History UsefulNotes / London

* Camden: Also an arty, trendy area famous for its markets. Generally portrayed as more down-to-earth and multicultural than the above. Lots of drug subculture - usually soft drugs rather than ''{Literature/{{Trainspotting}}''-style squalor. The main characters in ''Film/WithnailAndI'' live in Camden. Modern day Camden is generally full of students and other limited income types, and at the weekend it's overrun with 'goth' or 'alternative' stereotypes who think it's trendy.

In real life, London is very much a combination of the two and there's very much a sliding scale. London does have a rather notoriously high cost of living, so it tend to be like a lot of cities, full of both people who can comfortably afford it, and people who can't but have to live where the jobs are. On one end, you've got ludicrously posh places in the west central part of the city. In places like Holland Park, Belgravia, and Mayfair, the richest people in the world conspicuously consume like it's going out of style. At the other end, you'll find some of the most deprived places in the nation, known as "sink estates", in areas like Peckham, Hackney, and Harlesden. (The ''really'' poor places -- as seen in ''Literature/OliverTwist'' -- went with slum clearance[[note]]and/or WorldWarTwo (or "The Blitz" as it is more commonly known)[[/note]].) The important thing to note however is that most neighbourhoods are very mixed income. Council estates can be found in the wealthiest boroughs and million pound properties in the poorest.

* Baker Street -- Home of SherlockHolmes (also BasilOfBakerStreet and {{Dangermouse}}),and the title of Music/GerryRafferty's [[EarWorm infuriatingly catchy song]].

* Baker Street -- Home of SherlockHolmes (also BasilOfBakerStreet and {{Dangermouse}}),and the title of Gerry Rafferty's [[EarWorm infuriatingly catchy song]].

* The ''BridgetJones'' movies

** ''TheBill'' is set in a fictional version of this area and The Docklands.

* Luton (LTN). Best known for the airline easyJet, featured in the DocuSoap ''Airline''. Not technically ''in'' London, Luton being a town in TheMidlands, but it's only a few minutes away by train so close enough.

* [=SE1-28=]

To Hollywood (and depressingly often to British media as well), BritainIsOnlyLondon. How they portray the place is generally split into two approaches:

There are now sub-divisions for postal purposes, i.e [=EC4Y=] for the Temple area in the city of London.

* Heathrow (LHR). Formerly London Airport, it's the busiest international passenger airport ''in the world'' (now second to Atlanta (ATL) in Georga, USA.). In 2008, when its fifth terminal opened, it had a spectacular failure of systems on the first day. It features in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''[[Recap/{{DoctorWhoS19E7Time-Flight}} Time-Flight]]''. It was also the departure point in several Film/JamesBond novels. It is connected to London via the [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground Picadilly Line]] and by the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station.

** Though the broad Essex/eastern suburbs stereotype can be best summed up by viewing "TheOnlyWayIsEssex", there are other more local attitudes to the area. Without wanting to get into too much depth here, one notable feature of Essex is that it is where many of the original residents of East End areas like Spitalfields, Hackney and Statford moved as they were pushed out by Urban Sprawl and the gentrification of their boroughs. So many cockney tropes these days are most properly applied to Essex rather than East London (which now has more association with immigrants, yuppies and City bankers in many Brits' minds).

** Though the broad Essex/eastern suburbs stereotype can be best summed up by viewing "TheOnlyWayIsEssex", there are other more local attitudes to the area. Without wanting to get into too much depth here, one notable feature of Essex is that it is where many of the original residents of East End areas like Spitalfields, Hackney and Statford moved as they were pushed out by Urban Sprawl and the gentrification of their boroughs. So many cockney tropes these days are most properly applied to Essex rather than East London (which now has more association with yuppies and City bankers in many Brits' minds).

* Heathrow (LHR). Formerly London Airport, it's the busiest international passenger airport ''in the world''. In 2008, when its fifth terminal opened, it had a spectacular failure of systems on the first day. It features in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''[[Recap/{{DoctorWhoS19E7Time-Flight}} Time-Flight]]''. It was also the departure point in several Film/JamesBond novels. It is connected to London via the [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground Picadilly Line]] and by the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station.

* Luton (LTN). Best known for the airline easyJet, featured in the DocuSoap ''Airline''.

* North London: Islington, Shoreditch, Hoxton and so on. Trendy, "artistic", lefty sorts of areas often shown as being full of pretentious tossers. Islington is relatively wealthy and "nicer" than the others -- here you'll find the "chattering classes". Hotblack Desiato from ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse'' is famously named after a firm of Islington estate agents.

A place full of rich people, fancy society balls, posh accents and [[ShiningCity general happiness]].

* Strand -- commonly "The Strand", although officially the article is omitted. A cultural hub of 19th century London, which retains several West End attractions today.

In real life, London is very much a combination of the two and there's very much a sliding scale. London does have a rather notoriously high cost of living, so it tend to be like a lot of cities, full of both people who can comfortably afford it, and people who can't but have to live where the jobs are. On one end, you've got ludicrously posh places in the west central part of the city. In places like Holland Park, Belgravia, and Mayfair, the richest people in the world conspicuously consume like it's going out of style. At the other end, you'll find some of the most deprived places in the nation, known as "sink estates", in areas like Peckham, Hackney, and Harlesden. (The ''really'' poor places -- as seen in ''OliverTwist'' -- went with slum clearance[[note]]and/or WorldWarTwo (or "The Blitz" as it is more commonly known)[[/note]].) The important thing to note however is that most neighbourhoods are very mixed income. Council estates can be found in the wealthiest boroughs and million pound properties in the poorest.

* "Pea Soup". London used to have a smog problem due to the burning of soft coal. [[SilentHill It's now gone]].

* North London: Islington, Shoreditch, Hoxton and so on. Trendy, "artistic", lefty sorts of areas often shown as being full of pretentious tossers. Islington is relatively wealthy and "nicer" than the others - here you'll find the "chattering classes". Hotblack Desiato from ''H2G2/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse'' is famously named after a firm of Islington estate agents.

* South London ("Saarf London"): Home of TheYardies, but the two most famous things set there are ''OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' and the new ''Series/DoctorWho'', where it's the home of Rose Tyler.

* In videogames, London is definitely shown to be a mix of both, with perhaps more emphasis on the paved with gold side. In the StreetFighter series, Dudley's home stages are always set in central London and both versions he has had are suitably glamorous, featuring Big Ben, old style Minis, horse-drawn carriages and the Harrod's building in ''Third Strike''. This suits his gentlemanly vibe. London is also featured as a stage in ''Capcom Vs SNK 2'' and is again given a fairly sophisticated look. London features as a stage in ''King of Fighters '95'', which depicts Tower Bridge and a pleasant parkland setting. In contrast to all of the above, Birdie, also of the StreetFighter series, has had some horrible London stages -- in StreetFighter, he had a run-down back street and in StreetFighter Alpha 2, his stage was a public toilet at King's Cross station -- can't get more excremental than that.

* Camden: Also an arty, trendy area famous for its markets. Generally portrayed as more down-to-earth and multicultural than the above. Lots of drug subculture - usually soft drugs rather than ''{Literature/{{Trainspotting}}''-style squalor. The main characters in ''WithnailAndI'' live in Camden. Modern day Camden is generally full of students and other limited income types, and at the weekend it's overrun with 'goth' or 'alternative' stereotypes who think it's trendy.

* Gatwick (LGW). The second busiest UK airport, with two terminals. It is connected to London via the Gatwick Express train (and marginally slower Southern Trains services) to Victoria Station. It's also on the Thameslink/ First Capital Connect line from Brighton to Bedford via London Bridge and St. Pancras.

London has many famous streets. Some are best known from the UK version of {{Monopoly}}:

To Hollywood in many cases, BritainIsOnlyLondon. How they portray the place is generally split into two approaches:

* The black taxis, also massively overused in establishing shots. The Austin [=FX4s=] and later Fairways familiar to foreign film and TV watchers are being gradually replaced by more modern-looking [=TX4=] vehicles, and [[MisplacedNationalism controversially by Mercedes minivans]] with four-wheel steering to achieve the legally-required tiny turning circle. Only drivers who have passed the legendarily demanding "Knowledge" test of London's geography are allowed to pick people up in the street. As well as their knowledge of London, cab drivers are stereotyped as [[DriverOfABlackCab rabid bigots who lecture passengers on their political views at the drop of a hat]].