Why is London spotless compared to other major cities?
Posted by Theres3ofMe@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 148 comments
I'm from Liverpool (scouser) and lived here all my life (46 years). It has turned into a dump (litter wise) the last several years, with our city centre in particular looking particularly bad (in a sad and embarrassing way).
Ive just come back from London today, having been there all weekend, and I couldn't believe how clean the streets were- from Hampstead, to Westminster Bridge, to Embankment.
I dont get why our city has a serious litter problem, and London clearly doesn't. I didn't even see anyone throw rubbish on the floor, whereas I see that regularly in my city. But both cities have tourists, students, stag and hen do's and residents- so what am I missing?
Does London have daily street cleaning vehicles and power washes? I never saw one, but how are the streets kept so clean during the day?
Unless London councils have a healthy waste management budget or something?
I'd be interested to hear your own experience of your own home town or city, and why you think London differs?
chuckie219@reddit
Someone’s clearly never been to Brent…
badabummbadabing@reddit
I moved out of Brent half a year ago, but over the last year, I did notice a lot more street cleaners in my area (Kilburn) than ever, which was really able to visibly reduce the amount of litter in the streets.
CanIhazCooKIenOw@reddit
London has also lots of litter but by the looks of it you’ve been to the more touristy areas.
Outside of London it’s much worst - I don’t get how can people litter to much here. It’s clearly cultural.
Kooky-Grapefruit-941@reddit
People can literally dump tonnes of waste in a field and all they get us fine
It's our law and order system that is pretty much completely broken
New-Lunch8133@reddit
I had to tell my friend to pick up his fag butts when he dropped one in our local town. He has never dropped another fag butt. Being honest but nice about it with our peers we observe doing it is well worth it.
CanIhazCooKIenOw@reddit
It’s not a fine issue, it’s a cultural problem. It’s something that you should be learning at home or at the very least in school and you clearly don’t.
One example, walking yesterday through the park and there was Greggs bags and drinks in a circle on the floor. That means people literally just got up and left.
Kooky-Grapefruit-941@reddit
If people knew there would be severe punishment it would greatly reduce, not end, littering.
Then it becomes a minority and with things like education can assist
CanIhazCooKIenOw@reddit
There is no severe punishment in other countries and you don't see the filth you see here.
Kooky-Grapefruit-941@reddit
Japan is always used as an example but there you can actually go to prison for littering (and spitting)
Singapore too.
But other countries are just as bad
Most major cities from Paris to Rome, Marseille to Naples
Even places like Amsterdam which has a 'clean' reputation has horrendous litter issues
https://www.ad.nl/amsterdam/live-pride-2024-al-73-ton-afval-opgeruimd-in-amsterdam-na-canal-parade-veel-glas~a3115832/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F
Switzerland even had to bring in new laws against littering last year after litter was becoming a much bigger problem
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/various/nationwide-uniform-fine-for-littering/89579575
Honestly I would like to see harsher fines and community cleaning for anybody caught
michuneo@reddit
If they dump dozens of tons on the outskirts of Oxford then hell yea the system is somehow broken!
mynameisollie@reddit
I think other countries also spend more on street cleaning.
CanIhazCooKIenOw@reddit
I've replied to others, it's cultural. For some reason people don't learn to take their rubbish with them - or have no shame about it.
mynameisollie@reddit
I get that, but I also don't think we have nearly enough street cleaners compared to some other countries. We certainly don't have enough to deal with the amount we litter.
CanIhazCooKIenOw@reddit
You are focused on the symptom instead of the root cause.
The problem is not having enough street cleaners it's having many people litter.
mynameisollie@reddit
No I fully agree what the root cause is. The issue is that we have a littering culture AND we don't have anyone to clean it up. We could tackle both.
Ok_Inflation4320@reddit
This. When I was living in Hong Kong they’d have an army of street cleaners that would clean the streets daily. Each district would have a refuse centre. It was set up to manage waste effectively.
mynameisollie@reddit
Yeah whenever you go to other cities in Europe, you see those mini sweeping vehicles everywhere too. You never see them over here.
Zygoneskies@reddit
I see them in Islington- big ones though
Ok-Garage-1684@reddit
Do you mean the outer parts of London, like the suburbs? If so, I agree. Suburban London can be quite dirty, sadly. It’s wild how much people pay to live in London.
happybaby00@reddit
That's the cleanest and richest part lol
ClarifyingMe@reddit
Are the tourist spots in Liverpool not clean and tidy? I was last in Liverpool in 2014 but only visited a friend so not representative, but aside from some dog poo, the residential area and the area around the train station were fine.
Boulder_Brock@reddit
Also a scouser, it's because people have no morals anymore and are tramps!
Watched a fella come out the shop, stand at the bus stop and scratch a scratch card, didn't win and threw it on the floor. I said, 'there's a bin there' and then he starts profusely apologising. I said 'it's not me you need to apologise to, your making your own city look like a shit hole' and still goes on 'I'm sorry I'm sorry.'
Walking my dogs down Princes Ave yesterday, a couple walk upto a bench and throw the water bottle that had been left on the bench on the floor. Picked it up and said 'I've just saw you drop this', girl (with a southern accent) 'well it's not mine', me 'there's a bin right next to you and you threw it on the floor.' Girl turns to the lad and looks at him, and he sheepishly takes the bottle off me and puts it in the bin.
The streets sweepers/cleaners don't cover the whole of the city centre anymore and tend to stick to certain streets or the outskirts. They go up and down Wood St, Seel St and Slater St but Church St and Lord St. Always cleaning Hope St but steer clear on Renshaw St.
The council lost interest a long time ago and old chippy tits spending/stealing money didn't help! It's like we are 5 to 10 years behind every other majority city.
Long_Wait_3078@reddit
1) Lots of money to keep them clean
2) building and contractors get fined a huge amount of money by city of London if any waste is left on the streets over a certain amount of time.
Even Getting a skip on the road in London is incredibly expensive
Decard_Pain@reddit
London is a mess but London also likely has a budget just for cleaning that is higher that Liverpools entire budget for 5 years
Naive-Interaction567@reddit
You’ve visited the very touristy parts where a lot of money will go into keeping them clean. Parts of London are absolutely disgusting.
mynameisollie@reddit
The whole country is a bit of a tip compared to other countries. Every time I go abroad I realise what a disgrace our litter problem is. If all these people putting up flags to show their patriotism did a bit of litter picking instead, the country would look less like a shithole.
littletorreira@reddit
I'm currently in Vietnam and I'll telll you, we are the very clean compared.
Broad-Raspberry1805@reddit
Yeah I remember going to Cambodia and being horrified at the litter. Same thing in Sicily to be honest as well.
InZim@reddit
The litter in Sicily covers up the smell of Italians so it's necessary
omniwrench-@reddit
I wouldnt let the Sicilians hear you call them that
noodledoodledoo@reddit
There used to be a lot of public messaging about anti-litter when I was growing up, it seems like that's not a thing any more as I haven't seen one for at least a decade. Seems like we just gave up!
brushfuse@reddit
I’ve noticed they’re always cheap printed semi-translucent flags from Temu and the like. ‘Nationalism for show’
GrumpyOlBastard@reddit
As a Canadian who traveled to the UK two years ago, I can tell you I was flabbergasted to see so. much. litter. Much more than you'd see in a typical Canadian city
Fun-Illustrator9985@reddit
Exactly, they're are cleaned areas, not clean areas
Visible-Pressure6063@reddit
Strand / Embankment is a tourist epicentre and is a total dump.
joereadsstuff@reddit
People who think London is dirty should compare it to the major cities in Europe, like Barcelona, Rome, Berlin, rather than smaller cities, because you’ll find that London is on par if not cleaner than those places.
fundytech@reddit
Looks like you went to the nice areas
jessHale011x@reddit
Where about in Liverpool are you from? I've lived in London and the parts I was in where just as littered as Liverpool if not worse in some parts.
BillyJoeDubuluw@reddit
You’ve utlimately visited gentrified and tourist-centric areas where particular effort is put in to the aesthetic context.
There are areas of the city that are absolutely filthy, as with a number of other cities.
The standard of street hygiene has dropped across the whole of the UK. I’m not saying this to be sensationalist or overtly pessimistic, I work in and around the hygiene industry. The UK has declined in its performance within this department and the reasons behind it are complex.
So, on a “like-for-like comparison” the tourist traps of Liverpool may, to your observation, be markedly dirtier than those of London, but it’s not really the case that London is ultimately cleaner… This is a national picture and not a regional one…
PersonalityOld8755@reddit
Huh my area is filthy? Sounds like you were in the tourist areas
Theres3ofMe@reddit (OP)
I was mostly, but didnt understand why our (Liverpool) city centre is a dump (and full of tourists) - but why London isn't....
PersonalityOld8755@reddit
Trust me london is, it really bothers me, Iv seen so many people throw litter away right in front of my eyes.
OrangeBeast01@reddit
I was in Luverpool a few weeks ago and it was very clean. Maybe it just depends on which areas and which days?
Theres3ofMe@reddit (OP)
Around Bold Street, Hanover Street, Church Street is horrendous...
Nevernonethewiser@reddit
London is pretty filthy, but what they have is more funding than anywhere else to hire street sweepers and the like.
Purely that. The government gives their HQ more money than they give the Scousers.
DrHydeous@reddit
The businesses in the touristy parts spend their own money on street cleaning.
Theres3ofMe@reddit (OP)
Yeh i think every business should clean their own doorstep tbh. Including pressure washing.
Nevernonethewiser@reddit
That too, you're right. It's not purely the govt. spending.
Cruxed1@reddit
In fairness London bankrolls the country so can't really object to it also spending more
blurdyblurb@reddit
Yawn, London gets all the investment so the rest of the country doesn't get a chance to contribute as much
Cruxed1@reddit
A lot of that investment is market driven though rather than government. I don't even live in London or particularly like it, but that's just how it is.
blurdyblurb@reddit
Government should do more to to drive investment to other parts of the country..look at the HS2 fiasco
Queen_of_London@reddit
TBF, they have been, maybe not as much as they should, but they have made some changes. Lots of government departments have moved out of London, for a start. I've had a lot of friends have to choose between redundancy or moving to wherever in the country their dept has been relocated. And even for the ones who really couldn't move, they agreed with the department being moved.
blurdyblurb@reddit
I hope the ones who didn't move managed to find other jobs!
Queen_of_London@reddit
IIRC they did, after a while anyway - it's been quite a few people over the years.
And a couple who did move hated living in the small places they moved to, but they were very tightly tied to London for family and friends. The ones who didn't mind or were happy are probably less likely to have been in my social circle to begin with.
blurdyblurb@reddit
You have nice friends! 🙂
Nevernonethewiser@reddit
Very much agreed. Investment in other areas won't deprive London of anything since they "pay the bills", but it might well lead to us having a surplus when other areas are able to contribute to said bills, too.
A rising tide should lift all boats, keeping a few tied down with very short ropes will just sink them.
blurdyblurb@reddit
Absolutely. It would be in London's interest too, it might become a little more affordable
Nevernonethewiser@reddit
I can, sir, and I will! It is my right as a Northerner!
llamaz314@reddit
Fair enough when their HQ contributes so much more to the economy they subsidise all of the Scousers. Things like council houses and benefits just couldn't exist without London's businesses paying the bills
Nevernonethewiser@reddit
Rising tide should lift all ships. Investment in other areas would allow them to contribute to "paying the bills" and everyone would be better off. Like the people in London who claim benefits and live in subsidised housing.
ThisLeeNoble@reddit
Come to Cardiff. Bring your own skip.
Theres3ofMe@reddit (OP)
😭😭🤣
Burtang@reddit
I've always thought that Liverpool is spotless compared to Manchester.
Theres3ofMe@reddit (OP)
Deffo not 🤣
coleslawontoast@reddit
When I went to London a year ago it was filthy and covered in litter and bin bags
Went to Manchester 3 weeks ago and was clean, not spotless but not horrendous
London marathon been on may have had the cleaners out more
Theres3ofMe@reddit (OP)
Good point about Marathon !
Chemical-Mouse-9903@reddit
I was going to ask if OP had been to Manchester and if so how they think it compares there, as I’ll agree when ever I head into the City it’s very tidy.
Can’t say I’ve thought Liverpool was a mess whenever I’ve been there either
JamJarre@reddit
Liverpool has a serious problem with littering and has since the 80s. Some parts of the city centre are really gross these days.
That being said, a lot of London is the same. With it being the marathon I suspect local councils have been splashing the cash
The_39th_Step@reddit
Manchester is a mixed bag. The city centre is okay, I’d like it to be better, but okay. The wealthy Southern suburbs are the best, they’re not quite spotless but they’re really good for a city. The poorer suburbs can be awful.
Whole_Necessary2040@reddit
? Maybe in posh areas
ARobertNotABob@reddit
Same in any urban sprawl in any country; where there's tourists, there's more budget to keep it clean.
That said, Keep Britain Tidy has been failing for 70 years.
Isogash@reddit
Center of London is quite well kept, lots of cleaning crews out constantly keeping it clean and generally full of professional workers who are somewhat less likely to litter.
The rest of greater London varies a lot.
Fit-Obligation4962@reddit
It’s everywhere. I live in Hebrides and the litter is appalling. The locals really don’t give a fuck.
1294DS@reddit
I'm from Australia and thought London was filthy compared to Sydney and Melbourne.
littletorreira@reddit
Yeah. I live in a shittier part and it's infuriating watching my neighbours litter and fly tip. Most residential parts are not clean at all.
CyberOvitron@reddit
Weird, I find London to be filthy. Central London gets littered, especially over the weekends, while if you move further towards zone 3-4-5 it gets disgusting.
The train seats have literal shit stains and on the busses you will quite often find chicken bones from ghetto chicken shops meals dropped on the floor.
Formal-Proposal7850@reddit
You went to three of the most expensive places to live/work in the whole country. They’re also not full of pubs and clubs, so there wouldn’t be many hens and stags, or even late teens and young adults.
Now, Leicester Square on a Saturday evening? Absolutely rancid.
Hammersmith? Camden? Brixton? Wembley? Clapham High Street? All have their fair share of litter and overflowing bins
RumJackson@reddit
Kilburn’s the filthiest place I’ve ever lived. And I’ve mostly lived in shitholes
krappa@reddit
Camden Council (covering Hampstead) puts significant pressure on their rubbish contractor Veolia. The roads are noticeably cleaner now than they used to be a decade ago.
emmjaybeeyoukay@reddit
London .. spotless ?
Try walking along the road between St Pancras and Kings X.
Filthy pavements, overflowing bins, piles of rubbish on the pavement and around the bus stop near the Euston Road end. Thats first thing in the morning too.
krappa@reddit
This is an exaggeration. That road isn't that bad.
Mysterious-Fortune-6@reddit
That's the daft way the local council in that area organises bin collections
Prince_John@reddit
Go and have a walk around Shoreditch and you might change your view of London. Filth everywhere. I'll agree that parts of Farringdon are spotless though, to the point where I did a double-take the first time I was walking through some of it..
FMEditorM@reddit
If you want to ask those that live in London, post in r/london. Here, 99% of answers will be from folks that come for the day once every few years or take what they see on SM as a confirmed impression.
I moved out of London recently after a decade, but will agree, in comparison to all the cities I’ve lived in (Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Swansea, Gloucester, Bristol, Dundee) with the exception of Edinburgh, it’s v clean, at least in terms of litter. There is more in certain areas, of course, but in general, the plethora of bins, good road cleaning services and something cultural does indeed seem to stop litter.
Basteir@reddit
Edinburgh is quite clean?
FMEditorM@reddit
I felt so, but it was less than 6 months I was there, and that was over a decade ago…
Kopparberg643@reddit
London, clean, what... It has a massive litter problem. Go check out Camden, especially on a Friday night
RedonculousCherry@reddit
The litter issue in London has got worse, you see it in the parks and little fenced off wooded areas with bushes. You don't see it so much in the centre
Trick-Station8742@reddit
If you wanna see spotless, go to Berlin. Or many other European cities.
Puts us to shame.
monstera-attack@reddit
I’ve just come back from Nice in France. Aside from bin day, litter just isn’t a thing and the streets are washed clean every night. It’s so clean and the people clearly respect their environment. Complete breath of fresh air - coming back to London felt grimy.
cypherspaceagain@reddit
That sounds Nice.
Scaryofficeworker@reddit
So true. Don’t remember much litter in places like Copenhagen and Amsterdam .
Scaryofficeworker@reddit
You clearly have a biased perception as you have not been to the dirty and litter-filled parts of the city !
medlilove@reddit
Come to Depford
jaymatthewbee@reddit
Next time go and wander around Whitechapel
Queen_of_London@reddit
The market area can be messy due to the market, but the back streets are pretty clean.
creedz286@reddit
visited whitechapel 2 weeks back and it was suprisingly clean
happybaby00@reddit
TBF Whitechapel is mainly a fish market, it's cleaned at night.
eat-my-rice@reddit
Great fish curry in Whitechapel
PaulBradley@reddit
We cleaned it up ready for the marathon, it's usually quite mucky due to daily kerb-side litter collections.
imtravelingalone@reddit
Hampstead I believe, but the rest of the city, no way. I love London, don't get me wrong, but the way people just leave so much rubbish everywhere is shameful. Certainly no better than Liverpool.
TomVonServo@reddit
I live in Hampstead and it’s not spotless.
Main_Context_3589@reddit
I find in London you can be fooled into thinking an area is run down or very poor (they're usually the places I've seen with the most litter) because it looks like run down poor areas in other cities. The thing is those terraced houses probably cost 700k and have middle or upper middle class people whom, generally speaking, don't drop as much litter. Just a thought...
ambiguousboner@reddit
London spotless 😂
Jealous_Problem356@reddit
You need to get out of zones 1 and 2, it's a filthy shit hole!
Oceansoul119@reddit
Given I spent this afternoon pulling other peoples' rubbish out of an elderly lady's garden I wonder what London you're talking about. Certainly not the real one.
ldn-ldn@reddit
Only a few affluent areas are clean, most of London is a dump, sadly.
Optimal_Collection77@reddit
Agree that Liverpool has turned to a litter filled shit hole. Crap blowing around everywhere especially opposite the cat cafe
Radiant-Mycologist72@reddit
Almost everywhere in London stinks of piss. Some of the attractions mich be clean but everything else is rank.
happybaby00@reddit
Spotless??
Go to any district in zone 2-5 and come back here before writing lies.
ServerLost@reddit
It's not, next.
Fun-Illustrator9985@reddit
You haven't been to my surburbs
mailywhale@reddit
Yeah not sure about this. London is the only place I’ve seen bin bags lining the streets
theNikolai@reddit
Not sure about "spotless", people literally urinate in the streets.
monstera-attack@reddit
Erm, which London did you visit, because if you think it’s spotless it wasn’t the UK one.
onionsofwar@reddit
People in Central London are professionals and tourists. Get to zone 2 and you'll see plenty of people throwing stuff directly onto the floor, although generally speaking it's not too bad with litter, still the odd chav/boy racer throwing their MacDonald packaging out the window of their car.
Old_Quit_851@reddit
Ey?
Cold_Raspberry520@reddit
Going to say you must have been on a good day lol 😆 luckily comments are real as everything I've been its full of litter and smells like urine
blurdyblurb@reddit
Different areas have a different street cleaning regime..you can assume the tourist part of the capital will have the highest frequency and the best budget!
geeered@reddit
There may well have been extra cleaning for the marathon.
The areas around Embankment were far from spotless this afternoon/evening.
Some areas in London area really tidy, others are far from it.
Mostly depending on the sort of people in those areas of course.
tocookornottocook@reddit
lol London is a shithole
Ill_Refrigerator_593@reddit
One thing I notice in London is the chewing gum. A thin layer covering half the pavements more extensive than anywhere else.
The touristy bits tend to fairly clean & many UK cities don't have large touristy bits.
Charming-Objective14@reddit
Someone's never been to Camden Town
Life-Option7440@reddit
You went to the nicest parts you could ever go to in London, I actually think outer London is filthier than the rest of the country
yoho1234@reddit
Go to east ham lmao
Playful-Marketing320@reddit
They get more funding unfortunately
Spdoink@reddit
The well visited parts of London are usually ok, but a great deal of the surrounding boroughs are a complete shithole.
Ok-Garage-1684@reddit
Some of the more central areas may look quite clean. However, for me, even the desirable suburbs around London have sub-standard hygiene standards. I visited some parts of Clapham, a desirable area, and there were loads of bins just dumped on the high street.
pizzainmyshoe@reddit
If you go out early in the morning there is probably quite a bit of pressure washing and street sweeping being done.
BillWilberforce@reddit
What I found about parts of Liverpool and other Northern cities like Hull. Was the sheer amount of dog shot everywhere. Whereas you hardly ever see it in London.
Live-Independent-416@reddit
Go finsbury park - absolute trash when i went 2 years ago
Sonic_The_Hamster@reddit
Walk down Whitechapel and you'll realise that it's not clean. The old Red Phone Boxes are used as toilets and the streets are dirty.
Competitive_Pen7192@reddit
It's not... Only very central London is clean and even then there might not be litter but alleys and quieter places often stink of urine.
I'd assume central anywhere will be relatively clean compared to elsewhere in a city.
Like I went to Newcastle for a few weeks via work training. I thought the city centre was lovely and well kept.
russ_knightlife@reddit
Not been London since 2022 but it wasnt spotless by anymean - but look up public spending per person vs rest of the UK for start!
Some-Cope1999@reddit
You’ve been looking in the wrong places. There’s definitely litter in certain streets in London
8bitPete@reddit
Never been to Singapore eh?
_I__yes__I_@reddit
Go to the parts of London where people actually live and there’s litter everywhere.
Thalamic_Cub@reddit
Have you...been to london?
RuaRuaRua81@reddit
I was there a few weeks back and noticed that, and there wasn't that many bins either, we had to carry our rubbish around trying to find one
Evening-Web-3038@reddit
Is it? I'm up there about twice a month and haven't noticed anything particularly bad rubbish-wise about the city centre...
Maybe around the homeless tents?
Haunting-Button-4281@reddit
££££££
R1ceKai@reddit
You went to the nice touristy parts of London. Trust me there are areas that looks like a total dump in London.
trade-craft@reddit
London, spotless!?
It's a fucking shithole.
Equivalent_Word3952@reddit
Money
Reeelfantasy@reddit
You probably didn’t take the tube 🫤
Opening_Nose_2347@reddit
London is a theme park, so they keep it clean.
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