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Rubbish towns

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muddythefish

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I was going to say, Aber is pleasant enough. Doesn't even need mentioning in the same sentence as Blackpool! :)

To add to rubbish seaside towns/cities (or towns/cities by the sea), I was only there briefly but Cleethorpes looked fairly nasty. And Portsmouth is a rat-infested dump.

On a recent visit, I'd say Aberystwyth is hanging on by its fingertips. Lots of buildings in the centre are run down and the shops are of generally very average quality. Without the university and the young people it brings to the town, Aber would have died by now.
 

Cletus

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Walked from Rochdale railway station down to the tram terminus today.

The majority of the shops were boarded up. Perhaps the rest of the town is better?
 

185143

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Are you Northern by birth? People in the North, even quite "rough" people (if you could use that term), tend to be friendlier than down South. When I moved to MK it took quite a lot of getting used to.

London is probably the extreme end of this - an incredibly aggressive place at times (in a way New York perhaps surprisingly isn't).
I'd say, as a Northerner, it seems to be mostly London and the immediate areas that are arrogant and unfriendly. Had a weekend on a Kent rover last year, which felt nothing like being in London and quite akin to being on the rails up here, minus the pacers. Obviously. I'd mentally pictured Kent as being basically an "add on to London" with all the connotations that brings, but my impressions couldn't have been more different.
 

bramling

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On a recent visit, I'd say Aberystwyth is hanging on by its fingertips. Lots of buildings in the centre are run down and the shops are of generally very average quality. Without the university and the young people it brings to the town, Aber would have died by now.

The last point may well be right, but fact is it *does* have the university. On top of that as a town it’s also the focal point for quite a wide and highly remote rural area, which would always keep things ticking over (as an example last year I was in Barmouth and needed a car part - which had to come from as far away as Aber). Heading south the next decent-sized town is Carmarthen which is about 60 miles away and over an hour by road, and going north really you’re looking at Shrewsbury, whilst eastwards there’s not even that.

Finally, as a seaside town it’s actually quite smart, which means it brings in at least a modest flow of reasonably well-heeled holidaymakers. And they’re certainly a cut above what’s found in somewhere like Rhyl!
 
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DarloRich

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Crap towns:

Great Yarmouth. A Toilet. Worse place I have ever lived.
Luton: Awful. Grim.

Darlington (which I appreciate may be controversial to some on here...)

Disgraceful. While it isnt perfect by an stretch it is hardly the worst town in County Durham ( even south Durham) let alone the country! I mean: Hartlepooh, Spennymoor, Newton Aycliffe, Peterlee etc etc. Honestly, you haven't even seen bad if you think Darlo is on that list. Truthfully, it isnt a bad north east town and while it does have issues it does not have some of the more crushing problems of the decaying and dying former mining and steel towns.

It is the same as people who say certain areas of Milton Keynes are rough. Don't know they are born.

Anywhere in Fife.

St Andrews? There are some lovely little fishing type villages on the coast. Clearly there are "tough" areas ( Methil?) but i think your statement is a little silly.

I'll say it, the problem with most new towns is that they are populated almost exclusively with the 'working class'. Milton Keynes is the only town in my opinion that got it right, due to it attracting people of all classes.

yes - all those working class scum will be to blame. I suspect you are a kid with very little exposure to life.

BTW - I come from one of those awful working class families from that area.
 
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DarloRich

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Although a city: Hull.

I would dig it out and float it off into the north sea and use it as penal colony. This is in no way because me evil ex lives there.....................................
 

telstarbox

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I'd say, as a Northerner, it seems to be mostly London and the immediate areas that are arrogant and unfriendly. Had a weekend on a Kent rover last year, which felt nothing like being in London and quite akin to being on the rails up here, minus the pacers. Obviously. I'd mentally pictured Kent as being basically an "add on to London" with all the connotations that brings, but my impressions couldn't have been more different.
My patch of SE London, and Romney Marsh, are both great in their own ways, but couldn't be more different.
 

Czesziafan

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Luton definitely awful - it looks like a colony of the former Soviet Union and the streets are alive with aggressive beggars, who if you walk past, hurl abuse or come after you demanding money. The absolute a******e of the South.
 

bramling

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Crap towns:

Great Yarmouth. A Toilet. Worse place I have ever lived.
Luton: Awful. Grim.



Disgraceful. While it isnt perfect by an stretch it is hardly the worst town in County Durham ( even south Durham) let alone the country! I mean: Hartlepooh, Spennymoor, Newton Aycliffe, Peterlee etc etc. Honestly, you haven't even seen bad if you think Darlo is on that list. Truthfully, it isnt a bad north east town and while it does have issues it does not have some of the more crushing problems of the decaying and dying former mining and steel towns.

It is the same as people who say certain areas of Milton Keynes are rough. Don't know they are born.



St Andrews? There are some lovely little fishing type villages on the coast. Clearly there are "tough" areas ( Methil?) but i think your statement is a little silly.



yes - all those working class scum will be to blame. I suspect you are a kid with very little exposure to life.

BTW - I come from one of those awful working class families from that area.

There’s new towns and there’s new towns. Somewhere like Stevenage has very different issues to Kirkby.

I suspect part of the antipathy towards new towns is that most of them are “down south”, and in most cases tend to have an ex-London bias to the population, even half a century or more further on. We’ve already read here how London seems to lend an aggressive / miserable influence, so if you stuff a place full of displaced ex Londoners from the lower end of the tree and it’s possibly no surprise that the place might seem unpleasant to outsiders.
 

Bletchleyite

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There’s new towns and there’s new towns. Somewhere like Stevenage has very different issues to Kirkby.

I suspect part of the antipathy towards new towns is that most of them are “down south”, and in most cases tend to have an ex-London bias to the population, even half a century or more further on. We’ve already read here how London seems to lend an aggressive / miserable influence, so if you stuff a place full of displaced ex Londoners from the lower end of the tree and it’s possibly no surprise that the place might seem unpleasant to outsiders.

I dunno, Skem and Kirkby are certainly in the running for being nastier ones.
 

PeterC

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On a recent visit, I'd say Aberystwyth is hanging on by its fingertips. Lots of buildings in the centre are run down and the shops are of generally very average quality. Without the university and the young people it brings to the town, Aber would have died by now.
The shops were never much when I went to university there in the 70s but expectations were lower then. With the university being split between the town and Penglais the town always seemed quite vibrant for its size. Has the moving of more (the rest?) of the university up the hill kept more students on campus 24*7?
 

adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
With earlier posts making a reference to [What's it called?] Cumbernauld, I recently stumbled upon a news item in the local rag that the one thing Cumbernauld does have going for it is that it has the clock that was at the former Glasgow St Enoch station. This also featured in the film Gregory's Girl, which featured Clare Grogan from the band Altered Images.

See https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news...k-glasgow-clock-for-queen-street-centrepiece/

17th March
Cumbernauld refuses to hand back Glasgow clock for Queen Street centrepiece
By Evening Times Online

THE owners of an historic Glasgow station clock which featured in the film Gregory’s Girl are refusing to 'give it back ' Network Rail to form a centrepiece for the new Queen Street station.

The town of Cumbernauld was gifted the clock as a 21st birthday present from Glasgow businessman Raymond Gillies, who had bought it after St Enoch station closed in 1966.

It was moved to a Cumbernauld shopping centre and was later shifted to a closed-off section in the complex, now the Antonine Centre, which will be re-opened to the public next week.


But now Network Rail say they want it back as part of the £120 million redevelopment of the city’s Queen street terminus which is due to be completed this year.

However, the clock's current owners are determined to keep it as it is an “important artefact” to the new town.

Network Rail say getting it back would be a “nod back to the past”.

Tommy McPake, Network Rail programme manager, said: “We have asked if we could get it, which would be a nod back to the past. It would be great to get it here, it would be fantastic.”

Glasgow North East Labour MP Paul Sweeney, who previously proposed the move, was delighted it was being taken up.

He said: “This would be an ideal location for what is an iconic part of Glasgow’s lost railway heritage and would also make for a fine centrepiece of the renewed station concourse.

“Although a classic Victorian train shed, Queen Street never had a proper station clock like at London St Pancras, Liverpool Lime Street, Glasgow Central or the former St Enoch Station, which was one of the worst architectural losses in Glasgow’s history when it was demolished in the 1970s.

“Residents of Cumbernauld who also hold the clock in affection since it was gifted to the new town, especially from its cameo in Gregory’s Girl, will still be able to enjoy it when they arrive directly into Queen Street.

“It will be in a much more prominent location than it is currently the Antonine Centre.”

The clock’s current owners said they are unwilling to let it go back home.

Allan Graham, chair of Campsies Centre (Cumbernauld) Ltd, which is owned by North Lanarkshire Council, said: “The clock is an important artefact in the town’s history and local residents are keen to see it on public display.

“The Campsies Board is committed to finding a permanent home for the clock and is actively working with North Lanarkshire Council to identify suitable sites within the town.

“However, the requirements of a site are challenging because of the condition and size of the clock.”

Network Rail said the clock could be the centrepiece of the station’s new glass-sided concourse.

The front of the station is being extended to accommodate longer platforms for new eight-carriage ScotRail electric trains to cope with expected passenger growth.

Numbers using the station are forecast to grow by 40 per cent to 28 million by 2030.

The platforms should be complete in November in time for longer and faster services starting the following month.

They will cover the whole of the current concourse, with a new L-shaped frontage being built out to the edge of George Square following the demolition of an office block and the Millennium Hotel extension.

The glass-sided arched roof of the grade A-listed station will be retained within the building, which dates from 1880 and replaced the original 1842 terminus.

Mr McPake said: “The finished product will be transformational.It has been tucked behind a 1970s building that blocked the light from coming in.

“That did not entice anyone into the station.”

One hundred people will get a behind-the-scenes tour of the site next week as part of the UK-wide Open Doors initiative to encourage more people to consider careers in the construction industry
 

yorksrob

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I agree with Cumbernaud.

St Enoch was a completely different station to Queen Street, so Queen street has no real historical claim over the clock.
 

Butts

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I agree with Cumbernaud.

St Enoch was a completely different station to Queen Street, so Queen street has no real historical claim over the clock.
I didn't think anyone in Cumbernauld could tell the time - must be making progress there :E
 

bramling

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What's wrong with Sandy? I quite liked that Bedfordshire Market town at first glance.

Hard to put my finger on exactly what, but something about the place grates with me. It is, of course, a town which had the partial new town treatment. The A1 cutting through is unfortunate, but the place seems to have a depressing feel to it. The people there seem particularly rough, and certainly don’t appear happy and content. Add in that the place seems infested with boy racers too.
 

Meole

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Crap towns:

Great Yarmouth. A Toilet. Worse place I have ever lived.
Luton: Awful. Grim.



Disgraceful. While it isnt perfect by an stretch it is hardly the worst town in County Durham ( even south Durham) let alone the country! I mean: Hartlepooh, Spennymoor, Newton Aycliffe, Peterlee etc etc. Honestly, you haven't even seen bad if you think Darlo is on that list. Truthfully, it isnt a bad north east town and while it does have issues it does not have some of the more crushing problems of the decaying and dying former mining and steel towns.

It is the same as people who say certain areas of Milton Keynes are rough. Don't know they are born.



St Andrews? There are some lovely little fishing type villages on the coast. Clearly there are "tough" areas ( Methil?) but i think your statement is a little silly.

I rather liked the North Road station museum in Darlington having an interest in railway history, and found some cracking pubs down town after.

yes - all those working class scum will be to blame. I suspect you are a kid with very little exposure to life.

BTW - I come from one of those awful working class families from that area.
I rather liked Darlington North Road station museum having an interest in railway history and found some cracking pubs down town after.
 

Czesziafan

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Winsford. Terrible place. No decent shops, streets lined with fast food outlets, pound shops, and gambling joints. Due to failure of town centre redevelopment plan, the middle looks like Dresden after the RAF paid it a visit. Whilst there are some really nice people, there is also a very large element of ignorant, rough, aggressive, inbred, cretins rehoused by the council after eviction elsewhere, who are dedicated to petty crime, anti-social behaviour, drugs, booze, fighting, and aimlessly riding scrambler bikes around the streets at all hours of the day and night.
 

700007

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Winsford. Terrible place. No decent shops, streets lined with fast food outlets, pound shops, and gambling joints. Due to failure of town centre redevelopment plan, the middle looks like Dresden after the RAF paid it a visit. Whilst there are some really nice people, there is also a very large element of ignorant, rough, aggressive, inbred, cretins rehoused by the council after eviction elsewhere, who are dedicated to petty crime, anti-social behaviour, drugs, booze, fighting, and aimlessly riding scrambler bikes around the streets at all hours of the day and night.
You are really not going to like Norfolk, then!
 

700007

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Hard to put my finger on exactly what, but something about the place grates with me. It is, of course, a town which had the partial new town treatment. The A1 cutting through is unfortunate, but the place seems to have a depressing feel to it. The people there seem particularly rough, and certainly don’t appear happy and content. Add in that the place seems infested with boy racers too.
I have only been there once, the locals mostly seemed alright from what I remember. Was a bit bigger than I initially imagined (I was expecting a village, to be fair!) The A1 I agree as well disrupts the area a bit. Bonus points for the massive Tesco by the station, and a half hourly ThamesLink service to London. Annoyingly the pullman 365s don't stop here.
 

bramling

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I have only been there once, the locals mostly seemed alright from what I remember. Was a bit bigger than I initially imagined (I was expecting a village, to be fair!) The A1 I agree as well disrupts the area a bit. Bonus points for the massive Tesco by the station, and a half hourly ThamesLink service to London. Annoyingly the pullman 365s don't stop here.

I could perhaps of added that a relative of mine used to live there, and couldn't get out soon enough after having quite a lot of trouble with petty anti-social behaviour.

In fact, most of the towns between Hitchin and Peterborough are distinctly unpleasant. Sandy, St Neots and Huntingdon are all new towns. Biggleswade has a sort of "quiet market town spoiled by the people" feel to it (town centre is rapidly gaining a reputation for being very rough at times, and the name Biggleswade sounds like it should be a brand of cat food!), whilst Arlesey could probably win an award for most boring small town in Britain, and also has quite a reputation locally for anti-social behaviour. Personally I find all these towns give off a rather depressing feel, and they've all seen quite considerable housebuilding in the last two decades which has made things worse. They all have a combination of being ex new towns combined with being at the cheaper end of the London-Peterborough commuter spectrum.
 

cnjb8

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Sorry if already mentioned.
Nottingham has nice places like West Bridgford/Edwalton/Tollerton/Ruddington/Lambley. The not so nice to look at places include Clifton (the estate not the village)/The Meadows/Strelley (again not the village)/Radford/Basford/Bullwell/Bestwood.
Some areas used to not look nice when the tram came. If anything the tram makes them look worse. If you go on Google maps and look at Beeston town centre next to BNM and Tesco, you'll see a large expanse of nothing. It used to be a car park but it was demolished. The car park wasn't the best but it's better then a weed filled area in the middle of everything.
I think the whole city breathed a sigh of relief when we found out Broadmarsh was being demolished. You look around and think wow this place needs destroying now. Considering the National Express bus station used to be here, doesn't give a good impression of our city.
 

700007

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I could perhaps of added that a relative of mine used to live there, and couldn't get out soon enough after having quite a lot of trouble with petty anti-social behaviour.

In fact, most of the towns between Hitchin and Peterborough are distinctly unpleasant. Sandy, St Neots and Huntingdon are all new towns. Biggleswade has a sort of "quiet market town spoiled by the people" feel to it (town centre is rapidly gaining a reputation for being very rough at times, and the name Biggleswade sounds like it should be a brand of cat food!), whilst Arlesey could probably win an award for most boring small town in Britain, and also has quite a reputation locally for anti-social behaviour. Personally I find all these towns give off a rather depressing feel, and they've all seen quite considerable housebuilding in the last two decades which has made things worse. They all have a combination of being ex new towns combined with being at the cheaper end of the London-Peterborough commuter spectrum.
Only other place I have been to other than Peterborough itself in that list you mentioned so far is Huntingdon, which honestly didn't come across too bad when I went last summer. It comes across as a large town but feels quite isolated to be honest from other major towns / cities which makes it not ideal to revisit or for someone living there. Peterborough itself on the train is about a quarter of an hour if I am correct, longer on the B bus. Cambridge as well is something like 90 minutes on the B bus. St. Neots is a town not too far to the south and on the train doesn't take long but from what I understand it won't have anything that Huntingdon already doesn't.
 
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