Working Class Towns

[Settle59]

Inspired by another thread - and being a Sociologist (after a fashion..) -
thought I'd start this thread.

OK here goes:
Luton
Slough
Blackburn
Corby

*Surprised Crewe hasn’t been mentioned."

The thread would need a trigger warning.

Peterborough

Greggers2017 - how about Arksey?

@Settle59 have you lived all these towns then or are you just plucking them out of thin air?

wallywonker - haven't lived in all these towns no - just hearsay or general perception - but I fully admit in many cases I may be wrong /outdated

I don't care if people describe these places as working class or even worse.

@CleanIsBlissful I really love your baseline assumption that 'working class' automatically = 'bad' here.

You're outdated, OP.

I'm intrigued as to the perception of working class, too. What is a working class town?

Wigan
Leigh
Bolton
St Helens
Atherton Tyldesley
Moorside
Daisy Hill
Westhoughton
Winsford
Crewe
Middlewich

BakedCam - probably a town which people think of as having a predominantly low income demographic. - more low income social housing and less or an absence of executive type housing . High streets and shopping areas tend to often be different in deprived towns from affluent towns in terms of the nature of the shops etc

How are you classing Milton Keynes as working class? 90% of the population work in service industries and it's one of the top areas for economic output per capita.

Oh I've just seen your update. You're defining by perception of people's personal income/wealth. How lovely.

Gosh, what an unnecessary and horrible post. For responders naming towns, you do realise it says so much more about you, as opposed to those you deem to be 'working class'.

I'm intrigued as to the perception of working class, too. What is a working class town?

Have you ever been to Mansfield or Grimsby? If not, I recommend a visit. That will answer your question.

@TARSCOUT What’s so awful about a town being working class?

I daren’t ask the subject of the thread that inspired this one

I think you're confusing working class in its definition, OP. You're looking at it as in income-related, which is a Marxist way of describing areas in relation to this thread and that people only have their labour to sell but own no land or property.

Out of interest, are you a sociologist? I ask because some of the areas mentioned in this thread have evolved in their social and cultural capital. As an example, Durham and Sheffield. So working class as a definition wouldn't apply as both areas have large student populations.

What would be a middle class town?

@AgeLikeWine

Why should I go to Grimsby or Mansfield to answer my question?

Port talbot

BakedCam - Stereotyping possibly but Tunbridge Wells is the classic example!!!!

Not sure why Sheffield keeps getting mentioned, it's a city for a start and so PPs have mentioned, the SW of the city is affluent, and and rather beautiful.

Not a nice thread anyway.

High streets and shopping areas tend to often be different in deprived towns from affluent towns in terms of the nature of the shops etc

It's a mistake to assume working class towns are automatically deprived.

It is a mistake. But WC means poor and deprived on MN.

@settle59 probably a town which people think of as having a predominantly low income demographic. - more low income social housing and less or an absence of executive type housing . High streets and shopping areas tend to often be different in deprived towns from affluent towns in terms of the nature of the shops etc

Bracknell?!!!

@Settle59 Yes, you are wrong/outdated about Slough anyway.

Slough (/slaʊ/) is a large town in Berkshire, England, just outside the Greater London borders ( Hillingdon) and 20 miles (32 km) west of central London and 18 miles (29 km) north-east of Reading, in the Thames Valley at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. Slough had a population of 164,000 in 2018.

The A4 and the Great Western Main Line pass through the town, which was historically part of neighbouring Buckinghamshire. Crossrail is expected to allow faster journeys to central London.

Slough's population is one of the most ethnically diverse in the United Kingdom,[2][3] attracting people from across the country and the world for labour since the 1920s, which has helped shape it into a major trading centre. In 2017, unemployment stood at 1.4%,[4] one-third the UK average of 4.5%.[5]

Slough has the highest concentration of UK HQs of global companies outside London. Slough Trading Estate is the largest industrial estate in single private ownership in Europe with over 17,000 jobs in 400 businesses.[6] Blackberry, McAfee, Burger King, DHL and Lego have head offices in the town.[7]

Don't base your opinion on hearsay or general perception for the sake of it.

Castleford
Rotherham
Barnsley
Doncaster
Sunderland
Amble
Blyth

Any town that was largely built on heavy industry, but even here, the mine/mill/factory owners would have had bigger houses in “naicer” parts of town.

OP, you mean Royal Tunbridge Wells as a middle class town?

Why is that a middle class town?