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?

Yes Torquay sea front and harbour is lovely but the town centre is serious Grotsville. Although it was never that great but it had reasonable shops.

To inject some positive vibes to the thread, I like York (not on a Saturday night but otherwise), Lincoln, Liverpool, Cheltenham, Worcester, Winchester Guildford, Bury St Edmunds and Petersfield (not all cities).

I'll definitely not contemplate a move to Coventry then! I'm genuinely glad Glasgow is still impressing people.
Do look up the loss of the Art School and the ABC though, especially the fact that it burned down twice. That was an absolute tragedy to the heritage of the city.

I kind of get what you mean.
But surely people being homeless is the point, not how the tourists feel? This is people’s lives.

I'm a sucker for a city centre and haven't had any bad experiences with any, North or South.

A town which I found.... interesting was Annan in Scotland. We had a half day out there while staying in Stirling (we visit Scotland twice a year). The minute we turned up, all we saw was people fighting, screaming, glass bottles flying around - and this wasn't one isolated fight - there were at least three going on!

This was 11am, not the evening. We left sharpish.

@ArtieChoke

When did you last visit Coventry?

It was never and will never be a shopping mecca. But it is currently undergoing major redevelopment. Half of it is a building site, shops are emptying as the redevelopment progresses and relocating. Lots of new businesses coming in.
Arts scene is thriving - its far from a ghost town

gosh coventry was a great shopping centre back in the 1970s, M&S, BHS, Owens, Habitat. Used to love throwing pennies in the fountains and watching the peeping tom clock that was back when the housewives wore their curlers hilda ogden style in the shops on a Saturday

I try to avoid Coventry, to be honest and its easier to get to B/ham to shop

Ive been to coventry to coventry on the x17 in the last year

Manchester is an absolute shit hole and Liverpool comes a close second but many more who are high up on the list too - Derby, Leicester, Hull, Bradford to name but a few

Talking of Coventry and whether or not it’s a ‘ghost town’, I was just wondering if this is where the Specials had in mind with the song? As they came from Coventry I believe. Obviously this was over 40 years ago.

Wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned Gloucester, although I have to agree with you.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Manchester

Not a city, but the deterioration in Croydon since I last visited 20 years ago is both shocking & heartbreaking. Every local I spoke to was upset by it. Derelict shopping centres and high rises everywhere.
If new housing is needed that's where to start the regeneration, it has the infrastructure and transport links.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Dundee. Looks alright to me on Google Maps, but other threads like this elsewhere often give it very short shrift. Same with Carlisle. And there's some disagreement about Southampton but no mention at all of Northampton, which I believe may be another dump.

This is my local city. The main university campus is out of to wn a few miles and is like a mini city itself with many shops etc so some students just live there and don't ever need to venture to Lancaster.
Lancaster feels like a town more than a city and although it is not great for shops it has several redeeming features - a great castle and Priory and Ashton memorial and park on the outskirts. Like many towns and cities it is now looking a bit rundown and is replete with the obligatory Africans on ebikes and a few people looking like they're on drugs. I think most cities could do with much more of a police presence and strong enforcement of laws and a clean and tidy up. I do remember when people took pride in their cities/towns and they were bustling you only have to look at old photos from the 70s and 80s and even 90s/2000s to see how things have declined.

Of the bigger cities I have visited recently I disliked Birmingham the most. We were actually followed by an incoherent drug addict after money near china town. The place just felt a bit on edge and not very safe.

Bristol is my favourite. Maybe it’s because it’s the city I’m most familiar with but it’s buzzing and has a cool alternate vibe. It also feels safe, I’m happy to walk around there alone at night. Yes there are homeless people but they don't feel threatening like the ones in Birmingham and I’ve had many a random chat with them over the years.

went to Worcester recently and thought that was nice for a smaller city.

The outer suburb are bloody grim in parts! Had the same experience trundling round the North Circular. Absolute shithole.
I do really like the centre and central bits though - it's a kind of heaven and hell place. If I was rich I'd live in Hampstead.

I went to Plymouth recently and having not been there for many years was a bit surprised at how grim the centre was. But then are we not losing our high streets all over the UK? So I imagine this is similar with a lot of smaller/ mid sized cities as well as suburban parts of large cities. Very sad.

It is.

The outer suburbs are grim in parts in every town and city. Croydon town centre is dismal these days and so are some of the outer suburbs, but some of the outer suburbs are lovely and very upmarket.

My daughter and her friend went to Birmingham for the weekend, staying in a Travelodge right in the city centre. They arrived late on the Friday night by train and got so much hassle getting from the station to the hotel. Then they went shopping on the Saturday and again got hassled so much - they went back to the travelodge and stayed there til their train home the next day! They just ordered in food. She is on the autistic spectrum - i know it was an extreme reaction. But anyway that was her trip to Birmingham..

Huddersfield.

London is notable for just the sheer square mileage of the dystopia.

I met someone the other week who had recently moved to Aldershot - from Gloucester.

She was very complimentary about Aldershot and told me how grim Gloucester was.

Now, Aldershot is not very nice, although it has decent housing stock (ie not all from the 1960s onwards) and decent countryside around it (though the military keeps trying to exclude people from using it). So that does make me wonder how bad Gloucester is!

Yes I had to go there 2 years ago - what a shame as it clearly has very good bones I thought - that high st could be really nice and it’s nicely set

Aldershot isn't that bad. It's very much a military town. It probably wouldn't be a first choice of somewhere to move to.