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Original poster

Things that have ruined your impression of a place

113 replies

Eleventween · 09/09/2023 18:09

We stopped off in Hereford yesterday on the way back from a family holiday. We'd had an enjoyable afternoon and had been pleasantly surprised by what a lovely city it is. Before we set off for home, we decided to get a McDonalds from the drive-through. The man in the next lane thought we'd cut out in front of him and a full road rage outburst ensued. He jumped out of his car and threatened to smash our window, hurled a torrent of abuse at DH and terrified our two preschoolers who were in the back! I'm sure that whenever I think of Hereford now, that's what I'll remember. It's really annoyed me! What is yours?

OP posts:
TheClitterati · 09/09/2023 20:40

Camden in the 90's - possibly still now. Great for music but streets are invariably covered in vomit 🤮

Thatsmorethanhalf · 09/09/2023 20:41

Unusualactualname · 09/09/2023 19:42

Long time ago I was travel sick on the M5 and we diverted into Tewkesbury. I've never been able to feel positively about the place.

Pukesbury?

QueenOfHiraeth · 09/09/2023 20:50

Glastonbury. I wanted to go for ages as I love weirdy-woo stuff but I felt really uneasy, on edge and queazy the whole time we were there. It crept up on me as we approached it and eased off as we drove away

My other one is slightly different as it's a place I've never been to - Jersey. Some older relatives of DH have close friends from there who we have seen at lots of family events over the year. They and their adult children are rude in a very snidy, superior and dismissive way to the point that it has given me an irrational dislike of somewhere (probably lovely!) that I have never visited

Floopyfloop · 09/09/2023 20:51

Lanzarote was lovely within the resorts but when travelling from the airport to the resort, I thought what the hell have we come to! It was derelict buildings and graffiti everywhere!

haveyouopenedyourbowelstoday · 09/09/2023 20:52

Malta. I was sick on the plane there and continued to be sick for most of my time there. Properly toilet hugging.
Won't go back!!

iamwhatiam23 · 09/09/2023 22:47

ShowOfHands · 09/09/2023 20:01

Whitby. Had always wanted to go and stopped for an overnight on the way home from Scotland. Never seen such drunken aggression. We had wandered to the front to buy fish and chips and to watch the sun set and instead, watched a terrifying fight and scarpered as the police arrived and bottles were thrown at them.

I'm sure it was a one off though and people are always surprised.

Mine is Whitby as well! I got a mouthful of abuse for " driving to slowly" whilst allowing people to cross the road. Then went into a famous fish restaurant to be met with the rudest staff and sub par food ive ever had. I was so disappointed because i had wanted to visit for years.

SpamFrittersYouSay · 09/09/2023 23:08

Colchester... man in a van became irate when we parked next to him in a car park!

Land's End... eleventy million people with a queue for miles in order to be photographed by the sign , which had to be paid for.

Newquay . I thought it was a rural, Cornish idyll. It wasn't.

SugarPlumpFairy3 · 09/09/2023 23:17

Ternrriefe.

Went on my first holiday without parents at 17 and remember how utterly infested the whole place was with cockroaches. Like the whole pavement SWARMING 🤢.

Won’t go back there nor to ANY Canary Island over 25 years later.

HarrietSchulenberg · 09/09/2023 23:25

Agree about Lands End. When I first went as a child it felt isolated and wild but it's just a crappy theme park now. Lizard Point is much better but even that has its commercial enterprises.
St Ives is somewhere I will never go back to, at least not in the summer. The crowds were so bad I was lifted off my feet at one point, and I'm tall and solid.

AnIndianWoman · 09/09/2023 23:29

The amount of racist chavs at Cadbury World. I still struggle to believe I was called the P word 10 x in a single 4 hour visit.

LessYappingMoreDoing · 09/09/2023 23:36

@Thatsmorethanhalf 😂

LessYappingMoreDoing · 09/09/2023 23:37

@IWasFunBeforeMum that is so sad 😢
@AnIndianWoman That is awful!

notacooldad · 09/09/2023 23:42

Union jacks/St George flags on flagpoles in Dorset (and similar) towns and villages
What is your problem with the union flag being displayed?
Virtually every country I go to in mainland Europe someone has their countries flag displayed.
When I go to America I see the American flag being displayed.
In my town I see flags of a different country flying that is not England/UK.
Getting back on track about things that have ruined my impression of a place.
Jamaica - constant hassle for money all the time and a feeling that something was about to kick off.
Albania- Many beautiful parts of the country but in a lovely spot there was so much litter dumped.
Estonia/ Morocco- corrupted police . They wanted paying off for offenses that never happened. It was easier to give in than face the consequences.
Ukraine- older people being so rude and dismissive of me because I was English. They could see I was in distress. The younger population in Kyiv were nice though. (2019/2020)

Rudderneck · 09/09/2023 23:43

AnIndianWoman · 09/09/2023 23:29

The amount of racist chavs at Cadbury World. I still struggle to believe I was called the P word 10 x in a single 4 hour visit.

That seems so odd, probably just chance I suppose, but now I am wondering if there is something about Cadbury?👀

Doesthishurt · 10/09/2023 00:10

Poland.
Never been, but live in a part of UK with a very high number of Polish people, they are rude, ignorant and very critical of UK Nationals. One co worker recently had a go at British girls, saying they acted like ladies of the night ( I won't use her word) and had a problem with drink and, oh no, British girls' skirts are too short. This was said while I was driving this "user friendly" person home, have never given her a lift since.

ALongHardWinter · 10/09/2023 00:22

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 09/09/2023 19:19

When I was pregnant with DS I went into a local sweet shop and a customer walked backwards (like, why do people do that?) into me.

Never went back. Always worried I’d be barged out of the way. DS is 20 now, you’d think I’d be over it.

I've wondered the same thing! Over the last couple of years,I think I must have had people walking backwards into me on several dozen occasions! What makes it even more annoying is that they often act like I'm the one in the wrong,for having the audacity to be in their way!

RicherThanYews · 10/09/2023 00:29

@Floos My apologies. Perhaps it is not the common parlance where you're from. A mental case is a nut job, a basket case, a lunatic, a psycho or, a maniac if you will.

The woman went on a 12 minute tirade about the size of a portion of chips, she was batshit crazy and becoming increasingly violent.

(Should I have added that I have several diagnosed mental illnesses? That seems to be the done thing doesn't it. Psychological evaluations are available upon request).

Gillstuck · 10/09/2023 00:43

Burnham Market in North Norfolk. Pretty village where we'd booked a holiday cottage. Never come across such a high concentration of egotistical, entitled, ill-mannered, loaded idiots. I may go back, just to gawp.

UnconventionalLife · 10/09/2023 00:44

Union Jack's in Belfast- hated seeing them. In fact Belfast in general. Didn't like the vibe there at all.

LocalHobo · 10/09/2023 00:46

The streets full of the homeless in Vancouver, and the fact locals didn't seem to see them or acknowledge an issue.

Cattybombati · 10/09/2023 02:21

I was walking across street in Scarborough and I think my big weekend bag brushed gently across this guy. He whispered 'bitch' to me in this really creepy sinister way. Think it would have been less grim if he'd shouted it.

HerRoyalNotness · 10/09/2023 02:34

We were trying to convince a friend to move to the town we just moved to. Went in a bakery to buy some lunch and she asked for tongs to get something out of the display. The cashier made a pincer gesture with her hands. Put her off and she moved to a much trendier, posher town instead 😂

echt · 10/09/2023 02:36

When I moved to Melbourne I was amazed at the way utilities were and still are strung out between poles along streets. It looked like a Third World country. The concomitant was very smooth roads, unspoilt by the constant need to dig the buggers up. Also makes excellent possum highways and perches for birds.

I soon didn't see the eyesore effect.

As more stuff is being put underground, the roads are being dug up.

Maraudingmarauders · 10/09/2023 03:14

In Dijon when pulled over (safely with plenty of room for cars to get passed) I went into our hotel to ask them to raise the doors for their underground garage. To less than 5 minutes, but by the time I came out a man had blocked the road and was busy shouting at DH (in French of course, but we got the gist) and refusing to rive past him. In fairness to the people of Dijon the two people behind him seemed to be on our side and were shouting at him, but it took the shine off a lovely stay and is still Dh's over riding memory of an otherwise beautiful city. that and accidentally ordering beer with some kind of fruit cordial in it.

Robotalkingrubbish · 10/09/2023 03:19

Mounds of dog shite along the seafront in Alcossebre, Spain. It’s the only place in Spain that was like that.

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