Dreadful towns

[Robin Evans]

2 hours ago, Bleep1673 said:

Dreadful, Leigh, Featherstone, Woking, Barnsley, Warrington, Crawley, Grayes, Bracknell, Barrow, Dudley, Bristol.

Barnsley is OK. Decent market. Decent school. Some lovely parts to barnsley.

80% of tarn is rural...... pretty rural too. Dicksville is a lovely part ofvthe Borough though its residents do align themselves more as dee dars

[Gerrumonside ref]

We’re too hard on ourselves

[Robin Evans]

Just an addendum.....

May I introduce parkgate.... a village of  Rovrum Borough.... a village half the size of fev if that.... supported a successful sex shop for 30 years and has areas police will only go in twos.

Today someone has left a parcel of faecal matter in a box on the steps of the local chippy. Nice. How quaint.

[17 stone giant]

On 23/06/2020 at 13:48, Shadow said:

Is this whole thread just a trap to see how long before I go "Portsmouth"?

If it is I've fallen for it.

Portsmouth.

 

I would agree that there are some unattractive parts of Portsmouth (more the inland parts), but the waterfront area is fantastic. From the Historic Dockyard to Eastney (e.g. right along Southsea seafront), it's one of my favourite places to go. There's load to do and you get lovely views of the boats and ships in the Solent.

If these pics are of a "dreadful" place, I think people must have pretty high standards!

 

[Leeds Wire]

6 hours ago, Saint 1 said:

St. Helens has to be up there, which is sad, because I still identify with the town and it's people far more greatly than anywhere else. 

Suicide capital of the UK - https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/st-helens-nations-suicide-capital-16097571

Second highest amount of anti-depressant use - https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/14257071.st-helens-spent-second-highest-amount-on-anti-depressants-in-country-figures-show/

In the top 10% of local authorities for deprivation (and getting more deprived relative to other local authorities) - https://www.sthelens.gov.uk/media/10834/indices-of-deprivation-2019-summary-report.pdf

There are approx. 10k people in St Helens living in the 1% most deprived of areas nationally

S.t Helens ranks as the 8th most deprived authority out of 317 in terms of relative Health Deprivation and Disability

St. Helens ranks as the 9th most deprived authority in terms of relative employment deprivation

St Helens ranks as the 34th most deprived authority in terms of relative income deprivation

At the beginning of his brilliant book, McCarthy's Bar, the late Pete McCarthy described St Helens as "a town that makes Warrington look like an area of outstanding natural beauty".

[silverback]

Just a word on barnsley getting on the list,its one a the best shopping places around,clean and plenty of parking, everyones polite and helpfull,its like going back 30 years and all for the better too, special local bobbies just to keep lowlifes in check,anyone wandering about with a speacial brew of funny fag will be escorted away in a van to outskirts a town.i have seen one officer asking a lad to take his feet off bench,and when dident he were off too, go have a wander round when things get back to normal and see for yourself, no namby pamby snowflakes.just simple policys that seem to work when you then wander to dewsbury or even wakefield,am glad am out in the sticks and live in an area i wouldent swop for anywere.

[Shadow]

7 minutes ago, silverback said:

Just a word on barnsley getting on the list,its one a the best shopping places around,clean and plenty of parking, everyones polite and helpfull,its like going back 30 years and all for the better too, special local bobbies just to keep lowlifes in check,anyone wandering about with a speacial brew of funny fag will be escorted away in a van to outskirts a town.i have seen one officer asking a lad to take his feet off bench,and when dident he were off too, go have a wander round when things get back to normal and see for yourself, no namby pamby snowflakes.just simple policys that seem to work when you then wander to dewsbury or even wakefield,am glad am out in the sticks and live in an area i wouldent swop for anywere.

Did a tall stranger walk into town and buy a new pair of trousers before then getting arrested / attacked by local good ol' boys / saving a woman from being kidnapped? because Barnsley sounds like every Jack Reacher story I read. 

[Robin Evans]

Nah.... barnsley is genuinely alreight owd luv!!

[silverback]

15 minutes ago, Shadow said:

Did a tall stranger walk into town and buy a new pair of trousers before then getting arrested / attacked by local good ol' boys / saving a woman from being kidnapped? because Barnsley sounds like every Jack Reacher story I read. 

They do coach trips from all over the country so somethings working,am sure we must have plenty of decent places to live/work and shop all over the country.

[Robin Evans]

37 minutes ago, silverback said:

Just a word on barnsley getting on the list,its one a the best shopping places around,clean and plenty of parking, everyones polite and helpfull,its like going back 30 years and all for the better too, special local bobbies just to keep lowlifes in check,anyone wandering about with a speacial brew of funny fag will be escorted away in a van to outskirts a town.i have seen one officer asking a lad to take his feet off bench,and when dident he were off too, go have a wander round when things get back to normal and see for yourself, no namby pamby snowflakes.just simple policys that seem to work when you then wander to dewsbury or even wakefield,am glad am out in the sticks and live in an area i wouldent swop for anywere.

I'm a Wombwell lad. I've always found tarn ok. Its like fev v roosters for a rugby tangent comparing tarn n rovrum

[Wolford6]

On 23/06/2020 at 14:42, gingerjon said:

Look, Cwmbran still exists so it's not as clear cut as you think.

Cwmbran is okay. The houses are very samey, but so are the ones up the valley  ... council house or Coal Board house that was the choice for most people right up to the 1970's. For a small town it's got excellent shopping centre, sports facilities and road links.

[Wolford6]

Bradford might be a bit rough but it's a rough diamond

[saddleworth]

21 hours ago, Exiled Townie said:

Luton, just done a quick google and, over last few years it's been voted

Worst place to live

Worst Town in UK

Worst place to visit in UK

Worst place for anything (2016)

Winner of UK crappiest town

 

What does one expect.

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Wolford6 said:

Cwmbran is okay. The houses are very samey, but so are the ones up the valley  ... council house or Coal Board house that was the choice for most people right up to the 1970's. For a small town it's got excellent shopping centre, sports facilities and road links.

When were you last there? Family lived there for a time in the 70s and I’ve been back a few times since.

[Wolford6]

1 hour ago, Leeds Wire said:

At the beginning of his brilliant book, McCarthy's Bar, the late Pete McCarthy described St Helens as "a town that makes Warrington look like an area of outstanding natural beauty".

I think it was Bill Bryson who wrote that Bradford was a place where people travelled from all over Britain to drop their fish and chip papers.

I've posted before that I get a bit twitchy if I have travelled in strange areas for a couple of miles and not seen a skip, a gypsy's horse and a chemical works.

[Wolford6]

1 minute ago, gingerjon said:

When were you last there? Family lived there for a time in the 70s and I’ve been back a few times since.

Until my mother died two years ago, I was a weekend regular at Cwmbran B&Q getting stuff for her house. Moved a lot of her stuff into a Cwmbran storage centre there when her house was sold about 18 months ago. My London-living sister was going to buy a weekend cottage up the valley, but changed her mind. The stuff is still in storage!

My Dad taught there for years ... Llantarnam School.

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Wolford6 said:

Until my mother died two years ago, I was a weekend regular at Cwmbran B&Q getting stuff for her house. Moved a lot of her stuff into a Cwmbran storage centre there when her house was sold about 18 months ago. My London-living sister was going to buy a weekend cottage up the valley, but changed her mind. The stuff is still in storage!

My Dad taught there for years ... Llantarnam School.

 Fair enough. As a place, never my cup of tea. And watching Cwmbran Town in that fading athletics stadium was a very dispiriting experience.

[Leeds Wire]

3 hours ago, Wolford6 said:

I think it was Bill Bryson who wrote that Bradford was a place where people travelled from all over Britain to drop their fish and chip papers.

I've posted before that I get a bit twitchy if I have travelled in strange areas for a couple of miles and not seen a skip, a gypsy's horse and a chemical works.

To be fair though, Bill Bryson is an utter tool. 

I'd rather spend a week alone in Bradford than a week in the Seychelles with Bryson.

[Bleep1673]

Luton, forgettable, thats why I didn't put it on my OP

I would also nominate Slough, and Ashford, Kent or Middlesex, both awful

I refuse to comment on Bradford, as I have never been to it, Bradford-on-Avon is nice though

[gingerjon]

11 hours ago, Leeds Wire said:

To be fair though, Bill Bryson is an utter tool. 

I am standing. I am cheering. I am being asked to be quiet by my children.

[Bleep1673]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I am standing. I am cheering. I am being asked to be quiet by my children.

There are worse, wrongly opinionated writers out there

[Bleep1673]

Just now, Johnoco said:

There are many very nice areas, ok there’s several dodgy ones too but overall it’s not as bad as made out. 

Same as most Towns that want to be Cities, even Hastings has some nice areas, some.

[Bleep1673]

Can I add Folkestone to the list? Apart from the buildings to the west over the cliffs, it is a dreary, dull town, and as such wasn't bombed by the Germans during WW2 as they thought it was damaged enough.

[Bleep1673]

2 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Bradford has fallen further than most though, it was once a very rich prosperous city with more allegedly more millionaires than anywhere outside the stock exchange. 

Whereas now.....it isn’t.

Wool trade fallen off? Now more gold diggers, saintslass?

[M j M]

3 hours ago, Bleep1673 said:

Can I add Folkestone to the list?

No you can't. The harbour arm alone is a magnificently rejuvinated public space, the public artworks littered around are amongst the best, as a collection, in any small English town, as you say the cliff area is quite charming and the Hotel Burstin is an aggresive, brutal centrepoint which I imagine makes reactionary types heads explode (but which actually has a hidden core of graceful Victorian saloons and bedrooms.)

Sadly they allowed the both the Rotunda and the brilliantly designed pilot station to be demolished but it remains a seaside town with a great depth of interesting buildings and areas of interest and is a place I always recommend a visit to for anyone who happens to be in that part of Kent.