To be honest I really don’t know where to start. This borough is full of absolute idiots; i grew up a road off edmonton and from the age of around 16/17 realised it would always be an uphill struggle to reside here. Edmonton is essentially the ‘urban’ part of the borough,what ever that means. It consists of an upper and a lower section. The vast majority of people I know from here believe the world owes them something. These characters enjoying stabbing/shooting/burning each other and their idea of a conversation is merely making self absorbed statements about how they indeed live a gangster streetlife like Pablo Escobar. Alternatively some of the residents have twee evocations about olde london where ‘people were decent’ and these lot, at bottom, support the bnp. The ‘gangsters’ in many cases buy exceptional cars on hire purchase but reduce them to trash by modifications, usually the result is more trashy than cars on that absurd programme ‘pimp my ride.’ Edmonton/tottenham is the place where you are most likely to end up in a body bag in london. I stand by this statement, I have friends in South London and Brent and none of these areas feel as dangerous as edmonton/Tottenham. Tottenham will be dealt with subsequently when I write about Haringey.
Enfield town is more of your run of the mill ‘eastenders’ style chav paradise, like a mini romford… At times the edmonton ‘gangsters’ end up there but in more cases than others its strictly inhabited by single mums and 14 year old kids with excessive spiky hair and four earings, at times rhyming cockney slang is used and people there only like only r & b music. You know what it isnt even just the way these people look that bothers me, I have shaved hair and wear clothes that aren’t exactly aristocratic; its more the pointless reaffirmation of how you should live a pointless life with no ambition. A perfect example can be drawn from a nightclub called eros.Which is now closed. Enfield town is the most annoying place on the planet and should be evacuated and then carpet bombed.
Southgate is if anything for some strange reason treated like a St tropez almost marbella part of the borough; arseholes in new bmws with black tinted windows who congregate at the bp petrol station near asda and consistently act like dicks. These people have exceptionally wealthy parents but insist on wasting their priviledges on 30,000 pound cars and have friends from Edmonton.
Winchmore Hill is simply a no mans land of boredom. Many of the people from the aforementioned areas use this as a place to ‘link’ [aka meet eachother in a social context] It masqurades as middle class but there are some A1 scumbags living here – dodgy characters….
Oakwood, again, is essentially an underground station with a few shops/restaurants. Its quite middle class, from my experience people from here are the same stock as those from southgate. Further on from Oakwood is Cockfosters which is actually ok. I wouldn’t mind living here as its more out of the way, if you like.
Ponders End, Enfield wash are as bad as edmonton and geographically connected to it. The sorts of people that dwell here and in brimsdown are killers in the making. Unreasonable, aggresive 28 year old kids. I’d say there is a strong case that these people may even have guns or other sorts of calvary/perhaps a light infantry that could be used in a warlike campaign.
All in all its a terrible borough, the irony of it all is that it seems to be the british mentality to behave like this. When I return I will be discussing the borough of Haringey.
And one day I will be living abroad away from all this.
I’d love to know which school you’re teaching at
i agree most of enfield can be quite dangerous, and that there are chavs everywhere. But, the chavs here compared to other chavs, seem almost posh sometimes. I’m so far from what anyone would consider a chav by the way, so that’s not why I’m saying that. I moved from glasgow to enfield when i was 5, and i’m glad we did, because its dangerous there. I live in enfield town and it’s safe here and everything is new and its a place everyone wants to go that has class. Edmonton, southgate and winchmore hill arent the best places, but enfield town is, and its the same as any other posh area. Better than finchley even.
I’ve just started teaching in Enfield and I can honestly say, I’ve never worked in a worse environment…ever. the teachers don’t care that no learning goes on, the children are aggressive and explicitly state frequently that ‘I can’t tell them what to do.’ Id love to be noble and stay to ‘make a difference’ but on my first day a twelve year old told me to f*#k off, and that, I don’t need!
im 18 and i have been born and raised in enfield all my life , well ive lived else were in other areas like mitcham totenham woodgreen and peckham. i proberbley what everyone would define as the ultimate enfield chav cos im a single mum with 3 kids, i live in enfield town and i look and dress like a barbie, but i dont think its a horrible place to live a lot of what u said is true the people who live aint gonna attack you or nothing for no reason well most of them wont
I am Ponders End born and bred, third generation Turkish Cypriot immigrant and i have completed my degree at the University of Bath and will be doing my masters at the University of Cambridge. When i come back i tend to congregate with my friends in said places, and tend to play loud music from my volkswagen polo which my parents brought me.
Living in a diverse community does help one’s character building, although some people do resort to other means and do not follow the path i have.
With council ‘tipping’ problem families altogether into council estates it is inevitable it will be a breding ground for deviancy, although i do not judge.
By the assertions casted in this forum, i distribute typical features of a ‘Chav’ whereas evidently i am not. I probably have a better education than everyone who has commented and a better moral standing.
People who behave as ‘gangsters’ are people who live in ignorance but they shouldn’t be judged as at one time we must of briefly lived in ignorance. Although when i was growing up in the 1990s Ponders End was a much better environment than what it seems to be now by, and communities are usually close knit but it is still a decent environment.
The borough is split equally into affluent parts such as oakwood,southgate and winchmore and the more ‘working class’ areas such as Ponders End, Brimsdown and Edmonton etc. Although a large proportion of residents enjoy a very good standing of living, with the council estates showing signs of deprivation.
The problem with these ‘Chavtowns’ are that the people who know better ignore the real issues at hand, and just judge it on face value.
If The borough of Enfield can produce me an A* student with better morality than most then it cant be such a bad environment. I’ve ‘hung’ around places in a group, played loud music out of my car and have visited said places.
Don’t be so ignorant people and get an education.
I just thought I would make this point firstly to “Rob” and anyone that has written anything similar. Although Polat clearly seems to be making a complete fool of himself, I do find it a little insulting that his written language is considered to be written from someone that is a “typical Enfield resident”, as there seems to be quite a few clear examples here (including myself) that disprove this.
I must say there are a lot of typical chav’s around Enfield Town but I definitely agree with “Anonymous” that the chav culture is growing all over like an infectious disease. There is also the diverse multi-cultural (that’s me trying to put it politely) society that has grown around me, which is sad as it never used to be as bad as then as it is now.
I live in the Enfield Lock area (EN3) all my life (23 years) approx 1/2 a mile from the Enfield Island Village where there is a lot of “gang culture” type people that congregate in that area too.
One day I will be moving up to North Nottinghamshire to be with my family, but it is a shame as it feels like all the half decent people are being pushed out of the area only to be replaced by arsehole families that bring the area down.
I have lived in lower Edmonton for 10 years now after buying a small 1 bedroom flat here, sadly some of that stuff is true I think the main thing here is that their is NO vibe to the place its a bit dead.
but some folk would love that peacefulness of the place and as for gangs I have never seen anything and no one as ever try to mug or be bad to me its not as bad as others as said but saying that its not a vary welcoming place, its but a lost place at the back end of north London..
I am English and I don’t have anyone to speak to share English with as there is a polish and African and Turkish so yes I feel vary much on my own here, I easy make friends where ever I have lived, but have never made any friends here its a lonely place for a British person here but much of London as become that way . but one good thing is free parking everywhere and nice parks and Enfield is open and wide which gives you a sense of freedom its not a like a locked in space like most places in London are..
abut its 10 times better then living in seven sisters or wood green Harringay or lewisham is the south.
Enfield Town is a great place to live, work and shop in.
I live on the west side of Enfield Town where there are ZERO chavs – quite simply because chavs cannot afford to live here!
The shopping centre attracts some chavs from the east side of the borough and south into Tottenham and Hackney. But why wouldn’t it? It’s like PARADISE compared to the shopping centres in Wood Green, Edmonton Green and Waltham Cross – and even chavs prefer to shop in a pleasant and safe environment.
Indeed, the great thing about Enfield Town is that chavs contribute to local economy without being part of it; they spend money here then f**k off back to their cesspits before it gets dark. I salute them!
Wow… You concentrated on the positives!!! Some parts of Enfield are really nice. Your article is as biased as s**t! Yes I live in Enfield …. No I’m not a chav …
Well when ever I went to Enfield my chavvy ex used to take me in the aras club….A dingy dirty working mans club…All they did was gamble on the horses and get rat arsed on the cheap booze that was offered…All the wife’s and girlfriends would turn up with their bleached blond hair and bird swings as earings ( mahusive hoops ) and dressed like tramps with a face full of orange foundation and bright red lipstick classy….Thank god im free of that twat who is now dating his cousin from Enfield….yuk….No I think i will look elsewhere for a decent chap….lol
Enfield is a s**thole. Loads of chavs congregate outside Southgate station in hoodies intimidating the locals, playing their ‘C-rap’ and ‘Garige’ music loudly on buses esp on the top deck of the 1-2-1. Then there’s the spoilt rich kids in their bmws that mummy gave them who play their ‘C-rap’ music loudly. It’s no wonder us English are moving to the countryside.
No, Enfield became a lot worse when so many turkish and black families started migrating into the area, back in the 1980s, Enfield used to be one of the richest/ poshest places around. Especially the town.
cock!!
I’m another one who believes this is spot on
I’ve only ever lived in Lewisham which is also s**t, but my god it doesnt compare to north london
You are so so right. The talent of some contributors is great- should be a blogger
Nicely put Polat. A very considered response from the typical resident of Enfield.
You the the absolute truth syke f**k you c**t f**k
You sort of prove the point don’t you?
What you say is f**king s**t f**k you and your mother f**king mama
How very Enfield of you….
As someone who lived in Enfield (Brimsdown) and Edmonton (lower), and as someone who spent plenty of time in every other area you’ve mentioned, including working in Southgate…I make you completely right in your statement. The level of acuracy here is astounding….you’ve clearly hit the proverbial nail square on the head with this. Well done. I am glad to be away from there, even more so that my children won’t have to grow up in the area, I’d hate to think of any of my litte ones getting in to the ‘gangsta’ mentality.
What a dump, i was born an raised in sunny edmonton N18 not those N9 nonces.
Very funny article, f**king spot on, not stereotypical at all and so f**king true pal.
As n18 would say ‘brapppppppppppppppppp’ (never understood this)
Agreed.
Since moving away from Enfield for my university education I have realised what a s**t hole some areas of the borough is. Feel like an outcast when I return for the holiday periods, don’t tend to fit in. Saying that, I can think of a lot more worse places to live (for example the inner boroughs of the London) and to be honest ‘Chav Culture’ is not only confined to London and the South East but is in fact evident anywhere in the UK. The local white trash are just as annoying in the East of the country, they’re spreading, gah!
‘Masqurades as middle class’.