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.

Mind you Bradshawgate isn't what it was. When I went out it was Chester Moonshines, Yates, Maxims, Corks wine bar, The Pavilion. Don't recognise it now

Agree with Dudley but Brierley Hill is worse. Never seen so many people wearing those fleeces with animal pictures on them!!

Jamdonut - I relocated to the seaside from 'outside' too and I love it here! Plus you can't beat how much house we got for our money, it's the envy of all our friends down south and five minutes walk from the sea

My home town is wigan and compared to nearby town centers its not that bad. Lots of shops and usually quite busy. They've spent quite a bit of money on it over the last few years. I like shopping in Bolton too. Best new look ever.

I now live near Preston and that's a dump! Why isn't it pedestrianised (is that a word?). It's the most awful place to shop and that bus station needs knocking down. The railway station need refurbing too.

Rhyl is awful. We used to go when we were kids and loved it. I don't think it was always awful. I loved the sun centre.

i have many fond memories of ikon met many a ne,ver do well there i especially liked how you had topaddle out of the toiletswhen thet flooded at the end of the night.

Chesterfield. Stopped off there mid-train journey a few years ago, had a bloody quick walk around. Gave me the creeps.

Skegness, 2009. I'd like to say I was just passing through but I wasn't . Makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.

How has no-one mentioned Chatham? It's not so much the shops but the general feeling of the place. Even M&S thought it was below it and moved out!

Yy to Castleford. Known locally alongside neighbouring Pontefract as Cas Vegas and Ponte Carlo!

Oh god yes Brierly Hill. Shudder.

Balsall Heath used to be dire. DF nearly got his flat burnt down by prostitutes using his porch as a smoking shelter.
All those outlying South Birmingham high streets are grim. Mosley, SellyOak, Northfield, Rednal and further out Redditch, Kidderminster and Bromsgrove.

Places with cheap housing and no soul.

At least handsworth and sparkbrook for all their problems have a spirit and an identity.

You only live Northfield until etc until you've saved enough money to move.

I think people have been a bit unfair to Stevenage on this thread - ok so it is a bit of a shithole in the centre, but at least it has some decent shops. If you are looking at crappy town centres in that area the award surely has to go to Hatfield?!

Others I nominate are Kettering (although I do have fond childhood memories as it is near where my grandparents used to live and we used to love going to Wicksteed Park!).

And also - Mabelthorpe in Lincolnshire. It was just so awful it was actually a bit chilling....

Bolton

Dewsbury

Dover

Barry

I love mablethorpe beach!!

Modem or Ballymoney.

Morden even.

Mablethorpe! That brings back some interesting memories. Ex-h and I (back in the days before dcs and while we still had motorbikes) decided that the name of the town was so bizarre that we'd spend a night, camping there on our way up to Whitby.

We still discuss the sheer awfulness of it! Horribly flat, absolutely nothing to do, not a decent pub to be seen and full of people who'd sunbathed for too long in their string vests...

Rhyll

Vile.

Lilac actually the beach was lovely at Mablethorpe was lovely - but the town part of it, urgh.

Coventry is dire, Rugby is worse but Bedworth saps the will to live.

Bradford

In defence of Redcar, yes it has been a bit run down for a while but there is a lot of regeneration happening at the moment. Once that's all finished and the sun starts to shine (I think most coastal towns are a bit grim in the winter!) it will be much better and more shops will be occupied.

And I bought a big 5 bedroom house right by the sea in Redcar last year for less than some people pay for their beach huts down south I lost my job last September so I'm now a big fan of the pound/budget shops!!

Redcar is going up in the world :o

Oh yeah just remembered, once went to Whitley Bay and that was a really strange place. It was just full of blokes getting absolutely leathered at like 11am!

Also thought Redcar was a bit shit as well actually but shall take your word for it AllDirections that it is going up in the world!

Can't believe no-one has mentioned Ashington in Northumberland. There's a dump for you. At least St Helens (which has had a few mentions) has an M&S. Oldham and Widnes also worse than St Helens. My H who travels to lots of courts for his job nominates Bedford and Northampton.

Rococopop yay another St Evenage resident! We only recently moved here from St Albans and yes, there are downsides but really its perfectly nice - we went to fairlands valley park this morning - fab!