To ask which towns/cities have NOT gone to the dogs?

[Lieger]

We are likely relocating in a couple of years. Just seen a thread about towns being full of people fighting and off their heads on drugs, empty high streets, rubbish everywhere, tent cities etc. Is there anywhere in the UK that hasn’t gone to hell?

It depends on where you are now and what you want to be different?
If I had the financial and emotional ability to move, I'd strongly consider leaving the UK.

Helpful! I just don’t want to go into a town and be confronted with violence and decay…

Bath is still lovely (although the price reflects this!)

York didn’t seem to have many issues like those you mentioned when I visited, however I’m not sure of the suburbs.

I think most places have bad areas and good areas.

I live in Cheltenham and although it has its not so nice areas, it is mostly lovely, scenic and fairly low crime rates. Great schools and culture. Expensive though.

And if we were going to live somewhere else, I would choose Edinburgh. Beautiful city.

Lots of lovely places in the North East - Tynemouth, Whitley Bay, Morpeth, Hexham, Corbridge to name a few.

I would second Hexham and Lancaster is still lovely.

I was just reading that thread and was literally about to start up my own thread about this 😅 Interesting to see Cheltenham and York as those are two places we're considering.

Almost everywhere in East Anglia.

Forget cities & look at towns. The East Midlands is my part of the country and round here Ashbourne, Bakewell, Belper, Ashby de la Zouch & Market Harborough are all great places to live. West Bridgford is also good, but it’s a suburb rather than a town.

Where are you wanting to relocate? The town where I grew up is actually much nicer than it used to be. The high street is not what it was shop-wise though, that is true.

Most places are fine. But that's not an eye-catching headline.

Where is good in East Anglia?

Lancaster. It's a bit boring though. York, which is lovely. Oxford (my favourite). Nowhere is totally free of issues, of course.

If you want a city or a large town, there’s Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, Ely, Cambridge and Chelmsford, although the latter two are very expensive. Colchester and Thetford seem to be having a lot of money put into them to make them, especially Colchester.

Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk are all filled with gorgeous market towns.

This, lovely high streets with independent shops and cafes.

Have you been to these places recently? Because a lot of places have gone really downhill in the last 5-10 years.

Can you clarify "gone to the dogs"? What exactly are you looking for and trying to avoid?
Budget?.

Newbury, Marlborough, Devizes

I live in Oxfordshire. Lots of lovely market towns and Oxford itself is great.

Colchester is a dump!! It's my nearest large town. Really awful

Edinburgh.

If you want some more objective information, look up the Indices of Multiple Deprivation stats and census data by postcode. This will allow you to see socio-economic data for different regions. Inevitably, unfortunately, deprivation and poverty often lead to, or are connected to, the issues you describe.

Where I live has recently been voted the best place to live in the UK. And it really is, love it here. You need deep pockets mind!

With the Exception of Ely & Thetford, I regularly go to them all. I live in a village outside a small market town, so have to go to the bigger places for shopping, gigs, museums, meals out, cinema, that kind of thing.