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?

Went to uni in MCR. It was cool but livable back then (2009-2015). It seems to have gone really upmarket now. Still enjoy visiting now and again though!

I'm not sure why you're so cross?

Obviously it's not a city (I said that in my last post) but it's still somewhere with a centre that used to be good and now isn't.

Thanks for pointing out that hardly anyone had an internet connection in the 80s 😁

Not the worst city in the UK, but I think Cambridge is the most overrated in the country.

I used to work there. It has beautiful buildings linked to the university, but aside from this it is actually quite a dump. It has rubbish shops too. If you go into London they have all the latest season whereas they give Cambridge all the boring dud. Every other shop is now a bubble tea shop.

There seems to be way more homeless people there too, and many with mental health issues. This is possibly because there were 2 homeless shelters and one closed a few years ago. I was there a few weeks ago and one woman walked up to everyone she passed and called them a XXXXing CXXX. There were quite a few shocked tourists/ parents dropping off their students! There is so much money knocking about there, they should actually try and help the homeless there.

I’ve been to a few cities and big towns in the last year as looking to move house. I live in a moderately rough part of London and expected to find everywhere else an oasis in comparison. It’s really not, most places have the same issues of vape shops, empty units etc.

Lovely : Truro, Guildford, Chichester, Kingston
bit rough: Brighton, a lot of Bristol. Thought Birmingham was fine but was just in the centre.

I'm not. I'm just amazed that anyone would go to Maidenhead or Slough expecting to find a city centre there.
They're big towns population-wise but not town centre-wise.

I had to think about when we got the internet. I think in the mid 90s ordering clothes was via the Next Direct catalogue.

I was born in Gloucester and Salisbury looks fabulous now in comparison!

I used to live in Bingley 6 miles from Bradford. Left in 1990. Used to go and visit reg up to 2000. I went back there for the last time to Bingley in 2011. OMG

Then the last time in Bradford centre was around 2008/9 time. I was mortified by it. Run down is not the word for it.

Middlesbrough is another one. Only ever went once. That was enough.

My apologies to those who live there as it can't be pleasant to read.

Bradford especially was hard as I had lived there once for 6 years

@GoldTie , Bristol is one of those places that has some nice parts but most of it is grim.

That’s fine but let’s not describe people as if they are eyesores. They are first and foremost fellow humans.

The vast majority of people with substance addictions are not going to be a danger to you.

There is a moderate statistical increase in rush of violence with substance addiction but it’s a small statistical difference. The group in society with highest statistical chance of being violent are young men from socio economically disadvantaged areas.

The vulnerable people and people without homes you see living on the streets are not likely to harm you.

I think we need to be very mindful of our common humanity here. Anyone of us could end up in the same position after a series of traumatic life events.

Hull has really improved recently and actually has some nice bits now, these being the museum area, the marina, and the Humber Street area.

The main square (Queen Victoria Sq.) has an invisible line through the middle, dividing the relatively nice and scummy halves of the town centre, so it is fairly easy to just see the better bits.

The same in mine and yes, barber shops and vape / beauty shops are increasing which we know is a front for criminality. It used to be a lovely town too, and like the climate, the change is rapid

@PleasantPedant I went freelance in 1990 and got my first (numeric Compuserve) e-mail account about three, maybe four years later. In 1990, the Internet was pretty much academic institutions only IIRC. I used a fax machine until 1997-98, and I only remember that because a local GP occasionally popped by to send a secure document in privacy.

I had the misfortune of having an afternoon in Huddersfield last year, its top of my list.

I worked there for a year. My daughter went to Uni there.

Great amenities. Theatres, arenas, concert halls, shopping. Incredible sports scene. Huge university sector. Loads of interesting events. Genuinely successfully multicultural across generations. Digbeth and the canals.

The worst thing about Birmingham city centre is the A38 Queensway that bisects the urban fabric, but there are plans to repair where they can.

A racist visits Birmingham.

No, Bristol (like every big city) has some grim parts, but most of it is nice.

I was agreeing with the pp and their experience if that’s okay with you.

Most of the parts of it I've been to were grim and I lived there for years.

I quite like Southend and Leigh On Sea but then we’re not there late at night normally.

Birmingham is pretty grim but not as bad as some of the Northern big towns like Doncaster or Bradford in my opinion.

Peterborough was pretty ropey when we went there, although the cathedral is beautiful

I wouldn’t say Birmingham is successfully multicultural at all. The different minorities don’t mix well at all in the way they do in Central London. There are suburbs that are almost exclusively working class, white areas and others where the vast majority are south Asian or Bangladeshi for example. In London, I feel cultures are better integrated, for example, in the East End.

We were disappointed with Cambridge too, although it looks lovely in Ludwig

Some places have been awful for decades, eg Bradford or Luton.

But in terms of plummeting downhill recently I nominate (yes, I know it’s not a city but it’s quite big) Bournemouth. It is such a shame. It’s not only run down, but actually fairly scary. I suppose it has a lot of (declining in popularity) hotels which are used for housing. But the beautiful beach and sands are now full of people you really don’t want to share a day out with.

Where was this exactly?