Finsbury Park - the worst of Britain?

edited May 2011 in Local discussion
I just read this description of Finsbury Park in the Yorkshire Post... fair or unfair?!


From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.

I SPENT four days staying in London, where I saw the very best and the very worst of Britain.

The best, and this is where we still lead the entire world, was the wonderful wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. It was almost impossible to find fault with any of it. The people, planning, music, weather, costumes, precision, designs, colour, organisation, timing, behaviour, discipline, love, respect, tradition, awareness were all an absolute joy to behold.

The worst was walking and travelling through north London, in particular Finsbury Park and the surrounding area. With the filth, dirty buildings, damaged cars and vans, the squalor, stench of cheap heated-up food, traffic congestion, dense population and crowded footpaths, it was hard to believe the contrast.

Comments

  • edited 12:26PM
    It would be easy to get upset about the comments, but we all know better. If you google streetview his address, you can see what a soulless suburban nightmare this chaps is trapped in. I know which I prefer. Its probably not fair to compare York with Finsbury Park on cosmetic grounds, but if all this guy can do is slag off FP because he go stuck in traffic, then he's welcome to stay right where he is and keep his comments to himself.
  • edited 12:26PM
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  • edited 12:26PM
    I'm going to open a cheap fried chicken shop in York by way of revenge.
  • edited May 2011
    It's seems quite rude and spiteful for someone to denigrate a whole area on the basis of spending a few days there and probably only seeing the (admittedly tatty) area around the station. It's like those annoying tourists on the the tube who look around, roll their eyes and loudly say 'I don't know how Londoners do this every day' in a superior tone. I always sit there fuming and thinking 'I'd rather do this every day than live in your dull little town!'. Of course York is a very beautiful place but there's more to choosing a place to live than beauty alone - FP and SG are alive and vibrant and that counts for more to me than perfectly arranged gardens and pristine streets.
  • edited 12:26PM
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  • edited 12:26PM
    I google street viewed Mr Quarrie's address too. Give me Finsbury Park any day compared to the 1970's semi-detached suburban nightmare where he hails from.
  • edited 12:26PM
    It's good though, right, that he wouldn't want to live round here. Can you imagine someone like that let loose on the SG board..?
  • AliAli
    edited 12:26PM
    So who is going to write a counter letter it is bound to get published if it is funny
  • edited 12:26PM
    Surpringly if you search the Yorkshire Post website for Finsbury Park it throws up 36,277 references, including such gems as:

    "hooded gunman of Finsbury Park"
    "Four deny murder of young footballer"
    "alleged London ricin plot"
    "Knife crime rockets on the steets of Britain"

    and of course the predictable:

    "evil hook handed Islamic extremist"

    I remember a few years ago when I was living in Harringay, Green Lanes was described in the Daily Mail (the day my parents were visting) as "the most dangerous street in Britain". This obviously alarmed them but I always felt safe living on Green Lanes. Just goes to show how peoples perceptions can vary so wildly...
  • edited 12:26PM
    "So who is going to write a counter letter it is bound to get published if it is funny"

    My immediate thought was 'letter of complaint? Let's ask kreuzkav!'

    Maybe that's wrong though?
  • edited 12:26PM
    I was born and raised in Yorkshire close to where he is from.... But I love this part of London, that's why I made it my home. I agree the state of the park over that weekend was awful, there was litter all over and the bins were overflowing. But I would not live anyplace other than Stroud Green.
  • edited 12:26PM
    I was talking with my brother the other day about why the area around Finsbury Park station is so tatty, my answer was that as it's where three boroughs meet they would all rather invest money and promote other areas in there boroughs. Such as:
    Islington- Holloway and Upper Street
    Harringey Wood Green
    Hackney Mare Street and Stoke Newington.

    Also what is wrong with having six fried chicken shops very close together.
  • edited 12:26PM
    Is there a finer way of summing up the internet age than the ability to be alerted that someone in York has slagged off near where you live and to then go take an online walk down his cul-de-sac so that you can deride him for living in a boring road? Genius, absolute genius. I'd take Stroud Green over his part of York anyday.
  • edited 12:26PM
    Papa L. Exactly what I was thinking.

    Last time I was in York half of it was underwater and there was a distinct smell of poo. Still didn't smell as bad as Seven Sisters Road though.
  • edited 12:26PM
    I've interweb stalked Mr Quarrie. Have his address and phone number if anyone wants it. He's 65 and lives with his lovely wife Hazel and their daughters Wendy and Fiona :)
  • edited 12:26PM
    Wow. Impressed. Remind me never to get on your Big Bad Stabbing list, Four Eyes...
  • edited 12:26PM
    Did Mr Quarrie believe that every part of London looked as if it were holding a royal wedding when he visited? Finsbury park was far from being an oil painting when I lived there in the 1960's, but it wasn't just about the area. It was about the amazing people that I and my Siblings grew up with. Yes, the area may have looked shabby in places, but there was an enormous sense of pride and community spirit. Judging by the comments that I have read, these things still exist in many parts of N4. This gentleman needs to investigate his own surroundings. Has he visited Bradford lately? I once heard it described as The Armpit of The Universe! Drove through there once, please note once!!!
  • edited 12:26PM
    I'm sure he'd think even less of the area if he knew that its feral inhabitants had stalked him online. Please don't start sending him pizzas. By the way - this thread will almost certainly become a Hornsey Journal article.
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  • edited 12:26PM
    I agree with you Misscara,stalking is not the answer. He is happy in his own little world. He will never know just how much he is missing out. There is an old saying. Where ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise. Let him be. Who knows, he may come to know the joys of N4 after he has visited Bradford!
  • edited 12:26PM
    Now enough with knocking Bradford, I was born there it has splendid pies.
  • edited 12:26PM
    Ah balls I was hoping the world was about to end but then I realised I was just in Finsbury Park.
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