Rivalries and resentments between small towns.

[holyzombiejesus]

Just writing about Hebden Bridge station reminded me how much Todmorden people and them lot in Hebden get really pissed off with each other. Partly because them Hebdeners are all up themselves and eat nothing but hummous and partly because Toddites are scum who shop at Lidl and were pleased about the (false) promise of a McDonalds. Undeniably, the council spend a lot more money on Hebden, their Christmas decorations are better, their parks are better maintained and it just seems a lot prettier and cleaner. Tod, on the other hand, seems split between people who hate Hebden Bridge and people who wish they lived in Hebden Bridge. Another thing is that Hebden Bridge keep saying that Stoodley Pike is in their town when this is an utter lie and it is actually in Todmorden. People in Todmorden seem to resent the more progressive right-on politics of those in Hebden and feel that they are hypocrites (they campaigned against Sainsburys opening a branch in their town but all drive over and use Tod's 2 supermarkets). Hebdeners decry that Tod lot as dicks who have an active BNP party in their midst (true) and a mayoress who was taken to court for stealing a wheely bin.

Also, the Summit Tunnel disaster was Todmorden's but Hebden have put all the photos up in their train station waiting room.

Does your town have any petty grievances with its neighbours?

[ToneLa]

Naw but the footie thread in Pictures seems to be amusingly populated with Chester vs Wrexham tales.

Seems a proper, heated hate, too, stretching beyond football, utter derision on both sides. It's hilarious! Racism on both sides too.

[The Culture Bunker]

I'm from Whitehaven and there's a long-running feud with Workington (nine miles up the road) about who are jam-eaters.

It's them, obviously.

[buttgammon]

Naw but the footie thread in Pictures seems to be amusingly populated with Chester vs Wrexham tales.

Seems a proper, heated hate, too, stretching beyond football, utter derision on both sides. It's hilarious! Racism on both sides too.

I was just about to post this. Now, I'm biased as I'm from Wrexham but Wrexham v Chester is genuinely one of the fiercest derbies in British football and you're absolutely right, the rivalry transcends football too. Both football teams have seen better days, but it still feels like a serious occasion when they play each other, particularly as in recent years, the police have adopted a rather draconian 'bubble match' protocol.

[hummingofevil]

But is it tod-MOR-don or TODmuhduhn?

ToneLa. Thanks for having my back. Caestrians would be deeply offended at being called a small town because they are bunch of uppity wanks with their Rows and ruins and amphitheatre and racecourse and chinos and shoes with no socks. That you've reduced them to even being compared to The Town means they'll have you dragged through The Lache by Darren from Hollyoaks then chucked of the clock tower to your doom.

:)

[holyzombiejesus]

But is it tod-MOR-don or TODmuhduhn?

The latter.

[MidnightShambler]

Moreton and Leasowe, which are essentially two ends of the same estate, absolutely fucking hate each other. It's a bit trickier for them to avoid each other now that the two pubs in Leasowe have closed and I think there's been a thawing, older Leasowe are allowed to go to Moreton pubs without the word being spread now. Under 40s Leasowe go east to Wallasey Village, which has no doubt pleased the locals there (whole area is populated by social-climbing middle class arseholes).

I'm from New Brighton and therefore have the right to roam where I see fit.

[hummingofevil]

The latter.

Thank you.

[hummingofevil]

I was just about to post this. Now, I'm biased as I'm from Wrexham but Wrexham v Chester is genuinely one of the fiercest derbies in British football and you're absolutely right, the rivalry transcends football too. Both football teams have seen better days, but it still feels like a serious occasion when they play each other, particularly as in recent years, the police have adopted a rather draconian 'bubble match' protocol.

REPRAZENT FAM✊

[Neville Chamberlain]

Growing up in Somerset, in a village almost equidistant between Yeovil and Taunton, I would have thought there'd be some rivalry between the two towns, but there doesn't seem to be much. I think Taunton's always been a bit pissed off that Yeovil has a proper football team, but apart from that they seem to have accepted their lot as a bit shit - and anyway neither is as bad as Bridgwater, which has is just resigned to the fact that it's a fucking hole.

[hummingofevil]

Seriously though Chester is a beautiful place with amazing places to visit and the people are fine really. Wrexham town centre is a dump but the outskirts and area are very beautiful and well worth a visit. Spent a lot of time on Ruabon/Rhos mountain last summer and it never fails to take my breath away.

[biggytitbo]

It can get quite vicious between Withernsea and Roos.

[Buelligan]

I know a rural British spot where the young men of one village would walk on their day off to the next (just over three and a half miles) to fight or trash the other's rugby club,as their fathers and their fathers, had done before them.  A place where all the villagers from all the villages in the area whenever they chanced upon a person from Ruardean or passed through that village would try or try not (depending on their character), to pose the eternal (Victorian, anyway) question, Who killed the bears?  I think dear old Dennis Potter wrote something about it.

Round here, they say Better to be a horse/dog in *********** than a woman in ******.  That's the people of *********** who say that, the people of ****** pretend they didn't hear.

[Flouncer]

Sheffield and Barnsley. People from Barnsley are thick, racist scum. People of colour instinctively avoid Barnsley because they can tell everybody there hates them. If you can't imagine what a white ethnostate would look like, just go there and take a look around for five minutes and you'll realise the folly of the whole idea. I worked with a black lad once, and he told me a story about him and a few of his mates going out clubbing there. They went up to this club and the bouncers said, "You can't come in - there's too many of you." They then immediately let in a much bigger group of white lads who were behind them in the queue. They got turned away from another place and ended up just going home.

When I was a support worker, I used to take a severely disabled bloke to Barnsley once a week to have his dinner in a pub (incidentally he's the only cunt in the world who has ever been pleased to go to Barnsley, or indeed actively wanted to go there for any reason). Once I went for a piss in the toilet and it was full of the worst racist graffiti I've ever seen. PAKIS OUT, WOMBWELL EDL LADS, all this kind of shit. I got my sharpie out and wrote THICK CUNTS underneath it but such was the magnitude of the ignorance displayed there, it was a pointless gesture.

They're fucking rude bastards an all - once I got in a cab outside Barnsley train station, and the driver said, "Where to, big lad?" I WASN'T EVEN THAT FUCKING BIG! I'm just quite stocky! This is a town where casual abuse takes the place of a friendly greeting, because they're all rotten cunts. I hope it somehow gets wiped off the face of the planet without a trace, because it's a fucking stain on humanity.

[Buelligan]

Sounds unpleasant indeed. 

On the Big Lad thing, I'm not sure if I'd be offended myself.  I was brought up by someone who would frequently use terms that could be described as abusive, guttersnipe, idiot, arse, when talking to or of, me or my siblings.  I pretty much grew up feeling that there's a kind of tenderness, a sort of gruff love, carried in insults - it does depend how they're said, of course (and I willingly acknowledge my Pavlovian upbringing almost certainly informs this opinion). 

Nevertheless, be of good cheer, Big Lad, if I may call you that, perhaps it really was a term of endearment.  Big and bonny are kind of synonymous after all.  :)

[imitationleather]

Fucking Shelbyville.

[buzby]

Wrexham town centre is a dump but the outskirts and area are very beautiful and well worth a visit. Spent a lot of time on Ruabon/Rhos mountain last summer and it never fails to take my breath away.

Bersham slag heap was very picturesque

St. Helens and Wigan

[Flouncer]

Sounds unpleasant indeed. 

On the Big Lad thing, I'm not sure if I'd be offended myself.  I was brought up by someone who would frequently use terms that could be described as abusive, guttersnipe, idiot, arse, when talking to or of, me or my siblings.  I pretty much grew up feeling that there's a kind of tenderness, a sort of gruff love, carried in insults - it does depend how they're said, of course (and I willingly acknowledge my Pavlovian upbringing almost certainly informs this opinion). 

Nevertheless, be of good cheer, Big Lad, if I may call you that, perhaps it really was a term of endearment.  Big and bonny are kind of synonymous after all.  :)

You can call me whatever you like Buellers, because I've always known you to be a kind and respectful person. In fairness I recognise what you're referring to; I had thought of it as a Yorkshire thing but perhaps it's a bit more universal. There is, however, usually a bit of familiarity involved! I wasn't really offended but it did strike me as a bit of an odd thing to say to a customer.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Bersham slag heap was very picturesque

St. Helens and Wigan

I'm from St. Helens, and one of my best mates is from Wigan. He's not bad for a pie-eating cunt. Whenever I'm back in The 'Hel, I always catch the train , pausing only to admire that Johnny Vegas inspired penguin in the lobby of the super deluxe Shaw Street train station, to go on the short but delightful train journey to Wigan North Western , taking in the scenic sites of Bryn and Garston en route, to meet up with my mate, I'd rather be there than in St. Fucking Helens anyway, better pubs for a start.
I don't think there's *that* much rivalry between Wigan and St. Helens, rugby team allegiances aside. Not as much as there is between Liverpool and St. Helens, that's for sure.

[Flouncer]

...to go on the short but delightful train journey to Wigan North Western...

I went through there yesterday! I was going to Southport to pick up a guitar I bought on eBay.

[Buelligan]

It wasn't headless with a non-standard knob was it?

[Pingers]

Sheffield and Barnsley. People from Barnsley are thick, racist scum. People of colour instinctively avoid Barnsley because they can tell everybody there hates them. If you can't imagine what a white ethnostate would look like, just go there and take a look around for five minutes and you'll realise the folly of the whole idea. I worked with a black lad once, and he told me a story about him and a few of his mates going out clubbing there. They went up to this club and the bouncers said, "You can't come in - there's too many of you." They then immediately let in a much bigger group of white lads who were behind them in the queue. They got turned away from another place and ended up just going home.

When I was a support worker, I used to take a severely disabled bloke to Barnsley once a week to have his dinner in a pub (incidentally he's the only cunt in the world who has ever been pleased to go to Barnsley, or indeed actively wanted to go there for any reason). Once I went for a piss in the toilet and it was full of the worst racist graffiti I've ever seen. PAKIS OUT, WOMBWELL EDL LADS, all this kind of shit. I got my sharpie out and wrote THICK CUNTS underneath it but such was the magnitude of the ignorance displayed there, it was a pointless gesture.

They're fucking rude bastards an all - once I got in a cab outside Barnsley train station, and the driver said, "Where to, big lad?" I WASN'T EVEN THAT FUCKING BIG! I'm just quite stocky! This is a town where casual abuse takes the place of a friendly greeting, because they're all rotten cunts. I hope it somehow gets wiped off the face of the planet without a trace, because it's a fucking stain on humanity.

And yet it's still so much better than Rotherham

[king_tubby]

Liverpool and Manchester. Sure, you may say these aren't small towns, but mentally, yes they are.

[Neville Chamberlain]

It wasn't headless with a non-standard knob was it?

That's enough about your ex etc etc

[buzby]

I don't think there's *that* much rivalry between Wigan and St. Helens, rugby team allegiances aside. Not as much as there is between Liverpool and St. Helens, that's for sure.

It's not much of a rivalry when one side doesn't even acknowledge it exists :)
(I work with a lady from St. Helens, and the locals from up here in Chorley know that calling her a Scouser is the exact button to press).

[king_tubby]

They're all headless with a non-standard knob by the time I've finished with them.

[ToneLa]

Liverpool and Manchester. Sure, you may say these aren't small towns, but mentally, yes they are.

Really? I'm from Liverpool and out of the people I know, we don't talk about Manchester much. Footie excepted, naturally. Don't hear it in town, not as random banter, not outside a footie context (though that is quite an omnipresent context naturally). Seems a bit outdated to me.

I'd love to unite the Norf. North versus sarf, that's the way forward. Or norf and sarf vs London. Or, basically, I'm about to go political..

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

 ^Here's an obvious thing I've only just realised- your username is based on your name being Anthony, and your appending it with that friendly appelation by which the good folk of Liverpool address each other.
(Actually, do scouse cunts Liverpool folk still address each other as such? Sounds a bit dated to me )

[ToneLa]

Nah, well not exactly. My favourite band is the La's, I have a YouTube channel about them, and help run a forum about them :) Also a shit, slightly musical pun I could claim I only just realised but will claim was there all along.

Not actually heard la in donkeys. Could try bringing it back! On my own! Well, someone's got to try..

[MidnightShambler]

Liverpool and Manchester. Sure, you may say these aren't small towns, but mentally, yes they are.

What a load of bollocks. It's only in a football sense, nothing more. Nobody in Liverpool is in the slightest bit arsed about what's happening in Manchester, never has been.