To hate the town in which I live?

Move, OP! Nearer to some of the nice parts of Norfolk (of which there are plenty), or somewhere else completely.

I grew up in Croydon and lived there until I was 35, when I managed to escape to East Sussex. When I go back to Croydon now, it feels like a foreign country, I can scarcely believe I ever lived there. It was the best thing I ever did.

I have a friend who comes from Wisbech. She says that Kings Lynn is where Wisbech people go for the day to make themselves feel better about living in Wisbech.

I thought you would say Swadlincote. Now, there’s a dump.

Crossing Norfolk off a growing list of places to avoid.

We moved from Norfolk last autumn. I loved it there, we lived west acre/castle acre area and it was beautiful. Admittedly KL is a bit of a hole but sadly lots of market towns have gone that way of late ( whomever mentioned Swaffam must be joking as a nice place to live it was also pretty rough.)

We moved due to DH's job, I do miss where we lived but I'm glad we moved as it seems to be miles away from everywhere, Wiltshire is much easier to get to everything. I didn't have a problem with friendly people there but I did find it to be very racist, they didn't like anyone who was 'forrin' and if you were mixed race like my daughter then you'd often get asked ' where are you from'? 🙄

I spent an academic year abroad as a student and I disliked the town I was in (teaching English) because it was dull and parochial. My pupils were lovely but the adults were icily polite to me (white Brit) and rudely dismissive to people from places like Kosovo and the Middle East. I sucked it up for those 9.5 months but if it had been longer .... ewwww. I sympathise. I think you need to be really robust with your DH - it's not as though he loves it and you loathe it! You're on the same page! It should not be that problematic to convince him.

I am from Norfolk and agree, Kings Lynn is shit. Norfolk has some lovely places to live, Kings Lynn is not one of them. You would be better heading towards Norwich. I am in North Norfolk and it's lovely here!

Parts of Norfolk can be very close knit - but it tends to be the more rural areas. Also I was born in Norfolk but I don't have a Norfolk accent!

You know what, OP? I reckon you're around my age. Maybe we went to school together!

I grew up in KL, being able to leave was the thing that spurred me on to work mega hard in my A Levels and get into a good uni. You have my sympathy, OP, it's an absolute shithole.

Oops just saw it's Kings Lynn. I'm not that familiar with that town but admittedly wouldn't choose to live there.

I'm guessing you live towards Great Yarmouth?

Oh dear a lot of Norfolk hate here. Norwich is beautiful, arty, liberal and inclusive. (Not biased at all). I live somewhere different now but whenever I go back I wish I lived there. It's not as if Norfolk is big, can't your husband commute from Norwich? And I don't have one but I personally love the Norfolk accent.

Corby is the worst place that I’ve been, maybe I ended up there on a bad day but it was just awful (racist graffiti, rudeness & generally grim).

Ah I would have guessed Stoke on Trent, but I have never been to Norfolk before

Just to balance the Norfolk hatred here I spent several months working in North Norfolk in the mid 00s and loved it. Granted it was for a conservation organisation and it was on the posh holiday home belt of the coast so I probably didn't see much of the more working class locals (which lets face it is who we're talking about here). The coast is absolutely stunning, which huge sandy beaches and the wildlife amazing. I used to spend hours biking around the country lanes and hardly see anyone. It is quite posh around places like Holkham, Blakeley etc but the flip side of that is you get great pubs/gift shops etc. Wells and Sheringhsm are good places for traditional seaside with just the right level of tat. Don't let it put you off holidaying in the area, it is lovely countrysife, and the unfriendly places are not generally places you would spend much time on holiday anyway. Kings Lynn was actually not a bad little spot for a poke around but this was well over 10 years ago now.

My grandmother lived in Downham Market. KL was agrim town to visit all those years ago.

I was considering a holiday to Norfolk, the pictures looked lovely, it can't be as awful as Swindon. I once literally fell over someone (she was lying on the ground) shooting up. And she was pregnant. I am quite poor so I've lived in my fair share of crap areas. Nothing helpful to add except I feel your pain OP.

I lived in Huntingdon for a year and it was awful, I know exactly what you mean OP. Most people I met were a real struggle to befriend, less so the older generation. I felt very isolated. A lot of the other towns around there had the same feeling, even Cambridge to an extent.

I would have guessed at Kings Lynn. It's a bit of a shit hole. BUT I work there 2 days a week and I've made friends, never had the impression shop staff are looking at me like a piece of shit, not everyone has a Norfolk accent either.

Lynnsport have loads of stuff on over the holidays for kids, no druggies hanging around that door. Festival Too has only just finished with loads of music for a couple of weeks, there are road races, bike races, fireworks in The Walks every year etc etc. All for free

There is no no more trouble on friday/Saturday nights than anywhere else.

The coast is easy to get to (apart from traffic cos everybody else is trying to go at the same time), Sandringham estate, Houghton Hall, Norwich is an hour away, Peterborough is an hour, regular trains to London and Cambridge.

It's not somewhere I would ever want to live but it is what you make it.

If it is King's Lynn then I understand. It's either that or Great Yarmouth.

North Norfolk and Norwich are lovely. It's my home and I adore it but those fringes, yikes.

There's tons of nice little towns you could move to and your husband could commute. Even places like Swaffham and Dereham are okay.

March is a particularly heinous town but I agree Kings Lynn isn’t much better!

Used to live in Norfolk and couldn’t agree more OP - by far the most parochial, narrow-minded, unfriendly place I’ve ever known. Many people there won’t give you the time of day if you aren’t seen as being ‘from’ there. I found it unbelievably depressing.

(Apologies to the many lovely people who do live in Norfolk - it’s not your fault you’re so outnumbered by the arseholes!)

Maybe your DH will be convinced to move! My quality of life astronomically improved when we did.

I went to Norwich once. I had an argument about a sandwich.

Don't be put off visiting Norfolk by this thread - Norwich, and the Broads, are great. Kings Lynn certainly sounds a bit shit, though!

My cousin is in KL and as I read your OP, I thought: this is KL.
I don’t have any advice, but I do have sympathy!

Pretty much everywhere in Norfolk is fine - like every other county, it has it's less desirable places! Nothing wrong with Norfolk. Weird that anyone would let a thread like this put them off a whole COUNTY!

Norwich is great. North Norfolk around King's Lynn isn't.

The home of the neck tattoo......