[Closed] Worst, most hated, most vile UK city?

The cities are bliss compared with most of the countryside. People are living in unimproved Victorian and older houses all over the place, struggling to make ends meet and not heating their place properly. Just walk around any county outside the ones surrounding London. We mistake the squalor for picturesque rural quirkiness.

Salford? Well generally a ring of horible places that are around Manchester City Centre. Ardwick and Harpurhey spring to mind too but don't think they're cities!

sefton - Member
if you live in london you could ride a fixie though!

I heard that was compulsory... 🙂

Stoke, Wolverhampton and Manchester. Bleugh!

Very surprised to see Stirling on that list. Anyone who seriously thinks that's a candidate for worst city in the UK clearly hasn't visited than many UK cities!

I've visited most UK cities and I think Preston would top my list of most awful.

The cities are bliss compared with most of the countryside. People are living in unimproved Victorian and older houses all over the place, struggling to make ends meet and not heating their place properly. Just walk around any county outside the ones surrounding London. We mistake the squalor for picturesque rural quirkiness.

Truro.

The hustle and bustle, nightmare commutes, gun crime, gang violence, racial tension, AIDS epidemic and stifling heat.

Oh, actually I meant Torquay.

Portsmouth's not great but no way coventry, birmingham, luton are better and i'm from soton and its my 2nd job to rip pompey!

oh and i dont know what the hell slough is clasified as but its dire..

is Reading a city as I'm not sure and I live in the ****in hole of a place?

Reading has some lovely road biking nearby tho..

I can't believe Salford hasn't been nominated yet 😯

I lived in Salford and I think it's an uber dump

wolverhampton should be made into a city just so we can slag it off... it's horrendous

ever been to Dartford? don't

I worked in Newham for a bit and now Tower Hamlets (well OK, Canary Wharf). Tell me please Elf, how nice are these areas?

Not too bad actually, considering the deprivation and all that. I live in Tower Hamlets, and I like it. There are worse places in London, let alone the UK. nothing in London compares to some parts of some cities in Britain.

Canary Wharf is the worst bit of Tower Hamlets, actually. Soulless dump. Fortunately I don't have to hang around there. 🙂

New York's on the list, it's higher than London, so the list is wrong = the list's crap.

Well, placing New York, a city with a history only going back a couple of hundred years, above London is just a bit daft when it comes to architecture. London has far greater depth and diversity, any expert will tell you that.

And I, as you know, know me onions when it comes to architecture. 😉

Since others have mentioned Salford, let me join the chorus. Holy **** that place needs to be scraped into the sea.

Oh yeah. Liverpool too.

(I lived in Salford and had many meetings in Liverpool, so what I say is indisputable.)

slough

Reading

Dartford

Not cities. Actually, I didn't even know that Dartford was a town, I just thought it was a tunnel! 😳

Personally I'd turn Birmingham into a smoking hole in the ground if it wasn't already a smoking hole in the ground

Dunno why everyone is slagging off London as "worst-most-hated-most-vile-uk-city". That's just blind daft. I lived there for 11 years, sometimes in real shitty areas with no money, and I can say I wouldn't swap those experiences cos it was such a vibrant melting pot. I like being In North Wales as well, with all the fab landscape and coast and relaxed vibe and family. It's brilliant too, just different. One place I can afford, the other I can't. both have their positives and negatives. depends what you want.

I'd never go back to Hull though!

Jealousy innit Kev?

Thing is, just about everyone on here what slags London off will come here at some stage, whereas I will probbly never visit the place they live in. Simply no need to. I don't say that to be rude or owt, it's just a fact. My home town offers me more of what I want than any other city possibly could. Anywhere else, and I'd feel I was missing out on certain things. That's just my honest feelings about it. I accept it's not everyone's cup of tea, and far from ideal for some others. Same way I can feel content here, I can appreciate someone else will feel the same about their home.

Be happy where you are. I am.

Crikey ... I am just about to have my fag. LOL!

I've no idea how you afford it in a shitehole part let alone a nice bit though! lol!

whereas I will probbly never visit the place they live in. Simply no need to. I don't say that to be rude or owt, it's just a fact. My home town offers me more of what I want than any other city possibly could. Anywhere else, and I'd feel I was missing out on certain things.

Oh how sad. To not even realise that there are things you are missing out on by being so parochial in your viewpoint. YOu don't even realise what is missing in London

YOu don't even realise what is missing in London

Well, you better come and show me then. 🙄

Actually, I'm sure there's tons of stuff in London I haven't a clue about, such is the sheer scale of the place. That's what I love about it; always something new to discover.

As for other cities; it's not so much as missing out, it's about choosing where to visit based on potential appeal. Hence there are a number of places which hold little attraction for me. And some places I'd love to visit, Edinburgh included. I almost did go once, but a holiday in Barcelona was a darn sight cheaper, and quicker to get to...

As for 'parochial'; have a word with yerself. Your comments about London show just how hypocritical you are in this regard, I'm sorry. And if you read through my posts on here propply, you'll see that I'm not slagging anywhere off really.

I have actually bin to a number of cities in England, and bin quite underwhelmed by them. Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Stoke, Leeds. But unlike you, I won't dismiss them as crap, because I've not seen much of them really. Same way as you haven't seen anywhere near as much of London as I have.

You're just jealous because I have a strong sense of identity with a place. Whereas you've always felt like an outsider, and always will.

[i]I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien...[/i]

I lived and worked in Newham for about 7 months and it's much more chilled out then other parts of london as people are generally just standing around in gangs, not barging past with a trolly bag and mobile phone. also 20 mins drive north and i could be out on my bike.

not somewhere i'd want to live or work long term but okay for a while, quick blast along the DLR and you're in the city (i say blast but really a crawl, if it was actually working)

I have lived in Edinburgh and London and I think they're both fantastic places and I still go whenever I can get the chance.
Yarmouth is a dump, as is Preston, Blackpool, Bradford and Birmingham (all of which I've visited)

TandemJeremy - Member
YOu don't even realise what is missing in London

Dear beloved leader, could you please find time to enlighten us poor bright-light bedazzled citizens what is missing from our City ?

I'm sure it would be hugely improved by your wise and considered critique and help make our lives better, happier and more fulfilled 😆

Elfinsafety - Member
I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien...

best way mate, rather that anyday than a middle class faux académique 😉

aliens for the win, simples innit 😆

Oh how sad. To not even realise that there are things you are missing out on by being so parochial in your viewpoint. YOu don't even realise what is missing in London

There's something missing from everywhere.

That does not make everywhere bad.

Rather than looking for what is missing, try looking for what is there. The list is very very long indeed in the case of London.

molgrips - Member
Rather than looking for what is missing, try looking for what is there

Wow ! that's real 'thought for the day stuff' 🙂

Thanks for the inspiration, it's good to read something uplifting and positive for a change...........

😀

That'll be £3.50 please, pay on your way out.

Funny, isn't it...
Seems to me that almost all the "hate" is coming from those out of London, while there's far more tolerance from those in London.

Of course, that can't be right, as everyone knows London is full of hateful people, isn't it?

😉

Oh, and Peterborough smells. FACT.

Newport is a sh*thole, i live 6 miles from IT.

how the hell it got city status is a total mystery, in its hayday it was a nice place but im talking yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeears ago.

its stuck between a rock and a hard place as they havent really got the cash to pump into it, nobody goes there and Cwmbran a town near it has stolen all the customers from the shops.

they messed up few years ago when they stopped the damming of the river, this would have helped a bit.

i would put a big vote in for blackpool aswell, sadly i ended up there on a stag party 4 years ago... i was actually looking forward to it until we got off the bus, another place that will never get back the glory days... sad i guess.

Newport is indeed a dump. The post industrial economy and the war were not kind to it.

Well, placing New York, a city with a history only going back a couple of hundred years, above London is just a bit daft when it comes to architecture. London has far greater depth and diversity, any expert will tell you that.

Unusually for you, you seem to have missed the point there.
You quoted a list when comparing London to Edinburgh, then rubbished the list for disagreeing with you about Noo Yoik. Does it only have value when it agrees with your fairly narrow view of the world (if it's not London it's rubbish?). Like does architecture only have merit when it's hundreds of years old? Lloyd Wright, le Corbusier, Gehry, Rennie Macintosh have no place in your world?

Well, placing New York, a city with a history only going back a couple of hundred years, above London is just a bit daft when it comes to architecture

Why? Does good architecture have to be old?

I've never been to New York, but I have been to Chicago. To be honest I wasn't at all fussed to go there but driving or walking down a street full of skyscrapers is quite frankly staggering - one of the sights of the man-made world imo.

Does it only have value when it agrees with your fairly narrow view of the world (if it's not London it's rubbish?). Like does architecture only have merit when it's hundreds of years old? Lloyd Wright, le Corbusier, Gehry, Rennie Macintosh have no place in your world?

No, you're missing [i]my[/i] point; London has a far greater depth of architectural history than New York, so to place NY above London on such terms is daft. London has far greater variety and diversity of styles, throughout the city, whereas most of NY's outstanding architecture is concentrated in or near Manhattan. And yes, I have bin there.

I appreciate the work of those architects you've mentioned. They do fit into a relatively narrow historical period mind.

Whereas with London:

The Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, The Normans, The Tudors, Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawksmore, The Victorians, The Brunels, John Nash, Pugin, The Gilbert Scotts, Charles Holden, Denys Lasdun, Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Zaha Hadid and even our very own [b]aP[/b] off here, to name just a few, if yer really wanna start name-dropping.... 😉

How many Roman or Anglo Saxon buildings in London Elf?

Why? Does good architecture have to be old?

Not at all. See above.

London's a greater city, architecturally. It's as simple as that. No contest.

New Yorkers have said this to me.

How many Roman or Anglo Saxon buildings in London Elf?

Granted, not a lot left, but the foundations of a number of buildings date back to those times, and some parts of original structures exist in some buildings. Point is, those civilisations have had a part in the formation of London, whereas New York is relatively much younger.

But you know this, which is why you're trying to split hairs... 😉

London's a [s]greater[/s] more diverse city, architecturally

FTFY

Is diversity linked to greatness? What about places like Granada?

Point is, those civilisations have had a part in the formation of London

Yes, and this is one of the most overwhelmingly amazing things about London IMO. I can walk around the place and be in ten different ages at once.. quite amazing. However in other cities their history is writ just as large across the map.. Even American ones. It's a shorter period and it's not necessarily as obvious but it's still there. Sometimes you have to think like a historian rather than an architect tho.

Is diversity linked to greatness?

That's one of those questions which is inextricably linked to quasi-biological theories and one's political beliefs.

I was talking about architecture, but feel free to expand the context of the thread if you like 🙂

Granted, not a lot left, but the foundations of a number of buildings date back to those times, and some parts of original structures exist in some buildings. Point is, those civilisations have had a part in the formation of London, whereas New York is relatively much younger.

.and how does Venice fit into this? It has virtually no diversity, being pretty much all high renaissance with some Byzantine influence, yet is generally seen as one of the architectural wonders of the world?

EDIT - the railway station doesn't count.

I was talking about architecture, but feel free to expand the context of the thread if you like

But architecture is a manifestation of culture, and one's architectural preferences are really a question about how one would like to reorder the world to fit one's own worldview, so it's all the same...

This list could go on forever!

Cities, Liverpoool, Manchester & Hull.

Towns:
Swansea (it isn't a city is it?)