Places you really can't stand.

[Fr.Bigley]

For me, has to be Luton for its depressing drudgery, London doesn't get much in the way of compliments either centrally speaking.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Anywhere with a working karaoke machine in it.

[Mr_Simnock]

very low ceiling rooms

[Sebastian Cobb]

Places that make their menus a QR code.

Do I need to go back there and cook it myself as well?

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I remember yer man from XTC doing one of those impassioned defence things about Swindon (and similar places like Slough) but, as stirring as it was, Swindon is pretty dreary, isn't it.

[Fambo Number Mive]

The centre of Milton Keynes - so boring and grim, probably one of the worse places in the UK to pass a few hours that isn't actually dangerous.

[bgmnts]

Something about Bristol gives me the creeps.

The centre of Milton Keynes - so boring and grim, probably one of the worse places in the UK to pass a few hours that isn't actually dangerous.

As a child of a "new town" I can empathise with the people of Milton Keynes despite never having set foot there.

[The Crumb]

Clapham. Like a giant departure lounge for people waiting til they can buy a house in Milton Keynes.

[Sebastian Cobb]

In general it's leafy commuter towns. Can barely walk anywhere because it's all estates built for drivers, in some of the newish ones they didn't even bother putting corner shops in the estates so it's a long walk or drive just to get a pint of milk. No real public provisions for people to congregate and meet each other (the old social housing scheme pubs might be terrifying but at least the thought was there), maybe just an ageing strip of high street with nothing in it. It's no wonder the british public hate each other when there's nothing left to do but sit in your identikit silo and twitch your curtains.

[bgmnts]

In general it's leafy commuter towns. Can barely walk anywhere because it's all estates built for drivers, in some of the newish ones they didn't even bother putting corner shops in the estates so it's a long walk or drive just to get a pint of milk. No real public provisions for people to congregate and meet each other (the old social housing scheme pubs might be terrifying but at least the thought was there), maybe just an ageing strip of high street with nothing in it. It's no wonder the british public hate each other when there's nothing left to do but sit in your identikit silo and twitch your curtains.

God this is true. How grim is it that most people under about 40 probably dont really know what it's like to be part of a community, which is surely a social unit that has existed for millennia.

Fuck even are we now?

[Fr.Bigley]

Would like to add my two cents on Blackpool also, there's not just a feeling of "craptown" about it but just the look and general feeling of the place, more windy and overcast than your average seaside town and with the added benefit of the silt laden brown hue of the Irish Sea bringing all the disappointment with it. Not surprised at its smack statistics and still aghast why people go there non ironically.

[madhair60]

Peterborough

[Butchers Blind]

Gillingham. Like the aftermath of Threads, every day.

[Fr.Bigley]

Peterborough

It's just a station and retail parks.

[idunnosomename]

The united kingdom

[Stigdu]

very low ceiling rooms

Haha, I laughed at that one.  :)

Bit of a generic answer, but anywhere with big crowds of people. The old claustrophobia kicks in.

[Kankurette]

Would like to add my two cents on Blackpool also, there's not just a feeling of "craptown" about it but just the look and general feeling of the place, more windy and overcast than your average seaside town and with the added benefit of the silt laden brown hue of the Irish Sea bringing all the disappointment with it. Not surprised at its smack statistics and still aghast why people go there non ironically.

Rebellion, and because I have family in the area. I get what you mean though. It has one of the worst mental health reputations in the UK.

[McDead]

This dump: https://tinyurl.com/6s2wvhsp

[Ray Travez]

I went to this place to look at a canal boat, somewhere North of Ormskirk. I walked like three miles along this canal bank, a flat fucking landscape of nothing, just some reeds and a sky that looked as disgusted as I felt. No-one about. Just walking and walking and nothing changed, the landscape was without feature.

Then I saw a pub in the distance, and thought I might ask for directions; I gradually got closer and then I was in the pub and it was just fucking full of rural scallies. So much noise, everyone cheering and drinking, red-faced. Why were they all in the pub at three in the afternoon? Because there was fuck. all. else. to do!

[Cuntbeaks]

Greenock and Port Glasgow

Two melanomas of the same cancer diagnosis. Two forbidden towns orbiting each other in a galaxy of misery, violence, and addiction. Any glimmer of joy that may have been present has long since been strangled by decades of in-breeding and hopelessness.

Unless you have relatives here, there is absolutely no reason to visit, no reason to stop, no reason to care.

[Sherringford Hovis]

Swindon is pretty dreary, isn't it.

Swindon is awful, in a unique way.

You know that house in your neighbourhood where the owners got two-thirds of the way into an ambitious and pricey redecorate/remodel/extension/landscaping project, then work ground to a halt as an acrimonious divorce scuppered all progress, then the repossession company goes bust and something that should have been quite nice of which now no one wants to claim ownership is just mouldering away with Buddleia sprouting out of the guttering and a poorly assembled rusty mesh fence dragged roughly into position around it?

That's Swindon, that is. Writ large.

[Replies From View]

anywhere utilising freefall to generate an anti-gravity effect

[Fambo Number Mive]

Would like to add my two cents on Blackpool also, there's not just a feeling of "craptown" about it but just the look and general feeling of the place, more windy and overcast than your average seaside town and with the added benefit of the silt laden brown hue of the Irish Sea bringing all the disappointment with it. Not surprised at its smack statistics and still aghast why people go there non ironically.

I did the Blackpool coastal walk I posted about a few weeks ago and while the seafront was lovely, I got the tram back from Fleetwood Ferry to North Pier and some of the areas I went through were really dilapidated and run down (though there were some nicer areas as well). The tram itself was really good fun though. Did another walk from North Pier to Lytham and went past some nicer areas. I was considering another walk in Blackpool but I get the feeling that outside of the seafront it wouldn't be a good idea.

I did really enjoy walking along the seafront though.

The train station is really weird, you have to wait in a long queue in the station and wait for them to open up the gates to the platform.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Then I saw a pub in the distance, and thought I might ask for directions; I gradually got closer and then I was in the pub and it was just fucking full of rural scallies. So much noise, everyone cheering and drinking, red-faced. Why were they all in the pub at three in the afternoon? Because there was fuck. all. else. to do!

Oh that reminds me I was once sent somewhere for work where I had to stay at the Travelodge by Heathrow Terminal 5. Obviously there was fuck all to do around it, the room smelled like mildew and wet dog, and setting the air con unit to overdrive all day did not appear to make a dent in it. There was a small canteen area with a bar and that also did pretty bland food that was populated by a load of site lads who supped pints all night, no trouble, they were as bored as I was, at least they got to have a bit of camaraderie while I was on my todd with my book and headphones.

On the second night I pulled up Google maps to see if there was a proper pub within walking distance, and discovered a Greene King about three quarters of a mile away, all down country lanes of course. When I got there, I discovered cunt no longer had a roof.

I arranged to visit a mate one night in central London, and it was really nice seeing him, but by the time I'd run in/out it didn't really leave that much time for us catching up before I needed to get the last tube back to Heathrow.

It was actually that desolate it made the site I was visiting in STAINES look cosmopolitan.

[Buelligan]

Being in the wrong (especially if some cunt is watching).

[Kankurette]

Rhyl, because I ended up stuck there for an hour after getting the wrong train and it just depressed me.

Greenock and Port Glasgow

Two melanomas of the same cancer diagnosis. Two forbidden towns orbiting each other in a galaxy of misery, violence, and addiction. Any glimmer of joy that may have been present has long since been strangled by decades of in-breeding and hopelessness.

Unless you have relatives here, there is absolutely no reason to visit, no reason to stop, no reason to care.

My dad was from Greenock and he fucking hated the place. My grandad had to live in Weymouth for a bit, I think it was for work purposes, and Dad apparently cried when he had to go back to Greenock because he hated it so much. (I would only be going there to visit family, I think I've got a few relatives dotted around there).

[JaDanketies]

Blackpool is fun!

I can't stand driving around the suburbs and built-up urban areas. Or any time I had to wear cheap suit pants, such as when in school uniform or when working for employers that insisted on formalwear.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Bit of a generic answer, but anywhere with big crowds of people. The old claustrophobia kicks in.

Yep. I recognise that it's my autism brain talking, but (other than a quiz, or a sunny afternoon in a beer garden) pubs and the like are rubbish places to socialise. I don't find them unpleasant as such, just pointless. I can't hear what people are saying over the din, so I inevitably end up wasting 20-odd quid on drink, just to pass the time until I can go home.

The vindictive bit of me was greatly amused when they all had to close during lockdown.

[shoulders]

UK

Derby - what's the point? Is a city not supposed to have some monuments or focal point or singular redeeming feature. Offensively non-descript.

Doncaster - genuine shithole, nuff said

Wakefield - seems to have the Barbara Hepworth because someone somewhere thought it'd be funny to drag some clueless middle class cunts up to the landfill site of vape shops and decay that is Wakefield.

Bradford - the very city centre is pretty and there is the media museum, the stadia, some good hiking routes and nice pubs but marred by the extent of begging and awful stabby pubs, the periphery is almost breathtakingly ugly in the extent of its neglect and industrial decay. Not irredeemable but hateable.

Sunderland - cunt filled shithole

Dover - scummy tatty and smelly when I was there last

Morecambe - unapologetically desolate, almost admirable in its insistent, vehement grot, but no, still can fuck off a few miles west.

Birmingham - I'm sorry but I'm afraid I really don't like it.

Abroad

Belgrade, Serbia. Really spectacular in how it turns gold into base metal. Dystopian. Also hateable for extent of Serb nationalism.

Hildesheim, Germany. Scunthorpe but with a single, impressively restored main square.

Liège, Belgium. Visually horrific despite its riverside setting. Rotting towerblocks mixed with equally sad looking interwar and old fashioned architecture. An utter mess, poorly laid out with bad public transport options.

Dresden - a long shopping mall, an almost sad detached feeling classic ensemble in the centre and some mediocre streets north of the river. I know it is the RAF's fault (and Hitler's) but a sad effort at reconstruction.

Usti Na Labem, Czechia. How to turn a beautiful valley into a spaghetti of curled turds. Sprawling mess of roads and rail linking a town featuring, as far as I could tell, nothing of any interest. Plastic early 00s type shopping mall and the odd interwar building.

Livorno, Italy. Tuscan coastal town. Has to be alright, right? Wrong. Town planning catastrophe. Featureless place which does little to exploit its location. Death by concrete.

Grasse, France. Grimy, traffic strewn, noisy and grim. No Provencale paradise, I can assure you.

Koprivnica, Croatia. Unnecessarily spread out and nothing there except a brewery that makes one of the worst beers in Europe.

Maastricht, Netherlands. I visited on Carnevaal day so it probably isn't the foetid shit-strewn aids spraying crop dust victim I went away thinking it was.

Trnava and Poprad, Slovakia. Further proof Slovakians are bad at towns. Stick to hills, lads. Going from what I've read and seen, these are far from the worst.

[idunnosomename]

Brussels is a fucking dump and the Eurostar drops you in one of the shittiest bits