There are some truly terrible places in England as seen in the Idler books 'Crap Towns' and 'Crap Towns 2' I've been to most places in England and studied human geography at Uni so have built up a reasonable picture of the state of England.

I would be interested to know where people consider the arm pit of England to be and why

I haven't been anywhere as truly destitute as Grimethorpe, but it would be a bit unfair to pick somewhere that was solely dependent upon a closed staple industry.

So I have therefore gone for Rotherham (I'm not from Sheffield so I don't have any particular ingrained dislike for the place).

It's by far the ****test place I've ever seen. The only form of entertainment for women is getting a fake tan, having their hair colour changed and / or having their nails manicured. For men it's pubs and bookies. I went to Rotherham a few weeks ago to meet someone; because I turned up early I decided to walk around the 'art gallery'. It contained one painting!!!! At least Barnsley MBC owns a Canaletto.

People look older than the age suggests they should look. There are acres and acres of people whose features have been hideously deformed by hyper obesity. Self neglect is rampant, people who consider exercise a part of every day life are described as 'freaks'

In the case of Rotherham, people most certainly make places as opposed to places making people (for the sociologist amongst you)

Originally posted by dylan_61
There are some truly terrible places in England as seen in the Idler books 'Crap Towns' and 'Crap Towns 2' I've been to most places in England and studied human geography at Uni so have built up a reasonable picture of the state of England.

I would be interested to know where people consider the arm pit of England to be and why

I haven't been anywhere as truly destitute as Grimethorpe, but it would be a bit unfair to pick somewhere that was solely dependent upon a closed staple industry.

So I have therefore gone for Rotherham (I'm not from Sheffield so I don't have any particular ingrained dislike for the place).

It's by far the ****test place I've ever seen. The only form of entertainment for women is getting a fake tan, having their hair colour changed and / or having their nails manicured. For men it's pubs and bookies. I went to Rotherham a few weeks ago to meet someone; because I turned up early I decided to walk around the 'art gallery'. It contained one painting!!!! At least Barnsley MBC owns a Canaletto.

People look older than the age suggests they should look. There are acres and acres of people whose features have been hideously deformed by hyper obesity. Self neglect is rampant, people who consider exercise a part of every day life are described as 'freaks'

In the case of Rotherham, people most certainly make places as opposed to places making people (for the sociologist amongst you) outrageous but true - I worked there for a year and was horrified everyday but having said that the moor in sheffield fills me with rage.

I've been to rotherham once. It seems to be the land of cash machines and pubs! I spent the whole night thinking 'that must be her sister - right?"

Go to Derby on a Saturday afternnoon. On second thoughts.....don't.

Teesside. Without a doubt. Mile after mile of rusting shipyards, oil refineries belching multi-coloured smoke and flaring gasses, and ugly heavy industry. For sheer excitement, you can't beat the coastal viewing platform - which gives you a fine view of the nuclear power station at Hartlepool! The tide is known to wash up coal residue on the beaches.

Admittedly there are some very nice areas, like Norton, but mostly it is ghastly, with hideous 60s concrete monstrosities which pass for shopping centres and housing.

Have you been to retford? Thats prettty grim.

Its dirty and theres lots of tracksuited yoot. Hardly any black or asian people!

Its got to be Luton .... Such a nasty place! Arm pit ... no actually its more like the ar..... hole of England!

In my experience of travelling round this region, it's got to be Mansfield. Absolutely appalling dump.

Retford, on the other hand, I thought was a rather pleasant little place.

Originally posted by serapis
Its got to be Luton .... Such a nasty place! Arm pit ... no actually its more like the ar..... hole of England!

Excuse me,

I spent three years in Luton and having read your post I just felt moved to say:

You're absolutely right!

'I think of Luton
Whilst I eat my cruton'

or

"How far to Hitchin
It's Hitchin' I'm missin'!"

Originally posted by metalman

Retford, on the other hand, I thought was a rather pleasant little place.

Oh well, each to their own! I agree about mansfield!

I have to say the worst place for me is stoke, it just seems like one big run down estate.

i live smack bang i the middle, just outside Sheffield,Chesterfield,Mansfield and Worksop... so i do actually visit all the places above!! now worksop, what can i say... i wouldnt even go as far as armpit, more like toe nail clippings!!! I was also born in Rotherham ( dont admit it that often ) but atleast its not the worse place to come from, for that place has 2 be Preston!! I got stuck in Preston for 2 hours in December and it was a lucky thing that i had no sharp objects on me becuase i wouldnt B here today!!! NEVER GO!!!!

Originally posted by A_Partridge
I have to say the worst place for me is stoke, it just seems like one big run down estate.

I lived in Stoke-On-Trent for a while and loved it, but it was all down to the people I lived with and what I was doing! I have been back a few times since and yes, I agree, it is a terrible dump. The only good thing is the museum in Hanley, which is fantastic......if standing in awe before a glass case containing hundreds of cow-creamers is your idea of a good time. Which in my case, it is. Is that so very wrong?

hey im from Tesside, and your comments fill me with rage.


There true but i have to have some pride :D

Teeside gets my vote. Sad, smelly, miserable place.

Used to live in Preston and quite like the place actually

I think a town such as Felixtowe deserves the award - a truly dull and bland place.

:)

Stoke on trent gets my vote

Absolute tip - and a cautionary tale to any city where its traditional industry goes belly up and is replaced by......nowt.

Good job that didn't happen here!

Originally posted by Deavon Excuse me,

I spent three years in Luton and having read your post I just felt moved to say:

You're absolutely right!

Just three years, you luck ba***rd! I grew up in a little village about 9 miles away from this sh*t tip. I had the miss fortune to be born in the Luton and Dunstable Hospital too. I finally moved away about 3 years ago (to sheffield, yay)!

Last year we were in Kent visiting the Castle in the area which were wonderful, we decided to call in to Margate, it is without a doubt the armpit of England, it is a semi derelict dump. I am now waiting for some southerner to say 2 wrong words about Skeggie, Mablethorpe or Cleethorpes

Obviously not many born and bred southerners on here as Bracknell hasn't been voted for yet! (and Slough which is in close proximity to it).

According to S.F. posters , there are lots and lots of , "Armpits " in Britain and I believe them-----and we haven't even yet seen mention of some of the "delights " of the big cities like Glasgow , Liverpool , Manchester , London........and even.....dare I say .....Sheffield. You only have to think of a wet , cold , blustery day in , say , Tinsley or Wincobank , to get the idea.
It seems that much of Britain is indeed covered by Armpits and , surely , soon , someone will organise , "The Armpits of Britain Heritage Tour ". Be a change from Stately Homes , charging 2 pounds 50 for a pot of tea , I suppose.

Saltfleet:gag:
Rotherham
Retford
Chapel St Leonards
Redcar

:hihi: the list could be a long one so i will stop now.

I'm from Derby LordSnooty, and your voting for my birthplace as the arm pit of England is just, well, just spot on. I've always said the best thing about Derby is the ring-road system - it keeps you out of the centre of the place. The Cathedral isn't bad, and nearby streets, but that's it. The theatre is only accessible via the inside of shopping precinct or the underground car-park.

Retford is lovely. Full of history, cannons, nice buildings, park & river.

Mansfield - 4 seasons shopping centre and er, that's really it folks.

Worksop - Well there is the Priory.

Redcar - I passed my driving test in Redcar. Still a dump though.

Rotherham - it does have an ancient church on the bridge. Mind you, when I walked along the tow-path from Tinsley to Rotherham the other weekend, the church was locked up - due to vandalism no doubt?

This is what I submitted to the idler last month about the unfortunate place of my birth, Luton. Hope it goes on the site.

Exports: Me
Imports: Crack cocaine, Heroin, Alcohol.
Places of interest: M1 Junction and the airport

I am cursed to wander through this life with a patina of guilt upon my very soul, yes, Luton is my place of birth.

Luton is a hideous mish-mash of badly thought out and put together buildings surrounded by a sink estates where the feral children can return with stolen DVD players and other items straight into the welcoming arms of their Crack/Smack head parents. I imagine the only happy people in Luton are dealers and pawn shop owners.

The town centre is as depressing as watching a loved one die, By day haggard faced women drag their filthy, rat-children around looking for their next fix of Sunny D and scratchcards. By night it swarms with knuckle dragging cretins who couldn't even spell GBH but have no trouble administering it and drunken slappers who wear the smallest imaginable piece of fabric to retain their modesty, if indeed they had any. Luton is what you imagine LA was like just before they slapped a wall around it and flew in Snake Pliskin.

Current residents of Luton, If you have the correct number of fingers and toes, are not a kleptomaniac and are able to string together a coherent sentence, then like me you too can escape before it's too late.

Swan-Vesta ,

I really admire your honesty ! Not many people are willing to rip into their home town like that !
I used to love Sheffield and still have some affection for parts of it ------but if I , or anyone else slags it off in the slightest way ------all hell breaks loose. I guess it's usually from people who have never lived much outside Sheffield or the U.K. and are blind to its faults.
Allowig for a bit of hyperbole on your part , Luton does sound a dreadful place -------but I'm sure it's not that exceptional-------and that's the sad thing about Britain today------there ARE large parts of it that fit your description of your home town.
Last time I was in the U.K. , I lived in an overgrown village in the very north of England , and although there were some pretty grim human sights , in general , it was like living in another country , compared to living in a big U.K. city.
Anyway , good luck in your life------nice to meet an honest man !

Originally posted by redrobbo
Teesside. Without a doubt. Mile after mile of rusting shipyards, oil refineries belching multi-coloured smoke and flaring gasses, and ugly heavy industry. For sheer excitement, you can't beat the coastal viewing platform - which gives you a fine view of the nuclear power station at Hartlepool! The tide is known to wash up coal residue on the beaches.

Admittedly there are some very nice areas, like Norton, but mostly it is ghastly, with hideous 60s concrete monstrosities which pass for shopping centres and housing.


I'm from durham and couldn't concur more wholeheartedly. Teeside is the dirty navel of england.

It has to be Grimsby. This place is just so geographically isolated. In one direction, there is a motorway out with nothing until Scunthorpe (oh joy!) and in the other direction - the North Sea.
Due to it being a port and located next to the port of Immingham, it has a large drug problem. The majority of the schools are terrible. There is virtually no cultural scene - everything is bland. Almost everyone is a sheep with regard to clothes, music, way of thinking etc. Peole are so afraid of anything and anyone that slightly deviates from the norm.
A lot of the people are inherently racist due to the "this is a local town" kind of attitude.
It is very difficult to engage anyone in a discussion about politics, the environment etc. The biggest industry is food processing. Those ready meals that are making you fat are likely to have come from Grimsby.
The favourite weekend pastime is getting wasted on Stella (or Reef fro the ladies) and then smashing somebody's face in for looking at you 'funny'.
This place is home to the original 'fishwife'.
The only redeeming feature is Ainslie Street Park.

Originally posted by kathythebean
Have you been to retford? Thats prettty grim.

Its dirty and theres lots of tracksuited yoot. Hardly any black or asian people!

i vote retford after living there for 2 long years

I would have to vote for Grimsby, being asked by a 50+ year old prostitute in a yellow PVC cat suit (honestly, and she wasn't the first person to be spotted in one that night) if I wanted a "quicky in the hotel bog" was the high (low?) light of a frightening night out.

Bootle in Liverpool is an enclave of the slatternly and improvident. The menfolk dress as if in permanent training, donning cheap Kappa sportswear, and fake sovereign rings. They usually bear tattoos, and cannot form a sentence without resorting to foul language. The womenfolk dress for the beach [evening in January blizzards], and often have Steatopygia, the condition of having grotesque, balloon-like buttocks commonly found amongst the San people of the Kalahari. There is definate evidence here of genetic drift, in the latter respect. Both sexes are politically militant, aggressive, self-dramatising, and overly-sentimental.

If one walks through the Strand, the place where James Bulger was abducted, one gets a feeling of being amongst a fossil people, evolutionary failures. The answer to any problem encountered is a whining, tremulous cry, like the refrain of a ballad, 'Oh, it's uzza gain'. It is amusing to watch the locals scramble to board the buses. Unlike most English people, the toothless, nylon-clad oafs do not form queues. The whole scene is bedlam-like, with elderly people elbowing each other, foul language filling the air, and the younger elements pushing straight to the front, their horrible faces contorted in contempt. Even in degraded Calcutta, there are more 'civilised' queues than this. The streets are filthy. At night, apparently, a man without a hood is looked upon with great suspicion.

Yes, Bootle is the place. A 'town' where record numbers are on benefits. A 'town', thanks to Sefton Council, that is sponsored and kept afloat by the punitive Council Tax levels imposed on wealthier parts of Sefton, such as Southport. You will not find much 'loveable, cheeky' Scouse humour there, and 'Doddy's little Diddy Men' would all be on ASBOs.

Originally posted by rainbow2411
Last year we were in Kent visiting the Castle in the area which were wonderful, we decided to call in to Margate, it is without a doubt the armpit of England, it is a semi derelict dump. I am now waiting for some southerner to say 2 wrong words about Skeggie, Mablethorpe or Cleethorpes

Yes, that's one of the awful parts - the northern most tip (my area), and the Margate/Thanet area - awful. East and south Kent are excellent.

:)

Originally posted by timo
Bootle in Liverpool is an enclave of the slatternly and improvident. The menfolk dress as if in permanent training, donning cheap Kappa sportswear, and fake sovereign rings. They usually bear tattoos, and cannot form a sentence without resorting to foul language. The womenfolk dress for the beach [evening in January blizzards], and often have Steatopygia, the condition of having grotesque, balloon-like buttocks commonly found amongst the San people of the Kalahari. There is definate evidence here of genetic drift, in the latter respect. Both sexes are politically militant, aggressive, self-dramatising, and overly-sentimental.


I was wondering how HG Wells came up wirth the idea for the Morloks in The Time Machine, perhaps he had a day trip to Bootle ?

Barnsley:
Pros: It had/has a decent swimming baths.
Cons: On all other counts it is a wasteland

Mansfield
Pros: Near Newark
Cons: Worse than Barnsley

Dinnington
Pros: Nice cafe (Exodus) on main drag.
Cons: How the folks in the sad market hall and sadder charity shops scrape a crust in this place is beyond me.

Mablethorpe
Pros: The beach
Cons: People from the above towns holiday there. It's like a wild west town - lawless and made of wood.

Pontefract:
Pros: The name is interesting (means Broken Bridge)
Cons: Like Mansfield but you waste more petrol to get there.

Originally posted by timo
[B]Bootle in Liverpool is an enclave of the slatternly and improvident.

I had the misfortune of going to college in Bootle for two years. Was always a pleasure to get the train home at the end of the day.

Skegness......when all the beer-gutted, flip flop wearing, England shirt adorned, foul-mouthed, chip eating Sheffield dole drawers (and their 8 kids) turn up.

Probably pleasant out of season though.

Well if you want to slag off teeside i will have to say.


It least we got Premiship football from one club. You have 2 clubs. :heyhey: :heyhey: :heyhey: :heyhey: but at least you can look forward to playing each other :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:


We love you BORO we do o BORO we love you!!!!!

Originally posted by LordSnooty
Go to Derby on a Saturday afternnoon. On second thoughts.....don't.

Nah, Derby's not a bad place. Bit dull, but don't think it qualifies as an arm pit.

Now Northampton is much more like it. Chav's delight. They hold Max Power rallys in Argos carpark on a Saturday evenings where all the Chavs bring their modified metros with blacked-out windows, park, wind the windows down, turn up the rap music, and wait for the Chavettes to appear.

It doesn't take the "ladies" long to congregate, dripping with gold jewellery and lycra.

Then the event kicks off, the boys race their cars round the carpark (hardcore) and the Chavettes get their boobs out for the cameras.

And Wellingborough is even worse!

We once spent a night at 'Starbeck' between Knaresborough and Harrogate.
Could qualify for 'the smallest armpit' of england

I went through Immingham once....

nuff said.

Originally posted by beansforyou
I went through Immingham once....



It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there :mad:

I once worked in Armthorpe (locals do call it arm-pit) in Doncaster, a place so hideously scarred by underinvestment and neglect, one could only say it resembles the contents of a Glastonbury portaloo… on the last day… after a heat wave.

The women there are so nylon clad in their trackies and ‘slappers wear Kappa’ fashion gear, that just to walk with in ten foot of one would give you a static electricity shock akin to what cattle receive to encourage them in to the abattoir,

Not that one would go within ten foot of one, whose monosyllabic doncastrian drawl, infected with every single expletive imaginable would put the burliest rugby full back right off. Yet breed they do. Never usually having periods until the menopause as they seem constantly in the process of dropping out litters of these inbred, balloon headed, boz eyed, mutants which are all promptly given porn star names, presumably because that is all the parents watch. Trisha and Bigg Juggs XXX .

Little Chantelle, Dallas and Krystal are let to run loose around their drug addict and pit bull infested area with no concern for their welfare whatsoever. They, in turn, pass on the baton of neglect to their own offspring. And so it goes on.

The men folk are so stupid that sustaining a basic job is beyond them; preferring instead, to hang around the main shopping area, consisting of two off-licences, a video shop a Chinese and a chip shop, starting fights and spiting on passing cars.

The houses are just in ruins with piles of dog faeces barring the entrances. This is so the police, social services and other agencies can’t get to the residents.

A night out would include sixty pints of urine, two fights, a Chinese, two more fights with the poor Chinese family, falling under a joy riders car, a trip to the casualty, two more fights which would all be duly described as an amazing night as he is wheeled out of ICU by a chain smoking relative.

If people could afford paint, here, graffiti would do them a great service.

They are also responsible for Kevin Keegan with his porn star bingo perm and foul mouth.

It also has its bad points.
:|

Originally posted by miniminch
I once worked in Armthorpe

I've worked there too! Reminded me of Roysten Vasey.

It's the only place where I've actually felt scared to buy a broadsheet newspaper in Safeway. :confused:

whats wrong with worksop?
i live in gateford and its better imo that sheffield to live in, i live in one of those new houses on the a57
i go to mansfield to visit subway :p
sheffield - now some parts of that are an armpit
anyone here been to page hall road?

Originally posted by Andy
I've worked there too! Reminded me of Roysten Vasey.

It's the only place where I've actually felt scared to buy a broadsheet newspaper in Safeway. :confused:

Blimey Andy, you've worked in some classy places!!

Everything said here about Bootle is true. I learned to drive there and my instructor used to make me lock the doors on his battered Rover. Norris Green is also frightening. Kirby is worse than them all though. Lancashire Police once set up a Ring of Steel around it, nicking all the thieves as they left the town, engaged in the nightly exodus to go 'on the rob' in 'woolyback' territory.

Doncaster can be scary - not that it's horrible, on the contrary, it's too neat, a vision of America slapped down in England with all its long, efficient roads and shopping centres miles from anywhere.

A certain pub in the Hope valley used to be one to avoid. Seemingly nice from the outside, inside it was foul. The menus were covered in fag burns and it appeared a dog had been eating them. The tables were thick with grease, smeared ketchup and fag ash. The toilets were awash with urine and we found a dirty nappy under one of the tables.

Many years ago I went to Bakewell on a Sunday evening. We found a chippy and stopped the car only to find it closed. It was only 8pm. Asking a local when it would be open she informed us "Tuesday". Apparently the council only allowed it to open three days a week as it "attracted trouble".

It's probably been demolished now, but I remember a family holiday at Filey Butlins in the 70's being cut short by four days. It smelled like death, mainly due to the poo which was bubbling up through the drains. Someone was stabbed in the bar. The beds were covered in stains. The furniture was broken. We couldn't go swimming because there were dead seagulls floating in the pool.

May i add Salford to the list. I got lost there once and it looked quite nasty. Also i wouldnt add the whole of rotherham, parts of it are ok and you have to bequiet well off to live in some areas of rotherham, others - such as eastwood, canklow, rawmarsh - yes very much so. Same goes for doncaster and sheffield.

:gag: Andover (Hampshire) without a doubt is the worst place I have ever had the misfortune to visit! has anyone visited [URL=http://www.knowhereguide.co.uk It's a pretty good web site for an insight to places in England

Of all the places i've been (and not been to any of the above!) i'd say BLACKPOOL. I went there...and left after 30 mins!

I must add Chesterfield to this list. It's a complete hole.

and Batley... (Shudder)

Originally posted by Mathom
It's probably been demolished now, but I remember a family holiday at Filey Butlins in the 70's being cut short by four days. It smelled like death, mainly due to the poo which was bubbling up through the drains. Someone was stabbed in the bar. The beds were covered in stains. The furniture was broken. We couldn't go swimming because there were dead seagulls floating in the pool.

Yes, it's been demolished, thank god.
I went in after it was closed down for a few years to have a look around, it was quite surreal as they had drained the boating lake so you could walk on the lake bed with the beached rowing boats and paddalos.

Originally posted by SophieH
Of all the places i've been (and not been to any of the above!) i'd say BLACKPOOL. I went there...and left after 30 mins!

Sorry Sophie...but I have to erm...agree, I guess!

I love it though!! :D

Blackpool is about nothing else than how cheesy & crap it can be, although I do get a bit fightened at night with all the chav's who have one too many shandy's and think they're Mike Tyson.

I'm more a Baileys in the Tower Ballroom person (if you've not been...you must, it's a frightfully elegant way to get smashed!)


My other half is from near Windermere, and I made him drive through Firth Park for the first time the other evening...hahahaha, i've never seen someone go so pale so quickly!

Originally posted by beansforyou
Sorry Sophie...but I have to erm...agree, I guess!

I love it though!! :D

Blackpool is about nothing else than how cheesy & crap it can be, although I do get a bit fightened at night with all the chav's who have one too many shandy's and think they're Mike Tyson.

I'm more a Baileys in the Tower Ballroom person (if you've not been...you must, it's a frightfully elegant way to get smashed!)


My other half is from near Windermere, and I made him drive through Firth Park for the first time the other evening...hahahaha, i've never seen someone go so pale so quickly!

I'll add Wath to the list

Originally posted by SophieH
Of all the places i've been (and not been to any of the above!) i'd say BLACKPOOL. I went there...and left after 30 mins!

Urrrrgh, Blackpool. I went there for a stag do about 6 years ago and I swore I'll never return after I saw a man standing at a B&B bar wearing a replica England strip (as well as white shorts that were just a bit too tight) in an really badly obvious state of inebriation - Gravity was not his friend.

The worst thing about it was that at some point in the day/evening he'd had a little accident but carried on drinking regardless, sporting his chocolate stain to the rest of the bar. It kind of encapsulated my impression of Blackpool quite neatly. Dirty dirty man, dirty dirty place.

I'm sure someone must have posted this already, but my vote goes to Slough. It's just so... well, grey. Ditto Luton!

Originally posted by kathythebean
I've been to rotherham once. It seems to be the land of cash machines and pubs! I spent the whole night thinking 'that must be her sister - right?" i once took my sister to find a shop in the barber's shop chain where she was covering for a few weeks in rotherham, mexborough i think, and i have never felt so uncomfortable, and i don't think i was alone. I actually saw a young man drive up the pavement in his car and use the cash machine while still inside his car! It may have been laziness but i think he probably did the safest thing!

Originally posted by Speedy_Jim
Teeside gets my vote. Sad, smelly, miserable place.

Used to live in Preston and quite like the place actually

Preston is bad

Well if you want to slag off teeside i will have to say.


It least we got Premiship football from one club. You have 2 clubs. :heyhey: :heyhey: :heyhey: :heyhey: but at least you can look forward to playing each other :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:


We love you BORO we do o BORO we love you!!!!!

Ha Ha Ha Ha etc....................

Come to Milton Keynes.

I used to travel a lot with work so I've seen most cities. Excluding the ex mining towns of the North East because they can't help the heart being ripped out of them. I submit 2 towns for consideration as the pits of england.

1) Barrow in Furness. You can feel the life being sucked out of you as you drive in. Its grey and nasty with no redeeming feature a t all.

2) The second is Peterlee. A bigger S*** hole you will never find. Its only 60 years old. An experiment in modern housing that a can safely say failed. The place is a disgrace where even the stray dogs go round in pairs for safety.

Come to Milton Keynes.

I've not been there but everyone I know who has says it's hideous.

Which is unfortunate as that's where my job will be relocating to next year. :(

Preston is bad

True but Bolton is worse. I think they have plans to build a fence around it and put up signs saying "Danger Hole in the World".

I've not been there but everyone I know who has says it's hideous.

Which is unfortunate as that's where my job will be relocating to next year. :(
Are you joking Bazzer ?

Are you joking Bazzer ?

If only I were!

Look at this link!

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=464357

It's one way system is like Hotel California,

you can check in any time you want,
but you can never leave.

Never mind, it's not the end of the world,
(pretty bloody close though).

I have a real dislike of Leek - horrible grotty little place.

Stoney Middleton makes me want to cry driving through it.

Some of the places mentioned (Stoke OT for example) are horrible, but at least there are a few things going on (cinemas, pubs etc). It's those places that feel like the back end of nowhere that depress me more.

Macclesfield (my home town) would, for example, be very high up on the scale of pleasantness - it's relatively affluent, safe and greenish. But there's so little to do that it's a pretty awful place to actually spend time - real wasted potential.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q728eaZ3NAs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q728eaZ3NAs

Funny how he neatly sidesteps the fact that he is from Donny.:mad:

I think it would be quicker to list places which aren't hovels.
Agree with all of the places listed but special mentions must go to Merthyr Tydfil, Methel in Fife, Gourock near Glasgow- God I could go on.

Around this area is uniformly grim - Barnsley, Donnie, 9/10ths of Sheffield, Chesterfield, Wakefield, Dewsbury etc. etc. mainly due to the fact that the core industry (coal) is practically finished but the menfolk have spent the last 20 years on their arse, moaning about Maggie and getting drunk. Retrain? Relocate? You must be joking. What has kept them there? The identikit Karen Matthews types with their scraped back hair, piggy eyes and enormous bodies? The cameraderie of their neighbours who would burgle their houses given half a chance?
Yup, I've seen every corner of this septic isle and what a hole it's become, but my overwheming vote goes to Rotherham.
Probably the UKs largest concentration of Andy Pipkin-mobiles, Greggs, utterly foul women, retarded blokes. Carpet bomb it now.

I would vote for

Tibshelf
Boston (lincs)
Port Talbot
Great Yarmouth in January

Since Luton has been covered (about 4 years ago!), my vote would be for Basildon in Essex. You can spend all day in the town centre and not see anyone you'd even want to touch.

Also Clacton (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgB8JQ7ivxw) deserves a mention :)

Luton is a particular nasty hole, but I would have to chuck in Barrow-in-Furness (?spelling?). I cannot begin to describe what an utter dump it is. We drove through it looking for somewhere, seemingly though miles of industrial hideousness and crap housing. The Germans bombed it. Not hard enough...

The only upside was that Asda had the cheapest diesel I'd seen for months. I rapidly filled up to drive as far away as possible from the place.

one word. Withernsea

and a few more. staffy pit bulls, trousers tucked in socks, burberry caps, skin heads, Adidas 3 stripe tracksuits :hihi:

I once drove through Keighley :gag: but I suppose most towns now have areas that look like Islamabad.

I've not been there but everyone I know who has says it's hideous.

Which is unfortunate as that's where my job will be relocating to next year. :(

I worked there for several months a few years ago. The edges are relatively nice and the signs saying "M1 North" were always a welcome sight.

There are a lot of roundabouts, but the traffic does seem to flow quite well. Maybe Sheffield could do with a few more.

I didn't see the concrete cows though :(

2 places spring to mind .... Stevenage and Grantham . Group of us stopped off in Grantham & wished we hadnt. Spent a bit of time in Stevenage ..made Sheffield seem like heaven.

has HULL been mentioned yet?? one of the biggest crapholes of all time!!

has HULL been mentioned yet?? one of the biggest crapholes of all time!!

withernsea isn't far from hull. my husband calls it the "arsehole of the humber" although hull was up there, but the deep and the white phone boxes rescued it from my scathing attack:)

Teeside ! without a doubt

has HULL been mentioned yet?? one of the biggest crapholes of all time!!

I think that Hull gets a rather bad press.

I lived there for a time, and appreciate that it is what you said.

There are, I think, a few, quite nice bits of Hull.

Although I must emphasise the words ''few'' and ''quite''. :)

Anyone been to Towlaw (Ithink that is how it is spelt!) Northumbria. You would not believe that anywhere so awful could exhist in a county so beautiful!

Think Deliverance and duelling banjo's.

Well if you want to slag off teeside i will have to say.


It least we got Premiship football from one club. You have 2 clubs. :heyhey: :heyhey: :heyhey: :heyhey: but at least you can look forward to playing each other :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:


We love you BORO we do o BORO we love you!!!!!


Oh dear -I take it you don't watch much football. Boro are not in the Prem!

Oh dear -I take it you don't watch much football. Boro are not in the Prem!

It was posted in 2005 so they probably were premiership then...

Its just to the right of nipple of england.

Teeside ! without a doubt

Fair enough on slagging it off, but please learn to spell it properly...

It was posted in 2005 so they probably were premiership then...

I stand corrected (said the man with the orthopaedic shoe).

Fair enough on slagging it off, but please learn to spell it properly...

Indeed.

Hailing from said area, Teesside, I find the generalisations on it being an arm pit a little unjust... There are some areas of outstanding natural beauty and some great little towns. Granted it is surrounded and meshed with a lot of heavy industry some of which has suffered decline, which in turn has transferred to some of the population and where they live. There a definitely some real arm pits, Billingham, Thornaby, Brambles Farm, Easterside etc etc...

However... places such as Yarm, Marton, Nunthorpe, Great Ayton, Stokesley etc are all absolute gems!

OT:

Travelling the a61 from Sheffield > Derby quite frequently I always find Clay Cross an absolutely awful place to pass through... a real depressing little hole.

The Hyde Park area of Leeds has many arm pit like attributes.

Fishburn Co. Durham - a minger, full of mingers too.

Grimsby, not good.

Stoney Middleton makes me want to cry driving through it.



The road only goes through the middle bit of Stoney, the rest is lovely !!!

It's odd how we as a nation seem to be so keen to put down some of the towns in our country when really even living in the grottiest town in the UK is still infinitely preferable to living in any other country. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

Furthermore, one's impressions of a town depend to a large degree on what you go there for and what the weather is like; a lovely summer's day (particularly on the coast) can make any place look lovely. I've had wonderful days out in places like Stockport, Redcar and yes, even Barrow, so to say a place is hideous just because it has a rundown shopping centre or too many people on the dole is a bit of a generalisation. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

Ultimately every town in the UK has some redeeming feature; you just have to look a little harder in some places than others. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

No doubt as punishment I once had to spend 2 days in Great Yarmouth. Good god that place is vile.

The only interesting sight is the wind turbines off shore. The town centre was closed when I went, or at least it looked like it. I parked outside the shop I was working in and was immediately greeted by 5 or 6 chav's riding round the square. When I cam out the car had scratches down it, good job it was a company car!

The hotel was truly abysmal and the accent of local people makes them sound retarded.

All in all, terrific.

got to be tinsley

Ultimately every town in the UK has some redeeming feature; you just have to look a little harder in some places than others.

You have not been to Hemel Hempstead.

No doubt as punishment I once had to spend 2 days in Great Yarmouth. Good god that place is vile.

The only interesting sight is the wind turbines off shore. The town centre was closed when I went, or at least it looked like it. I parked outside the shop I was working in and was immediately greeted by 5 or 6 chav's riding round the square. When I cam out the car had scratches down it, good job it was a company car!

The hotel was truly abysmal and the accent of local people makes them sound retarded.

All in all, terrific.

Correct in every particular :)

:gag: Andover (Hampshire) without a doubt is the worst place I have ever had the misfortune to visit! has anyone visited?

Yeah I can vouch for this. I gew up in Hampshire and worked in Andover for a bit. It's pretty horrible, but not the worst place in Hampshire by any means. That honour goes to Basingstoke. A godawful, depressing ****hole of a town. Nothing but a concrete jungle that sprung up in the 60s as a London commuter overspill, and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The town centre, if you can call it that, is just one giant shopping centre; and the run-down housing estates all seem to merge into one another, giving the impression that the whole town is in fact just one big 1960s housig estate, where kids as young as 8 or 9 roam the streets vandalising cars with full permission from their parents who should never have been allowed to breed in the first place.

I'd say it's Cumbria. Usually slightly wet.

Having worked around most of the UK, i'd vouch for the common ones here, Stoke, Basingstoke (is there something about having 'stoke' in the name?) Andover, Rotherham, much of Cumbria (I thought the seagulls in Whitehaven looked like heroin addicts) as being bona fide hellholes.

But trust me, NOTHING comes close to certain Welsh towns. Not in my opinion anyway.

You think you've seen rough, insular, backward, violent, hopeless? May I suggest Holywell, Mold and Hirwaun for starters? Enjoy

Having worked around most of the UK, i'd vouch for the common ones here, Stoke, Basingstoke (is there something about having 'stoke' in the name?) Andover, Rotherham, much of Cumbria (I thought the seagulls in Whitehaven looked like heroin addicts) as being bona fide hellholes.

But trust me, NOTHING comes close to certain Welsh towns. Not in my opinion anyway.

You think you've seen rough, insular, backward, violent, hopeless? May I suggest Holywell, Mold and Hirwaun for starters? Enjoy

Merthyr Tydfil: Jesus. Frigging. Christ. It really, honestly makes Barnsley look like Bath. Incredible.

It's odd how we as a nation seem to be so keen to put down some of the towns in our country when really even living in the grottiest town in the UK is still infinitely preferable to living in any other country. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

Furthermore, one's impressions of a town depend to a large degree on what you go there for and what the weather is like; a lovely summer's day (particularly on the coast) can make any place look lovely. I've had wonderful days out in places like Stockport, Redcar and yes, even Barrow, so to say a place is hideous just because it has a rundown shopping centre or too many people on the dole is a bit of a generalisation. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

Ultimately every town in the UK has some redeeming feature; you just have to look a little harder in some places than others. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

Having grown up in Bucks I'd have to agree but I generally thought MK was better than Aylesbury :gag:

The people make a place really, and folk in Barnsley and Rotherham are quite nice people, so they're not bad places.

Hyde Park in Leeds however....Christ, it's like something from a Bosch painting. Horrible. Not only is the housing not fit to house a pig in, but it's violent, grubby and lawless. My mate had her washing set on fire in the garden as she sat in her house. Later that week the local kids burnt the pub to the ground because of the police doing drug searches in it.

It's packed with utter cess-pit student houses, and there was that case of the house party with 300 drunken students at it a few years back - these are back-to-backs with 2 bedrooms. Then there are the terrorist cells. Rapists. The most burgled street in Britain. It's just horrible in every imaginable way.

It's odd how we as a nation seem to be so keen to put down some of the towns in our country when really even living in the grottiest town in the UK is still infinitely preferable to living in any other country. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

Furthermore, one's impressions of a town depend to a large degree on what you go there for and what the weather is like; a lovely summer's day (particularly on the coast) can make any place look lovely. I've had wonderful days out in places like Stockport, Redcar and yes, even Barrow, so to say a place is hideous just because it has a rundown shopping centre or too many people on the dole is a bit of a generalisation. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

Ultimately every town in the UK has some redeeming feature; you just have to look a little harder in some places than others. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

I would suggest that Dignatas has the edge over Milton Keynes.

I trust that this helps. :)

It's odd how we as a nation seem to be so keen to put down some of the towns in our country when really even living in the grottiest town in the UK is still infinitely preferable to living in any other country. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

Furthermore, one's impressions of a town depend to a large degree on what you go there for and what the weather is like; a lovely summer's day (particularly on the coast) can make any place look lovely. I've had wonderful days out in places like Stockport, Redcar and yes, even Barrow, so to say a place is hideous just because it has a rundown shopping centre or too many people on the dole is a bit of a generalisation. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

Ultimately every town in the UK has some redeeming feature; you just have to look a little harder in some places than others. With the exception of Milton Keynes, which is hell on earth.

I have to admit prior to reading this, the thread was getting a little depressing as an outsider. I could only take the first page and skipped to the end hoping it would wind up happier than the thread started. This is the ony ray of hope I found.

Unfortunately I find some commonality with the opinions expressed here and at home.

Why do you suppose it is such a common trait to dissrespect our own homes, country or neighborhoods? I don't for a minute believe this thread represents England any more than just a miniscule percent of an area. I find the cultural bias that promotes the attitude interesting as it is common at home as well.

Surely these places were not always in such disrepair. Is there a specific time or reason you see to associate the down turn with and how would you improve the situation given the opportunity?

Yes, that's one of the awful parts - the northern most tip (my area), and the Margate/Thanet area - awful. East and south Kent are excellent.

:)
Don't you mean West Kent?
Thanet is in the East Kent area.

Holyhead, god that place is a complete dive and very depressing