Who says Londoners aren't friendly?

Well, lucky you! I've never been offered a seat on tube or train. And with a neck massage too! Were the lovely young men non Brits by chance?

Blimey I'm not being racist. Just that foreign youngsters, as long as not school age, are often slightly better mannered ....

I'm glad you found such amenable young men Alea, I've always thought my city is a friendly place I'm glad you found it so too.. hope you enjoyed your day.

I reckon it's the sunshine

Sorry to digress, but how was Ottolenghi's? We're booked in there mid-August and I don't know anyone else who's been. Have you any particular recommendations?

On the subject of polite Brits, a young lady insisted on giving up her seat on the bus to DH recently. He's a young-looking 65 and very fit and healthy, so usually he's the one giving up the seat. He was mortified, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. We're up North.

I must look ancient and decrepit because 99% of the time I am offered a seat. It is usually a child or teenager who sits in the seat for the elderly and will not budge.

I think the reputation for being unfriendly sometimes comes from them always appearing to be in such a hurry they never have time to stop for the niceties of life. It's like their life depends on being somewhere asap.

I heard a comedian say that you could tell a Londoner from someone visiting if you go to a tube platform. The sign says next train in 5 minutes.

The visitor says, "Oooh only five minutes. We've timed that right."

The Londoner throws his bag on the ground and screams, "OMG I've got to wait five minutes!" then paces up and down like a caged animal until the train arrives.

The lad was English as far as I could tell! It might be the lovely weather, everybody seemed in a really cheerful mood. Not sure how DH would have reacted but the DDs thought it was a hoot!
We went to the "branch" of Ottolenghi called NOPI, in Soho. I have also eaten at the one in Upper Street and again simply delicious. We had lots of mezze type things to share. The aubergines were amazing, golden beetroot with pomegranate seeds, also the scallops and the mixed leaves and black radish in truffle oil. Mmmmm

A couple of years ago I took DGDs on a London trip. Boarded one train where there were several empty seats but 2 young men insisted on moving so that we could sit together.
Last year en route from King's Cross to Tottenham Court Road 2 young lads offered assistance with cases.
Bus queues were a different story.
In the early 70's when I lived and worked there I don't remember Londoners being so pleasant. Maybe they're kinder to 60 year-olds now than to 21 year-olds then!!

Alea DH was brought up round the corner from Upper St in Canonbury Sq

Always, a seat AND a neck massage , are you Joanna Lumley?

Sorry Alea, the iPad struck again with your name!

to be fair, most Londoners are not at all .... Londoners in any way shape or form. I always found people in London very friendly in general- especially on on to one basis. But it can feel lonely in a huge crowd- like any large city.

A few years ago SiL's brothers came over from the USA. They tried to talk to people on the Tube !!!

London is not unique. Try talking to anyone on the Paris Metro! Or even meeting anyone's eyes.

And I don't recall the New York Subway humming with spontaneous chatter between strangers.

hate generalisations must say- but Parisians are in general much less friendly than Londoners (overall)... Zürcher and Genevans are famous for being cold and snobby.

The kindness of strangers stays long in the mind after the event. Such as the girl who came up to us in an Italian station to explain that our train had been moved to another platform. Or the man in Paris two years ago who, when we struggled with a ticket machine for the metro gave us his own tickets. Then again, the lady at the cafe in Paris who screamed at me for sitting in the wrong place after we'd bought coffee there for several days also sticks in the mind [still don't know what I'd done wrong...but we never went back ]. I think that people in Paris are just concentrating very hard on not being run over by the traffic.

Sounds like the Paris Cafe near Bon Marche (can't get the accents to work on my iPad) where the waitress took exception to where we chose to sit. She hadn't expected my French to be as voluble as hers.

Oh dear I need to travel abroad more. I thought Bon Marche was a shop where my mam likes to buy clothes. Took me a while to work out you were talking about Paris

Where is Bon Marché in Paris. BTW 'bon marché' means 'cheap or very good value for money'.

At Sevres-Babylone, south of the Boulevard Saint-Germain. And a more inappropriate name it would be hard to imagine!

referring to the OP I have found Londoners very friendly, just perhaps a little different as someone else says they are just so busy rushing here and there. Some of my relatives were Londoners and we used to spend hours talking about the differences between northerners and southerners.

London is full of people who don't live, just work, there as indeed did I for years, in addition to which it if full of overseas visitors (and of course a few northerners - recognisable by their bearskins . If you work there you are likely to be hurrying to get your train, or rushing about in the lunch hour. Must be the same in any big city? Maybe the people known as Londoners live in the suburbs and I would say they are less friendly than people in other areas. We don't say hello in the street unless we actually know someone. We do tend to keep to ourselves. I think that's a great pity as I really love the openness I find in other areas. I've been to n Yorkshire and Northumberland this year and found everyone helpful and friendly. We are off to N Italy later this week and it is compulsory to say good day in a mixture of Italian, German and ladino - local dialect. I love it.