Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

787 replies

moogster1a · 17/02/2012 22:15

...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.

OP posts:
eavers · 21/02/2012 22:26

Poole -great beaches but the town centre is grim

JosieZ · 21/02/2012 22:31

Not many mentions north of the border - I would like to think that that is because we have nicer towns but it's more likely that the locals see poundland, iceland and the local chippy as providing the epitomy of a weekly shopping experience.

Dumfries is a dump, avoid especially around 11am as that is when the local druggies get their methadone fix. Annoyingly the local Council still aim to make the 'town centre an inviting and vibrant place to visit' and pour thousands down the drain attempting to improve it when the money could be much better spent.

Kellamity · 21/02/2012 22:31

Ok so I found myself in Swindon town centre today. I retract my earlier comment and put Swindon at the top of my list!!!

Kayzr · 21/02/2012 22:33

My DP says Great Yarmouth. He was there for work last year and I have never known him moan so much.

Also Peterhead.

PatFenis · 21/02/2012 22:40

Haven't trawled through the whole thread - toooo long, there must be some proper shiteholes in the UK for the thread to be this long ....but has Holyhead been mentioned?

Jaaayhaysus I took the DC to Anglesey last year and the place we stayed in was idyllic but I could have cried when we drove to Holyhead, got out of the car and went around the 'town centre' ... most major stores were boarded up, there were cafes, restaurants even charity shops boarded up and most of the people were just shuffling around looking dead eyed - it was heartbreaking!

HarrietSchulenberg · 21/02/2012 22:51

Have we mentioned Telford yet?

upahill · 21/02/2012 22:53

Several times I believe Harriet!! Grin

oldqueenie · 21/02/2012 23:01

i see your luton and raise you a lowestoft... grim or what?

MissMogwi · 21/02/2012 23:11

I can't believe Hyde (in the NW) has not been mentioned.

We haven't even got a proper Poundland, just a plethora of charity shops, pawnbrokers and the Pound Bakery. It used to be a thriving market town years ago, and I remember us having a Menzies many moons ago.

All the 'good' shops are now in Denton or Stockport so Hyde is fast becoming a grey, miserable ghost town.

gaelicsheep · 21/02/2012 23:27

For those dissing Southport - Lord Street, Victorian shopping street anyone? Really nice. The seafront is crap however since it was redeveloped, not to mention that god awful sea wall that's turning the beach into marshland.

Now Farnborough, there's a shitehole. Closely followed by Perth (although I know many will disagree with me there).

Pornyissue · 22/02/2012 01:01

Tolworth

onwardandupwards · 22/02/2012 01:28

Take it no one has ever had the pleasure of visiting Andover in Hampshire? That is a crap place.

redpanda13 · 22/02/2012 09:34

JosieZ another north of the border suggestion - Paisley. I have no time to go through the nominations but surely Paisley has been mentioned several times. It is so grim. My DD wanted to know why there were so many 'grey people' in Paisley? Finally worked out she was not talking about older people but describing all the drug addicts and/or alcoholics wandering about.

Heleninahandcart · 22/02/2012 10:48

Slough again. Always has been.

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 22/02/2012 12:31

MissMogwi, i had a meeting in Hyde the other week, not far from the ASDA. TBH i thought I'd found a wormhole back to 1976. 'Tis a very sorry looking place.

gramercy · 22/02/2012 12:40

Not read all thread but surely someone has mentioned Merthyr Tydfil? I've seen some dumps, but that was one place where I was a bit leery about getting out of the car. All the shops had grilles on them (during the day).

kerala · 22/02/2012 12:42

Has Thetford come up yet? A place drained of hope experienced a moment of pure misery standing outside the Iceland there. ILs inexplicably live there.

MackerelOfFact · 22/02/2012 12:50

I would nominate South Woodham Ferrers in Essex.

There is a large Asda, which owns all the other shops in the town centre (probably about 70-100 units). Rents are prohibitively expensive and can't compete price-wise with the supermarket, so every single shop that is not either a salon or a takeaway closes down after less than a year. Subsequently, there are lots of places to buy hot food or have your hair done, but nowhere to do anywhere else.

I grew up there and it's still the same now.

MackerelOfFact · 22/02/2012 12:51

Oh and the whole town was fashioned unsympathetically in the 1970s from orange and brown brick.

MySweetPrince · 22/02/2012 13:53

Hastings - used to be a lively, pretty seaside town. Went last week in half term........boarded up shops,Poundland and grim, grey and grimy. The people there looked as grey and depressed as the town centre.

MySweetPrince · 22/02/2012 14:01

Some-one mentioned Ashford - this is much improved from years ago-we have a spanking new centre with a Debenhams n all.............Folkestone tho agreed is dire.

mollymole · 22/02/2012 14:08

Not been through the whole post but reckon that a gold medal dead heat could be
Castleford/Featherstone

LouMacca · 22/02/2012 15:07

The thought of ever going back to Bridlington sends a shiver down my spine.....

yellowraincoat · 22/02/2012 15:08

Aw, I saw Morrissey in Bridlington, I thought it was charming.

LouMacca · 22/02/2012 15:17

yellow I'm pretty sure Mozzer wrote 'Everyday is Like Sunday' about Bridlington - I could be wrong. I can assure you it wasn't charming when I went there last year Grin