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?

some places between Chelmsford and towards Colchester are beautiful .. very ‘orldy worldy’ little villages which are pretty and timeless

A local taxi driver told me he picked up some of the cast and crew of Netflix"s Stranger Things from Halstead.

Are subsets of cities allowed? I can recommend Wimbledon village in SW London.

Love (and regularly visit) Bury St Edmunds, lots of nice cafes and restaurants, beautiful Abbey gardens and cathedral and a fab independent cinema. Saffron Walden is also really nice, and Cambridge is good too, though very very expensive.

Good: Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, York, Bath, everywhere in Cornwall (though I’ve only been in summer and didn’t go to truro)
Bot so good: Glasgow, Sunderland, Leicester, Birmingham, Bristol, most of Kent

Frome is nice

Hertford and Ware are both nice.

Loving this thread.

I also think so much of deciding a move like this is of the time of life you're in. Where we live is so painfully non-aspirational for my children, it depresses me and we are desperate to leave.

However, we cannot afford anywhere like some of the places mentioned here and to top it all off, everything gets more expensive so you can't even be in the crap area but go to do nice things in nicer places as it costs money we don't have.

I saw a house on the Isle of Arran in Ayrshire and thought at least I could look out and see something nice- was a villa on the water - as there is hardly any choice for most to live somewhere decent in all areas - education, NHS facilities, shopping, amenities...

What is shit to some, is fine for others. This shithole would be fine for us if we at least had some spare cash. My point is OP, for you and your kids for right now, what do you want?

Places I have loved living - Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Saffron Walden - but it really depends what stage of life you are at - different areas meet different needs.

Guildford is rather lovely. Surprised it hasn’t come up - but then it’s pretty expensive and the demographic is that bit older.
Lots of lovely towns in West Sussex. Hove is a great suburb of Brighton. Loads of restaurants, shops and cafes and all right by the beach. Pricey though…

Bath, beautiful

Maybe avoid towns and stick to affluent large suburbs. Nobody goes into town centres anymore. Eg Preston is grim and as you describe but South Ribble, the Ribble Valley, the Fylde coast surrounding it are all doing very well and nice places to live and work.

It's got its social problems (massive local cuts since 2010) but the city in the 80s/early 90s had the same sort of desolation and dystopia described of a lot of places in the other thread.

It's actually much better now than then and a lot more vibrant which gives the city a happier feel.

thinking to the future, city centres all over the country are changing as Online becomes the more normal.

Look at towns instead as long as they have good transport links so you don’t end up a teenagers taxi.

Our very small town (lots of people call it a village but we have a market). Has mainly independent shops, obviously the supermarket that has opened has closed the green grocers and fish merchant but these empty spaces have been filled.
I think these areas that in the past you would think too rural are the up and coming areas.

whenever we have visitors, the two particular things they want to see are Tolkein’s Grave and the amazing Pitt Rivers Museum, before they hit the bookshops, colleges, Botanic Gardens, punts, Uniqlo, the Market
of the two, Cambridge is prttier, Oxford is sturdier, bus heavy, more avante garde -
although a little house in Jericho would be lovely…

everywhere in Cornwall (though I’ve only been in summer and didn’t go to truro)

I'm guessing you didn't go to Camborne or Bodmin or St Austell either? 😁

Oh yes Madrid is fantastic, I used to live there and miss it. You’re very lucky!

JenniferBooth · Today 20:41
some places between Chelmsford and towards Colchester are beautiful .. very ‘orldy worldy’ little villages which are pretty and timeless

A local taxi driver told me he picked up some of the cast and crew of Netflix"s Stranger Things from Halstead.

@JenniferBooth ahh I forgot to mention Halstead .. that’s been named one of the prettiest towns to live in (according to google /newspapers) a beauty of a little town

Another vote for Bury St. Edmunds. I feel very grateful to live here. There are also lots of smaller towns and villages surrounding if you'd prefer to be more rural. Places like Lavenham or Long Melford nearby too which is beautiful if you're happy to travel out a bit further from a larger town.

I didn't realize the UK was like this. in America it is very bad. my town that I live in, when I came in 1978, was really pretty nice and now we've got the tent cities and homeless and the drugs. I realize not every town is gonna be like mine or perfect but this is ridiculous.

And the Welsh NHS to cope with. Don't consider, I'd say.

Even these areas are nothing compared to the rougher parts of other cities. I have 2 jobs both working in one of the most deprived estates in the city. There is the odd mattress in the streets and occasional teens bombing about on motorbikes in the evening (although this is far less common these days) but I never see what OP describes. I never feel unsafe walking about, although I'd avoid bonfire night. You'll always find a few folk with their bottles of booze hanging out at the foot of leith walk but they don't bother anyone. There are tons of lovely towns in the Lothian's and borders regions with nice highstreets OP. You could take your pick!

Did you watch Channel 5s programme called "Police Suspect Number One" around early February time?

It was about gangs of youths running around with machetes and county lines drugs in Norwich city centre. Apparently drugs are rife there.

However I think there's a problem now in all city centres.

@SOxon avant garde, before anyone notices and corrects me (even silently ha ha)

I live in Newbury, the way the locals describe it on their Facebook groups you’d think it’s the third circle of hell.
It’s pleasant.

@ParrotPirouette I know. Odd isn't it.

It has a georgian high street with shops that haven't closed down, a pretty town square with pubs & restaurants, a canal with wharf, parks and cafes. Farmer's market. A racecourse, cinemas, two theatres, Two arts centres. Greenham Common for walking. Sports centre with multiple pools. Four gyms that I can think of. A boat club.

Surrounded by fabulous downland. And a fast train to London for those who want it.

I've always puzzled what they think is missing.