To ask for your experiences with Bath/strange atmospheres

I love Brighton, but then I would be easily recognised as part of the tribe and I think this is largely what feelings described here boil down to. That intrinsic and uncomfortable feeling that you don't belong picked up from social clues from the residents of the town you're visiting.

Education and culture in the UK is still rather geared towards observance of Christian/Catholic values and, in a lot of the places mentioned here, there is a strong pagan undercurrent engendering subconscious suspicion and fear.

Saltburn in Yorkshire, we stopped off there whilst on holiday one day. I cannot describe how uncomfortable and errily strange the place made me feel.

I went to uni in Bath but never lived there, from what I saw there was very little to do for anyone younger than middle aged.

I'd say usernameusrnme has Bath pretty spot on.

Whoever lumped Bristol in with it, how very dare you! Bristol is far superior in every way.

Yes to whoever said about Bath being 'safe' meaning white and Bristol 'edgy' meaning multicultural. Despite, or maybe partly because of its slave trade history, Bristol is one of the most culturally integrated cities in the U.K., everyone rubs along together and it's very friendly.

I agree about Porlock weir but I think the village itself is fine

I know this is an oldish thread but I’m glad it’s been revived because it’s interesting. I had the same sinister, menacing feeling the one and only time I’ve been to whitstable.

Forest of Dean has parts that are like driving through a mid-west US town where they only see strangers once every 15 years. Gothic revival Victorian cottages with well- peeled painted wood frame windows, net curtains and dead plants in windows.

Love this thread and now I really want to visit Glastonbury to experience the oddness!

The only place that made me feel really uneasy was the area around Porlock and Porlock Weir. We were on holiday in Minehead and took a drive out. I hated it so much, it felt really oppressive and I felt quite panicky, I begged DH to drive us back as soon as possible. I’d never go back.

I love Bath! I’d live there if I could afford it.

I don’t like Glastonbury though. Very unfriendly place.

I too feel uneasy in Glastonbury; the hippy vibe has a malevolent undercurrent.
I hate the atmosphere on Holy Island, I couldn’t get away from it fast enough when we visited. It was a lovely sunny day but a very chilling atmosphere.

I live near to Bath now, have been going there regularly pretty much all my life including going to school there. I don’t like the city at all, it’s expensive, dirty, overrated and ruined by hoards of visitors. I also feel it is actually pseudo-Georgian in a lot of places., mere facades.
You need to be upper middle class, well educated and posh to fit in, it feels unwelcoming to newcomers.
Too many empty shops, homeless people begging and soulless.

This is really interesting. The first time I went to the centre of Bath it was vibrant with lots of independent retailers. This was around 1990 or 1991. I went back to the centre in 2002 for an evening event at the Baths and both that event and the following day mooching around had a very different feel to it. Menacing. I remember driving down the A417 and there was the most massive murmuration of starlings taking place in the sky and it looked brooding rather than awesome.

The thing that I remember Bath for most was a news report somewhere around those times of a local unrest to which the police were called. Just lots of people getting pissed early on a Friday or Saturday night and someone turned on male and female police officers. Many other drinkers turned out and laid into the police. The female officer was badly beaten - unconscious I think and lots of people turned out to cheer the attackers on. This was before the 'explosion' of the internet I recall.

For that alone there is something dark about Bath. Geography and buildings can forge people. Look at the ancient Egyptians, the Portugese and modern New Zealand.

Ive had it all over the place .This ward, that ward. In shops, this place, that place. Am I famous? I dont think so. That alone is enough to make me want to leave. Definitely not just in the town centre. If anything its less there and is probably the only part that I enjoy being in as a result. I've never come across more weird and awkward people anywhere else in the UK. Thats genuinely not hyperbole.

As for the cliquey behaviour, why is that? In other cities people meet, talk, discover. Bath seems IMO to attract a certain type of person more so than other cities London, Bristol, Manchester etc.

Why do we stare here?

Whereabouts in Bath is this? I can't say that I've ever noticed. I do have form for staring blankly when I am thinking, so I have possibly been tailing you.

With 30,000 students, many many Airbnb's and lots of tourists you probably won't see too many locals in the town centre.

I agree with others that Bath is very very cliquey in terms of both social circles and neighbourhoods.

The city is in for a challenging year or two, I fear.

Any Bath residents able to weigh in on why people are so weird when they stare here? Just stare stare stare. Anyone get that nosy vibe here. People say its a very nosy place with nothing but gossip which isnt what people like the OP might like.

Lots of smiles when you're spending money

That’s so interesting - I’ve been to Bath twice (for a long weekend each time) and absolutely fell in love with the place, I remember it so fondly even now.

Maybe this also contribute to the OP's feelings and vibe they picked up.

Once again as for the people....

www.bathchronicle.co.uk/news/bath-news/what-absolute-load-tosh-bath-889304

There is too much focus on tourism and not enough on more economic range. Independents need to cater to a wider demographic and not just the radio 4 crowd. Big businesses are fine and bring the place up to date while providing an alternative to the "lets preserve the look static"

That's interesting, the Ken Loach article. I can kind of see what he means. They have cleaned up the buildings and stopped traffic going in the centre and many of us thought the new shopping centre was nice and in keeping after the 1970's monstrosity that was there before, does anyone remember that? But I suppose maybe it did have more character. I do agree that maybe smaller, independent shops have been pushed out and the centre is full of generic chain stores like any other city centre.

Upthread some pp were talking about stretches of road that are spooky. On one of the roads in/out of bath, it goes through some woodland where there's a folly on top of the hill. There's some strange stories about it and why it was built. It's called 'sally in the woods'. People say the birds don't sing in the woods and there's ghost stories about people braking down on the road. Strange as the folly over looks Bath 🤔.

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/oct/20/ken-loach-says-his-beloved-bath-being-ruined-by-tourism

Have a look at some of the comments

I was born in Bath and don't live too far away from it now. I've never lived there but visit it regularly. It can be alright, the park by the crescent is nice in the summer. I have had quite a few 'weird' experiences in Bath though. I do prefer Bristol, lived there for 10 years. I feel it's got more of a 'sense of humour' than Bath, even though it's not as pretty.

I don't mind Glastonbury although it has got quite an intense feeling. Must be the ley lines. Aveburys a bit like that too, but I like it. A lot of places in the West Country feel a bit strange, magical and a bit 'trippy'. Not to everyone's taste. Two places I wouldn't be in a hurry to visit again would be Stroud and Andover.

Chillicheese123 if gunfights across the street didn’t put me off I don’t think a load of Spring Breakers would