South London's been completed!

Crossing the Thames into the south

I'll be honest, despite living in London all my life, supporting a London football club, studying in London, and liking many aspects of London (the transport, the parks, the concert venues), London bores me a lot. In a weird way, I don't like London that much, and I know that's a strange thing to say considering this blog wouldn't exist without London. But London just doesn't do that much for me anymore.

And south London especially isn't the most thrilling place either. I should know, I've been here all my life, having lived in two different areas south of the Thames. Most of the boroughs are the same greyish tint, and no posts about council-owned parks, random tributaries, or war memorials will change that.

Brockwell Park, Herne Hill

I mean, it should be obvious. If you remember my Sutton loop epilogue, I spent half the time talking about how most of south London is the exact same - and that's true. I won't reiterate those arguments, beyond saying that suburbia is incredibly dull, especially when you live in it, and it's up to you to get on with lengthy commutes, unappealing views, and unreliable train operators. Blogging about these suburbs like I have just makes you look weird to others, I fear. 

Either way, here's my personal ranking of all the south London boroughs, now that I've blogged about them all. 

• S-tier: Richmond, Greenwich, Merton, Wandsworth - all these boroughs have wonderful parks and some genuinely interesting locations. Merton especially seems like a weird pick, but throughout this blog's life I've been drawn there time and time again, mainly for the parks and the river Wandle, but also because lots of it is wonderful to be around. And that's reason enough for me to rank Merton that high, despite Pollards Hill.

Deer in Richmond Park

View from Greenwich Park

• A-tier: Kingston, Southwark, Lambeth - both are nice places, but some aspects of them hold me back from rating them higher. As you get closer to central London, Southwark is absolutely worth it, but the more you retreat into the south, the more dull and at times unpleasant it becomes. Lambeth is like the sister borough to Southwark, tbh. Kingston meanwhile is similar - I like the town centre, and I can't hate on a borough which has Chessington in there - but you can't convince me to visit New Malden, I'm sorry.

Along the Thames near Petersham

• B-tier: Bromley, Bexley - the two Kentish boroughs, both lose out due to how distant they are, but also because in a way, they don't feel like London? True, I've barely been in Bexley, and whilst I loved Hall Place, I found Bexleyheath underwhelming, and I feel like the borough's much like that. And when it comes to Bromley, I loved the Chislehurst Caves, and I even like places like Beckenham a lot. But most of it feels very boring at the same time, and I probably need to become a rambler to truly appreciate it.

Looking into Bromley, not far from Addington

• C-tier: Sutton, Lewisham - Sutton's biggest problem is that outside of Carshalton, there isn't much to do there. But to be honest, I can't hate on Sutton, unlike some bloggers. And Lewisham is also extremely flat, aside from the Horniman Museum. Admittedly I haven't been in Lewisham enough, but New Cross is not my cup of tea, and the area around Millwall's stadium isn't that nice either. 

New Cross junction

• D-tier: Croydon - a very mixed bag. Underwhelming town centre, as well as a large southern section which doesn't have much there, but combined with some legitimately pretty areas here and there. It just so happens that loads of Croydon is incredibly grey - what I mean by that is most of the borough hangs over you like a shadow wherever you go, whether it be Thornton Heath, Purley, or Addiscombe. No surprise Peep Show is set here. And yes, I know I've blogged loads about Croydon in the past - if anything, go back and read those posts, that will only strengthen my argument that this is far from the best borough.

Coombe Wood (which I love)

I don't think I'll stop blogging about south London, but if you haven't somehow noticed, I'm no longer exclusively blogging about it either. Back in the day, I wanted to stick to writing about south London instead of all of London, just to give this blog an identity of sorts. Obviously I was inspired by Geoff Marshall, Tom Scott, and Diamond Geezer, just to name a few influences, when it came to writing about locations. And I just so happened to focus on south London, with the odd mention of cooler places like Hyde Park. 

But as I've moved on in life, I've also learnt that both stereotypical images of south London - gritty, grime obsessed layabouts, and dull, Surrey-wannabes -  are insanely incorrect on so many different levels. And I don't think I've perpetuated either of them at any time in this blog. Instead, I've learnt something arguably more sinister - it's usually cold, grey, dark, damp, depressing.

And there are no more places to visit in south London. 

Chislehurst Pond - one of the oldest photos I took. It predates the blog by a year!