Miserable, miserable places

Many a Friday night I spent watching people hitting each other here..

One review: “avoid this at the weekends unless you want a fight.”

http://web.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/13/1328/Walkabout/Croydon

Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens has to take some beating. The crack dealers and scallies hangoing around Cash Coverters at the bottom of Oldham Street is like what I’d imagine hell to be. It has to have the highest proportion of nutjobs anywhere and is grim, grim, grim, no matter what anyone tells you.

And that’s during the day. Still, Sacha’s Hotel is lovely.

yes i do live in Swinton

Bloody ‘ell mancjon – I bet you nearly spat your sprouts out when you saw that picture of the Lancy ‘all.

Whereabouts are you?

mancjon – Member
Allow me to show you around Swinton, Salford:

+1 for the sheer ugliness of that building. Although to be fair if you turn around you have a lovely church or the Salford council offices which are much nicer to look at (yes i do live in Swinton).

Mind you if you walked up a bit further up and took a photo of the actual precinct then we are back to your original point

I used to get physically ill even thinking about the old precinct! But I don’t totally agree that the church opposite is all that nice, either. St Augustine’s in Pendlebury – in spite of the hideous industrial setting – is much nicer.

The picture of Uranium City that started this thread may flatter it somewhat. This is Wikipedia’s picture of its main street:

According to Wikipedia, it was a thriving town with a population in the thousands until 1983 when the local uranium mine closed. The population now is 89. Other attractive features of it include the fact that “there is no normal road access connecting Uranium City with the rest of Canada” and that the airport has a gravel runway.

But I don’t totally agree that the church opposite is all that nice, either.

It’s all relative though isn’t it. Compared to Derek’s pic the church really is bloody beautiful !

Can’t argue with that GlitterGary. I used to like sitting in the Gardens in the summer and seeing how many minutes/hours would pass before you heard someone/anyone speak English in a form that you recognised

You can also enliven it even more by visiting it a 2am. Then you can witness it awash with piss and broken glass and playing host to running street battles

Bloody ‘ell mancjon – I bet you nearly spat your sprouts out when you saw that picture of the Lancy ‘all.

Whereabouts are you?

Actually the “posh” bit if you can use that term in regards to Swinton (which you can’t really) ie. over the East Lancs road towards Worsely. Near the White Horse pub if that helps.

Ironic post of the day. You know, in the centre of Manchester there is a peaceful and small park with the distinction of having 22,000 people buried underneath it.

Miserable place or peaceful place?

I’ve had many a sesh in The White Horse. One of the few decent boozers left in Salford.

I live up near the Henry Boddington.

it was a thriving town with a population in the thousands until 1983 when the local uranium mine closed. The population now is 89.

Fascinating.. I might want to go there.

well i grew up in dunstable which is so bad the ‘dont let dunstable die’ facebook group is too late

its only saving grace is the dunstable downs……

I’ve had many a sesh in The White Horse. One of the few decent boozers left in Salford.

I live up near the Henry Boddington.

Just moved back here, was born in Swinton. So when i finally get my bike fixed (vandalised frame) i might be asking for some good riding spots if that’ okay ?

Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens has to take some beating.

It’s a an oasis of peace and calm compared to what it used to be like. Are you still living in the 70’s by any chance 🙂

Salford centre – le precinct et les environs:

My gran’s flat used to overlook that pub!

I used to spend every other Sunday evening looking out of the window at the distant lights of Manchester wishing that my gran didn’t live in such a shit hole. Eventually she moved away… then moved back becasue she missed it.

mancjon – I can assure you, there may be a new Berlin Wall in Piccadilly Gardens, the trees may be gone, the streets slightly cleaner, but by God it is a hell hole.

Just do what Binners suggests, and hang around at 2 in the morning.

Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens has to take some beating.

It’s a an oasis of peace and calm compared to what it used to be like. Are you still living in the 70’s by any chanc

I remember when it was recessed into the ground (**** knows the correct term) and many a person was off their face/stabbed and murdered there.

might be asking for some good riding spots if that’ okay ?

Yep – whenever you’re ready mate.

Despite our location – there’s some decent trails – even climbs!

Aaaaaaaaaah Derek. Salford centre – le precinct et les environs. Happy memories.

I used to live next to it as a student. It does have its compensations. Merely walk around it for five minutes, when you’re feeling a bit down, and you’ll return feeling energised. And not just from being chased by muggers. In comparison to the average dweller, you realise that in fact you are intelligent, stylish, witty, urbane, extremely well-dressed with a crystal clear complexion. And an oasis of calm measured behavior. You’re like Stephen Fry 😀

binners – I am Spartacus 😀

Hora – McDonalds in Stretford might have closed, but at least you can nip over the road for a pint in The Drum 😀

Also Burnley and *shudder* Colne.

BIRKENHEAD

Even sounds horrible.

Blackpool out of season deserves a mention too.

Never been in season, may be even worse for all I know.

Great Yarmouth. Why the ASA haven’t had words with them about their name I don’t know. Even when it’s open, it’s dire. I also heard that it has more benefit claimants per head of population that anywhere else in the country.

The first coment about London on here made it sound like Mos Eisley from Star Wars and I have to say, I agree.

Nottingham it really getting on my Bristols as well but there are worse places.

Great Yarmouth.

!

I had a great time there last year in the big park with my kids. But we only stayed for about 3 hours. I assume from your comments that the rest of it is a tip.

Berwick Upon Tweed. Some of it is lovely, but most of it is dire.

I was a student at Hull University and feel that the city is unfairly maligned!

Okay, the estates on the periphery are grim and the city centre suffered from a combination of Luftwaffe bombing and 60’s town planning, but there’s Cottingham, the Old Town and various other decent spots.

Also, home of Spiders…the best rock club in the country and their incredible pint cocktails for £2!

I drive through Denny on the way to Carron Valley. Jesus wept.

I was a bar man at Hull University and worked at BP in Hedon for a year.

It’s a dump.

If the BP site went bang it would have a blast radius of 7 miles. Hull is 4 miles away. Careful with the matches.

Which bar? The Rez, John McCarthy or errr…the other one?!

Hora – McDonalds in Stretford might have closed, but at least you can nip over the road for a pint in The Drum

No need! There is one closer (adjacent to McD’s)- in daylight you always see a cross-section of ages outside smoking away.

anybody mentioned london yet? i couldn’t live in london.

On a smaller scale, though a beautiful place Salisbury Plain is orbited by a chain of truly dire one horse towns. I’m thinking Durrington, Larkhill, Bulford, Warminster and Tidworth.

I had the misfortune of living in Tidworth on two separate occasions. I remember feeling genuinely excited when we moved to Andover!

The British Army’s fondness for placing garrisons in the middle of nowhere must have no small effect on retention.

Most places beginning with ‘S’

Which bar? The Rez, John McCarthy or errr…the other one?!

Usually down stairs but working in The McCarthy was better. 1990-1991. I fell in love with a girl that I worked with called Leonne who was having none of it. 😥

I once made The Rebel MC (remember him?) tip his pint into a plastic glass because he was taking it into the hall (he was doing a “turn”) and he had a “do you know who I am?” strop. Told him that I couldn’t give a monkey’s and that if he wanted his pint it had to be in a “skiff”.

The bouncers were savages. They were scaffolders from the chemical plant who used to get off on beating the crap out of drunken students.

I shared a house with a black guy was also on placement at BP. Several times when we went out I was in fear of my life because I had a mate who wasn’t white! Nobody said anything to him because he was massive but I got some grief for it.

Going back to Huddersfield for my final year at The Poly was a relief.

Of all grim towns, New Brighton is the one that does it for me. The name conjures up a delightful re-interpretation of the Regency glamour of the jewel of the south coast.

What you get is a shithole with poundshops, massage parlours and a pier.

I wonder if the Welsh town of Pant is as lovely as its name?

Little Hulton.

It has a municiple golf course – ground under repair is trail bike tracks and hazards are burnt out Fiestas / Clios.

The town should be nuked from orbit. Really.

Most places beginning with ‘S’

Sandown on the Isle of Wight.

There are few things more depressing than a fading seaside resort trading on past glories, and I don’t think Sandown’s past was ever that glorious.

One of the positives is it has a pier, which you can walk along and jump off once the rest of the place has put you in the mood.

Probably nowhere near as bad as some of the other places mentioned, but remember that Up North doesn’t have a monopoly on Grim.