Ever visited somewhere for the day and been really disappointed?

[Summerhouse2013]

We travelled to Yeovil in Somerset yesterday for the day, wow, we were so disappointed.

It was like a ghost town. Most of the shops were shut, only a handful were open. And towards the bottom area of the town most of the shops were completely closed down.

I'd always got the impression there was a lot more to Yeovil.

We left after an hour as there was nothing to do.

@TheaBrandt I live Paris. But shopping and drinking alcohol does not sound an attractive holiday to me.

York is a fantastic place to live and visit – if you're able to avoid the city centre on a weekend, and enjoy it mid-week. (Which I know just isn't feasible for a lot of people.)

Dildo Brigade, haha! I'm laughing but it is spoiling the city for residents and normal visitors alike. I had relatives visit and we went out for a rare Saturday night meal in town – they were appalled at the state of some of the hen parties. There's 'lively' and then there's just disgusting.

Surprised to see Bristol mentioned so many times. I thought everyone else loved it... assumed it was just us who thought it was crap!

I’m a Bath lover so would definitely encourage people to see for themselves. The Costume Museum is fantastic. The Assembly Rooms are worth seeing if you’re a Regency fan. The Roman Baths are great. The Abbey is worth a wander, the city is nice to walk around in and there are good places to eat. The newish Bath Spa is lovely if you have time to go there (must book in advance).

I agree with Dublin, I found it quite limited compared to lots of other European cities. The people and the nightlife was good- if ridiculously expensive.

Yeah. I know!I work in a school so it's strictly weekends and school holidays for me too- but you can pick your times of day or days of the week. And I mentioned places to to eat because that seems to be what people complain about- expensive cafes, not being able to find anywhere nice for lunch etc.

I’ve also managed to be in York city centre at the weekend and not encounter the hordes. I know they’re there, and the station is a sight, but they tend to be in specific parts of the city. There are no stags wandering round the fabulous Castle and Railway museums for example!

Have you been recently? There were always issues but the decline since the pandemic has been horrifying.

I lived in Mill Road in the 90s and it was definitely the quirky/hippie place

Just had a look at Yeovil on google earth. The cover picture is of Betfred and the first place I landed for a walk around was Burger King on Wine Street 🤣

the absolute accuracy of this @Squamata 😂

Dublin - very unexciting and small Temple bar area and security guards visible in all the cheap shops across the river.

Some people are travelling very far for a day!!

Frisco used to be lovely but now a cesspit. LA getting the same way.

I was thinking that 😂

Glastonbury was awful. Full of unfriendly locals and ridiculous prices, even the parking on a Sunday was a rip off

I’m disappointed to see Oxford so often on this list too but I’m not surprised. The Westgate centre has killed retail on Broad Street and Cornmarket and the three Blackwells shops are the only vestiges worth visiting. Every other shop sells overpriced Harry Potter tat. The covered market os a shadow of what it used to be. The marlin in the roof is pretty far out of town and Headington is otherwise a pretty unremarkable suburb! These days if friends ask for recommendations I send them away from the city centre, either down the High to the Botanical Gardens and Magdalen or past Keble for the NHM and PR.

This isn't for the day but a couple of hours. Morpeth was a big disappointment to walk around and the cafe we were in was like fawlty towers. They couldn't get anything right and left us waiting for ages, huge gaps between bringing over our groups meals despite being quite empty, bringing the kids stuff last so they were getting upset as hungry, not charging for one (not immediately aware due to the £££ prices for simple things.) not able to do a simple cheese toastie despite admitting they had cheese and bread "but we've run out of toasties" at the end we half expected not to be a candid camera thing they were that bad over really simple things.

Hever Castle. It was over commercialised and even though it is full of history, it just didn't feel real to me.

@My3cents1
I think LA is improving!
Shows how subjective this whole thread is. One woman's heaven is another's hell!

I may be able to explain that!

There is a sealed off alcove in one of the rooms where occult activity was carried out by one of the Morgan family who owned it. It was described to me as "black magic" but that could mean anything. However it does give off a certain unpleasant vibe which has resisted all attempts to get rid of so the decision was made to seal it off.

The NT keep it very quiet and don't mention it.

That’s because it’s not real. The Astors recreated all the Tudor stuff. Same with Bamburgh. Amazing castle to look at but the Armstrongs redid all the medieval stuff in the last century so it’s a strange mix.

Oxford does seem to have suffered post pandemic.

Brighton. Dirty, scruffy, run down.

The Costume Museum is all in storage down in Warminster for the foreseeable future because the National Trust enforced a break clause in the lease of the Assembly Rooms.

The council pinned their hopes on getting £'millions from the government levelling up fund...and were turned down.

So we have a lot of costumes costing a fortune to store a building we can't afford to renovate and no income to pay the interest/costs.

That's why the centre of town is looking a bit tatty; the council is extremely strapped for cash.

Yeovil is definitely not a day trip kind of place! It's not even pretending to be that kind of place.