What do you think is the worst city centre in the UK and why?

[OneLilacHedgehog]

So many cities have gone downhill since COVID. But which is the worst?

Nottingham!

It's nice to see Peterborough mentioned only once. Whoever did forgot the 1930's lido.

I was meaning more the state of them as in how people treat them. Spit, rubbish, grafitti and dog shit everywhere, it's absolutely vile. Why is society becoming so disgusting and why does it seem to have such a lack of self care?

I don’t live there but use to work not far away and indeed there are some lovely areas; Mapperley, The Park, Wollaton, (the university is nearby in a beautiful campus) etc. I visited some of the homes of my colleagues and many lived in beautifully restored Victorian houses. Traffic is challenging though. And what used to be a great shopping area in the city centre, is, let’s say, struggling.

I agree. People don't seem to have any civic pride any more.

I love visiting Liverpool but it has the dirtiest streets I have ever seen in any city. There is evidence of so many bodily fluids everywhere. When I come home from a visit I have to disinfect the wheels on my case before taking it into the house.

Oh that is such a shame to hear. It used to have a thriving outdoor market and really excellent India restaurants and was genuinely thriving and busy with a young g population. What on earth happened?

It’s beyond tragic that the construction of HS2 has been so catastrophically badly managed given the huge sums of public money that has been sunk in to it. Hopefully it will make a difference to Birmingham but really disappointing it won’t go as far as Manchester now.

Peterborough- utterly soulless.

nah, it’s not that deep…

My y11s always say that and it makes me laugh 😂

Well, it’s true.

Totally agree about Liverpool- fab city- went there recently and has a great atmosphere and seems to have loads going on.

Maybe we should have a thread about cities and towns worth visiting?

It really isn’t if you came in on the A41. Finchley Road is the same as it always was and then you go through to St John’s Wood and Baker Street. If you come in on the Edgware’s road that has always been dire through Cricklewood etc

Do you now? You're talking about me not to me, I find that quite rude.

How does anyone know what is the worst city centre in the UK unless they've been to them all?

I hear Luton is pretty dreadful but I've never been there ... that's my contribution.

so we can’t have an option on anything until we’ve tried all other options then? The OP clearly states they are asking for opinions- just that. Doesn’t have to be factually correct. I can have a favourite biscuit but I haven’t tried them all

Or Scotland's...ranging from Perth (royal burgh since 1125) to Dunfermline (granted city status in 2022). Small in comparison to London, but cities nonetheless. I would also put a word in for the "cathedral cities" of Dunblane and Brechin (population less than 9,000 each!). None would be on a list of worst city centres though.

I like cities in general, and while I don't know Barnsley well, I always used to like other cities in Yorkshire. My DM lived in Sheffield for years. I also used to like Leeds, parts of Halifax, but almost all towns and cities are being hollowed out by the loss of small retailers who can't offer the choices of online shopping and greedy councils charging silly money for parking. I see a close correlation between reasonable on street parking rules and healthy central shopping areas.

Interesting thread, thanks OP, spoiled only by pedants arguing whether a place is a city or town (who cares, OP was just wanting opinions..it's so boring, I don't care whether you're right or wrong)
I agree with most posters re the worst of our cities (& towns) but was pleased to see Barnsley getting some love!
They've always, in my opinion, had a forward-looking council who make good choices that other places could benefit from.

@cornflakecrunchie , you can't compare a big city to somewhere like a suburb or commuter town. It's boring seeing the same old towns being slagged off when it's a thread about city centres.

OK, Slough isn't a city, so it doesn't have a city centre.

But in the 80s and early 90s it had a thriving town centre with two indoor shopping centres, a multiplex cinema, and a busy high street with all the popular clothes shops, M&S, BHS, and Waitrose.

I hope it doesn't change with the present incumbents.

@coldcalling , That was in the 1980s! Hardly anyone had an internet connection then.
The town centre is nothing like that now but Windsor is only about 2.5 miles away.

If you start calling towns cities, would you call nearby Gerrards Cross, Windsor or Egham cities? Reading is more comparable to a city but I don't think I would go there for shopping when I could go to to London.

No. Croydon has a special kind of vileness that cannot be extrapolated to the rest of London. I'm up for redrawing the boundary.

I live in Liverpool. Moved here from the North East ❤️