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.

Telford, the place just makes me angry

Luton- Devil's arse hole. Seriously.
Stockon-on-Tee- Every shop there seems to sell fastfood or is a tanning shop. The swimming pool is good though.

Cannot believe no-one has mentioned Doncaster - it's worse than Rotherham...

Bridlington is pretty bad. Visited last year and the three hours we were there was more than enough.

Torquay
Agree with Spennymoor

Merthyr Tydfil christened by The Sun in the '80s as Merthyr Fiddlevil .

Another vote for Stevenage. Thank goodness it has good transport links so you can escape with ease!

Has nobody mentioned Grays? (Though I haven't been to Tilbury for a few years, which used to be even worse)

east kilbride

sorry but it is very grim

and in london mitcham (or maybe it is surrey, either way it is horrible)

Belle yes my parents live in Doncaster and it is not great

I have just remembered the worst place I have been to - Great Yarmouth. We were on holiday in Norfolk last year and we were due a rainy day so I persuaded DH to drive for over an hour to go to Great Yarmouth - what a mistake! It was grim, tacky and very depressing (and this is from me who loves Blackpool )

can I go to the opposite extreme and nominate Winchester for being (1) so posh and expensive in shopping terms that it could make almost anyone feel inadequate/envious/poor by day and (2) scary and dangerous at night. Great combination. Hate the place.

Yay, it took long enough for Grimsby/Cleethorpes and Immingham to be mentioned!! I grew up in a village up there and Immingham has always been an utter dump. I remember mapping the town centres as part of my GCSE geography course. Immingham was empty even in the late 80s. Freeman St has always been full of shite shops and was where the knocking shops were for men off the boats....
What makes me laugh is that there was somebody homesick enough in Canada to name another town there Grimsby!!

and Greys in Essex

named correctly

but it is not as bad as Tilbury only visited once that was enough

Another vote for Bracknell.

Then there's Basingstoke.

Grimsby is indeed grim.

I see your Spennymoor and Billingham and raise you Newton Aycliffe. Nowhere worse onthe face of the planet (or at least the UK).

The despair grabs you as you get off the bus...

Well, fuck my old boots. A million and one posts and Wolverhampton aka WolverTrampton has only had one mention! Wolves is so bad that even the cockroaches are queuing to get out.

at whoever said Brierley Hill with the animal fleeces. Sometimes me and my mum drive into the Merry Hill centre by taking route down Brierley Hill High St rather than the by-pass just so we can have a fleece-spotting contest.

strandedbear I went to school on Chelmsley Wood. I agree 'tis v grim.

Luton.
The best thing about that town is the road out of it.

I like the idea of the town where you can go fleece spotting.
Rochdale is full of women who are nude from the waist down. Actually, that's a little unfair, they wear what I would class as quite sheer black tights but seem to be under the illusion that they are trousers or leggings.
Without any exaggeration they are completely see through. one delightful young lady which me and DH were walking behind ( staring agog at a basically nude arse ) bent over ( probably to aid her DC with his Greggs.) I've never believed that your eyes could literally be on stalks till I glanced at DH.

Twas me Buppy! DH plays a game on Facebook which is a photo safari of animal fleeces. You have to get close enough to the wearer to take a photo and you get more points according to the type of animal eg a tiger would earn more points than a kitten! He reckons he gets the best ones in Asda at Brierley Hill

Oh Bupcakes thank you for the phrase fuck my old boots. My FILs all time favourite saying!

Aycliffe is indeed grim. But no-one bothers with the town centre as they are all in Tesco. Spennymoor is worse.

footballmum, a kindred spirit! Tell your DH that the Concord Market also has rich offerings.

Sorry FreudianSlipper, it's definitely Grays (it says so on my birth certificate!). God forbid there's two of them!

Mansfield, never recovered from the pits closing

Telford, no heart, no soul, no hope.

Derby, just all horribly wrong.

Have to agree about Colchester ,awful place (mind you Ipswich is not much better despite the new minuscule Waitrose)

Northampton a close second,feel very sad about this as I grew up there and have fond memories of cheese cakes at Lawrences (squashed in the back room),shopping in Admitts in the Drapery and even (showing my age )remember when the Grosvenor Centre was opened ...it was so exciting!

By the way Stowmarket is pretty dire too