To ask for your experiences with Bath/strange atmospheres

Username your post made me laugh! Have you ever lived in an English village?! Now that really is parochial and monocultural...I grew up in one and couldn’t wait to move to a proper grimy city (lived in Cardiff Bristol and London as an adult)

Saying Bath is too English is abit weird. Would you criticise say an Indian city for being too Indian?!

Though tbh after enduring horrendous drug dealing neighbours who made our lives a misery when we lived in London we were craving somewhere “nice” to live when we had a young family - apoeal of edgy and cool city life rather wore off for us after that experience...

I think plymouth is a bit strange because there is hardly any greenery in the main part of the city

I felt really uneasy for the one day I’ve visited bath. I also had a really strange experience where I was looking at one of the old houses from a distance and felt like I’d lived there before in a past life. Was so strange because I don’t believe in stuff like past lives

A friend of mine had a very unsettling experience in Bath ...she was on the top deck of a tour bus and saw a bunch of lads on the Bath Rugby Club grounds practicing in the nude ...

Brighton is a strange place. So is Plymouth.

Bath has an underlying weirdness I can’t put my finger on.

We have spent weekends in both Bath and Buxton and loved them both, especially Bath. While I love the isolation of Buxton, I can see why some people might find it a bit dark, damp and slightly dreary. Betws y coed can feel a bit similar- they’re built of quite dark stone and don’t get a lot of sunlight, plus it rains a lot.

Personally I don’t like small, modern towns.

Paris gives me bad vibes.

Anyone got weird experiences with Bidston/ Bidston hill? Ive not been yet but when i get a car its one of the first places im going to. I hear loads of creepy things about it. Not been to Bath or glasto yet. Have been to salisbury which is a weird place but i got no bad vibes.

just had a look at the first and last few pages of this, how interesting!

very different place to Bath but I found Scunthorpe felt really ominous and menacing. I went to college there and found myself very depressed after a year. now, I know it's not the prettiest or most popular place in the world to visit but I felt that way despite being from a quite similar town.

Buxton was attractive but felt completely airless, stale and energy free to me. I put it down to going on a grey, cold day but the radon gas theory is really interesting!

teignmouth felt similar despite being sunny and full.of tourists. there was a staleness as though it had been closed up for years. love Exeter, newquay and the surrounds though.

Manchester, on the other hand, I grew to love but I remember going there for the first time and feeling really intimidated! not sure why but it felt as though everyone was being quite sweary and spoke in an an aggressive manner. the dialect isn't very different from my own so I'm not sure why I got that impression!

I was born and grew up in Bath, and I’ve always been happy there. I love it! My Mum (and a few friends) say that they always feel uncomfortable in Glastonbury.

OP, your post reminded me of something my sister told me the other day. She was discussing where they might move to with my dad and mentioned Bath and he shouted at her, 'No! You'll go mad there. It'll suck all your energy.' We were both laughing at this random, weird, negative reaction to it. But maybe there's something in it.

My auntie lived there when I was young and I loved visiting her there. I've only ever been on day trips since then, and it has no negative effect on me at all. I quite like it. Very touristy, though.

It also isn't all Guardian readers as someone pointed out. There are PLENTY of staunch telegraph reading tories who have no qualms with being very hyacinth bouquet, very very quick to talk about what their sons and daughters do and how much they make before quizzing you to find out what you have. "Did you know ds is captain of the rugby team" Very in the 18th century. Ask them who the prime minister is and they'll tell you William pitt the elder.

Bath is lovely. Rugby at the Rec is great fun.
Sadly, my mother in law does create a rather odd atmosphere and has been known to fly her broomstick over the city.

"I have managed to live in Bath very happily for 12 years made lots of lovely friends and not had a breakdown - just to present the other (sane) side of this. Ok it’s not the most multicultural city in England but such a privilege to live in such a beautiful place with lots going on culturally. I have lived in rough horrible places and Bath is way nicer!

Whilst I respect your right to an opinion, this is what I'm talking about. Dont get upset and think Im attacking you but this is textbook Bath resident. "Its beautiful" "Everyone else is crazy for not liking it" Why are you the sane one? Maybe you're crazy for liking it? Or maybe not. But its the residents resolute belief that crosses into arrogance that their perspective is THE perspective.

Lots going on culturally? Again, based on what culture? English culture? Nothing wrong with that but its English only. Nothing wrong with that but the sheer amount of locals that pretend this isn't the case really sums up how parochial it is.
Its great that you like it and it suits you but the failure to acknowledge the potential for alternative views is what lets the city down in general which is why nothing new appears. Go to London/manchester etc and tell people you dont like it there. They won't mind or take offence but Bath residents seem to think Bath is part of their personal identity somehow so vehemently defend it. I personally think its great when opposing views challenge as it gives an opportunity to develop a new way of thinking. But people in Bath would sooner shut down anything not keeping with their very narrow view and tell people as you did to "encourage all the loonies to leave"

I hate Blackpool with a passion. Every single time I've been, it has rained solidly (even in August- forcasted hot and dry and rained.) I feel like the place leave a grubby coating on me and I can't wait to get away and wash it off.

My Mum always used to say that she'd get a headache as soon as se saw Blackpool tower and she'd have it all day until she left.

Wow what an interesting thread and so is the radon map.

I’ve only visited Bath once, I was so exited and looking forward to it as so many people I know have been and really like it. Dh and I went for a night and we booked a hotel for the night outside of Bath. We drove to Bath, stayed an hour and a half, then left.
I’m still not too sure why, and I still feel annoyed with myself that we didn’t stay longer, but at the time we just wanted to leave. It was very strange.

Also interesting to read about Betws y coed. I’ve been twice and really love it there. Although the first time we went we stayed in a house in a tiny village a few miles up the road. I’m not sure what it was about it but I hated it, the house and the village. I honestly wanted to cry and just wanted to go home whenever we were there. I didn’t say anything as everyone else was having a nice holiday and I’d lost my mum a few weeks before so thought maybe I was still a bit out of sorts.
When we went back we stayed in Betws y coed and i was fine there. Strange!

I have managed to live in Bath very happily for 12 years made lots of lovely friends and not had a breakdown - just to present the other (sane) side of this. Ok it’s not the most multicultural city in England but such a privilege to live in such a beautiful place with lots going on culturally. I have lived in rough horrible places and Bath is way nicer!

I think it's energy related. Lots of conducting rocks (and water) in the places mentioned most on here. Perhaps it's the 'buzz' of the area you're feeling.

Saw a paranormal documentary ages ago which investigated why people were experiencing weird vibes and shadows in a certain room at a hospital. Turns out it was the ceiling fan and it's vibrations causing the uneasy feelings.

Our brains are strange things.

I think what makes it so weird socially is the the conversations seem to be so transactional. "Are you useful to me possibly? If so lets talk" If not people will just stare at you as though they have been startled and scuttle off.

They also pretend they are very diverse and open minded but its kind of like James Blunt pretending he's in Gorrilaz. Nothing wrong with James Blunt or Gorrilaz but other than being musicians, but they arent the same. It is very white and again nothing wrong with that but it isn't diverse so why pretend to be? Its just more pretending more acting that isn't true. Its almost like the people that keep pretending its liberal and open minded secretly wish they live in Clifton, but dont want to be in Bristol because they're a little bit scared of wandering outside of Clifton into St Pauls.

@CatherineOfAragonsPomegranate - Plymouth! I was surprised it hadn’t been mentioned on here. A heavy place.

Yes exactly. I found people really uneducated and small minded. Apologies to any Bath residents not everyone but generally. I never really made friends. I always felt like I had nothing to hang on to there. It was slippery if that makes sense. It's beautiful. I also hated the fact that social housing was outside the centre and hidden behind a wall! Twerton.

Fake and surfacey is correct. Many of buildings have a Georgian facade to "keep up" with the crescent look and the other Georgian buildings. Unfortunately this fake surface also extends to the people who live there and proclaim it as the best place to exist in the country. Very parochial and seem to think they know best about everything though when pressed reveal that they dont know as much as they thought they did as they are so village minded and out of touch as to have no idea as to the outside world or just feel they are superior to places which are modern.
Jane Austin knew how fake Bath was and was also depressed during her time there and didnt produce any of her works while living there. The character in her play who says "who can tire of Bath" is meant to be an idiot which is why she likes the place. Then what happens? They create a Jane Austen museum as though the city inspired her creativity when in actual fact her books were written to make fun of the place.

I lived in Bath for around 3 years and had a breakdown/got clinical depression. First time I visited it I hated it and said I could never live there then I ended up having to live there about a year later. A year in and I got quite mentally ill and eventually left. This was about 20 odd years ago. It always felt fake and surface-y to me. Pretty but not genuine.

I visited this year and all I noticed was how white everyone is and how old. And wealthy.

Exactly. Theres a lot of transient people so no-one really adds anything long term. The locals seem to be very resentful of this, the tourists and the students and then become more cliquey amongst themselves. What Bath could really use is more 30 something, 40 something professionals who have ideas and also spend money in shops, restaurants and nightlife, putting more money into the city so Bath wouldn't have to rely so heavily on tourism and student accommodation.. The style is far too concerned with being "in keeping" with a certain look than delivering a liveable environment that caters to 21st century. Theres a sense of being trapped in an ideal from generations from 200 years ago.
People like to look at all the Georgian architecture but one wonders how much resistance they may have been met with when they initially created their plans.

Quite a lot of these places are heavily touristed. I know Oban and Edinburgh very well and I think it's fair to say that, over the years a lot of the decisions made have been to the advantage of tourism but the disadvantage of the folk who actually live there. I think that's what gives them the dead feeling - the usual evolution of towns and cities has been diverted into something unreal.