[Closed] Worst UK City

Having spent the last two days in Peterborough I would put this as a strong contender but having worked in Luton for a couple of years it still gets my vote... Plus you have Houghton Regis and Dunstable just on the doorstep.... Ghastly.

Out of cities mentioned here I've lived in Chester, Sheffield, Hull, London and Coventry, loved London but maybe as I had a bit of money and lived in a fairly well off, quietish area so could get enjoy London without being in the noise. Many like that of course and choose to live in places like Soho despite the high costs. Hull and Coventry were both a bit unappealing but clubbing was quite good in Coventry when I was there. But places like Derby and Middlesbrough beat them I'm sure.

Actually - London's a truly great place to visit, just walking around is interesting with so much to see and do, don't really need money for that. Also lived in NYC for a while which was great but after the novelty of that had warn off London seemed to me the better place.

Aren't Stoke and Derby on the edge of Peak District as well?

I travel round a few cities (work and play) and i can say that the only city that I don't like is Newport. It's got to be grim if the locals agree with me when I say it's shit 😆

It was an appalling town but when it was granted city status it gained all the bad bits of a city and none of the good bits.

[quote=twonks ]Having driven through, around, into and past Stoke I'd have to say there are no redeeming features of it as a city centre so that gets my vote.

Hang on - you've just mentioned the best feature of Stoke 😉

Luton is a large town

More a wart on the ar5e of humanity!

If Rochdale's on here, Luton definitely deserves to be on here too.

Bristol City ,but am biased being a Rovers fan !

another vote for newport.

it was once the 'home of the mole wrench' now there is nothing interesting to say about it

i once asked the security guard in the passport office what he would do if he had 4 hrs to kill in newport and he replied "leave newport for 4 hrs"

Coventry suffered from some poor city centre re-development after the war damage, but I found it a friendly place, with some nice people, and it has miles of great cycling in the lanes round about.

The worst bit about Coventry is that the Germans didnt finish the church off

Can somebody who isn't working at this time of night please do a tally?

At a guess Bradford is in the lead at the moment. Speaking as someone who lives here, I'd say it's probably unfair. Somewhat.

I am voting for Slough - worked there for years and, well, [i]hideous in every respect[/i] is the only way I can describe it.

My honorable mention goes to Croydon. It says something when the only thing in the "+" column is an ikea. At least High Wycombe has a John Lewis.

Have we had Middlesbrough yet?

[url= http://www.****/money/news/article-2509330/Reading-Aberdeen-Southampton-best-quality-life-UK.html ]Want the best quality of life in the UK? Move to Reading, Aberdeen or Southampton - but avoid central London[/url]

Coventry a real shit hole.
Manchester has a lot going for it
Sheffield grim in lots of places.
London, like Paris let down by the locals.

Nice to see nobody has mentioned Newcastle, proper nice place.

Have to agree with a number of posts in this thread, Coventry is a real shit hole !!
How do I know ?.... Cus I work there!, being travelling to cov for yrs to help the inbreds that call Coventry home .

S[b] ****[/b] horpe the name says it all.

Bradford - Once one of the best cities in the country, now unfortunately a ghost city, where no one wants to go

To clarify my post above I don't think Bradford's the worst - not sure where I'd say for that, possibly sunderland - it's just the best example I can think of of a vast undeveloped hole in the city centre.

I thought someone would have said Carlisle (which I grew up in and love) by now, it usually comes up on these threads.

To clarify my post above I don't think Bradford's the worst - not sure where I'd say for that, possibly sunderland - it's just the best example I can think of of a vast undeveloped hole in the city centre.

What hole?

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Most of the cities mentioned on here share the same issue that they were largely constructed/expanded in the 60's with concrete and are now dated and in dire need of regeneration. They're part of poor planning where the car was king and concrete monstrosities were allowed to flourish.
Croydon has been mentioned and it's a classic example - the town was built with the intention of a ring road surrounding the town (only 3 sides were ever built) and now that dual carriageway through the centre cuts the town in half. Living there, i'm inclined to agree that there are some bad parts but also some very nice parts - I went for a drink last night in South Croydon and the recent spending on streets and lighting has made it a vibrant, welcoming place full of nice bars and restaurants - similar to what you may find in other nicer parts of London. I hope the regeneration of the town centre has a similar effect. Unfortunately, it will cost a fortune to attempt to put right the poor planning from previous years.

I'd be interested to know how many of those that detest London actually spend any real time there. I like to go into town every couple of weeks and while there are some horrible parts (like anywhere) there are some real hidden gems and on a summer day, I can think of very few other places that i'd rather walk around.

Carlisle.

Dont know if its the worse but Newport is pretty awful. Grew up 9 miles up the Valleys and it was the closest big town, it did have some good little spots like TJ's and the market was brilliant but it has slipped into a pool labelled giveuphopethisplaceisjustshit, what makes it worse is the wealth of somwhwere like Celtic Manor compared with the misery of Alway, Ringland or Pill.

When you meet people from Stoke and they say Newport has a reputation you know its bad.

London is an incredible city, wouldnt want to live their again but just walk around the place and look at the architecture, it is amazing.

I find Croydon a strange nomination. Firstly it's officially a town, and secondly whilst it's officially a town it's really just a district of Greater London that merges pretty seamlessly into all the other districts without any seperation. Greater London is of course not actually a city but it's what most people are thinking of when they refer to 'London' in common usage.

Thanks señor j!

All cities are a mix of good and bad. A lot of the places mentioned are indeed shitholes. But at least they've got some kind of identity. And history. You can find something of interest if you bother. You at least tend to know where you are. And theres stuff going on.

Theres infinitely worse places to live. I've had the dubious pleasure of working in various southern satellite towns within striking distance of London. I treid to keep the stays down to as mercifully short timeframe as possible. Slough, Reading, Basingstoke, Woking. and how on earth anyone lives in those places is completely beyond me. I find it utterly incomprehensible.

They're completely devoid of any kind of identity, whatsoever. You could parachute you into any one of those places, then ask you where you were, and you wouldn't have a ****ing clue. They're all identical. And dull, dull, [b]DULL!!![/b] Same identical high street, with the same chain bars and shops, same Harvester pubs, same awful featureless square architecture, same shopping centre, complete with multi-story car park, and bus station, same endless roundabouts with mile after mile of identikit rabbit hutches, with the same identical rep-mobiles in their drives.

If someone told me I had to live out the rest of my days in any of those places, then the only dilemma I'd face is whether to end it all immediately, or whether to get tooled up and go on a killing spree first, taking out as many of the local residents as possible. It'd be for their own benefit really. To spare them from the crushingly bland disappointment the rest of their lives would inevitably be.

Ooooh.... Coldplay are on Radio 2. Lovely.

Croydon is a town of two halves. Turn right out of the station = bad. Turn left = good. I loved it there.

Sorry binners- there may be an odd bar etc there thats good but I think Burys a hole.

Gloucester

In Croydon there used to be a good snooker hall with a guy selling 'erb next to the Jukebox.

Games took forever, and we never remembered who won.

Other than that, meh.

I'm also going to nominate Truro - not because I don't like it, but because if you're expecting a city in more than name, you'll be disappointed! You can walk across it in 20 minutes.

However, if [url= http://www.savetruro.co.uk/tag/prince-of-wales/ ]Charlie gets his way[/url], things may change...for the worse 🙁

Nick1962, you charmer.

I'm also going to nominate Truro - not because I don't like it, but because if you're expecting a city in more than name, you'll be disappointed! You can walk across it in 20 minutes.

Manchester is a bit like that. Was surprised how small it is, if you take the busy bit bordered by ancoats, the station/old BT building hotel and the railway line with all the arches that area just about fits inside the borders of Hyde Park that little bit of green space in london, you literally can walk across it in 20 min.

It's too broad a question really, because everyone will judge a city differently depending on what you want. As has been said, where you'd like to live and where to visit are two totally different things. Which is why London divides opinion. Also, all cities have run down areas, and horrible industrial areas, and if your experience of the city is that area then you'll hate it.

I really like Manchester. Loads to do in the city, a proud history, good transport links and easy access to the hills. And I have never even given the Irwell any thought (do you like swimming or something? Who cares about some water going through the city? Not even the Thames is nice when it hits the city and that's huge and unavoidable).

Coventry gets my vote.

Years since I've been but memories of a crap center built in the 50's after the Luftwaffe tried their hardest to level the place. To make it worse, planners then surrounded the city center with a fast ring road strangling the place.

MrSmith if you walked across Manchester it'd take you quite a while.....

The funny thing about Manchester is most of the bars I used to visit back in 1990-92 are still here and exactly the same bar the Hacienda. A visit back to West Hampstead just 5yrs on shows a complete change 😯

I work in Bradford centre. Its an absolute hole full of complete scum. But... its not the worst.

High(?)lights I reckon are Cardiff, Hull but the only winner (I don't know if its even a city or not but I'm counting it as one) is:

[b]BLACKPOOL[/b]

Words cannot describe what an absolute hell hole this place is. Its like Bradford-on-Sea. Its no wonder people go there and get battered. Can you imagine it sober?

Seen Blackpool in the daylight? My great memories of Blackpool are from my childhood. Its a very very tired looking place now. Last year we went to the Pleasure beach, it was full of tall Polish-tracksuit wearing blokes and bleached-blonde burds.

Have you ever been to Rhyl? Its makes [url= http://www.dougiewallace.com/601687/stags-hens-bunnies-a-blackpool-story/ ]Blackpool[/url] look like St Tropez

hora - Member

MrSmith if you walked across Manchester it'd take you quite a while.....

Missed nearly two thirds of the centre out there.
🙂

Although you can get from the CIS to Johnny Roadhouse in under half an hour if you get a jiggle on. 😀

There's pretty much no wasted space anywhere in the centre though - there's a hell of a lot packed in.

Another vote for Newport. Now that TJs has closed there is nothing redeeming in that hole of a place.

If towns are allowed, Yeovil and Dudley have to be up there.

There's pretty much no wasted space anywhere in the centre though - there's a hell of a lot packed in.

It looked similar to king cross in London a few years ago except those old goods yards were full of business that needed the cheap space in a central location.

Hey - Davey - where are you? We should go for a ride after xmas when I have a little time/money, need to fix the bike first.

Me too hora - I remember going to the pleasure beach as a kid. The little train that took you around etc. Fond memories.

We went a couple of years back. Drove through as we'd been up the coast and had an idea of getting some fish & chips on the front. We ended up driving straight down the prom and finding the quickest way out of there!

@ lemonysam - no problem 😀
don't take it personally -
As a West Cumbrian it's bred into us.

Having lived in Cardiff and working on the edge of Newport for me while Newport is a dump it really is just a town. Sure it has city status now, but that's twaddle the cities of South Wales are Cardiff and Swansea (& maybe St David's if you want to get technical). Heck Newport doesn't even have a decent rugby team.

For me Manchester is the worst, considering how much money has been thrown at it over the last 15 years. The results of which are, flat city (as Hora noted), then a eastern block city centre at Piccadilly gardens, a mess left by the old BBC building, the awfulness of the Printworks re-development etc.