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Rubbish towns

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DarloRich

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May I add Bedford to the list? I find the route from the station to the town centre and the town centre itself utterly depressing. The riverside area is pleasant but the town seems to have suffered some kind of modernisation at some point in the past which no doubt swept away lots of older buildings. The bloody town hall looks like something the Soviets rejected as being overly brutal! it is the kind of place you could imagine seeing in some eastern European country being shelled and machine gunned by tanks during some independence struggle!


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.

I think a lot of it is architectural. MK has been very good at updating the building stock. Most of the other new towns haven't and still have lots of 60's/70's concrete structures, which while having a certain kitsch charm, are not popular with the natives and give a depressing vibe to towns especially on those gray, damp days we get in the north east! I am thinking about Newton Aycliffe and Peterlee here but I bet it holds for others.
 
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ChiefPlanner

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Most of the other new towns haven't and still have lots of 60's/70's concrete structures, which while having a certain kitsch charm, are not popular with the natives and give a depressing vibe to towns especially on those

Close by , we have Hemel Hempstead , which was expanded when building standards were high and it has , in my view , matured quite well. Helped by being quite green and with just a few modest tower blocks and a reasonable mix of housing types. Not trendy by any means , but not bad.
 

Bletchleyite

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Hemel I find to be rather average - it's not a bad place but it doesn't look nice either. Sort of a bit like Bletchley, give or take that because it's a standalone town the centre has more to offer.
 

Czesziafan

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There's a common thread with all these places: ugly and poorly planned 60's architecture, high street decay, and "social engineering", i.e. policy-driven organized population movement from inner cities to the suburbs and to smaller towns, involving the large-scale migration of a shiftless urban underclass bringing their problems with them. And don't get me started on "white flight"!
 

_toommm_

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Worked in Rotherham briefly 18 years ago, it's improved since then. Slightly.

I suggest visiting the S60 area - in particular, Old Whiston and Ulley. Although I am biased on that front as I lived there for 18 years ;)
 

Czesziafan

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As a teenager I was in Coventry, then regarded as a rough Midlands industrial city - which it was. But the vast majority of people then were decent, hard-working, law-abiding citizens. You did not feel the same sense of aggression, resentment, or entitlement that exists in so many towns and cities today. Very few people were involved with drugs, petty crime was largely confined to shoplifting, pub brawls, petty theft, whilst so-called "gang culture", and knife crime were almost unknown outside the criminal classes.

All that has changed in the last 20 years: social media, pushy advertising, drugs, and mass immigration have created a culture where a significant proportion of the population think the world owes them a living, whilst successive weak leadership and nannying governments have failed to do anything to remedy the situation.
 

d9009alycidon

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Don't worry. Boris will be top dog later today and he will fix it all! Or will he, governments would love to be seen as strong and cracking down on crime, immigration and social disorder, but to do so would be branded as right wing, totalitarian and racist, that is not going to happen to a government that is going to find it difficult to get re-elected.
 

scotrail158713

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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.
Yep, there are some nice areas of Fife that are quite nice. Generally, I find that the further north you go the nicer it is - there are exceptions though. However if you take the Fife Circle via Dunfermline then most of those places are pretty grim.
I just said it, not entirely seriously, as me and my Dad often say that to my Mum to wind her up, as she is from Cowdenbeath. (Not the nicest place - even she’ll admit that)
 

scotrail158713

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Someone previously mentioned that seaside towns are not great places. In my part of the world I’d beg to differ - North Berwick and Dunbar are both nice places.
 

d9009alycidon

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Yep, there are some nice areas of Fife that are quite nice. Generally, I find that the further north you go the nicer it is - there are exceptions though. However if you take the Fife Circle via Dunfermline then most of those places are pretty grim.
I just said it, not entirely seriously, as me and my Dad often say that to my Mum to wind her up, as she is from Cowdenbeath. (Not the nicest place - even she’ll admit that)

Loved the chant made up by the East Fife (Methil) supporters about their Cowdenbeath rivals (although pot, kettle and black come to mind)

To the Adams Family theme tune....

They're dirty and they're smelly
They come from near Lochgelly
They huvn'y got a 'telly
The Cowden family.

The girls all have moustaches
They've all got nasty rashes
And nae **** ever washes
The Cowden family
 

507 001

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Rochdale would come top of my list, followed closely by Oldham.

Fort Bill has improved a lot in recent years (there’s a few nice pubs and whatnot on the Main Street, particularly the Grog and Gruel). The waterfront is horrific though. Such a pity when you consider that Oban is so pretty, and it’s the gateway to the highlands.

Caernarfon is pretty grim in places these days too.
 

Bletchleyite

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Rochdale would come top of my list, followed closely by Oldham

I'd put those the other way round, but I agree they are both pretty manky. Former Lancashire mill towns generally, really.

Fort Bill has improved a lot in recent years (there’s a few nice pubs and whatnot on the Main Street, particularly the Grog and Gruel). The waterfront is horrific though. Such a pity when you consider that Oban is so pretty, and it’s the gateway to the highlands.

The Fort Bill waterfront is a bit industrial, yes. Not unusual in itself, though. But I quite like the town centre, it's really not that bad.

Caernarfon is pretty grim in places these days too.

I don't think it's bad at all. Bangor is pretty manky, though. That said, away from the centre the bit with the pier is quite pleasant.

Llanberis must be the one which should be nice but really isn't.
 

507 001

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I'd put those the other way round, but I agree they are both pretty manky. Former Lancashire mill towns generally, really.



The Fort Bill waterfront is a bit industrial, yes. Not unusual in itself, though. But I quite like the town centre, it's really not that bad.



I don't think it's bad at all. Bangor is pretty manky, though. That said, away from the centre the bit with the pier is quite pleasant.

Llanberis must be the one which should be nice but really isn't.

I drive through Oldham and Rochdale regularly. You quickly realise which is worse when you do. Oldham is run down, Rochdale is just full of Mutants. When you leave Oldham heading for Rochdale you can actually see things getting worse around you.

That’s kind of what I was getting at with Fort Bill. The waterfront could have been so much more though, 1970s town planners have a lot to answer for.

I’ve had bottles thrown at trains I’ve been guarding leaving Caernarfon and witnessed a woman having a full conversation about her bunions on the high street. It’s grim. Bangor is technically a city ;)
 

scotrail158713

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Loved the chant made up by the East Fife (Methil) supporters about their Cowdenbeath rivals (although pot, kettle and black come to mind)

To the Adams Family theme tune....

They're dirty and they're smelly
They come from near Lochgelly
They huvn'y got a 'telly
The Cowden family.

The girls all have moustaches
They've all got nasty rashes
And nae **** ever washes
The Cowden family
:D No one can tell you football fans aren’t creative
 

scotrail158713

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I mean I don’t know the place at all, but you’ve got to appreciate that chant. :lol:
I mean my Mum’s from Cowdenbeath and she’s certainly not like that so it’s not entirely accurate - but it’s still a decent chant. :lol:
 

Cletus

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Not a town, but I stepped off a tram at Pomona Saturday, possibly the most desperate place I've been to.
 

Typhoon

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I mean my Mum’s from Cowdenbeath and she’s certainly not like that so it’s not entirely accurate - but it’s still a decent chant. :lol:
I've read 'Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil' and it can't be that bad. Its a cracking book.
 

Bletchleyite

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Come back in about 3 years time...

Here's an interesting article about it:
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...nating-history-behind-pomona-greater-13340688

It was once at the centre of Manchester’s entertainments scene.

Yet the fascinating history behind ‘forgotten island’ Pomona is unknown to nearly all who pass by.

The vast stretch of land around the Pomona Metrolink stop is set to undergo a drastic transformation in coming years, having stood desolate for decades...
 

Karl

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Here's an excellent history of Pomona Island from youtuber Martin Zero. He's a very good video maker and well worth a watch. He does lots of history films on Manchester.

 

gazthomas

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Llanberis must be the one which should be nice but really isn't.
I don't agree, Llanberis is a village not a town. The "high street" reflects its lower status and the rest of the village is fine. Yes, there is some council housing but it's well maintained. The lake and the two railways are well within walking distance and some of the cafes are quite nice.
 

Cletus

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Here's an excellent history of Pomona Island from youtuber Martin Zero. He's a very good video maker and well worth a watch. He does lots of history films on Manchester.


Seen a few of Martin's videos. Interesting stuff.

In three years time looks like Pomona will be a desperate place - with flats :smile: Although being an interchange will help.
 

175mph

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Hull is mixed, it has some nice bits.
A major thorn for Hull at the moment is the loss of their House Of Fraser store, it's not going to give a very good impression of Hull to those visiting by train when it's the first thing they see when leaving the train station. :'(
 

camflyer

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

Stevenage has some things going for it - unemployment is below the national average, there are major employers in the town (GSK, BAe) and there are good transport links to other major employment centres in Cambridge and London. The problem is that anyone who has a better paid job in Stevenage doesn't actually live in the town but commutes in from Welwyn, Hitchin, Hertford and the other nicer towns in the area which means a lot of traffic trouble at peak times and the town centre gets neglected.
 
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