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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:
Pandemoniaa · 17/02/2012 23:11

I've never actually found Telford. I mean it is on the map and it has a station (I've used it when attending a conference) but of anything resembling a town centre there appears to be none. It's as if someone decided to build a random selection of unattractive offices and hotels and then decided they'd better pretend it was an actual proper place.

SleepyCaz · 17/02/2012 23:11

Coventry.

Awful, grey, run down and generally shite.

ninah · 17/02/2012 23:11

there has to be somewhere worse than northampton, come on!
cov? reading?

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 17/02/2012 23:11

Tis the lament of most high streets though!

Good point.

So many towns mentioned here, it's quite sad when you think about it.

What has happened to our towns??? Sad

Tranquilidade · 17/02/2012 23:11

Can't believe this thread's got this far without mention of Blackpool. There are some good things about the town but the centre is dire! The council paid Debenhams to open a store there which shows just how bad it is. Loads of things closed lately too.

Spuddybean · 17/02/2012 23:11

casualty i accompanied a boyfriend to a family christening to Aldershot. It was i a working mans club above a bookies/pool hall (i think). The family were half uk squaddies, half northern irish 'troops out' catholics. When i went to the loo the grandfather of the baby tried to take a picture of me under the door saying to my boyfriend 'it's okay, i love a bird with a big arse'.

It was one of the most uncomfortable afternoons i have spent, the air was just hanging with ready to ignite violence.

A gay friend also got beaten up there.

ninah · 17/02/2012 23:12

haha xpost
everyone I see in cov looks like they should be trailing a saline drip

TartyMcFarty · 17/02/2012 23:12

Also, Newtown, Powys is pretty dire. The most downbeat video in the world focuses on the closure of shops and other businesses there. It's on YouTube. Don't bother to watch!

MissMarjoribanks · 17/02/2012 23:12

Yep, I'm tired and emotional and have drunk a shit load of gin... Grin

Herend · 17/02/2012 23:12

Colchester is fucking dire. The parking is expensive and narrow. You have to drive an anorexic car to be able to park within a mile of the town centre, the people ... Urgh. Grim doesn't do them justice. Drunk, smelling of body odour, spitting in the street. Not all of them, obviously, but too many to brush off as the town loon.

Braintree is worse though.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 17/02/2012 23:13

BrianCox- is it Romford. Is it? Is it?

I bet it's Romford.
There was something in the Mail about the number of Lottery winners in Romford.And alot of scathing comments were made Grin

MrsPeterDoherty · 17/02/2012 23:13

Yep, I'll concede Haverhill & Chatteris beat Huntingdon!

Wittsend13 · 17/02/2012 23:14

VeryLittleGravitas Please don't tell anyone but, I was born in Streatham and lived there for years. Stayed there last year for a few weeks and was pretty upset with what I saw.

We should really do a thread about the good towns :)

QueenofMacaroniCheese · 17/02/2012 23:14

Another vote here for Colchester - mainly because it should be amazing. It's Britain's oldest recorded town and so you'd visit expecting quaint, charming Bath, York or Wells type place. Instead a monument to terrible town planning (in the 1960s?) /tacky run down high street with disappointed tourists who were expecting a Bath / York / etc...

Mabelface · 17/02/2012 23:15

Norf'amp'on is dire. Pound shops and arcades. Liscard in wallasey is not nice and westbury in wiltshire is very royston vasey

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 17/02/2012 23:15

Marjori, fair enough! Grin

And, tbf, I think we do need to be passionate about our town centres (possibly wittering to oneself on this) Sodding Tesco and out of town places..... grrr....

toodles · 17/02/2012 23:16

Tarty, I actually thought the Telford Town Centre aka The Shopping Mall was quite child friendly but would never want to live there ever again.

ReindeerBollocks · 17/02/2012 23:16

Oldham was pretty awful. But I'm with MissMajorie in that Altrincham is really quite depressing at the moment. Not sure it would win worst town centre but it would qualify for entry at least.

Rochdale wasn't that bad, I remember the Court was quite nice (not a dodgy criminal honest).

Spuddybean · 17/02/2012 23:16

thetokengirl the couple who went to Rhyll for their romantic mini break were in fact from Ellesmere port!

nerd no sadly for him she ended it because he wouldn't move with her permanently to Ellesmere port and get a job at the cinema in Cheshire oaks where she worked!

Dillydollydaydream · 17/02/2012 23:16

'Great' Yaaaaarmouth. Nothing great about it unfortunately!

BodaciousTatas · 17/02/2012 23:16

Folkestone was pretty grim last time I was there.

Also Woolwich SE London, phone shops and pound shops galore.

VeryLittleGravitas · 17/02/2012 23:17

I'd like to nominate the Medway towns (Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham). Run-down, scabby and violent. Chatham is the original chavtown (if my memory serves me correctly).

Pandemoniaa · 17/02/2012 23:18

Llanelli is dreadful.

Although (and I hate to be disloyal to the area my mother lived in) you can't beat some of those very grey little towns in the Counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh for lowering the spirits. Aucher, Clogher and Irvinestown spring immediately to mind and although Enniskillen has improved, it's not the greatest treat to visit.

NettoSuperstar · 17/02/2012 23:18

Spennymoo-er is awful, well it was when I lived nearby.
However, Peterlee is worse. Dump, if I've ever seen one.

Still, I raise you Dumbarton.
Bleergh.

Wittsend13 · 17/02/2012 23:18

I feel cheated as I was in Telford last week for work. I wasn't allowed out only from hotel to head office and back the whole week. I did go to some retail park with an ASDA home shop, Tesco Boots etc that seemed nice.

I'm back again in a few weeks so I'm sure I will be allowed to venture out.. Shall I do a report?!