Another vote for Shrewsbury.
I was pleasantly surprised by Petersfield when I spent a few hours there.
Ditto, Dorking.
Stroud has character in abundance, and is probably large enough to be an interesting place to live, too.
Agree about St Albans
Saffron Walden
Maldon
Bath
I can think of a few other larger towns (eg Reading, Nottingham) that probably make good places to live too, without being overwhelmingly delightful at first glance.
And others (Cheltenham, Droitwich) which in some ways might appear to qualify for this kind of list, but which have something inescapable that is slightly odd and jarring about them accompanying the positives.
Saffron Walden is the town I lived most of my life in, and despite being lovely in many places (marketplace, museum, Bridge End gardens, etc.) to the point where it should really be in Cambridgeshire rather than Essex (espeically given it's closer and better connected to Cambridge than 'proper' Essex i.e. Braintree/Chelmsford/Southend/Colchester; and it uses Cambridge postcodes), I did find it rather boring cos there wasn't an awful lot going on there despite a few tourist attractions so overall meh. Bus connections were pretty basic (all hourly and connect every local village on the way to termini) and the nearest train station is out of town. I've been to similar-sized towns (population around 15k) with a lot more going for them like Aberystwyth in mid-Wales (definitely up there in the 'nice towns' list), which is VERY picturesque (especially by the seaside) and has a sizeable university, as well as a lovely transport interchange (bus services literally go everywhere in Wales and seem to integrate nicely with the train) in the centre conveniently located near both town shops and retail parks. Also, Skipton in North Yorkshire has express bus links (every 30 minutes) to both Leeds and Manchester, as well as a 4-platform train station with frequent trains to Leeds and Bradford, as well as being a gateway to the Yorkshire Dales and hence a significant tourist hub. Unlike Saffron Walden, Skipton's castle is still well in-tact and not in complete ruins. Also, Saffron Walden is pretty expensive (possibly due to its proximity to Cambridge) given I'm living in better houses at cheaper prices up north; the fact that it has a Pret but no Greggs says it all really
MK is another town that often describes itself as a city. Though in MK's case it is because the Commission for the New Towns called it a "New City", and prior to becoming a unitary authority its offical title was "The Borough and New City of Milton Keynes". A "new city" was simply to signify it as the largest of the New Towns (being a slightly different model from the others), and not to imply city status. It sort of makes sense if you consider it as one word - if it was in German it might be a "Neugrossstadt", which could have a totally different meaning from a "Grossstadt" on its own, if you see what I mean.
Oddly, if you get on a bus in MK you ask for "city please", whereas in most actual cities (other than ones where you ask for the fare rather than the destination, e.g. Manchester) it's "to town".
I remember when I lived in East Anglia, people in Norwich (which is an actual city) say 'I'm going into the city' (makes sense), but everyone up north (Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, etc.) seems to say 'I'm going to town' instead. It was understandable with Bangor when I lived in North Wales, cos that city is smaller than a lot of towns (really punches above its weight though), but a big city like Manchester?? When there are CITIES the size of towns or even villages (i.e. St Davids) out there, I REFUSE to call Manchester a town! I'm probably the only one here that says 'going into the city' instead! Is it only in the south that people say 'city'? What other places do people say 'city' instead of 'town' when referring to the centre other than London, Norwich and MK?
City status should be scrapped as it is meaningless in 2019. It wouldn't be surprised if it causes large towns without city status to underperform economically.
St Asaph is a good example to really drive home the fact city status, as much as I find it interesting, means nothing except a mere ceremonial title. It somehow won city status for Wales in 2012 instead of Wrexham (largest town in North Wales by a long shot) despite the latter putting a lot more into the bid (£20000 as opposed to St Asaph's £300) but somehow St Asaph got lucky and won it, despite being smaller and having less to do than pretty much every notable town in its own county (Rhyl, Prestatyn, Denbigh and even Ruthin) never mind Wrexham! I suppose it's cos Wrexham is that much of a dump that the Queen didn't want it to become a city and the only other candidate that made a bid for city status in Wales at the time was, you guessed it, St Asaph. To be fair, its cathedral has a lot of history behind it (notably the authoring of the first Welsh Bible), its parks by the Elwy riverside are actually really nice to walk around (visited there last week) and its out-of-town facilities are pretty good for a place of its size (Tweedmill Outlet is actually brilliant for what it is and the business park, which has a campus of Glyndwr uni, is doing really well and allows the city to have more people working there than actually living there). However, beyond that, there is really nothing special and it doesn't even have a proper town square ('city centre' is just a mini-roundabout by the cathedral with a few shops and pubs around it), prominent council building (i.e. city hall) or proper tourist attractions in town besides the cathedral; even St Davids (a city half the size of St Asaph) has all of the above (city hall, picturesque market square, visitor centre and plenty of thriving shops around town). Also, it's high street has actually been declining as half the buildings are now disused and both its banks closed years ago, with the buildings still yet to be bought and put to new use! Some progress has been happening over the years (new extension to the secondary school is probably the biggest building in the city; the library has also been completely redone and probably doubles as a visitor centre (I wouldn't know cos it was closed when I went there); the service station off the main A55 exit has been refurbished and recently got a new Subway), but it's very slow! It's not even a primary destination on the A55, despite literally being just off it! Don't get me wrong, St Asaph is a lovely place (could include it on the 'nice towns' list), at least nicer than the dump next-door they call Rhyl, but really needs more attractions than just the cathedral and a couple of parks (dunno if the Library and Co-Op count lol) as well as a regenerated high-street so its city status can actually make more sense. There's so much potential for it to become a new hub for North Wales, especially given its proximity to the A55, the number of buildings that can be given a new lease of life and the amount of space at the business park for new development like maybe a new retail park with a big IKEA, John Lewis and what not or a shopping mall (intu Glan Clwyd has a nice ring to it) to serve the entirety of North Wales. A lot of people around the region commute to St Asaph for work thanks to the business park, but I strongly feel it can do a lot more and there were definitely a lot of missed opportunities to capitalise on its city status, but I suppose the city council just doesn't have the funding to do everything they need to do!
I don't think even the most committed Burnley-ite would say it's a "nice" town, though the surrounding area has lovely scenery!
I find Burnley to be quite nice as a town, as well as its scenic surroundings. Sure it may look a bit grim (especially the name) in many parts but functionally, it has a lovely modern bus station with great variety of local and interurban bus services (thanks to Transdev) excellent pedestrian access to the rest of the town centre. Architecture is brilliant too, although Blackburn is even better with most of these factors in mind! Blackburn's bus station is an AMAZING piece of modern architecture in my opinion! Wish I could say the same about the rail services
Rawtenstall is lovely too, especially now with its new bus station!
One word I would never use to describe Wigan is nice! I live close by and have been in the wider district for over 30 years. Highly functional certainly, it lacks for little save for wealth, but it has a rough edge which is never far from the surface. It is however quite affordable. And it's miles better than nearby Bolton.
Am I the only one who actually likes Bolton town centre? Victoria Square is lovely to walk around in and Le Mans Crescent just behind the town hall adds to the charm, especially the architecture and all that. I especially love the new interchange featuring a massive ultramodern airport-like bus station with an excellent walkway leading to the train station; now that's what I call integrated transport planning at its finest! Morrison's nearby is also great. If anything, it's certainly better than Oldham!
), I also have to agree that Shrewsbury is indeed a very lovely town. I was also pleasantly surprised by Bridgnorth, with its quaint High Street and cliff railway.
