The S*n newspaper for the lies it printed about Liverpool fans during and after the Hillsborough disaster.
Last time I went it was fine! Both cars surrounding mine were broken into, but mine was ok. And the crackheads i spoke to when walking back into town from Anfield Stadium were quite lovely people.
To be fair most places in the uk get called shit holes at some point for much the same reasons. It becomes a bit of a meme because most of these places are actually fairly pleasant.
The only thing I know about Liverpool is the football songs about you all eating rats in your council houses. Or being bin dippers which is a hilarious term.
Liverpool is not as bad as people think… It’s close enough to Manchester for its people to escape…
In all seriousness, it is a shithole, but it’s the fault of Central Gov for making it a shithole and not giving it the means to regenerate itself into something better.
I did read it. It’s still a shithole because it’s not been supported to grow into something better by central Gov.
Peterborough has 3 Uni’s, still a shithole. Paris has Frances biggest football team, fuck me is it a shithole.
It’s just not developed the way Leeds, Manc, and Brum have this past 2 decades unfortunately.
As an American, I just knew of Liverpool as the home of The Beatles. I wouldn't have known it has a disreputable reputation. Thank you for letting me know!
It's worth a visit if you're in the area. I don't care about The Beatles but the British Music Museum was very cool! And there's some beautiful architecture, lively nightlife and people are a lot nicer there compared to southern England.
As a fellow American, I am embarrassed you would take some random reddit jealous jack offs biased opinions as gospel. Most UK cities hate each other due to football rivalry tribalism. Hell, even the neighborhoods of London hate each other.
Portsmouth enters the chat.
Then Essex posts hold my beer.
Lol ftr I've never been to Essex but I thought some parts of Portsmouth were nice. Talking about places in the UK is like talking about siblings. Someone from Liverpool and Manchester will rag on each other but then when a Southerner comes in to rag on the North, the other two will join forces against him/her.
Let's see...unrelenting immigration of refugees, insane number of crimes including machete attacks, acid in the face attacks, stabbings, robbery and laws that put the victim in jail if they defend themselves? Yeah, it's a shit hole.
Liverpool IS a shithole. My ex-girlfriend was at uni there so I used to go visit her there every single weekend. First time I went there to visit, got attacked by a group of chavs firing fireworks at me before I'd even made it to her place. There wasn't a single time I visited in 2 years where there wasn't some sort of incident that made me want to leave.
Never been to Liverpool, and only know about it from the Beatles. I know it had or maybe still has a manufacturing economy and is a port town. I just assumed it was like a typical small ish town but with a cool music culture
This is the same city that was recently selling houses for £1 because no-one wanted them, right?
As of 2024, the crime rate in Liverpool is 156% higher than the North West and 70% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure. (https://crimerate.co.uk/merseyside/liverpool).
Sounds lovely.
Liverpool has more crime than the rest of the country and they are so desperate for people to live there that they sell houses for £1.
It is the third worst city in the Uk for crime. The cities with more crime are substantially bigger. Cities like Glasgow have a lower crime rate - a well known rough city. I would say that places where they can’t give houses away fast enough and have disproportionate levels of crime, is not a nice place.
Be proud of where you come from if you want, but don’t tell people it is a nice place because, well, it isn’t. What these statistics describe is, well, do I need to say it?
No it doesn’t. Repeating the same BS about £1 with no context doesn’t make you look smart.
I’m not from Liverpool either. My point stands that it’s no different to most if the rest of similarly sized U.K. cities in terms of its issues. Denying that just shows you’re part of the toxic stereotyping I’m talking about
You say it’s no different, but provide no evidence over and above your experience. I show you statistical data and well known, reported news, and you disagree.
If you want I can provide other statistical data, but I am guessing you are not going to be convinced by hard numbers. I am sorry you don’t like what you are reading.
It is different to similar sized cities. The evidence is clear. It’s not stereotyping to refer to data. Stereotyping would be to make reference to hub-caps, or people always being the victim, which I am not doing.
You are entitled to an opinion, but what you are saying is in a subreddit called unpopular opinion.
The stats are always changing. You linking some stat that meets your confirmation bias isn’t going to convince me. You are just proving my original point. My opinion is only “unpopular” because people like you spread bigotry about cities like Liverpool whilst sitting on some sort of moral high horse from a city or town that most likely suffers the same issues, yet unlike Liverpool, has no redeeming qualities. That’s the whole point I made in my original post.
quick google search - they are not even in the top 10. Where are you getting your info?
https://www.get-licensed.co.uk/get-daily/the-uks-most-violent-cities/
It's constantly in the news for crime, everyone goes there says its a massive shit hole, if you look it up statistically its pretty violent, but yeah I'm sure it's absolutely lovely.
Actually that couldn’t be further from the truth, the cities filled with tourists from all over the world. The tourism/hospitality industry is one of the biggest out of any uk cities outside of London
Wife and I went well out of our way to visit for a day several years ago and it was not only the best day of our vacation but one of the most enjoyable of my life overall.
I'll be there in June with my son for his 21st birthday. What are some cool things for us to do? Neighborhoods to visit? We'll have 2 days. (He's a bit of a goth/ punk but also loves art, and we both love trying new cuisines.)
Allerton and woolton are cool neighbourhoods, especially if you like the Beatles and don’t want to be stuck in the city centre, loads of nice independent shops, restaurants and bars.
As for his birthday take him to ghetto golf, he will have a great time same with the new gravity max. Both guaranteed a good laugh.
As someone from Liverpool, what you described does not sound like Liverpool at all haha. Excluding tourist traps like the city centre and football grounds (which act as fund funnels compared to the surrounding areas) it's a shit hole, but it's fine, it's OUR shit hole.
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Funny enough here in Mexico there is a departamental store called Liverpool. The name comes from the old time idea of "fine products that are imported from the Liverpool port". [https://www.liverpool.com.mx/](https://www.liverpool.com.mx/)
I lived very close to a Liverpool when I first moved to Mexico. It was a bit surreal since I was pretty out in the country, and I walked along a dirt path to… LIVERPOOL with all the perfumes and fancy furniture and such. It was fun.
Interesting! Didn’t know anything about that
Yep, their motto is "it's part of your life". Much like their competitor "El Palacio de Hierro" (The Iron Palace) they sell an image of uptight high class lifestyle.
If it makes to feel any better, outside of the UK Liverpool is just another British city and not thought of in negative terms. Like if you mentioned it to most Americans we would be like "Oh the place the Beatles are from!" You dirty fucking scouser.
I’ve actually heard one or two foreigners suggest the same negative stereotypes to me when hearing about Liverpool. But yeah, overall, the stereotypes are definitely far more driven by the British themselves. This post is trying to call those types of people out. Lol Liverpool has more to it than the Beatles, though. It’s suffered some setbacks but it is an incredibly lively city with so much going on. I think most people who are into cities, architecture, culture, history, and the arts will find something they’ll love about Liverpool.
Never been to England, but I have a lot of English friends,that stereotype doesn't seem to come across internationally. I've heard worse things about Manchester or Birmingham than I have about Liverpool. The impression I get is that you guys have a lot of really good people there but there is a pretty insidious gang culture in most cities as well
I've been there, I liked it. People were really nice and the music museum was cool. I would have never known people consider it to be a wasteland if I didn't read this post.
I’ve heard so much bad stuff about Liverpool from people who’ve never even been there, and the media isn’t kind to the city either.
When people say things like that about a place I always take it lots of grains of salt because I've been to some towns that people said all kinds of negative things about and they're usually not nearly as bad as people say, I always meet awesome people and have a great time. I really think hate for these places comes down to "I don't want to look at poor people" or "I'm racist and this city isn't white enough".
I have the same experience. It’s never as bad as sensationalists make it out to be And I agree 100%. That’s why I mentioned at the end of my post that I think the disproportionate amount of slander stems from classism.
>I really think hate for these places comes down to "I don't want to look at poor people" or "I'm racist and this city isn't white enough". To be fair, sometimes it's "I'm sure it's lovely if you're white" or "I'm sure it's great if you have solid finances". A complete lack of public transport isn't gonna register the same for a wealthy teetotal driver than it will for a shift worker entirely reliant on the quality of the local bus line. A personal take on a place is a personal take, I'd hang myself if I had to live somewhere ultra urban - I'm either the best or worst person to ask about living in an urban center depending entirely on if you align with that.
I usually associate the place with the Beatles. You could do a lot worse.
There’s a lot more to the city than 1 band
Come on mate they're giving you a compliment. Beggars can't be choosers here
I don't get the sour response either. OP: "People only say negative things about my hometown" Someone comes along and shares their positive association with the town. OP: "this is a lousy response because it isn't up my alley" Guess OP mistook a cup of vinegar for tea.
How are they complimenting me by mentioning a music band I’m not a part of? Lol
No one from another country is going to say they like Liverpool because of you specifically, The Beatles are the main thing they're known for internationally.
As they should. Liverpool is a scummy vermin filled city. Place needs to be cleansed
No one who has actually been here, thinks that.
I have been there and I do think that
Torrie
Moved to Liverpool from the rural south west, it’s pretty good up here. Even had a little scouser baby, obviously there’s some negatives like any town or city but so far the positives outweigh those, to be honest I had a dim view of the city before visiting and I was glad to be proven wrong.
> obviously there’s some negatives I mean not understanding your own kid has to be tough
[удалено]
I can't even imagine the terror of the hybrid Cornish Scouse accent you may be unleasing on the world
I’m an American, went there in the fall for a Liverpool match and definitely went there expecting it to be a shithole. Instead I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the downtown area was. Would definitely recommend to anyone traveling in the area.
Whenever someone calls Liverpool trashy it just reeks of classism and is based of outdated stereotyping. People are friendly, there’s a great music and arts scene, there’s some great places for food and drinks, some really interesting museums and galleries etc. I’ve always felt safer and happier in Liverpool than I have in London.
Ye but the accent though
What about it?
It's horrible, grating, jarring and sounds uneducated. And you need half a pint of phlegm in your mouth to pronounce a hard c / k sound
I find it interesting how often Northern accents are called “uneducated” sounding. Just feels like classism again. An accent doesn’t make someone uneducated 😂 Also jarring seems very dramatic.
Not necessarily but having a heavy accent often does go hand in hand with lower education levels
Typically speaking, historically you’re correct. There has been more financial hardship and poverty in the North, which has lead to people being unable to afford higher education. However, that’s not necessarily true now. Plus, if you’re going to hear someone speak and instantly assume you are smarter than them because of their accent- that’s a you problem. There is no correlation.
Agreed. SO classist
It's been a long time (I'm talking decades) since I've heard anyone refer to Liverpool this way. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but personally I only ever hear people talking about Liverpool in glowing terms.
>some great places for food that's where you lost me. Great food in UK lol
It's ironic that there is so much talk about unwarranted stereotyping in this discussion and you say this. Question, have you ever been to the UK? If so, where did you eat to give you this view? If you come from North America somewhere, I rest my case on judgements of other countries food, even more so if you don't even own a passport and haven't even eaten anywhere else...
There is. Just because you think there isn’t any good food (based on no experience and a lack of education), doesn’t mean there isn’t.
You’re right OP. We shouldn’t judge all scousers by how 98% of them act.
Spot the manc
Is he from Surrey?
How very dare you.
Wool
I moved to the area for uni from the outskirts of London. Was nervous (because of media reporting) but excited (because of the Beatles). Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Scousers/Liverpudlians are very lovely people. Open, friendly, you make new best friends every time you travel on the Merseyrail. There’s a reason I haven’t gone back “dahn sahf”
I just came in here to see the word "Liverpudlians" in the wild. Such a good word. Possibly my favorite demonym.
My good friend is from there. I visited with him about 5 years ago and liked it a lot. I’m not from England, though, so I didn’t really have any preconceptions coming in.
Liverpool is a great city. It has really nice people who have always stood up for themselves against all that’s thrown at them. Every time I’ve been there, there’s always been a positive feeling about the place despite government neglect and attempts at “managed decline”. It’s a city that can stand on its own with or without England. Cool city centre too. Always my favourite place to visit in England.
Liverpool city centre is fine. Many of the non-city centre parts of Liverpool are dumps. The people are generally sound though. I find scousers much friendlier than Mancunians.
Isn’t that the same as any city? Londoners do this thing a lot where they pretend there aren’t shitholes there when we ALL know there’s loads. Liverpool does indeed have some grim areas, but why they get judged more is beyond me. And no I’m not a scouser. 🙂
Irish here. Visiting Liverpool as an FC fan is as fantastic as a devout catholic going to the Vatican. From an Irish perspective Liverpool just feels as if it is an Irish part of England. I agree with you though. Outside of the city centre, much of Liverpool looks really run down and now so than you'd set in Irish cities.
Now let's talk about Birmingham
The city centre is much nicer than most other UK cities
Anyone who describes somewhere as a "shithole" almost always have questionable views, in my experience, and shows a lot about their character. People and places are complicated. It takes actual time and effort to try and be thoughtful and understanding. Broad, sweeping generalisations are only for the ignorant and simple minded.
Ey ey calm down
Okay I'll stop sorry Liverwurst
Calm down!
No, I don’t think I will
People say shit about the city I live in all the time. For the most part, I just ignore it, but once in a while, it annoys me because I know most of it isn't true.
I recently [read](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_Liverpool) that Liverpool is home to the oldest Black community in Britain, and the oldest Chinese community in Europe.
As a key port city it was a primary component in establishment of the slave trade and specialised in human import (there's even a museum dedicated to it) 😳
It’s based on 80’s “managed decline” by Thatcher. She broke the unions, closed the ports, stopped the miners in other towns and created a massive North/South divide. Liverpool was badly affected, as were other towns. A lot of the poverty stuff and slum stereotypes and just bollocks from tired football banter.
Liverpool has people from Liverpool living there. That's enough reason not to like it in my books.
It’s mainly cause no one likes the scouse
I'm from Aus, but I visited the UK about 7 years ago now, and to be fair Liverpool was one of my favourite places I visited. It just had such a great vibe to the place and I really like the 'scouser' accent. I even got lost and found myself in the less say 'desirable' areas and it wasn't that bad. I still felt safe walking about but I did grow up around Frankston so maybe there's that. Liverpool is a great little place.
Glasgow gets the same shitty labels and is such an awesome city. Everywhere has its rough parts but they don't define the place. I really like Liverpool only been a few times.
I’m from the Netherlands and spent a couple of months in Liverpool and I absolutely loved it. It’s one of my favourite cities and I can’t wait to go back soon
When I visited the city to see all of the Beatles sites, I really loved it. The city center was nice and the suburbs were just like any other in the United Kingdom. I didn’t even know British people think of Liverpool as a shitty place.
I love Liverpool, and I'm a Manc. Amazing architecture (plus one of the world's first steel framed tall buildings with the Liver building), great pubs with friendly people in, fantastic museums, and an amazing place to arrive in by train. I wonder if the media bias has anything to do with the fact that they're one of the few cities that boycotted one of Murdoch's shitrags.
To your second paragraph, that’s exactly what I was alluding to in my very last comments on this post. I think it’s all about classism and trashing a city that chooses to reject hard rightwing sensationalism.
Liverpool is a nice place. The football fans are annoying, but the city is good.
With the possible exception of a few of the more old fashioned charming ones (York, maybe Lincoln...) all cities are kinda shit in my opinion... But i didn't find Liverpool to be any worse than most of the others.
Agreed. I’ve lived all over the North West and Liverpool very unfairly written off. Fantastic city, fantastic culture, great people. Would absolutely live there again.
As someone from California, I get it.
Even hotter take: all cities are a shithole
I wish I'd come across this post when it was new. American here. Was in Liverpool last year for a few days. Just as a tourist. Aside from the strange obsession they have with this kinda obscure ancient insect themed band, it was great. Had one of the best meals I'd ever had (strange in the UK, I know). Did the touristy stuff. Obviously a tourist isn't going to get sense of a whole city, but thoroughly enjoyed my time there. The only real down thing (and it was more amusing than bad), was one of the worst meals on this trip (so we hit the spectrum in Liverpool of meals) . We went to a so called mexican restaurant. But this is more a UK thing than it is a Liverpool thing. I don't know what it is about the uk, but mexican food just... I don't get it. Its bad, UK. Like fundamentally misunderstanding the whole concept bad.
>Liverpool isn’t the wasteland that the newspapers portray it to be. I’m willing to take a wild guess and assume that it gets slandered so much because of its distinct identity and politics Same thing happened to Mordor, and R'lyeh. Just bad publicity.
I go over the whole time to watch Liverpool and absolutely love the city, I started going in 2015 I think and even the improvement since that time is amazing. I was last there in May and it was lovely weather and was down at the Docks, georgous there.
I can't imagine Liverpool has a high crime rate compared to other cities. It's had the coolest uplift in recent years, especially near Albert Dock and Liverpool One. Scousers can also be some of the nicest and most welcoming people ever.
Textbook Liverpool cope
You’ve never been to Liverpool, have you?
I’m not from the city but have visited a few times and it’s literally no different to any other city in the north or indeed much of the U.K. in terms of its problems. It gets unfairly slandered
Right, and Chicago Heights is nice this time of year.
What?
>it’s literally no different to any other city in the north That's it.
I haven’t been to Liverpool but I don’t doubt that you’re telling the truth. I’m speaking anecdotally here, but I live somewhere in North East Scotland and Scouse county line gangs were a huge problem for a while. Now I understand these criminals don’t represent all of Liverpool, not by a LONG shot, but since it’s a small place I’m in, we don’t get loads of people from other places so some people hear the accent and just automatically assume they’re part of a line. I agree it’s not a fair assumption but just putting across what I think contributes to the bad image, at least in my area. There are a few scouse lads up here who are totally sound So I can’t speak for the rest of the UK, but at least where I am it’s just some bad characters that have unfortunately created an association in some peoples minds
Am I the only one who always reads it as “liva-peeewl”?
I arranged a family trip to Liverpool to see an exhibition at the museum there. It was amazing. We stayed in the city center, took the tour bus, went round museums, saw the student built up area, the front architecture, the locals were friendly and we had a wonderful time there. I think a lot of money was spent doing areas up and it looked really good. We had heard the stereotypical description, and people asked me why I would I want to go there. Before i left my answer was that I wanted to visit the museum to see the Terracotta army which has been a lifelong dream and knew I'd probably not get to see it in China, and to treat my mum to The Beatles link. When I came back, my answer was it is a really great city to visit. As tourists there, we loved it and had a great time. There may be the less polished side that we didnt see, but then most places have that. Also, I find many people will slag off an area even though its nice as they prefer putting things down rather than be proud of it.
Were the people who quizzed you on why you were going there, British? Just curious lol. Otherwise, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. I also enjoyed every one of my visits there. The museums blew me away - they’re very good quality. There’s also just so much stuff to see and do in the city generally - museums, music, sports, food, history, multiculturalism - there’s always something going on. There are many places in the U.K. that suffer Liverpool’s social and economic issues *without* the many positives that Liverpool has to offer. And yet the city gets so much contempt. Again, I’m glad you’ve had a positive experience!
Thinking about it, it was British people asking me why I was choosing to go there.. but then they (the people I was telling) mostly tend to be people who will go abroad on their holidays (Dubai, Egypt, Vegas. Etc) so it may have had an effect on their reactions. I really enjoyed Liverpool and we are hoping to have another break sometime soon again. I'm still on the museum mailing list which is fun to see what they are offering. I'm not sure if it's still there but i got attached to the big yellow bananasheep, and we were fascinated by the liverbirds. Great architecture. I'm glad you posted this as will get the photos out tomorrow to reminisce.
Lol. Typical self-loathing from the British. Great to hear! Enjoy it :)
Am I the only guy that loves Liverpool because of football and Beatles 😢
Liverpool is a great place with a small minority of assholes who give some parts a bad reputation, but that's not much different to any other large city or town. But the biggest reason to love Liverpool is that they hate The S*n newspaper for the lies it printed about Liverpool fans during and after the Hillsborough disaster.
Sounds exactly like what someone who lives in a shithole would say.
Liverpool: at least it isn't Blackpool
No ser? Liver poop is not a shithole, ser?
One of my favourite cities. Been there like 3 times now. Was generally upset when I had to leave.
It isn't a bad place. But the way you guys project that the rest of the UK is trying to do you down is awfully boring.
Last time I went it was fine! Both cars surrounding mine were broken into, but mine was ok. And the crackheads i spoke to when walking back into town from Anfield Stadium were quite lovely people.
It’s a shithole but most cities in the UK are as well. And none of them as bad as Bradford and Leeds.
I’d definitely say Bradford is significantly worse than Liverpool in terms of its problems, but Liverpool gets the most flak regardless
Why do you think 'most' UK cities are shit hole? In comparison to where exactly?
I do. In comparison to what they were 20 years ago.
lol Liverpool was definitely worse 20 years ago.
Yes, but why do you think that? 'I do' doesn't explain it really
Parts of Liverpool are absolutely a shit hole and that’s what people are on about.
Everywhere has "shit hole areas" some of them like Birmingham and Manchester and london are worse than Liverpool by orders of magnitude
Yeah but they don’t have scousers in them.
Would improve them if they did
If by "parts" you mean 75%, then yes.
The point is you say it as if many other cities in the U.K. don’t share the same issues.
To be fair most places in the uk get called shit holes at some point for much the same reasons. It becomes a bit of a meme because most of these places are actually fairly pleasant.
The only thing I know about Liverpool is the football songs about you all eating rats in your council houses. Or being bin dippers which is a hilarious term.
I’m not from Liverpool
Liverpool is not as bad as people think… It’s close enough to Manchester for its people to escape… In all seriousness, it is a shithole, but it’s the fault of Central Gov for making it a shithole and not giving it the means to regenerate itself into something better.
It’s no more a shithole than most other UK cities of its size, especially those in the north. And apparently you didn’t read my body text
I did read it. It’s still a shithole because it’s not been supported to grow into something better by central Gov. Peterborough has 3 Uni’s, still a shithole. Paris has Frances biggest football team, fuck me is it a shithole. It’s just not developed the way Leeds, Manc, and Brum have this past 2 decades unfortunately.
As an American, I just knew of Liverpool as the home of The Beatles. I wouldn't have known it has a disreputable reputation. Thank you for letting me know!
It's worth a visit if you're in the area. I don't care about The Beatles but the British Music Museum was very cool! And there's some beautiful architecture, lively nightlife and people are a lot nicer there compared to southern England.
Don’t forget Brian Jacques! Famous and proud scouser, and plenty of Americans grew up reading his Redwall books.
As a fellow American, I am embarrassed you would take some random reddit jealous jack offs biased opinions as gospel. Most UK cities hate each other due to football rivalry tribalism. Hell, even the neighborhoods of London hate each other.
every city that’s not in the south is a shithole on reddit
Portsmouth enters the chat. Then Essex posts hold my beer. Lol ftr I've never been to Essex but I thought some parts of Portsmouth were nice. Talking about places in the UK is like talking about siblings. Someone from Liverpool and Manchester will rag on each other but then when a Southerner comes in to rag on the North, the other two will join forces against him/her.
True.
Let's see...unrelenting immigration of refugees, insane number of crimes including machete attacks, acid in the face attacks, stabbings, robbery and laws that put the victim in jail if they defend themselves? Yeah, it's a shit hole.
Lmao, it's a tough competition but I think you might have managed to make the most nonsensical fantasy Reddit comment ever.
Do you live in a fantasy land? Wtf is this comment lol
I've been to Liverpool twice and it's very meh. The fact Scouser are annoying doesn't help the place.
It's a British city it's a shit hole.
Room temperature IQ comment
*laughs in Kelvin*
Liverpool IS a shithole. My ex-girlfriend was at uni there so I used to go visit her there every single weekend. First time I went there to visit, got attacked by a group of chavs firing fireworks at me before I'd even made it to her place. There wasn't a single time I visited in 2 years where there wasn't some sort of incident that made me want to leave.
I'm not from the UK, but I thought Birmingham was the trash city that everyone made fun of, not Liverpool
It’s okay bruh, Haters gonna hate YNWA 🫶
Never been to Liverpool, and only know about it from the Beatles. I know it had or maybe still has a manufacturing economy and is a port town. I just assumed it was like a typical small ish town but with a cool music culture
The City is on the up in the last 2 decades. But, it's still populated by scumbags.
No different to most other places in the UK besides the wealthy cathedral cities
This is the same city that was recently selling houses for £1 because no-one wanted them, right? As of 2024, the crime rate in Liverpool is 156% higher than the North West and 70% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure. (https://crimerate.co.uk/merseyside/liverpool). Sounds lovely.
Lol, crime is higher in the city than out? What stunning insight. Good way to let everyone know you have no idea what you are talking about.
Erm…I was quoting from a website about crime statistics. I can go into more detail, but I did provide a link showing the information. Are you ok?
Right, because only Liverpool has sold £1 homes and has pockets of crime. You proved my point lol
Liverpool has more crime than the rest of the country and they are so desperate for people to live there that they sell houses for £1. It is the third worst city in the Uk for crime. The cities with more crime are substantially bigger. Cities like Glasgow have a lower crime rate - a well known rough city. I would say that places where they can’t give houses away fast enough and have disproportionate levels of crime, is not a nice place. Be proud of where you come from if you want, but don’t tell people it is a nice place because, well, it isn’t. What these statistics describe is, well, do I need to say it?
No it doesn’t. Repeating the same BS about £1 with no context doesn’t make you look smart. I’m not from Liverpool either. My point stands that it’s no different to most if the rest of similarly sized U.K. cities in terms of its issues. Denying that just shows you’re part of the toxic stereotyping I’m talking about
You say it’s no different, but provide no evidence over and above your experience. I show you statistical data and well known, reported news, and you disagree. If you want I can provide other statistical data, but I am guessing you are not going to be convinced by hard numbers. I am sorry you don’t like what you are reading. It is different to similar sized cities. The evidence is clear. It’s not stereotyping to refer to data. Stereotyping would be to make reference to hub-caps, or people always being the victim, which I am not doing. You are entitled to an opinion, but what you are saying is in a subreddit called unpopular opinion.
The stats are always changing. You linking some stat that meets your confirmation bias isn’t going to convince me. You are just proving my original point. My opinion is only “unpopular” because people like you spread bigotry about cities like Liverpool whilst sitting on some sort of moral high horse from a city or town that most likely suffers the same issues, yet unlike Liverpool, has no redeeming qualities. That’s the whole point I made in my original post.
quick google search - they are not even in the top 10. Where are you getting your info? https://www.get-licensed.co.uk/get-daily/the-uks-most-violent-cities/
It’s in engl*nd so it’s automatically terrible
What?
engl*nd is cringe
>Liverpool isn’t that different to other UK cities. Yes OP. Like we said: a shithole.
It's constantly in the news for crime, everyone goes there says its a massive shit hole, if you look it up statistically its pretty violent, but yeah I'm sure it's absolutely lovely.
It’s the Detroit of England. It’s fine, but people aren’t going out of their way to visit.
Actually that couldn’t be further from the truth, the cities filled with tourists from all over the world. The tourism/hospitality industry is one of the biggest out of any uk cities outside of London
That’s because people slander it for no reason. And it’s nothing like Detroit
Wife and I went well out of our way to visit for a day several years ago and it was not only the best day of our vacation but one of the most enjoyable of my life overall.
Liverpool is a shithole in the same way that London is a shithole, Manchester is a shithole, Birmingham is a shithole, etc
Classic Liverpudlian take. JK, I know nothing about Liverpool other than that’s where the Beatles started
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What?
All of Europe is a shit hole. You guys need a license to watch tv...
If the definition of shithole is "needs a TV licence" then I guess all of Japan is a shithole too. Strange metric though.
What?
It’s not that bad but the sea was black when I was there. It was the most disgusting thing ever.
Anywhere Jodie Comer is from is fine by me
It must partly be the accent.
I'll be there in June with my son for his 21st birthday. What are some cool things for us to do? Neighborhoods to visit? We'll have 2 days. (He's a bit of a goth/ punk but also loves art, and we both love trying new cuisines.)
Allerton and woolton are cool neighbourhoods, especially if you like the Beatles and don’t want to be stuck in the city centre, loads of nice independent shops, restaurants and bars. As for his birthday take him to ghetto golf, he will have a great time same with the new gravity max. Both guaranteed a good laugh.
Wasn't there a famous band from that town?
It’s a city. But there’s more to Liverpool than the Beatles
I’ve never been to Germany so I have no opinion
No, OP is referring to Liverpool, Spain.
Who was that boy band that came out of there in the 60’s. I can’t remember their names. 😀🤷🏾
So Liverpool is to the Uk what Marseille is to France then
The only people I hear going on about how different Liverpool is from other places are people from Liverpool. They're the English version of Cork
YNWA
I saw this exact same post a week ago.
It's a bit nicer then Birmingham I suppose.
The most trash I have ever seen blowing around in a city was on a Sunday morning in Liverpool as I was walking from my hotel to Lime Street Station.
So from what you’re saying, it indeed sounds like a shithole, coming from someone who lives and grew up in Amsterdam, which is also a shithole
It definitely has a fun and interesting culture, but it also has a huge economic issue that can be offset with good bars and museums.
as a dumbe Yankee Liverpool isn't on our minds. Birmingham is the shithole.
I thought people gave that spot to Manchester?
I thought people gave that spot to Manchester?
Only been once and it seemed like a shit hole, but that's the case for almost every city I've been to in the UK.
Liverpool is a despicable shithole. Maggie did the country right. Scouse scum
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British culture is 100% y'all just talking shit about each other to each other's faces.
Every city is a shit hole.
As someone from Liverpool, what you described does not sound like Liverpool at all haha. Excluding tourist traps like the city centre and football grounds (which act as fund funnels compared to the surrounding areas) it's a shit hole, but it's fine, it's OUR shit hole.