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Predictably, schnullelieber's thread on [url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tell-me-about-birmingham ]Birmingham [/url]has led to a whole bunch of people saying how awful Birmingham is and how no-one should ever move or visit there. (Some of the critics have even been to Birmingham!). Birmingham has a bad rep and it's never going to be glamorous.
But is it the worst city in the UK? You decide on this thread. The rules: the place you're slagging off has to be in the UK (UK of GB and NI); it has to be a city as defined [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_status_in_the_United_Kingdom#List_of_officially_designated_cities ]here[/url]; and, err, it has to be shit.
My nomination: Stirling. Dismal weather, infested by neds ("Big Mags"), convenient for Edinburgh and Glasgow and better than neither, rough schemes and not much of architectural interest in town. Plus points: castle, not far to get out of town, weird uni campus.
(PS: someone else can do the thread for the best city. I'm too much of a misanthrope and cynic to start it!)
For me, I think I have to nominate Peterborough. I visited this illustriuos city many years ago for a regatta weekend. A few of us had the opportunity to go to the city centre on the Saturday afternoon only to find it was CLOSED! NOT OPEN, DESERTED STREETS, SHOPS CLOSED, EVERYTHING CLOSED!!! FFS!!! 🙄
Peterborough is an old roman town is it not? (as are lots of places, but always wonder if they knew what it would be like 2000years later!)
I think you'll find the answer is Sunderland though 🙂
Stirling? You haven't got out much,eh? 😉
One word. Preston.
Scores so far
Stirling 1
Peterborough 1
Sunderland 1
Preston 1
Fight!
London.
Lived just outside Portsmouth for a few months back in the early 90's found it truly horrible place to go out for a drink etc, horrible atmosphere and not so friendly people, mind I was in a group of about 10 construction workers so not surprising
Pompey's not a bad vote. Went to watch Preston North End play them with some (co-incidentally) Prestonian friends a few years ago. Was spat on before i got a hundred meters from the train station.
Well look at that, i managed to get two of the candidates into one post. (on my only visit to Preston I was refused entry to bloody Tokyo Joe's on the basis of being too scruffy - despite borrowing presentable-people clothes especially. I doubt i missed anything good, but i'll bear a grudge against the town for it anyhoo.)
Manchester. Purely on the basis of the football teams that are based there.
Indecision, indecision...
Based on personal experience:
Bristol
Newport, or
Portsmouth
Newport. Like Peterborough with the accolade of being Britain's most violent town before it was 'upgraded' to a city.
If Dylan Thomas had been alive I'm pretty sure he would have given Swansea a break changed his statement to "Newport is the graveyard of all ambition."
Bedford.
Peterboghorror. Quite awful.
Gloucester, Portsmouth and Stoke in no particular order.
St Albans
Manchester, Liverpool or Glasgow.
Bedford.
Not a city.
Well look at that, i managed to get two of the candidates into one post. (on my only visit to Preston I was refused entry to bloody Tokyo Joe's on the basis of being too scruffy - despite borrowing presentable-people clothes especially. I doubt i missed anything good, but i'll bear a grudge against the town for it anyhoo.)
The only thing you missed was your feet sticking to the carpet. You were probably refused entry on the grounds that you were over the age of 16. It did used to have a pretty strict "dress code" though. I think that's changed since it became Lava Ignite.
newport, gwent. One of the few places i have been that i could think of nothing positive.
What twin and mrmo said.
Newport is a complete hole. Even people who were born and live there will tell you.
Peterborough.
I have been there a few times and I'm always left wondering 'What's it for?'
Other places have sometime famous, eg Cambridge has the university, Ely has its eels, but what does Peterborough have? It's just a name just off the A1.
My vote goes for two midlands cities -
Birmingham - Worked all over the place and its the only place I've been shot at. Some scumbag in a block of flats with an air rifle 😯
Wolverhampton - Rubbish traffic, Rubbish shops, and again found myself under threat from locals, one chucked a TV out of his house at us due to the power being off.
I have to visit peterborough for work and tbh it's not that bad.
I'm with the op re Stirling though and I reckon Milton Keynes should get an honourable mention - oh and Sheffield.
St Albans??????...................... quite liked it.
LBB..............Load of Bloody Bromley
Bit harsh on Stirling IMO, there's some excellent biking around there. I would rather live in Stirling than [b]Hull[/b].
PS - Mags has been moved out of town now.
London. No question.
The air is horrible, the water is horrible, it sprawls for miles meaning it takes ages to get out of. The people are unfriendly and everything is too crowded. Put too many rats in a cage and they fight
I reckon Milton Keynes should get an honourable mention
Like Bedford, it's just a town, MK keeps getting rejected for City Status
geoffjSheffield
Seriously?
Parts of it are a bit shit, but on the whole it's a great city.
Of the places I can recall actually being to, Middlesbrough and it's surrounding areas has to rate pretty highly.
I've never been, but I believe S****horpe is supposed to be a bit crap too..
Oh, not a city, but anyone ever been to Merthyr Tydfil - jeez?
Middlesbrough
Town.
S****horpe
Town.
😀
The air is horrible, the water is horrible, it sprawls for miles meaning it takes ages to get out of. The people are unfriendly and everything is too crowded. Put too many rats in a cage and they fight
Sounds like a generic description for any city, not a specific one.
*possible exclusions may apply, but i'd take some convincing*
Being a field Engineer in my profession for the last 12 years there are not many cities I havent been too regularly, here are the 5 cities/towns I would like to live in the least -
London
Widnes
Coventry
Luton
Stevenage
mmmm s****horpe and cambridge could easily get into this list.
Trailmonkey - I can cycle from one side to the other of Edinburgh in under an hour - try that in London. /Water is good in Edinburgh as well
London, awful awful place!
Really don't get why people say London, the cultural aspects are enough to make up for all the less appealing things.
Coventry and Hull have the least to off of the cities I've lived in.
Newport - supposed to be trying to win a project there on Monday! Thought there might be some nice cycling to be had nearby?
Another vote for Newport here
Any place with the name 'New' in it is usually **** as a rule 😆
Newport is vile, but sooooo close to quality outdoors stuff, and Cardiff is good.
Mudshark - Cwmcarn is just up the road from Newport, and Afan is less than an hour away.
What does Luton have to offer??????
No reason for anyone to live there through choice!
Unfortunately will probably only have time for some road loops after work.
I did a full Ironman in Peterborough many years ago...the pain shows in my face in the pictures of me.
If you take the criteria beyond the grimness and filth of the city, and take into account the downtrodden miserable attitude of the people, it's hard to topple Stoke from the sludge at the bottom of the shallow end of the gene pool.
Easily Stoke, devoid of character, beauty or any form of architecture.
To me London =
traffic, takes so long to get anywhere
Pollution and dirtyness
Overcrowding
Expense
Low standard of living (cos most of your pay is spent on a mortgage)
Too far from countryside of high quality
Insularity, is that a word? There is a world outside of London.
Im sorry, but the fact that the national ballet is based in London is not enough to get me live there. So you have the o2, bands usually play all over the UK. London may have more art galleries than say sheffield, but that attracts more toffee nosed morons!
Sorry only my personal opinion.
Just for the record I live in Ludlow, can highly recommend it.
Again stoke is a s***hole, but it is sooo close to quality areas, such as the peaks, cannock, and the motorway for when you feel the need to mix with the ratrace on a Saturday afternoon shopping trip.
You could buy an entire street in Meir Heath for 100k