http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2011/nov/25/winners-shit-london-in-pictures#/?picture=382370508&index=11

Was the photo’s of london’s ugliest people category over subscribed?

Loving Abra Kebabra though

This is the work of a genius :

I’ve been to one of the Abra Kebabra’s is was pretty good.

Those photos sum up some of the areas of London well.

Im surprised they didnt have a ‘most depressing housing estate’ category. Theres probably way too many to choose from!

I loves London I does – mrs deadly and I visit there many times during the year – leafy Wimbledon and leafy Ealing…both quite nice burbs. And of course, centrally, nowhere in the UK, let alone Europe (barring Paris) can beat it for architecture, galleries, etc etc. But occasionally, we have to drive through some of the godawful ugly urban sprawl – some parts of it are truly shit. Truly truly shit – with hardly a redeeming feature.

All in all though, I still like London – I just wouldn’t want to live there, for now.

Used to live near that Naxos school uniform shop years ago. Can’t believe it’s still there.

I love this shop, not sure if it’s gone now.

😆

Brilliant. How come I din’t know about this? I wooduv won for sure!

That Naxos Fashion Schoolwear shop is proper disturbing. Where is it?

Is that a suspicious salesperson or a really weird dummy in’t window?

Thing is though, even the shit parts can be endearing. I bet that menswear shop has bin there for years, and is one of those right old dark pokey little places which are almost extinct. Like stepping back in time, those places, and a welcome alternative to the soulless brightly lit chains we have today.

Chrisp St Market near me is a right dump; tatty 50/60s housing estate place, with stalls selling fruit and veg and that, and cheap clothes and tat. Quite depressing in a way. But it’s a proper busy social hub, and there’s bin a market there for over wunundred years. In fact, the ‘new’ market was the first pedestrianised shopping street in the UK. So it has an important cultural significance deep beneath it’s tatty surface.

some parts of it are truly shit. Truly truly shit – with hardly a redeeming feature.

This is true, but every large city’s got that. London is not as bad as quite a number of other places in the UK mind; it’s all that money getting spent here instead of elsewhere you see. I went through part of Leeds a while ago, and I was shocked at how truly shit it was. Really really bad.

I’d still rather live in a shit part of London than good parts of many other places in this country, I have to say.

I think what sets London apart (for the good bits as well as the bad) is the sheer magnitude of the shitness.

Mind you, try driving through what pass for cities in some parts of Scotland – Jeez.

Yeah but Bravissimo; there are many many other towns and cities in the UK which are proportionately much shitter. Like Warrington fr’example, which is about 90% shit. London’s worst areas have bin renovated and cleaned up quite a bit, and believe me, there’s nowhere in London that can compare to some urban areas in other parts of Britain. I seen something on Glasgow recently; Good God it was shocking. 😥

Ernie, if you liked that picture…you’ll love this site

More of the same

I used to live just over the road from the ugliest building in London in the late 90s. It grows on you when you see it every day.

Dublin used to be full of Abra Kebabra outlets, which would happily serve you some food poisoning in a bun, or pitta for just a couple of quid. Have eaten in that one photographed when I lived in Croydon though.

London’s worst areas have bin renovated and cleaned up quite a bit,

Still some truly horrible bits though but as you say most cities do by their very nature. Personally I’ve seen no where worse than some of London’s areas though so I guess it depends also perception.

Thanks sc-xc 😀

Give me utter shite and “beauty” side by side any day over provincial blandness. But I really don’t get it, it could be any UK city as far as I can tell.

I come from Liverpool and I can’t remember a single thing of “beauty” about it

I come from Liverpool and I can’t remember a single thing of “beauty” about it

seeing it in the rear view mirror?

Well to get the gridgian to print the word shit is something to behold.

I was a bit disappointed with this – there are far shitter sights in London. maybe those photos taken in the really shite parts were lost because the photographers had their cameras pinched.

Mikeypies – Member
I come from Liverpool and I can’t remember a single thing of “beauty” about it
seeing it in the rear view mirror?

No that award goes to Loughborough, whose only redeeming feature was being within 1 mile of the M1.

Those photos looks like the best bits of London to me.

‘Where is this wondrous place’, I hear you ask. Albania? Kazahkstan? Sao Paolo? Some huge sprawling city in the arse end of China somewhere?

Mind you, we can do the odd bit of innercity urban deprivation and concrete nastiness:

Robin Hood Gardens, Poplar. Scheduled for demolition, in spite of a bunch of pretentious architects and arty types what don’t have to live there calling for it to be listed. Listed ffs, what a joke.

Beowteefewl. x

in spite of a bunch of pretentious architects and arty types what don’t have to live there calling for it to be listed.

Perhaps you misheard and they said it was “listing”.

It looks like it’s listing to me. Slightly to the left.

Where is this wondrous place

The clapped out Fiesta in the scrappy is a giveaway.

Oh dear in all defence of Poplar it is a result of heavy bombing in WW2 and demand/wanting
for cheap social housing and the modern material of concrete you have such a mess of buildings
with architects wanting to make there stamp.
And on a crime level every one of these concrete estates has brought nothing but trouble.
But Poplar needs to be Nuked
Crisp Street Market even at the age of 9 has always been a mess no idea who would want to go there
Also 1 mile from me i give you Queens Street Market never been in there just the pits of pits
Someone has photo shop out a very large ugly concrete block of flats directly above the market

This is whats above Queens Street Market but the back view

Elfin – that there is Red Road Flats in Glasgow, most of which has been demolished now. I used to live on the 26th floor of the red building. It was student halls for a while, they were actually pretty decent to live in.

Yeah, the thing is, a lot of the old grim housing estates are disappearing (which is a good thing), but personally I can’t help feeling a little sad about some bits, cos in spite of the shitness, those places were people’s homes, their communities, and they’re being bulldozed into oblivion. Yes we’re happy to see the dreadful places go, but there are memories there, and there have been happy times as well as bad.

Sigh…

Indeed it’s getting difficult to find the really nasty stuff now. Most of it is being knocked down make way for new type stuffs.

Heygate Estate, Walworth. Proper nasty:

Aylesbury Estate, Southwark; grim:

Thamesmead, Bexley. Abandon hope all ye what enter here…

But I dunno, for in amongst all that ‘orrible brutal concreteyness, there’s a brooding, powerful sexiness you just don’t find in streets of mundane Barrat boxes most people find preferable.

Rather than crushing the Human Spirit, the overbearing oppressive nature of the architecture spawns and incubates a wild, expressive energy, and in fact can help set it free.

But I dunno, for in amongst all that ‘orrible brutal concreteyness, there’s a brooding, powerful sexiness you just don’t find in streets of mundane Barrat boxes most people find preferable.

Go and live in one of those towerblocks then.

Well, I grew up in a tower block, so does that count?

I refuse to believe that you’ve grown up.

When i lived near here we played run outs here
at the Crossways estate

Good point made by Effin regarding peoples homes and memories
which people from the 1960’s was a great leap from private
if not cramped and poor facilities of private landlords
Poplar and Bromley by bow was my back yard has a kid.

This annoys me people calling these estates now has Ghettos

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zreIj1VXYs[/video]