Question for Londoners and people who've been to London, is it actually that much of a piss-smelling shithole? That's basically all I've heard coming from friends who have gone there, which as someone from a fairly dirty third-world city, is surprising.
I've been to London twice, once as an exchange student for some time. Lived in Eltham actually. I've always thought it was a great city to live in. But that was around ten years ago, something like that. It faces the difficulty of every western city: overpriced, gentrified, housing shortage, etc.
I enjoyed the city very much. It is absolutely massive though so there is no 'one London' to speak about. Walking around Fulham is vastly different than walking around, idk, Hackney. The piss smell wasn't noticed by me at least.