To nominate as the country's worst town centre....

[moogster1a]

...Rochdale.
Good God it's a god forsaken place. There appears to be half a dozen payday loan shos, a few poundland things and some mobile 'phone shops.
It's got so bad that even maccy d's has shut down.
It's only redeeming feature is that Gabbots farm is still clinging on.

WannaBeWildCosMyLifesSoTame"I'm just waiting to see when where I grew up gets mentioned - it always does on these threads "

mine already has.

Barking?
I was driving through Barking the night Frank Warren got shot ( the boxing promoter)

You don't get that kind of excitement in Daggers Worra

Another vote for Newport here.

Avoid if possible.

Whithernsea (but has potential)

Mitcham

Tooting Bec

Wandsworth Town

Putney

Gosport

Quintessentially Sorry but I am big time vetoing Putney and Wandswroth Town from your list

Putney High st- come one, what more do you want from a High ST? Waitrose, M&S, loads of charity shops where rich people leave good stuff.....

Wandsworth Town- on grounds that Dave's Pantry is there which does amazing sausage and onion marmalade ciabattas. The rest is mere detail

I sort of agree re Tooting Bec BUT the Kwik fit people are very nice so that redeems it

Nobody's mentioned two of my biggest horrors (mainly thinking of nightlife rather than daytime but both pretty poor imo):

Darlington
Bridgwater

Agree with:
Northampton
Luton
Spennymoor
Stockton
Stoke

I don't think Aylesbury's that bad and actually quite like Milton Keynes (attractive it is not but it has everything you could ever want)

Seriously, in Colchester, business rates are so high, people can't afford to open nice shops or cafes. Even the market is shite. The rental is steep for the pitches, and shoppers are so disheartened, nobody spends any money. The town doesn't necessarily need money spent on it, it needs to cut traders some slack.

I got thrown off the nice towns thread for mentioning Croydon. Croydon Croydon Croydon Croydon Croydon Croydon Croydon Croydon Croydon. So there.

Dear god- I spent a day in Newport waiting for my passport once. I couldn't shake the feeling that I had never quite found the town centre. Alas, I think it was just that it was a hole...

Has anyone said Sunderland?
Horrid place.

Quint, What's wrong with Putney?
OK, I've never lived there, but visited a friend there a few times and it seemed nice*

*He was loaded, so possibly my view of Putney was from the best part of it.

Not read the entire thread, as it's late & I'm tired.

I come from Aldershit, it is & has always been as described.

i lived in Oldham for a few years, close enough to Rochdale ( & just as bad) TYVM.

I agree, it's a hole, & deteriorating.

DSIS is a manager of a shop in Putney, rather her than me from the stories she tells.

I live in Glasgow now, my closest shopping complex is Clydebank.

So we go into the city centre if we are looking for any particular thing, as there is no hope unless you look on the internet.

Which of course we do

Netto superstar, what's "horrid" about Sunderland? It could do with a boost shop wise and it's always overshadowed by Newcastle but there nothing horrid about it IMO. Nice people up here too.

Not sure what Birmingham is doing on this list, the city centre shopping is excellent.

< Waves to Smethwick Belle> I even like our neck of the woods, though people get a bit sniffy when you mention Smethwick.

'artlepool, tbf the whole of the north east needs flushing. Sadly, this is where DH hails from

I'm not sure why someone mentioned Solihull, as a shopping centre it is great. I can't think where there is a canal close to it either. Chelmsley Wood now, that is a different story.

Poor Stoke-On-Trent.
It's the only place I know where the park-and-ride is actually in the town centre.

I used to laugh at the signs for it "park and ride for Hanley" hmm, I may be mistaken but isn't Hanley about 6 foot away? Crazy place.

Can't believe it got to page 9 before Huddersfield was mentioned. It didn't used to be gthat bad (honest) but it really is a dump now

northcountrygirl - I was about to post the very same thing! I don't hail from Huddersfield originally but that's where we live at the moment. Lived here since 2008 and it has gone downhill quite a bit even since then.

Where I'm from hasn't been mentioned, but DH is from a village near St. Helens, so that was practically his town centre. I must admit it was a shit night out and I didn't get the displeasure to visit Nexus and safe to say I've only ever had one proper night out there.

Too many ands in that last sentence :s That's what I get when I haven't slept yet - apologies!

popoozle It's all relative I suppose! I guess i've been lucky with the places I'be lived. Sn'ozzel has moved up a notch or two in recent years too.
wonders if she can get away with slagging off Crawley again

SWINDON! Swindon Swindon 10x Swindon!

Abandon hope all ye who enter Birkenhead.

Well, I've read these posts and have come to conclusions:

1. Most of the nominated towns are south of Scotland and north of a line from, say Rhyl to Folkestone. Yes there are some further south but I did say most.
2. The expansion of clone department stores into town centres has pushed out smaller traders. Can anyone name an independent chemist? No, it's all Boots, Lloyds, Superdrug or inside supermarkets
3. Larger businesses opening up in retail parks has drawn customers away from towen centres.
4. Car park charging has pushed customers away from town centres. I would never drive to the shops in Reading. Yes, I know they want to push onto the buses but how can you carry lots of heavy things home on the bus and then a 20 minute walk?
5. Business rates are astronomical for small businesses so they cannot afford to set up in a town centre.
6. I have been familiar with places like Croydon for many years and know exactly what posters are talking about. Yes, I will be shot down but people from abroad, including tourists, bring their living habits with them and do not care about our history or architecture. They spit in the street and leave litter and open their smelly eating establishments - with questionable kitchens.
7. Lack of Post Offices (small or large). Why don't we have 'Crown Post offices' any more - another historical demise. We were first to have post offices. Bring them back!

I have been to Bath recently and thought it was lovely (didn't see all of it though) I noticed that McD's did not have its usual red fascia board - it had to fit in with the unobtrusive appearance of the other shops. Yes, there were department stores but they were newly stone built. Incomers have to fit in because it's a World Heritage Site. Good for the planners there.

I live in West Berkshire near Reading and Reading Council seems to have no idea of how to promote it as a tourist destination. It has an Abbey dating from 1121 and let it fall into disrepair. It has lovely pre-Victorian buildings with too many bits of street furniture in front of them so you can't see them properly. Postcards of Reading (as far as I've seen) are available only from the Town Hall shop or WH Smith and too many of them are of places well outside Reading instead of within Reading. Visitors would not know where to buy postcards.

Let's put the whole thing down to local authorities that spend Council Tax on mickey mouse projects just so they can use up that year's income instead of looking forward. If they were to reduce car park charges, the income of the smaller shops in town centres would rise.

I'll stop now because I need breakfast. And I bet some of you didn't read it all

oo sagyy i used to live in Colchester and thought was ok but Clacton or Frinton

Always find Stevenage ok when i have been