[Closed] Worst town in Britain

[b]ebygomm[/b] I used to work a bit in Kirkby. Lots of depression.

Brynmawr is a lot better than Winches and the Coike estates I lived there till I was 4 🙂

kinda666 - Member
Moved to Wolvo now so no better off! Coalpool was once dubbed the worst estate in England, Bet Goscote was 2nd!

Blakenhall (Goscote and Coalpool) just topped a survey of the most deprived areas in Britain!

(Knew i should have moved my office off Goscote road!) Could p*ss on Coalpool if i didnt think i would loose my d**k!

Just off to re-evaluate my life choices! 😐

By and large, all the places mentioned are former industrial towns, where someone in government or big business decided, with the stroke of a pen, to condemn for generations. Thats what leaves a bit of a sour taste about threads like these.
Me? I'd rather live in some of the listed places rather than some middle class commuter ghetto.

There are lots of awful places in England and Wales but really nothing compares to many towns in Scotland, especially the Glasgow/Clyde areas.

I spent 10 years in the smoke living in Hounslow (pronounced arnsla)

Grim, almost London but not quite.

Barrow in Furness takes some beating, total $h1t h0l£

My wifes Aunt lives in Milton, went on the bus from glasgow, er not that bad! 😕

Todmorden,a 30,s throwback town,2 chip shops,the wooden ones nice,a great big railway bridge,some big hills and a canal,and thats it.
Everyone disapears after 5.00pm,or darkness whichever comes first.

Enough of all the Bridgwater comments (and please spell it correctly!) - it's not that bad, and the cellophane factory shut years ago!! Lived there for 6 years before moving to Didcot ... and don't even think of starting on Didcot!!

Wilenhall has gone down hill since the afghans moved in

Thought that would of raised it up a bit?

achnasheen

[url= http://www.achnasheen.uk.com/mainpage.htm ]Click on this thing to make a clicking noise and see achnasheen[/url]

ebygomm I used to work a bit in Kirkby

I work in Kirkby right now :-S

3 pages and nobody has mention my home town of Sunny Scunny, a truly vile place but has a lot of nice people, I blame that Thatcher Bitch.

+1 for Brownhills

Larkhall is grim. The council spend £15k a year there to replace broken bulbs in the traffic lights. The locals don't like it when they turn green. There was also a local campaign to get the ASDA logo in blue instead of green. It's the only town I've biked through and got bottles thrown at me by neds rather than just insults so it must be bad 🙂

By and large, all the places mentioned are former industrial towns, where someone in government or big business decided, with the stroke of a pen, to condemn for generations. Thats what leaves a bit of a sour taste about threads like these.
Me? I'd rather live in some of the listed places rather than some middle class commuter ghetto.

Course you would. Keeping it real, right up until the point that your bike gets nicked (again), your house is broken into for the second time in as many months, just as you've replaced all the stuff that was nicked the last time, your kid finds a used needle in the park, or your wife gets mugged on the street outside your house.

Then, if you've got the opportunity, you'd be out of there like a bat out of hell, just like everyone else with half a brain.

Millom in cumbria.A local place for local people.And if your not local you will end up in the special stuff 😯

aaah millom. Didn't a chap get caught running his drugs empire from an ice cream van there?

"Can i have a 99, two Orange Maid's and a henry please."

Kramer,I've lived in some fairly rough parts of Scotland, I stand by my comments.

Bo'ness.

Not all of it is boarded up. Some of it has been burnt down instead.

aaah millom. Didn't a chap get caught running his drugs empire from an ice cream van there

I lived smak bang between Wigan and St Helens. St Helens is by far the worst, but Skelmersdale is even worse than both by far!

Thing is there's aweful places everywhere, up north and down south. In scotland they seem to be literaly on the doorstep of the richest places, similarly in the north of england, but down south it seems more common to fence areas off and forget they exist.

Bristol outskirts make glasgows outskirts look like a kids play park.

St Helens was where I grew up. Living there in the 80s & 90s, the town didn't have the absolute 'grimness' or feeling of menace that other places I've visited(different to living somewhere for 20 years) have -just a fairly parochial attitude from a lot of the people.
It has been tidied up a bit in recent years, but I do find the town centre a bit depressing on my occasional visits. Of course there are nice parts, and much of the borough is actually quite green/rural.

As has been said, many other towns are similar. They all have the poor, the people in the middle(the old 'respectable' working class who's off-spring have become successively better off, probably including many of the people on here)and the well-off, just in different proportions.

Even Leigh has some nice areas and just outside Kirkby there are large arable farms.

Liverpool gets a terrible press, but it is no worse than other cities.

From what I've seen, the worst places are those that are very insular. Having little opportunity leads to a narrow view of the world, which makes ignorance a virtue and then breeds contempt for education and people from outside and so the cycle continues.

I'd Second Redruth, if it weren't for the existence of Mount Ambrose, and some bits on the Roseland are quite bad, and then there is Coombe, a 10-15 minute ride from Truro, but deep in duelling banjos territory (those are villages though).

Still not as shitty as Port Talbot though.

Bogside-Derry
Sandy Row-Belfast
Wick
Tillidrone-Aberdeen
Glenrothes
Wester Hailes-Edinburgh
Pollockshields-Glasgow
+1 for Blyth
Whitehaven
Will get back to you all for the Southern section!

Batley runs its near neighbour Dewsbury pretty close.

I agree Batley is not the best but I've worked in far far shitier places. Some areas of Leeds and villages in South Wales, Batley is not even close to those places.
(I was born in Batley by the way)

Middleton. The highest proportion of broken limbs and the lowest proportion of teeth and distant relatives.

I work in Kirkby right now :-S

I spent my formative years in Fazakerley, a couple of miles up the road.
Some grim aspects bu pretty much typical of many larger cities, good and bad areas.

Just some observations:

1. Are we including Cities? there is a difference between a city, town and village. or are we just stating worst places
2. It seems from teh places mentioned that must places that are good for riding are in and around crap places!
3. Channel 4 voted for Hull in the first series of the show.
4. London is by far the single most over rated place to live in Britian, its expensive and crap.
5. Cocking gets my vote, I have never been but if if I lived there I would n't tell anyone. "So where to come from?"
"I'm from cocking"

Are we including Cities? there is a difference between a city, town and village. or are we just stating worst places

Strictly speaking towns however lets bring the city of Liverpool into the mix as its always good to slag it off.

Todmorden doesn't even come close to being the worst. Not by a looooooong way. You only have to go down the road to Burnley to see that.

Lots of the Valley's. methyr etc.. are terrible. More social assistance than the old Soviet Union. Truly depressing places.

Scariest place ever Belfast a few years ago. My shaven head and english accent, then being asked if you are "army" in very menacing tones. Much better now.

I travel all over the UK and I think that many places are similarly disadvantaged, clearly massive imabalances in the UK (although MTB'ing is doing it's small bit for some parts of Wales). People in deepest leafy Surrey (where I live) have no idea about the rest of the UK. Many here have never visited much of the UK.

Any town within 10 miles of the M8 is to be avoided, it's a personal rule. Although I do venture into Bo'ness at times to see a friend, its fine if you know somebody local.

The worst town I have ever had the bad luck to spend any time in is Livingston, worked there for 6 months. Went to a meeting on the top floor of the council headquarters, the car park at ASDA below was full at 2pm. Everyone there between 8-6 weekdays either works for the council/federal govt or is dependent on it for a benefit. Everyone else drives to Edinburgh or Glasgow to contribute to the economy. Total dump with low quality housing and serried ranks of pointless roundabouts.

Was ready to slash my wrists, quit that job as soon as was decent.

either Sheffield (if cities are allowed) or Rhyl.

+1 Newquay - nice beaches if you looking out to sea, but full of pissed up staggers & hen parties & teenage stoodents and the place is an abosolute rip off.

Crawley - proper southern sh1te hole (chav city)

I can't believe that Sunderland isn't top of the list!

we went to morecambe once when i was young. I think I caught depression while I was there.

[url= http://maps.police.uk/ ]useless[/url]

incidentally the "national" police maps only covers englandshire. They can't count high enough yet to cover Scotland!

Its amazing how peoples views are framed from fleeting experiences or simply prejudice.

You cant judge an area unless you have spent some time there and experienced the local culture. Driving through in the dark and spotting a couple of "hoodies" doesnt count!

true, but gut instinct is usually a good indicator. how many times have you been pleasantly surprised byt a rough-looking area?

how many times have you been pleasantly surprised byt a rough-looking area?

I'm not sure what you mean? How many "gut instincts" are based on prejudice (say of the North) by people who havent travelled further than Birmingham?
We should ask where is the worst place you have lived?

Didn't mind living in either Batley or Wigan.

Crawley makes me come out in hives though. Born there and can't even drive through it anymore. Full of scum. Especially Broadfield and Bewbush...

How many "gut instincts" are based on prejudice (say of the North) by people who havent travelled further than Birmingham?

aye, obviously its not fair to judge somewhere if you haven't even been there.

Another vote for Widnes. My grandparents used to live there and, even staying there as a child, I realised the place was unbearably grim. And Runcorn makes Widnes look like the island in the old Bounty "Paradise" adverts...

Morecambe is a strange one. Look at the seafront/promenade and the council have spent tens of thousands trying to make it look nice (and the view from there over Morecambe Bay can be stunning). Turn around and look behind the row of shops though and it's a whole new world of drug addled DSS scum and boarded up houses.

@surfer Kirkby in Ashfield not Kirkby, Liverpool @postierich Sunny scunny ain't all that bad compared to a lot of places, it's leagues above the aforementioned Kirkby, plus it's got a lovely link to a quiet motorway to take you away from it all!

Maybe not bad places to live, but I wouldn't like to live in these places, well maybe the last 2 would be worth a visit?

Shitterton, Dorset, England
Cockup, Cumbria, England
Wetwang, Yorkshire, England

Titty Hill, Sussex, England
Muff, Ireland

i dont even see how this is a question.

London, surely?

Mansfield, Sutton in Ashfield both pretty bad.

I think they look quite good when you compare them to Kirkby!

Careful.... 🙂 I was born in Sutton-in-Ashfield and raised in Kirkby and Sutton (And went to school in 'ucknall ). All my Mums side of the family are Kirkby born and bread. There's a LOT LOT worse than either of those 2 places.....I'll give you Mansfield, mind. 😉

Ahh, a bit of north Notts slang for you - All genuine.

"Oo worra wi? Worra wi mi mam or worra wi me sen?"

"Gi us a borra 'o ya barra, yoth!"

"Giorre scrattin an' gerron wi it!"

I can speak propper now though. 😀

Any town beginning with B in the NW of England just about covers it.

+1 for Crawley - may have been the UK's biggest boom town in the 80's but parts of it are a proper sh1thole

[i]+1 for Crawley - may have been the UK's biggest boom town in the 80's but parts of it are a proper sh1thole [/i]

oh come on - it's an absolute dump, sure, but FAR nicer than Redhill.

PeterPoddy: I think I got all that apart from "worra"..

"Who would you like to worra with? Worra with my esteemed mother or worra with my good self?"

"May I borrow your barrow, my good man?"

"I say, would you cease that incessant babbling and proceed with your assigned duties?"

I say, would you cease that incessant babbling and proceed with your assigned duties?"

Genius, PMSL! 😆

Scrattin is actually 'scratching'. My mate's dad said it to him when we were talking about doing something to his car, as he stood sctatching his head. We both just fell about laughing! 🙂

'Worra' = 'Was I' 🙂

I love Notts slang. As soon as I meet anyone from my area, my accent changes dramatically, after living darn sarf for so long, even I notice it. Common as muck. Love it. 🙂

'Worra' = 'Was I'

Ahhh... so is it...

"I say, my memory escapes me, who was I with? Was I with dearest mama, or was I on my own?"

Yep that's it. That's a class line given to my mother (A teacher) who spotted a pupil out of school then mentioned it to him the next day.

If there's one thing I do miss about 'home' then it's being called 'me duck' by everyone!

me duck

I lived in Lincoln for a couple of years and this was the typical friendly greeting.
Quite liked it really.

Coatbridge, Sefton, Preston, Hamilton, Coventry, Birmingham, Leeds.

Ahh, a bit of north Notts slang for you - All genuine.

Try the oath of allegiance in Doric:

"I, Maureen Elizabeth Watt, depone aat I wull be leal and bear ae full alleadgance tae Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her airs an ony fa come aifter her, anent the law. Sae help me God."

(as spoken by some quine in Holyrood)

"fit like quineeeeeeeeee"

I've been born, lived and worked in many of those northern towns mentioned and none compare to the time I spent around the east end of london , the areas of Poplar and then Barking. (god I hope I never have to go back to Poplar - do they know what a tree or blade of grass is)

Have to agree with Fubar somewhat. Admittedly I've only live in Lichfield (although went to school in Walsall) Reading and London. Was a student in Reading and lived in several areas new town, earley and whitley.

Whitley is supposed to be the worst area of reading and pretty ruff which is partly true, but to be honest I'd much rather live there than Battersea. Obviously it depends where you live I lived north of clapham junction (york road/falcon road junction) but parts of battersea are serious pants. My girlfriend got broken into a guy came in her room while she was sleeping and stole her handbag !

But then you get plenty of people saying its a good area lots of culture, plenty going on and best of all its up and coming.

Which translates as loads of rubbish, watch your self and the area is not going to get any better for at least 50 years.

I cant help but feel theres alot of people living in london in denial. Oh I've moved here got a job have to keep up apperances oh yes its a nice area up and coming !

I'll second Nickc's vote for Maesteg. Stayed there one night when riding at Afan Argoed. Didn't get a wink of sleep what with all the banjos playing all night.

West Bromwich.

Sandwell General is the only hospital I've ever worked at where I spent an entire day without one single patient actually bothering to turn up.

Aldershot, dreary concrete pustule full of pissed up squaddies on their day out.
Bridlington, as that was good about the british seaside, only faded, closed and boarded up
Easterhouse / Castlemilk / Drumchapel - 50's(?) council estate hellholes. Felt scared just driving through there before. Took the other half through the Drum once, jesus, kids dragging freshly uprooted trees right across the road in front of us in the car!

Avonmouth sticks in my memory as being about as dire as anywhere I've been.

'Best town in Britain' thread = 50 posts, 'Worst town in Britain' thread = 150 posts.

So, either Britain is rubbish, or Brits are just really negative people.

'Best town in Britain' thread = 50 posts, 'Worst town in Britain' thread = 150 posts.

So, either Britain is rubbish, or Brits are just really negative people.

Or those of us who live in decent towns are keeping very very quiet so the bumpkinbreds don't notice and move here with their silly accents and uncouth behaviour (not that they'd be able to afford to mind you!!)

I love Notts slang.

It's more local than that. You hear stuff round Ashfield that you don't hear in Nottingham. I lived in Nottingham 5 years before I started work in Kirkby and got to learn words like like fuddle and tab hanging

[i]I love Notts slang[/i]

I'm still trying to work out if it makes you seem more stupid written or spoken......

'Best town in Britain' thread = 50 posts, 'Worst town in Britain' thread = 150 posts.

So, either Britain is rubbish, or Brits are just really negative people.

Nah, peple just like moaning

Dear lord I seem to have either lived or worked in most of the northern towns or welsh ones,

in no order places where I have been concerned for my well being,
ashfield flats rochdale....in general rochdale really
stoops estate Burnley
several of the welsh pit towns and places like Llandovery, Lampeter, St Dogmals in some very anti English establishments
Keighley.......oh lord
Lancashire Hill Stockport.... more so than Brinnington

Hebden Bridge when I suggested that it was not as good as people thought!

Ferguslie in Paisley. The place doesn't look too bad now, but the attitude of some of the people and thieving plebs that are and were in there are unbelievable. The money that has been spent on the place is ridiculous and the opportunity's that they have had with FREE driving and HGV lessons/tests, new housing, great sport facilities etc and they wreck it. A complete waste.

Good to see Barra and Millom on the list, worst towns - not so sure. Definitely not great but there pretty isolated places, one road in, one road out sort of thing. Millom is bang on the edge of the Lakes too.

FWIW, all the people I know from Barrow and Millom are sound.

As someone else said, better to live there than a middle class commuter ghetto.

Ashfield Valley flats don't exist anymore Vondally - Now large modern set of offices and a leisure complex consisting of a cinema, large gym, bowling alley and several restaraunts.
Not often you see a whole housing estate built and demolished well inside of your own lifetime i have to say.

Rochdale's problem is one of direction. All the traditional industries have gone yet the local council seem to dither endlessly about how to re-generate the town. The shopping is appalling, everyone who can either travels to nearby Bury or uses the supermarkets.
The difference between Bury with it's famous market and huge new developments and Rochdale with it's shops either boarded up or leased by low-price cheap-end tat floggers is startling.

Combine a higher than average unemployment rate (i'm currently one of them) with a political leadership only noticable by its absence and this is what you end up with.
People are people, there is no fundamental difference just a difference of opportunity.

I've lived in

Middlesbrough, craphole
Darlington - nice in parts but too provincial, I was seriously assaulted for no reason on the highstreet FFS, so craphole
Leeds, nice in parts but burgled to high heaven and threatned on the highstreet by drugged up Big Issue sellers, so craphole
Colne, lancs, deprived craphole full of heroin junkies
Pudsey, possibly OK in parts, but the landlord of the local was a leeds fan murdered in football violence, so craphole
Staines, surrey, craphole (any where this close to London gets the life sucked out of it and the highstreets are full of tatooed yoof and single mums
Reading, craphole see Staines
Ealing, great, the only thing I can fault is its not near the trails 🙂

150 odd posts, and no Yeovil?

How the hell has Croydon escaped so far? That's been a dump since the day the first high rise was built.

Stayed in Port Talbot this year on an Afan trip. I've lived all over the place (Possilpark anyone?) and I'm not proud but I honestly could not believe my eyes on the drive into PT. Nothing there but boarded up shops exept for a fancy dress shop!!!!

....close second would be the now nameless pit village outside Wakefield where I used to go to get cuddly with a local lass.

Darlington - nice in parts but too provincial, I was seriously assaulted for no reason on the highstreet FFS, so craphole

I've only been assaulted twice in 32 years, and that was just one punch and one thrown stone 🙂

As someone else said, better to live there than a middle class commuter ghetto.

I don't know about anyone else, but in preference to an unpleasant, violent, crime-ridden, parochial unpleasant area, I'd take the pleasant, leafy spacious, middle-class commuter ghetto EVERY TIME.