Sack that. I live in Mossley Hill by West Allerton station and would much rather live there than Ormskirk or Formby or any of the "posh areas" further out. Where I live has the big parks, the big old houses, a ten minute train ride to town. It's great. West Kirby and Meols are nice but further away from the city and despite being posher than Mossley Hill they have more rough arses from Birkenhead knocking around.
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Rubbish towns
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Bantamzen
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The whole of the UK?
It's dirty, full of the great unwashed, has loads of economic and social problems.
When I've been to mainland Europe, the streets are so much cleaner, the people more friendlier, hardly and homelessness or visible drug use. It just feels so much nicer.
Someone tell me I'm wearing rose tinted spectacles?
Parts of Europe, especially Germany / Austria / Switzerland are generally much cleaner & nicer than much of urban Britain. However there are areas of countries like Italy & France (for example) that can seem especially run down. I can remember spending a night in Reims, the Champagne capital of France & it was actually quite a scruffy place overall, with local drunks being scooped off the tram lines by the local police as my wife & I walked through the town looking for a restaurant.
Switzerland is expensive though, even by Yorkshire standards!! Austria can be too, unless of course you know the local of your local Spar supermarket....
Aictos
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1. Little Theatre, home of the Dunstable Rep Theatre
2. It is home to two football clubs in, Dunstable Town F.C. and AFC Dunstable
3. It is the home of the Priory Church where Henry VIII formalised his divorce from Catherine of Aragon
4. Home of the Dunstable Downs
5. ZSL Whipsnade Zoo is nearby
So what has Letchworth got to offer? Not much by all accounts....
I am, though most of my dad's side of the family is from South London (which is definitely less aggressive than Oxford, but neither is quite like Central or parts of North London). The south = less friendly hypothesis definitely breaks down once you cross into Wiltshire and the South West though: in fact probably even sooner, past Abingdon there's a definite South Western feel to things.
bramling
Veteran Member
Agreed. South-west I find way more pleasant than some northern areas. Less chips on the shoulders for a start, and generally less “in your face”.
cjmillsnun
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Fareham isn't too bad in comparison to Havant which suffers from terminal decline in the high street. Interestingly the formally rough part of Havant (Leigh Park) is on the up IMO (although I may be biased because I live there).
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Not to mention that much of Paris is a run-down crime-ridden dump.
I can't think of a bigger contrast than St Gingolph on the southern tip of Lake Geneva. You take the train to it from the Swiss side, and it's a typical sleepy small Swiss town/village. Walk across to France (you can do so along the beach which is pleasant enough) and as soon as you do it's typically run-down and scruffy just like those small French villages you drive through on the main roads which don't look like they ever had much life to them beyond the boulangerie in the morning, and that's if the local Carrefour hasn't killed it off.
Fair point, it's more that it gets friendlier the further you get from London...
Completely agree. A local town for local people.
Busaholic
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'Keep it in the family' is their motto.
Old Yard Dog
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Wimbledon was struggling because their fans were staying away in protest against the owners in the same way as fans of Coventry City and Blackpool have done in recent years. That does not justify franchising them away to Milton Keynes. Heaven help us if more clubs are allowed to buy their way into the Football League. At least sugar-daddy clubs like Salford, Fleetwood, Forest Green and Rushden & Diamonds did it by fighting their way through the leagues.
The simultaneous presence of both MK Dons and AFC Wimbledon in the league means that somewhere along the line another club has been denied its rightful place. But it's difficult to say which due to the many ups and downs since this sorry debacle started. Indeed had Wimbledon in 1976 signalled their intent to move to Selhurst Park at some point in the future, they would never have been elected in place of Workington.
We both support clubs who have been forced to play out of town for a period. Newport and Maidstone were two others. But your lot never changed their name to Bishop Auckland and my lot never changed our name to Bramley or Batley.
Winkleman did not "save" Wimbledon. Every single FL club which has gone bust since the end of the war subsequently reformed. Even New Brighton - although the last club of that name folded in 2012.
The Albion
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Tipton, West Midlands. The inner area of the town is completely surrounded by canals, perhaps this encourages the inbreeding that the locals are famous of.
And to think the Tipton Skin scored two goals for you!
The Albion
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Yeah, what a traitor. Steve Bull, and Andy Thompson double transfer to the fookers up the road. A day not to be forgotten..
Fredtheshred
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No-one mentioned Dover. Whilst it wasn't quite Rhyl, it wasn't too far off.
We arrived at the station,, walked to the front
, and immediately walked back to the station
We arrived at the station,, walked to the front
, and immediately walked back to the station Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
No-one mentioned Dover. Whilst it wasn't quite Rhyl, it wasn't too far off.
We arrived at the station,, walked to the front
I think there's a general theme of ferryport towns/cities being grim. Holyhead, Dover, Portsmouth...
Mind you Plymouth isn't too bad, and Weymouth (not that it's a port any more but it was) can be quite nice. And Harwich town is quite pleasant.
xc170
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Clacton On Sea - My grandparents moved there 15 years ago so I visit a few times a year, I've seen the town sadly decline in recent years, the decline seems to have accelorated over the past 2 years however. Crime and drugs seem rife, myself, my partner and young son used to stop in the Travelodge but our last two visits were less than pleasent, dealers openly doing business on the road outside, vagrants sleeoping in the enterance and a distinct smell of weed through the hotel. We now stop in the Premier Inn on the sea front which is worlds apart from the Travelodge.
Rhyl - The less said the better.
I need to defend Skegness though, we had a weekend there 12 months ago and found it nice enough. Ingoldmells, just down the road, however, is rough, Fantasy Island Market made me feel uncomfortable to walk around, chavs everywhere and questionable characters running market stalls selling even more questionable goods...
Rhyl - The less said the better.
I need to defend Skegness though, we had a weekend there 12 months ago and found it nice enough. Ingoldmells, just down the road, however, is rough, Fantasy Island Market made me feel uncomfortable to walk around, chavs everywhere and questionable characters running market stalls selling even more questionable goods...
cactustwirly
Established Member
Weymouth was never a proper ferry port though, only taking the odd Catamaran.
Poole isn't too bad either, but it only has a daily proper ferry.
Weymouth is an extremely plesant resort, with a traditional sea front and a number of very nice bars and restaurants around the old harbour area.
There's not a lot that could improve it - other than a rake of mk 1's being loco hauled through the streets perhaps !
Howardh
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Hockey club on the grass cricket club. Played there as an away team for more years than I care to forget. Hockey club = decent area. Good rule of thumb.
Howardh
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Dreamscape, even for non rail fans!
Bradford isn't too bad since Broadway, but it has left other parts of the centre rather neglected! I do however love that 'tunnel' of pubs they've created!
Stevenage I used to spend quite a lot of time in and whilst it isn't going to win any awards it was pleasant enough, quite weird though with the 'old' part of town and the 'new' part of town! The Premier Inn near the entertainment complex has some of the largest and comfiest beds I've ever slept in too!
Stevenage I used to spend quite a lot of time in and whilst it isn't going to win any awards it was pleasant enough, quite weird though with the 'old' part of town and the 'new' part of town! The Premier Inn near the entertainment complex has some of the largest and comfiest beds I've ever slept in too!
tsr
Established Member
Visited the new station myself not long ago. It was OK but can’t say I felt there was a “wow” factor to it. One of the doors was badly smashed in the concourse, facilities seemed fairly scarce and the decor was quite gloomy. Good service variety is a strong point, but it would have that even if it looked worse!
They certainly do all seem to have their rougher parts. But Dover and Portsmouth do have some interesting bits to visit. Ironically, some of the bits around the harbour at Portsmouth are probably the best.
Jamesrob637
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Plymouth isn't the worst city in the world (or the UK); it's just such a big place yet so far from the next big city (Exeter is tiny by comparison yet lots of Plymouth folk think it's the greatest day out ever!)
Also I don't find Blackpool that bad... but then I've only been recently on sunny summer Saturdays.
Some suburbs of London are grotty, and moving abroad I think some bits of the Rhein-Ruhr in Germany leave a bit to be desired.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Most suburbs of London are grotty, at least those north and west of it.
True. Parts of the North West of England are very similar, for very similar reasons.
Saarbruecken is particularly scabby, which really surprised me.
I'm surprised those are the directions you chose - Croydon, Dagenham, and Woolwich are hardly gorgeous! Heading south or east, it's all pretty grotty until past Epsom or Bromley. In fact the only direction without many grotty suburbs would probably be south west (though even then there is Hounslow and Staines).
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Croydon is a really odd place. The centre is an abject dump, but it has some lovely suburbs with big, expensive old houses which are kept very nicely. I get the feeling that people living in those houses just don't shop locally (perhaps getting an Ocado or Waitrose delivery for their food) but instead head into London if they wish to shop.
I didn't mention South London because there are an awful lot of nice places there too, whereas West and North West London are just continuous swathes of grimness.
I wouldn't describe North West London as "grim". I just find the whole area bland with little to recommend it and little to complain about.
The thing about Croydon is that more than anywhere else in Greater London, it feels like an independent place. If Croydon was properly separated from London it would be one of the 10 biggest cities in the country, and it has the full range of what you'd expect from a place of its size - a massive city centre, some rough inner city areas, and plenty of suburbs too. It's possible that the locals in the suburbs (especially to the south) might go shopping in Surrey or places like Kingston upon Thames too.
I've only been there once but from first impressions - Newhaven? (Especially considering its surroundings.)
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