What's the worst place you've ever been in the UK?

[In2mindsss]

Ill go first.

Morecambe. Nice views but proper creepy.

Luton, Watford and Croydon for me - the trap of being london-ish but without the benefits of London don’t make sense to me at all.

So many crazy generalisations on this thread it’s untrue. I did some work with academics in Sheffield recently so walked through the city lots and never once saw a drug addict shooting up… I hope no one is actually deterred from visiting some places mentioned on here.

I travel around the UK as a solo female often and I can count on one hand the amount of places I’ve genuinely felt a bit unsafe, especially at night. Banbury is one, Birmingham another but granted I wasn’t there long and only saw a snapshot, Whitehaven in the Lakes was another too and the area outside Doncaster station wasn’t great.

Basildon.

Jaywick beach is nice.

Don't know where Mersey Island is? I live not far from Mersea Island and it's rather nice.

Would be interested to find out where the place in Essex near Stansted was?

Isle of Sheppey, every bit of it. Horrible place and I get a feeling like a drop in my stomach when I start the drive over the bridge on the occasions I need to go there. The main town of Sheerness is probably the most depressing town and the surrounding areas not much better. Plus there’s three prisons

In fairness, that’s not an assessment of the town. I found it unremarkable but not awful, admittedly years ago. But I’ve met people who work there, went to university there and others who grew up and moved back home to there and all have good things to say about it, sometimes to the point of active enthusiasm

Hull has amazing museums.

Oh my goodness, yes! I did the three Peaks. Scarfell Pike was our 2nd mountain after Ben Nevis, the night before. We started climbing at 6.30 in the morning. The mist/fog was dense, the scree was a wall of black. To be fair, it was supposed to be a challenge, but I thought I'd die on that mountain. Bleak, threatening, ominous, dire.

Also, Kidsgrove. We were on a canal boat holiday, tbf, 30 years ago...but moored up and went into the centre...again, threatening and felt v unsafe. Couldn't get out of there fast enough.

I agree. But only a certain part.

DS is a swimmer and swims at Ponds forge. The area just around it is extremely depressing and deprived. Shame really because the square is full of lovely indie shops and cafes. Even the amazing bakery has recently closed down.

I live in an affluent suburb that everyone keeps telling me is lovely. But I hate it. Empty dead streets ( everyone drives, so you rarely see anyone on the streets). Fuck all to do. Extremely homogenous population in every way its possible to be homogenous.

The only thing I find entertaining is the extremely non-woke/politically correct school plays at my kids' primary.

Dudley. I lived there for a couple of years and felt so unwelcome. The locals would actually stop their conversations and stare when I walked into 'their pub'. And it's an absolute dump.

Diss was very depressing

I’m old enough to remember when Croydon was in Surrey. It’s definitely got larger, more built up and grimier. A lot of it seems like a large road system with houses round it. Like so many places unfortunately

This was my vote too. I was there twice, once in such dense fog it really felt like a horror movie.

Also @PinkNBlueBunnies Wastwater is utterly foreboding and malevolent, to use your perfect words. You go there and yearn for a feeling of connectiveness, or failing that, a Spar or Co op!

Yes! Went to a couple of hen do's there, it was colloquially known as "Crufts".
Shit hole places; Slough, Bedford, Birmingham, Hayes, Southall, Blackpool and Gorton, Manchester, although the people were quite friendly and helpful there.

Hartlepool. One of the worst place in the NE which is saying something as there are some right shitholes there.

I am really surprised no one has mentioned Huddersfield yet.

Oban, really? It's so pretty and nice!

Add in the way that councils encourage the likes of newly released prisoners to move to the old boarding houses in run down seaside resorts and you quickly realise why places like Morecambe and Blackpool have become such shitholes. Will get worse now that asylum seekers are being redistributed into hmos all over the country. Just moving the problems around without giving support to the police, councils, nhs, social services etc in the affected areas. Morecambe downfall started in the 80s when “problem” tenants were literally bussed in to occupy the otherwise empty bedsits and boarding houses once the uk seaside holiday industry collapsed due to foreign package holidays - it’s never recovered in the 40/years since.

Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. Got weird, spooky vibes.

You'll have to be more specific. That does not narrow it down 😁

I drove through Middlesborough earlier in the year, it seemed a sad, depressed dump bestrewn with England flags.

Yep and Jingles in Southall, which was fab!

Jaywick, Isle of Sheppey, Bournemouth, Peterborough, Crawley, Hastings.

blackpool

but we all know its stags and hens on weekends. It certainly aint cheap nor cheerful. Boarded up fronts and nasty foreign blokes on street corners.