• Poll: Do you think London is dirty?

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In total agreement with Albert Hall's comment, France's gastronomic offer is appalling as it is the rudeness of the waiters. I live in Barcelona at the moment and here the offer is pathetic, geared up to rip the tourist off, poor quality ingredients and dismal cooking not to mention exorbitant prices and dismissive waiters. London is the gastronomic capital of Europe by far. Oh, and what's that rubbish about Londoners dress sense, it is in London that all trends originate, ask naff French and Spanish kids who are all copying London trends 6 years too late...
I guess the survey's been done by some rancid European bureaucrats who spent an afternoon in Leicester Square watching "Londoners" like them walk by from the Garfunkels window whilst they chewed on some "real" London steak in a "real" London restaurant.
Give me a break! Can't wait to go back and have some yummy food in tasteful surroundings served with a smile.

- Mar, Barcelona, Spain

Paris is the pigs swill trough of Europe in my experience and with rude waiters as well.
I had had my French friends say that to me. They love coming to London for its diversity of food available. My last tour of Normandy was restrained to moules and frits served with a scowl.

- Albert Hall, hove england

London- dirty, very expensive, poor valiue for money, very expensive transport and hotels and not very safe. A big rip off

- Strongbow Sullivan, Paris,France

This is clearly wrong - there are so many good restaurants in London it's untrue. There's a cracking new free magazine out out now called Blue Tomato, focusing on highlighting some of the deals at the kind of quality restaurants these people are clearly missing. Hopefully they'll pick up a copy next time they're in town and be guided to the right places!

- L H, London

There is an old saying which goes "Never mind the quality, feel the width", and I think the majority of US tourists are looking for this in London, rather than the huge variety of food and restaurants which serve first class food at reasonable prices.

The one thing I do think we need to provide, is better publicity for our restaurants, bars and pubs. Due to the smoking ban, so many have had to close down, so it would make good sense to start publicising them more in a London Tourist's Guide.

- Peter Thurgood, London SE13

This is making no sense to me at all.
In terms of how clean cities are, London seems far cleaner than nearly all the European cities I've visited.
With respect to dining - poor in London? That's plain ridiculous, unless of course they are referring to the tourist traps around Leicester square. Otherwise, its just wrong!

- C L, London, UK

The unfashionable badly dressed people in London are not Londoners but, er, tourists! The food in London is excellent, the range is the widest in the world, but it's expensive and most tourists walk into dreadful tourist traps, all the best places they have no idea of. London IS dirty, the nightlife is great. This week I've been to the theatre, the opera, Kew Gardens, Hyde Park, Fortnum's and lots of other places, I live here and each of those experiences is world class. Nowhere beats London for free highbrow and street culture. Paris is more violent than London and strikebound, the people are rude in all big cities but Paris wins that one hands down. Someone else mentioned Stockholm, it's sweet but it's tiny, there are only 3 great cities, London, Paris and New York.

- Tom Moncrieff, london W6

i think its pretty obvious why the stars and politicians have come out saying they are suprised. They are the only ones who can afford to eat at the good places leaving the rest of us to eat from other troughs.
No brainer really. Get these guys eating where the rest of us do and they'll soon understand.
You ivory tower does have a front door doesn't it?

- William Bailey, wgtn

In my experience Trip Advisor isn't particularly accurate, and in my opinion doesn't understand Venice and the Veneto region very well. However, regarding London, starred restaurants are not representative of a major city. Not many can afford to dine in them. What a city needs is good food at an affordable price, plus a decent transport system. London doesn't exactly excel at the former, but wins on the latter

- Mark, Venice, Italy

ilived in london a few years back i was broken into and threatened with my life with a hand gun in kennington and there was 7 people murdered in ilford essex where i worked in the space of 7 ,it was a filthy dirty city everyone use to ask me where i lived and i did not understand when they told me to be careful i soon found out and got out pretty quick mugging shooting stabbings how any one in the right frame of mind likes london i dont know the tube is an absolute joke a health and safety issue sardines in a can i think let me know your thoughts ?

- Jim Feeney, glasgow

Great walking,great villages such as hampstead,highgate,notting hill,chiswick,chelsea etc etc,..fantastic live international sport of all persuasions thro the year,great music scene and theatre scene,truly muti national(not like HK where you will not find a european/american doing 'normal"jobs..bus,taxi,manual etc etc..nationalites come here from the world over and are spread thro the whole workplace....Now bad things yes it is violent and suffers from the awful binge drinking,loutish,aggressive behaviour common throughout the country,also the service one gets in restaurants,shops etc etc is often begrudgubg and not up to standard,people are not helpful and you hear more foul and coarse language than any other developed world capital.........however as for tourists ,i am a tour guide and they absolutely love their visits to london finding it vibrant,busy and explorable!....

- Patrick, London and HK

Poor areas, poor resaturants and dirty streets, yes you are definately talking about tourist hotspots. I think its great that the tourists are guided to these areas as it keeps them away from the good places in town. The likes of Leicester square, Covent garden and Brick lane, having been doing a grand job for years and long may it continue.

- Carl, London

I m living in London since last August and I must agree with the criticism.
Most the restaurants and coffeeshops are just the same (plastic food). Whoever says the transportation system is good must be crazy (I didnt see in any other European capital a Tube so old, dirty, and with constant delays, and weekend closing lines, as in London). Ppl in London are rude (specially in restaurants and shops and the common nightlife thugs) and the city is (overal) boring and dirty. Although I may say that there are some fantastic spots in London (the canals, the markets and parks nd gardens that the touristic autorities should promote more.
But overall, my expectations were high and what I see so far isnt nothing special. I name 10 european capital cities much better than London for tourism: Berlin, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Athens, Stockolm, Amsterdam, Prague and Budapest. All of them are cleaner, more beautiful, good nightlife (ppl go to the nightlife there to have fun, not to get drunk at 8 pm), good (LOCAL CUISINE) restaurants and better weather overall.
And finally, London as some very good restaurants, the problem is that, the city doesnt have its own food identity like other cities do. I would rather eat a curry in Mumbay, tapas in Madrid, a pizza in Naples or a quiche in Paris than in a Michelin star restaurant in London. Thats called authenticity!!!!!!!!!

- Jm, London UK

Mr Kelling seems to be in denial. It's not just the restauarants, many of which offer poor value for money (its a complete lottery) and the streets being full of litter. It's the drunken and aggressive behaviour of late night travellers on the tube - particularly the Picadilly Line late on a Friday or Saturday. The tourists flock here because of the exchange rate. Despite any action that Boris might or might not have taken, London remains a city of dreadful night. And yes a large proportion of people do appear to have dressed from a cheap charity shop.

- Peter Haldane, London

Robert, ex-Londoner, you clearly have never been to Paris then?

- Chris, London

Hugh is spot on. London is a struggle tourists are lucky they don't have to live in this dreadful place. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in this cesspool of violence and trash. Very expensive public transport, eating out all the add ons this is rip-off London.

- Louise, London

I agree with the survey absolutely. I lived in East London for 12 years, and often return to central London from Italy. Not only is it the dirtiest, foulest-smelling capital in Europe, with the worst average food standards, but it's also (& the survey missed this) perhaps the most violent.

- Robert, ex-londoner

The major problem with London is that the streets are littered with trash, and that at weekends the availability of the underground is virtually non existance because of ''urgent repairs''If you go to the tourist spots such as Tower of London,Trafalger Sq.Madame Tusuards,The crowds are tremendous,but also the availability of toilets and decent eating places are virtually non existant...Also a great many people tourists and locals just drop their litter on the pavement or in the gutter,look at the cigarette butts on the pavement down Oxford Street you will be amazed at how many there are....Also the bus services are becoming
a joke,the drivers are in most cases non co operative and a great many of them do not understand the word ''courtesy''.Yes I was born in the UK and I am ashamned at what this country has turned into,where is the pride that was once at the forefront of this Nation.
Yes there are places worse than London,but we must remember that the World looks at us in a different way compared with,Los Angeles,Africa,or the Middle East.Lets bring back the values we have lost over the past few decades,so we can truly BRING BACK THE WORD ''GREAT'' in Great Britain

- European, Hong Kong China

Kimberly,"London has improved so much since Boris became Mayor," sorry, but are we on the same planet, let alone the same city?!? What has Boris done to make this city better? No, seriously, nothingg top do with party politics, but he's announced a lot, cancelled a lot of Ken's schemes, but what has Boris actually delivered? You know, finished, signed off, completed. Nothing!

- Tony Magdee, muswell hill

Tripadvisor is the first resort of anyone with an axe to grind.

- Blue Baby, London

That survey only represents 1 in 10,000 visitors so this survey really means nothing especially as it is American! London for all its faults is quite simply the greatest city on Earth fullstop.

- Paul Hopkins, London, England

".. worst city for food in the survey by American travel website .." ?

Given the ignorance of Americans, their daily diet of junk food, their grotesquely expanding waistlines, etc, etc. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Having travelled considerably around the States, I couldn't say that I received the best of hospitality.

I strongly expect that most of the people who participated in the survey haven't even been to London.

- Frank, Home Counties, England.

I'm with Boris on this one!! Filthy? Poor transport? Bad food? Are these people from outer space?
Look at the green spaces, the sheer diversity of food and the variety of stuff on offer for tourists.

- Ib, London

As a London pensioner; none of us care at all about the food quality in restaurants; we are just happy to eat anything we can get our hands on; cat curry is big at the moment; when we can’t find any more cats; we will do hot dogs and pigeon pies.

We waste far too much food; look in your dustbins, and remember, Old Age Pensioners will love those scraps; and it will feed us far better than the Government does.

Years ago houses had pig swill buckets the government wanted to feed pigs with; well if it was good for pigs; why don’t they feed the British pensioners just as good.

- Mickyinlondon, london

There is nothing wrong with London that a very big hoover couldnt fix.

- Mrs.Port, London

Bonjour from France. Just one comment our Bertrand our Paris Mayor says Paris is the most visited capital in the world. Boris says its London...lets ask which of the 2 is a liar....

I have the answer: both are first rate good liars...now a^prt from that London is a nice place, food; pitty one can't find english food in London and should any tell me they can they just let me know where I can eat a Steak & Kidney pie...otherwise I will put you along with Boris and Bertrand our Paris Mayor

- Terry. B, Toulouse, France

Sorry, Americans think we are unfashionable? And they don't like our food?

Most of the Amercian tourists I see are obese (usually chomping on fast food), thoughtless (one woman sat next to me in a bar on the Southbank and plonked her considerable derriere right on top of my (fashionable) mac and didn't even notice), and dress like blind thieves. Hopefully this survey will be shared, and will stop them coming in their droves this summer!

Oh the irony - oh sorry, they don't understand 'irony', do they?

- Wendy K, London

I agree with Enuff, London is dirty and overcrowded. On the food side yes plenty of choice if you like really bad Indian and Chinese food. France and Italy fare much better simple regional dishes and wine and you can eat exetremely well "le menu" for less than £20.

- Patricia, London

I think part of the problem is that tourists come over for a week and get stuck in the usual tourist traps around the West End, Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. There's very little in terms of decent, affordable food and accommodation in these areas and tourists seem to pool in the ubiquitous, overpriced "steak houses", I have lived in London for nearly 10 years and don't know anyone who lives/lived here who eats in these places. Tourists need to invest in a decent guidebook, do some research and get off the beaten track.

- Mcw, London

Even with the drop in the £ you can eat for less in much of Europe, and it will usually be better quality. One of the main problems is the cost of "so called" extras. Vegetables should be inclusive with any meat or fish dish, likewise salad with a pasta dish. And the markup on wine is ridiculous - £16 to £17 for a bottle that is £3-99 in your local supermarket is a pure rip off!

- Michael Two, London

The train fares compared to European trains and fares are astronomical. To obtain tickets in advance is not the tourist system. Even in te old soviet system train fares were reasonable.
No! Neither England, nor any of the cities cater for the tourist anymore. Just grab the cash and run system.

- A. Winsley, London

I lived and worked in London for 20 years before emigrating to the USA in spring 2001, I lived in Philadelphia for several years. The quality of life in London is very poor, many people (including me at the time) convince themselves that they live in a "Great City" and bury their heads in the sand on this issue.
London is incredibly crowded, because of this poor service is the norm, there are always another 10,000 tourists tomorrow, so why bother about quality? who cares if you never go back to some restaurant?
Service in pubs is appalling, because we never tip bar staff, they have zero motivation to do anything other than the bare minimum for you, and have no interest in trying to make your visit a pleasure.
In almost every bar in Philadelphia (even the homely 'dives') that I used to frequent, one would invariably get table service. Just sit at a table, and a friendly waiter/waitress will stroll over, with a smile and take your order, even if its just a pint of lager, they are happy to serve you, this is rare anywhere in the UK including London.
London is a struggle, it frustrates you at almost every turn, it impedes you, it wants to stop you having a nice time, it insists you lower your own standards, you accept shoddy service and quality or you simply don't go out.
My view now is that in Philadelphia customers are truly valued, whereas in London they are despised, Philadelphia incidentally is nothing special, most US cities are similar in this regard.

- Hugh, Birmingham, UK

My friends from Holland and Belgium think that the restaurant value is poor as well. There is a huge whiff of the Microwave in much of the food that is prepared nowadays in London restaurants. But the one thing that they have a problem with, is getting around to see anything. The cost of transport is excruciating. Six of us went to Hatfield House from Kings X station - journey distance 20 miles. Total cost £87.00 off peak fares. They could not believe it. Happily the had to exchange less €uros to get there.

- Vanholsbeeck, Herts

The politicians should take note and who gives a hoot what the celebs think. For anyone who has a normal income London is a crippling city to visit in terms of costs of eating out. The fact that is filthy is also true. Especially the underground and buses

If the politicians want to do something about it then make london cleaner by utilising the vast quantities of unemployed who would like something to do and reeducating people who seem to leave litter everywhere.

- Lou, London

As for "cuisine" restaurants in London, they just leave a bad taste in your mouth. The cover charge per head, and extra charge you discover on the bill for answering the waiter's question "would you like green vegetables or potato with that?", along with the "suggested" service charge (over VAT-included costs), can stretch the limits of tolerance, when the food is what your mother coold have cooked. I name two guilty parties to avoid: La Famiglia and Garbo

- Christopher Wheatley, Paris, France

London has some fine places to eat - from the "very best" (read expensive and excellent quality) to the less expensive (read affordable regular eateries).

Americans have no idea what to eat or where to eat, and in many cases how to eat... Did they all go to Burger King?

- Lyndon, Joane, Portugal

The vast majority of tourists do not have city banker salaries and thus can’t afford to eat at Michelin-starred restaurants every night of the week.

If you are a family and four here for a week on half board that is 56 meals you have to buy. Thus the cost of eating out is crippling to most tourists.

London's failing is that ordinary restaurants - where you can dine for under £25 a head are dreadful. They are serving up pre-prepared food that is either frozen or stale before it is cooked

If we are to boost tourism we need a revolution in café and neighbourhood restaurants. Boris needs to pull his head out of the sand – and help ordinary people enjoy good food like they can in France.

We need to have our own City-Hall accreditation scheme so that Londoners and tourists can identify restaurants that actually prepare and cook the food themselves, and have properly trained staff.

- John, Richmond

The last two points are so true from Joe and Jonathan , London is too overcrowded and it really shows. You can feel it in the way you get treated. Things are too aggressive at street level.

- Enuff, London

Joe must live in SOUTH London...
Jonathan, try and go to any capital in Europe and find a parking space.
Why would a tourist hire a car in London anyway?
The restaurants are v good value for money, food is excellent. I dont see what the fuss is about.
Regarding being the worst dressed, I hold my hands up, people on the street wearing primark gear, what is the world coming too...

- Ray Charles, LONDON

Only a fool from Switzerland would come to London and hire a car to get around the centre. Who needs a car at the weekend when there are brilliant links from the airports and an excellent tube system?

- Investment Banker, London

To eat and drink in London fares very poorly compared to many European and American and Austalian for value, quality and prices.

- Joe, Swanley Kent

anyone who disagrees with the results of this survey lives in cloud cuckoo land. restaurants and cafes in london are a disgrace - they poorly serve expensive, unimaginitive, poor quality food. people really need to wake up in london and stop being so delusional. nothing will ever change otherwise.

- Josh, london

London is filthy, take a look at the stainless steel "handrails" on London Bridge, where thousands of tourist go to take photos of Tower Bridge. I've never seen those rails cleaned in 20 odd years!
Our cheap food offers of pizza, hotdogs and pasta are disgusting. anything better is generally hideously overpriced. Transport is expensive and often tatty. Our subways are normally filthy. It's such a shame that we don't seem to have any pride in our City.

- Mark, Croydon

So, Joe, London, do you think the US has a wonderful transport system?

- Sunil, London

I too live and work in London, have travelled the World and have also lived and worked abroad, London is one of the finest cities in the World, moaners like Joe are welcome to leave, good riddance.

- Gordon Brown, London, UK

surely not worse than Dublin.....

- Alan, London

I visited London last year and I thought it was absolutely great.

- Wendy Read, Melbourne, Australia

The restaurants are overpriced for what you get. Also, has anyone actually stayed in the horrible cheap hotels around the Earl's Court area. Disgusting and overpriced. A blatant rip-off.

- John, Staffordshire

It must be a good joke... London's unfashionable?? One of the global centres of street fashion? It's true that lots of ppl arent trendy but it would be totally boring, innit?

- Ben, Budapest

London has improved so much since Boris became Mayor, so I guess this survey was done before he came to power.

- Kimberley, London

just try to visit london and hire a car and then find a parking space

- Jonathan, Bern Switzerland

I live in London and yes its dirty over crowded with crap transport system and I am planning to move out of the UK soon most likley to USA.

- Joe, London

London was also voted as having the second best cuisine - in fact, more people voted for it positively (17%) rather than negatively (10%).

- Becky, Brighton, UK

I am utterly baffled by these findings. I have travelled all over Europe and find London's streets spotless in comparison to those in say Paris or Milan. Our restaurants are far better and offer a wider choice than anywhere else on the continent. Were these people eating in Mcdonalds? Who are these people to say that we are so unfashionable? Don't take this to heart London, You are still the best City in the world.

- Richard, London

Not surprising results. Despite the commendable popularisation of the culinary arts in recent times, the average standard of restaurants remains comparably low. It is mainly at the high end you see the "range, quality and innovation" Boris mentions. Travellers to London do not necessarily ply their time perusing the latest foodie magazines to locate the decent gastropubs or mid market gems we locals have weeded out from the remaining sub-par offerings.

Compare service in London versus any major city in the western world and it fares rather poorly. Indifference seems to be an almost desirable trait.

You certainly can find the best in this city if you know where to look but unfortunately as a whole London over promises and underdelivers.

- G, London

Malcolm, mate, do you ever get out?

All the badley dressed people are inevitably tourists and visiting students. The fat ones are usually from the US. And they graze incessantly from the fast food places.

Just take a walk along the Southbank, from Shad Thames all the way to the London Eye, including some of the streets set back from the river. Plenty of great eating places at reasonable prices. Try Borough Market.

If London's so bad, why do they all come here, again and again?

- Haskey, London SE1

I would say the food is quite good depending on where you go. The fashion is mixed if anything, I mean there is a fashion scene, but there are so many chavs it kinda looks like one of them war torn countries.

Problem with London are the actual people - dirty, fat, lazy, loud, rude, did I mention dirty and fat? I swear most people here are proud to only shower once every 2-3 days.

- Matt, London

Try living in this hellhole day in day out.Overpriced,awful transport system and thieving MPs.

- David, london

The survey sounds about right.

You won't find many gastropubs or decent ethnic cooking in Leicester Square. And London is a scruffy place!

- C Harrison, London

From experience Trip Advisor provides a form online service for cheapskate troggs who have either booked outside of their budget or have expected 14 nights of 5 star luxury for $500.

We stopped using it years ago as a reliable source of travel opinion.

- Sandy, London

Its true.Apart from a very few "tres expensive" fashionable restaurants this country has no idea how to cater.Pubs serve up standard pre-prepared rubbish.London streets are filthy.Our clothes are so unfashionable its beyond belief. Look down any high street today and the standard attire seems to me to be baggy jeans and a dirty T top.Its the new uniform!!.
And of course there are far too many fat bottoms too!Not a pretty sight. Boris please take note.

- Malcolm, London

Many Americans will complain anyway. It makes them happy.

- Jf, London

Clearly no one should rely on TripAdvisor for holiday guidance!

- Anthony, London

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