[Closed] top 10 uk dumps...

In these two posts I've

1) been born in one

5) moved to live with just up the road from the 3 Kent dumps listed. Albeit in a nicer village but close enough to know (and loathe) these 3 places

Then moved to Southampton (listed), Guildford (not listed?), Bristol (listed), London (listed, but needs to be a bit more precise), then bailed overseas (not listed).

I worked in Bradford for nearly 7 years. I think anywhere within a couple of miles of the centre seems to be a total hole along with a few of the main roads in - Leeds Road for example. Since I stopped working there I've never been back and don't have any intention to. That massive new shopping centre they've built just seemed to move the centre a bit so now you've got all the old shopping streets totally deserted with boarded up shops. Whilst I'm at it, Keighley is a place I try to gauge the traffic lights so you don't even have to come to a standstill. Coming back through there on a Saturday night after a day in the Dales/Lakes etc is an eye opener! Makes the last bit of the journey through central Halifax seem like driving through a quaint village in the Cotswolds in comparison.

Other places, Ffestiniog. Never seen grown men fighting in the street outside a pub at breakfast time before and suspect I never will again.

Selby - my dad grew up there and my grandpa lived there all his life. Just a soul destroying little place with a weird mix of full on chav loonies and old people with nothing inbetween meandering between charity shops and B&M Bargains/Poundland.

Last time we went to BPW we stayed in a village outside Merthyr where our choice of which pub to drink in wasn't which one looked the best, it was a case of finding one which didn't look like we'd be murdered. but Merthyr was a great night out 🙂

It's easy to say Newport or Merthyr, but the truth is it is only parts of those places that is really rough.

Both have really nice bits, one of the grimmest placed in the valleys is the Coike estate near Brynmawr,

Garnlydan used to be like Beirut but is ok now.

I went to Merthyr once. It was closed.

I will say Fleetwood didn't have much to recommend it.

This thread is producing lots of places I've visited but somehow managed to completely erase from my memory.

I mean, I worked in Slough for half a decade and inexplicably it didn't make my list.

Merthyr Tydfil.

This, "it's not all bad" well no it's not, there's a Bike Park for a start and I noticed last time there that thanks to some EU money they've jazzed up the Town Centre (and then voted Leave, well they'd been paid by then) by according to a study I read a few years ago there are areas of Merthyr with a lower life expectancy than Haiti - let that sink in for a moment.

[url= http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/life-expectancy-lower-than-haiti-1852066 ]Link[/url]

[b]Rotherham[/b] - spent a few months working there, I liked the office I worked in, for a Introvert Welsh Lad they as warm and friendly as you're told they are up North on the TV, but the town was a mess - it suffers from being too close to Sheffield, which is quite nice - it was only a snapshot opinion but it seemed to me because Sheffield was all regenerated a nice anyone who could moved to Sheffield and anyone who couldn't had to move to Rotherham a class and socioeconomic divide is never a good thing for the losing side.
[b]
Newport, Gwent[/b] – recently given City Status, I say recently – I’ve just checked it was 15 years ago, Wow! Newport has a similar problem to Rotherham, it’s too close to Cardiff. Cardiff, in Wales anyway is this huge vacuum that sucks up talent and money from nearby places, it effects Merthyr too – we (because I live in Cardiff) would have joined the Dump list as recently as the mid-90s and if you’ve ever had to suffer the City Centre at 2am on a Saturday you might still think it should – but we were lucky, during the industrial revolution and the coal age Cardiff was one of the most important cities in the world, we could rival any finance hub you care to mention – the first £1m trade was done here and we had the biggest busiest port in the world – but we fell on hard times when that ended and it only got worse in the 70s when the UK moved from a manufacturing economy to a financial one. The Cardiff of my youth was pretty rough – but they built this huge barrage to create a permanent harbour and the city exploded – the only constant here is change and whilst is still geographically small it’s busy – people here tend to be forward thinking, and positive – other people with that sort of mindset gravitate to here from ‘The Valleys’ and Newport.

In my experience of working in Newport a lot over the years is that locals have little or no pride in their City, if you ask someone from Swansea about Swansea, they love it, they’re tell you it’s better than Cardiff, if you even ask someone from Merthyr they’re proud of their town, even if they think there’s not much there for people, but Newport – if you say it’s a bit worn out, they’ll tell you it’s a ****ing dump. I’ve got a client based in Newport – Financial Services, well payed people (perhaps not the nicest people) none of them live there – they live in Cardiff, or Bristol or maybe Caldicot, or Machen – no one actually wants to live in Newport. The City centre (bar perhaps the new bit they’ve just built) is like the walking dead, it’s got an epidemic of a drug problem. There have been a few green shoots of hope from some infrastructure improvements, but it needs a lot of support to really improve.
[b]
Blackpool[/b]

It sets the gold standard for dumps, devoid of charm it died in the 70s but the rotting corpse still staggers on. It suffered from the same fate at the British Car Industry, when revenues fell in the wake of better options from the rest of the world, instead of investing to compete with the cheap package holidays in Spain and the like – it cut costs to try to stay afloat on lower and lower revenues until there was nothing left. I really feel for Blackpool, I work with a guy from there once – I asked if, maybe a mile away from the Seafront a nice little, normal town existed were people who weren’t involved in the ‘resort’ lived and worked – apparently not, it’s a dump from front to back, top to bottom, there’s not even anywhere to go for a night out away from the Stag Dos for the locals. Personally, I’d let the sea claim the whole lot and pretend it never happened.

Cougar - Moderator

I went to Merthyr once. It was closed.

Nah, the joke is "I went to Newtown once, it was closed" the only time Merthyr is closed is when it's on fire, which I believe it is at the moment.

So far I've got the Chiltern town near where I grew up, the other Chiltern town where I went to school, a town I used to work in, and the town I currently work in. Do I win a prize?

Stanley, County Durham. Used to be my patch at work. One area of it was used quite a bit for filming, things like Inspector George Gently, and some WW1-based gritty drama. The streets they used actually looked better once they'd been dressed for filming.

No-one's mentioned Leeds yet either. Particularly Belle Isle, Harehills, Gipton (sounds as bad as it is) & Cross Flats/Dewsbury Road area.

They are all far better now than they were in the past though.

Gipton is like a pleasant Cotswolds village compared to how it was 25 years ago 🙂

Lived in Bradford for 9 months.. Apart from a few good curry houses it was just awful. Will never return. Nobody has mentioned Weston super mare yet.. But that's a shithole too..

I suppose this topic is actually "top 10 dumps as well as Sunderland, which is such a dump that everyone takes it as given that it will top the list", but the OP shortened the title.

Nah, the joke is "I went to Newtown once, it was closed" the only time Merthyr is closed is when it's on fire, which I believe it is at the moment.

It wasn't a recycled joke. We passed through on a Sunday, I think maybe mid-morning, on our way to somewhere else (we diverted through it as I'd always liked the name and was curious as to what it was like). It was like a ghost town. All the shops were closed, no pedestrians, no traffic... it was actually really eerie, like something out of a post-apocalyptic film.

Trouble with these lists is that many places (on first site) seem reasonably prosperous and thriving even pretty and tidy. But then scratch the surface, and they are full of the most repulsive, pretentious privileged toss pots you'd ever likely to meet, imagine a town where every male inhabitant is Nigel Farage and every woman Katie Hopkins... Welcome to Marlow

As a simple heuristic, any place beginning with 'S' is a bit rubbish

Holyhead.
The wife & I stayed over there once to get the ferry to the green isle. We were a bit frightened for our lives when a fight very nearly broke out in a pub.

Curiously Southampton hasn't made this list - I say curiously because [s]we[/s] the city scores high on that list in the Shit Cities Book linked earlier.

Southampton has had a lot of gentrification in the last 5 - 10 years. The city center is almost nice and is very "SodoSopa" with the recent round of redevelopment right by West Quay

But alas, the generally speaking Southampton is a shithole. There are lots of surrounding areas that are destitute.

[url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/towns-with-best-quality-of-life-all-sound-shit-20170301123083 ]... and at the other end of the spectrum...[/url]

😆

As a simple heuristic, any place beginning with 'S' is a bit rubbish

That actually works. Stockport and Stoke on Trent both sprung to mind as soon as I read it.

I kinda mentioned Southampton.
Used to live in Viole(n)t Road in the Flowers estate. Better than living in Pansy Road I spose.
Crazy how there can be such class divide between one side of a street and another. Dunce opposite must have had his own personal cell at the local nick.

I was going to suggest Chaaaaa'am and Gravesend

I live in Chatham (Walderslade) and work in Gravesend. Scoring at Lunch time is the main advantage.

Gravesend nothing like as bad as Medway and not worthy of being mentioned on this list.

[i]Edit[/i] Lydd. had to pick something up I bought on Ebay a couple of months ago. Grim only known for the Kart track.

Aaaand the winner is... [url= http://www.ilivehere.co.uk/croeserw.html ]Croeserw is a place of black, malevolent evil[/url]

We were a bit frightened for our lives when a fight very nearly broke out in a pub.

imagine a town where every male inhabitant is Nigel Farage and every woman Katie Hopkins... Welcome to Marlow

Now that's just not true. A good half of the men are more 'Tim nice but dim.' than Farage.
And at least it's not Henley-On-Thames

Used to live in Viole(n)t Road in the Flowers estate

High six!

😉

Spent a year there as well. Not far off the main road, thankfully.

We were doing some social housing there back in the 80's and looked outside the cabin to see a few police and a bit of a commotion. Some bloke had been walking down the road, climbed over a small picket fence into someone's front garden and started shagging the pet dog. In the front garden, on the main road, in broad daylight.

Leeds?

😉

Dudley

Even the pigeons have left,now it's only shell suits and bull terriers.

Anyone else find it somewhat sad that we have parts of the country that are prospering greatly and other areas that a....clearly not

Fort William is no braw but maybe we're being a bit harsh on the by pass planners as the railway ran along there before the by pass was built

I was going to say Dundee but the waterfront is looking so much better the V & A is costing a packet but looking good, whereas the broth up the coast a bit is dire, their charity shops need charity

Widnes.

My grandparents lived there, right up the northern end of it which was OK in as much as it was thoroughly dull with the square root of **** all to do so the chavs avoided it in favour of hanging round the town centre, one hand down the front of their trackie bottoms, the other hand shovelling chips into their mouths.

Literally nothing to do there. No amenities except endless shopping arcades being built. Never seen so many cheap supermarkets within such a small area. Endless dual carriageways, identikit cheap housing estates and awful post-industrial wasteland.

Bradford - only worked there a year and witnessed one guy take a hatchet to the head and another getting thrown through a 2nd floor window into the street. Separate events, both middle of the day.

Burnley - some areas were properly rough.

Todmorden - just grim.

one hand down the front of their trackie bottoms, the other hand shovelling chips into their mouths.

Inbreeding shows - a third hand needed to the hold their chips? 😯

Gorton wasn't too bad when I lived there for a bit. (Quite stabby and rapey, but better than some areas)

Compared to living in Shelton in stoke, it actually was a vast improvement.

Bradford was a hole, Rotherham was bloody horrible, but the worst places I've visited/worked/lived have been Wallasey (works vehicles fire bombed within 30 mins of parking on site) and rhymny in south wales which looked like a war zone.

Huntingdon is pretty special, everyone there is ill or ugly, mainly because they smoke 20 a day and survive on greggs.

It's been a while since I lived there, but Salford, or at least plenty of areas of Salford must be some of the biggest dumps in the UK. Always loads of shootings/stabbings/joy riding/arson etc. etc.

I saw Barrow mentioned earlier. Yeh, it's a bit of a dump, but you're not gonna get stabbed or shot.

Huntingdon is pretty special, everyone there is ill or ugly, mainly because they smoke 20 a day and survive on greggs.

One of the most depressing things to do is go around Huntington town centre on a Saturday morning. The council have done a pretty good job of making it a ghost town. They've even given up (it appears) on the new shopping complex, which is a deserted building site.
It's sad, because it used be ok.

London. Shithole.

You've not travelled if you think Todmorden is anywhere near the top 10 dumps in the UK. You've got Burnley just down the road which is a lot worse for starters and Rochdale which is on a par with Burnley.

I remember when my wife was a trainee teacher and she went for a job interview in a school just outside Great Yarmouth in February. I busied myself around Great Yarmouth for a day scoping the place out, finding out good places to live etc just in case. I remember it being very, very cold and snowing and sitting in the car watching wild dogs running around in the street next to a burnt out car and thinking what the hell is this place. Luckily the wife didn't get the job... I think the nearest place resembling civilisation we passed on the way was Sheffield.

Might I add Castle town on Kintyre? The Scots can really make a dump if they want to. Also Biddulph although anywhere in the Potteries could qualify.

Lovely thread.

The Scots can really make a dump if they want to

Oh God yes, plenty of awful little towns in the middle of not very much. Ardrossan (mentioned earlier) that really only serves as a way of getting to Arran.
Moffat always seemed a spectacularly grim place, I remember driving through it on the way up to Glentress.

I've moved around a bit and whenever anyone tries to tell me how bad a local place is, I remind them I use to live in Leeds and worked in/around Harehills/Gipton and Chapeltown in the 80's...

Never mind a long career of travelling the world and working on most of the continents.

And if anyone tells you they live in Dunstable, they mean Luton 😉

The majority of Liverpool.

Anyway I read a good book last year that celebrated the worst of the UK. Good read too!

Tim Moore - You are Awful (But I like you!)

Southend.

pilton / muirhouse ( council estate in west Edinburgh) The worst of its been knocked down now but its horrific. Its the worst I know although some parts of Glasgow have a male life expectancy of under 60

And if anyone tells you they live in Dunstable, they mean Luton

Oi I grew up in Dunstable

its a shithole

Lutons worse

Moffat always seemed a spectacularly grim place, I remember driving through it on the way up to Glentress.

I think you've got Moffat mixed up with somewhere else, it's not bad.

Or you've never been to Warrington.

Its the worst I know although some parts of Glasgow have a male life expectancy of under 60

I recall in 2012, was meeting someone from Perth who was buying a bike from me, at braehead as he was going there and I'm only 30 mins away. I was about due to do the Edinburgh marathon, so decided to go a run after, was fed up running my local area.
It was a day like today, lovely sunny spring Sunday, and I ran from there into Govan, big loop round the hospital and back, about 10 miles.
I never saw a single runner or cyclist the whole time, a Sunday morning, nae wonder they have such low life expectancy....

Great Yarmouth in February..... I think the nearest place resembling civilisation we passed on the way was Sheffield.

You are of course very wrong, like many of the places mentioned here, the real kicker for people trapped in these shitholes is the prosperity and general pleasant surroundings to be found 20 miles away.

(And I don't mean the bottom of the North Sea, although in Great Yarmouth's case, this is true.)

Aberdeen. Yes sure if you go to Stoke on Trent, New Cumnock, Merthyr or Bradford today you'd see deprivation to make your eyes bleed. Those places haven't taken 40 years of prosperity and pissed it up the wall. Those place have no delusions of grandeur. Those place aren't Aberdeen. It truly is the dystopian product of Thatcher's Britain.

matt_outandabout - Member
Cumbernauld, wins every time.

Plus:
Ardrossan
Rotherham
Half of Glasgow
POSTED 11 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Ardrossan is the nicest of the 3 towns!

[quote=Nobeerinthefridge ]

Moffat always seemed a spectacularly grim place, I remember driving through it on the way up to Glentress.

My list:

1. Slough
2. London
3. Maidenhead, hated living there there after uni
4. Tunbridge Wells

I don't to be honest have much dislikes for places more the type of people that live in them i actually lived in south Wales and as much as it had bad parts it was beautiful to be able to walk the hills and mountain bike.

JeZ

Fort William is no braw but maybe we're being a bit harsh on the by pass planners as the railway ran along there before the by pass was built

I came here to say this also. To explain further, by the time all you visitors in your cars had reached the numbers needed to necessitate a by-pass, the town had filled the space between the sea and Cow Hill. You aren't getting a bypass inland. There is no route round the back of the hill either, the decent into Glen Nevis is bloody steep.

Basically it is because of the hills. I suggest all those who don't like Fort Bill don't visit.

I vote for London and Larkhall. Can't decide.

I remember first moving to Macclesfield after growing up in some of the less salubrious parts of Dewsbury, Halifax and Huddersfield. A work colleague showed me the areas to avoid. Oh how I laughed. The worst areas in Macc are bloody brilliant compared to some of the places I used to reside. It only seems a bit crap because it's next to Alderley Edge and Prestbury.

It must be pretty hard living in some of the south Wales former mining towns.

Croeserw anyone.

http://www.ilivehere.co.uk/croeserw.html

But I would have to vote for the whole of Bolton. Nukes from space is the only way forward.

Can you let me leave first though, I don't wanna get Nuked.

It is a depressing place. I live on the outskirts and here is dull but trouble free. Same with my mate, on the outskirts.

The centre is just awful.

Other parts of the U.K., I think it depends on what you class as bad, just needs updating or if there is high crime etc, Blackpool has been mentioned loads and I call it " the Hollywood Facade " money been spent on the front, go 2 streets back and it's high crime, drugs, bedsits etc.

Apart from a mention of Stanley I'm surprised there haven't been more NE England suggestions.
I live in Sunderland which I always thought was a featureless dump but compared to the other contenders here it suddenly seems like a cosmopolitan, cultural haven (ok, that might be pushing it just a little).

Big fan of Wales. As much is it's beautiful in parts and bleak in others, and some of the estates look rough, the locals are often brilliant.

Grew up in Aylesbury and I've called it the toilet of the Chilterns many times, however, whilst it's the worse Buckinghamshire has to offer, it's ain't bad at all and the surrounding villages I'd happily move back to - as long as I could avoid the town.

Blackpool, Carlisle and Middlesborough are the only places I've vowed never to return to; horrific places.

"Tim nice but dim" types are annoying but decidedly better than "Wayne hateful stabber" types.

given i grew up in Furruck (Thurrock), Essex - which in itself is abit of a culturless shitehole - i'm going to nominate Tilbury.

it was always an area we avoided growing up. i remember during a driving lesson having bottles thrown at the car by kids. i remember the time that a body was found in a rolled up carpet. the off-licences were literally caged up, the cashier would fetch you anything you wanted whilst you stood inside a cage within the shop.

the place has zero redeeming features, which is odd as the original Tilburys, East and West are not such bad places.

many places south of the A127 are not places i'd much like to live, but i'd take any of them over Tilbury if i had to.

Surprised by how often Barrow comes up. Yeah it's not nicest town in the country. However, you literally only need to travel a mile or two and your into some of the most stunning countryside. Also the locals I've always found to be friendly enough. For me this is the most important thing. People make the difference. (Don't live there btw before I'm accused of being biased!)

As for proper dumps:
1) Bradford- truly terrible in parts. Driven through the rough parts of town a few times. My god.Also keep reading about the number of uninsured drivers. That along with the standard of driving means i do my best to avoid certain areas.
2) Fleetwood - Some nice people but also one of the most racist places I've been! Got chased by a van full of yoofs with baseball bats too
3)Reading - Souleless.

My contribution, on places I have worked but not had to live in.
In no real particular order.

Houndslow.
East Worthing
Newtown, Wales.
Skinningrove.
Redcar.
Maltby, South Yorkshire.
Oldbury, the recycling centre of the UK. (Needs recycling!)
Goscote, Walsall.
Rugby-Newbold.
Middlesbouough.

My word, Croeserw sounds like a nice place 😀

Surprised by how often Barrow comes up. Yeah it's not nicest town in the country. However, you literally only need to travel a mile or two and your into some of the most stunning countryside.

So once you actually leave Barrow, its nice?

Dudley

Even the pigeons have left,now it's only shell suits and bull terriers.

Wow, flashbacks.

Some time in the mid 90s, I worked constructing the "soft play" units - ball pits and big plastic slides and the like. We did a huge installation in the Merry Hill centre, if anyone remembers it.

One night after work, a colleague and I set out into darkest Dudley to find something resembling a rock / biker pub and chanced upon The Angel. We naively thought, "that'll do for us." We went to the bar before really assessing our surroundings and realising that we'd essentially walked into the Slaughtered Lamb.

We decided, play it cool, don't make any sudden movements. Some dodgy bloke came over and offered us some weed. We politely declined. Play it cool, drink your drink. Someone else came over and offered us speed. No, you're all right ta.

Oh, there's a pinball table (Lethal Weapon 3, details are important), we'll have a go on that, that's a normal thing to do. No, we're ok for heroin, thanks.

A string of offers followed. Sometimes the same guy, sometimes a different one. Drugs I'd never even heard of, girls, boys if that's your thing. Finish your pint, play it cool, but we were drinking quite quickly by now.

Then a shout rang out from behind the bar, "lock the doors!" We exchanged glances which confirmed we were both thinking the same thing. Cool be damned, we set a land speed record between the bar and the exit.

Pigface - Member 
It's easy to say Newport or Merthyr, but the truth is it is only parts of those places that is really rough.

Lived in Newport briefly and actually wasn't as bad as I expected. Just steer clear of some parts. Cwmbran also and that seemed like a right dump but wasn't that bad (free parking in the town too). The experience of Slaughtered Lamb style pubs is interesting, but the locals turn out to be quite friendly.

Merthyr has a nice A&E (not to look at, but quick service and friendly staff) 😀

I've had cause to stop in Port Talbot a few times and convinced the car would be a burnt out shell as soon as my back was turned.

Anyway, have we done Aldershit yet?

CaptainFlashheart - Member
Malvern

I grew up near Ipswich...so Ipswich. Used to be quite nice, is a depressing shithole these days. Rumor has it, the reason the A140 is still single lane is to stop everyone buggering off up to Norwich instead of going to Ipswich. I'll take traffic on the A140 any day compared to Norwich road or Chantry.

Slough and Bracknell also feature pretty highly, but the winner surely has to be Luton? Or maybe Dartford. Or Romford...

Ah yes Romford.... and we've got to page 5!

I lived there for a year; never been back

i'm going to nominate Tilbury

When I was a kid I always wondered why there was a ferry from Gravesend to Tilbury, and always wondered what interesting attractions might be on the other side of the water.

The Kent side will re-take the dump crown, when they blow up SS Montgomery and build Cliffe Airport.

CaptainFlashheart - Member
Malvern

Why Malvern, Flashy? I live there so just interested in your thoughts

The Fois Gras wasn't up to standard.

3)Reading - Souleless.

Have to agree, whilst not a dump it has very little that makes me want to go into town. It's nice enough, and the tramps are friendly if you buy them coffee.

It's like a physical manifestation of internet shopping, there's no small shops. I actually buy more in the charity shops!

glasgowdan - Member

matt_outandabout - Member
Cumbernauld, wins every time.
Plus:
Ardrossan
Rotherham
Half of Glasgow

Ardrossan is the nicest of the 3 towns!

Over the last 12 yrs or so that I've lived in the area, Ardrossan has notably improved. As per Glasgow Dan the other parts of the 3Towns (Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston - so named as they are all merged together, only locals can identify the boundaries) have less going for them.

We've currently got an issue with kids coming into Ardrossan of an evening as there is more to set on fire...

Some of the small towns in the Ayrshire area are cracking wee places, others are pretty grim, but different things drive people to live in different places. I wouldn't choose Patna for example..but each to their own

Why Malvern, Flashy? I live there so just interested in your thoughts

what's not to love about Malvern? it has variety.

chavs on your way out (link and barnards green)
geeky eccentrics weirdos between there and town and hippies clinging to the hills.
lovely.

Many of the places people are mentioning are indeed soulless bleak depressing places at best but surely they don't compare to the boarded up estates in Liverpool? Some of those places are as close to genuine no go zones as the UK has to offer - Above 50% chance of having your phone stolen if you were say walking past the local shops .

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Malvern comment was aimed at one nearby resident....

😉

I don't know what Liverpool is like now but when I was last there in the 90's it was unbelievably poverty stricken in places.

Keighley might not be the best place on earth but it's certainly not the worst. For all it's problems it has a genuine identity + heart and many proud people. I would happily walk round the town without feeling threatened.

Can't say the same about Blackpool, morecambe, or others.