Just visited Newport, couldn’t wait to leave, what’s your get me outta here place?

[TheChristmasElf]

Just have just visited Newport for an appointment, we weren’t there long, toilet stop and cuppa in Asda, half hour appointment in city centre and then got lost on the way out but felt very uneasy the whole time were there. It had quite a menacing feel to it and even on the bare aesthetics of the city seemed quite run down with a lots of old closed pubs, shops etc…

I would actually go as far to say it made me feel quite unwell but I guess that would just be coincidence!!

We actually live rural Devon so not even like I’m not used to the odd lay line of two but I was quite relieved to get back on the road…

Has anyone else felt that about a place before?

Agree re Milton Keynes
i visited once and felt as though I had somehow slipped into a SIMMS game .
endless concrete and sanitised chain store mall feel. So sterile and unnerving it made the car parks feel characterful.

Margate

To whoever mentioned Bognor Regis. YES. Britain's coastal towns are infamously rundown but Bognor Regis takes the biscuit.

Stonehenge it gives me the hebie gebies (no idea how to spell that)and Ringwood,no idea why it just feels like a very heavy atmosphere to me

Manchester. Ugh.

Combe Martin. Went once, never again.

Edmonton. No lay lies, just a place God forgot.

Paris after dark.

What, all of Herefordshire? Because one murderer lived there for a while? Are you also troubled by the whole of the East End? That had Jack the Ripper AND the Krays.

Bicester Village- full of rude people who think they're better than everyone else

My DH had an extreme panic attack in Newport! No known trigger for it, couldn’t wait to get out of the place though (had driven there to pick a passport up)

Plymouth is another place with bad vibes

I live in Newport and whilst I agree the immediate city centre can be a little grim, (there has been lots of positive changes recently though) there are other parts of Newport which are really lovely. Where I’m based we have great schools and restaurants with access to several different areas of pretty open spaces/ public parks. I’ve lived in quite a few cities but settled here due to my husband’s job and have been pleasantly surprised.

Another vote for Torquay…grim AF.

Blackpool I can cope with. Fleetwood, the town north of Blackpool has some incredibly oppressive vibes about it. I've never been anywhere that makes me as sad. I'm always desperate to leave there if I ever have to go.

Yes.

Definitely Milton Keynes, such a weird place! And Gloucester!

The term “concretey” really resonates as that’s precisely the issue I first had with Liverpool when I went there for University. Coming from rural Ireland all I could think of were “where are the trees?, where’s the grass”?

Not seeing greenery really disturbed me. Concrete was so pervasive that seeing a patch of grass made my day.

Of course this issue could apply to any urban area.

A second issue was seeing bars on ground floor windows. Such a culture shock: the shocked feeling I had was so similar to that scene in Back of the Future II when Marty returns to 1985 but Hill Valley is now crime infested and he says “I don’t remember bars on these windows”. I realised then just how much safer rural Ireland is (by rural I mean towns of around 10k people). You just rarely see petty crime here.

Perspex screens in a grocery store was also disturbing (had only ever seen that in a bank). You could only see the food, and the shopkeeper would pass it through a slot.

Scousers though are so warm and friendly, and Liverpool itself has gone through massive regeneration since I was at Uni there.

Lol you clearly don’t know the place that well. I lived there for 9 years and never felt unsafe.

I came on to defend Nuneaton as it's my home town and I knew I'd see it here. Hello fellow treacle-towners! Yes it has issues like everywhere but there are positives too.
I give you Bridlington- only been there for half an hour but couldn't find a pub serving food after 8pm so went for takeaway, some really horrible racist people were kicking off with the owners, we had to run out and call the police, had my baby in a pram. Have never gone back since, got a really horrible vibe although I appreciate we could just have been unlucky

Which part is the shit hole? All of it.

Why are you questioning my opinion of London?

Why aren't you questioning the other shit holes that have been identified?

I lived in a very rural, quite deprived part of South Wales for a few months when I was doing some fieldwork there. On first appearances, the housing and infrastructure looked quite run down, quite depressing. It's an odd juxtaposition between absolutely beautiful countryside, and quite ugly buildings. It also appeared like the people might be quite unfriendly to outsiders, with nationalist flags everywhere (although I get the sentiment of a Welsh flag is a bit different to that of an English one for example). But after spending a few weeks there, and getting to know people in the local pub, my god I loved it, I was so sad to leave. I think because I spent my working days in the stunning scenery, then my free time in the company of people who could not have been more friendly, (often at a lock in!), it was the perfect combination. We had the hills to ourselves, there were very few tourists, just a complete break from all hustle and bustle, all the middle class pretentiousness in pretty rural places. It was freeing, and noone was a posh stuck up knobber. You can't judge a book by it's cover.

....and also St Bees in Cumbria, the locals wouldn't let my husband pee in the loo, kept blocking him!

Sofia because it's such a huge place to condem like all of the south East

That's weird me and my other half had a day out in Ludlow, it's got some nice shops and a market, it was during covid when you could go in a pub to sit down and eat. We got shown to a table, place was full, more people coming in and getting served after us. They just left us sat there for about half an hour, no drinks or anything. We had a baby with us and were knackered. Felt like they hated us. We got up and walked out and got a kebab. Ludlow is meant to be a foodie town 🤔

This is bizarre. Ludlow's famous for its food culture. There are pubs and cafes and a market selling local produce several times a week. There's a Tesco superstore and an Aldi right in town, a short walk from the station. Did you not ask for directions to them?

Newport Isle of Wight is where I was born - it's even grimmer now than it was when I was living there as a child, boarded up shops, nothing to do and dodgy people everywhere, McDonalds and bus stops constantly being smashed up etc.

Newport Wales I share your feelings. I went there for a passport interview last year and felt weirdly unsafe and unsettled walking around there. Swindon has similar vibes - never wanted to leave anywhere faster than those two places.

The Bournville area of Weston Super Mare at night, in the rain. That was a bit grim.

Lawrence Hill/Easton in Bristol. Used to get chased up the cycle path by druggies whenever I passed through on my bike. At least it made me cycle faster.

Honourable mention to Wrexham, too. Jesus.