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?

Colchester is a dump, I agree.
Bury st Edmunds is lovely.
Cambridge is lovely, bit snoooty and expensive but still nice.
go on day trips to as many places as you can, see what you think.

Liverpool. Just discovered it, it's lush!

Colchester is a dump - it’s full of barbers and cafes a lot of shops are shutting and moving to out of town retail parks - the castle and park are nice with some good events on

bury st Edmund’s seems to have a thriving high street with reasonable parking charges and feels very safe

It used to be but it’s changed a lot in the last few years since it basically started catering to commuters. I used to hate it but now I am quite happy to spend a Saturday there, although I do spend about three hours in Fenwicks.

I live in Nottingham and am never confronted with violence and decay.

We had an awful violent event here. But that does not define us.

I also travel a lot with work to many cities and never see what you describe. I think you're basing your ideas on TV Dramas and isolated incidents that make the news tbh.

It's gone to the dogs. Dirty, full of potholes everywhere roads a disgrace. I stay out of the centre now.

I used to feel that way about Colchester but I feel it’s really changed in the last few years.

It depends exactly what you’re talking about and times of day, I suppose.

I live in south Liverpool - very close to Mossley Hill and Woolton. It’s lovely and I have never felt unsafe. Beautiful parks and leafy streets. Is the city centre calm and peaceful after midnight at the weekend? Err, no - but again, I’ve never felt unsafe as there is a noticeable police presence and the main taxi ranks are organised. I’ve felt less safe at that time in beautiful towns and cities that I love eg York.

I live in a town with issues like the OP describes (I've been reading the other thread too).
It is definitely not just during night time when you can see the results of deprivation and poverty.

In my area of town (near the centre but I do walk quite far) you see every other person has "that look" (the toothless, gaunt, hooded, lost-the-power-of-coherent-speech look), often lots of them shouting to each other, people stood around waiting for dealers, deals happening (often the dealers are on escooters or mobility scooters and have no regard for other people). This is every day, at all times of the day.

The heaviest users are often to be found near the town centre or outside supermarkets asking incoherently for change while their mate is zonked out on the floor next to them. If you hang around you might get to see their dealer pick them up and move them on to the next area if they didn't get enough from the passers by. Again, this is broad daylight.

People do tend to moan about where they live, so likely anywhere you pick you will get people tell you it's gone downhill, there's x y and z problems. But how much will each of those impact on your day to day life? What are the good bits that outweigh the bad?
I love where I live. It's not perfect but it has enough good stuff to override the moans.

We're in Reigate and it's definitely not gone to the dogs. (Which feels quite rare these days!)

by whom?

I live in Cambridgeshire, Cambridge is a lovely city and theres Saffron Walden, Bury, Ely. I agree with others on Bath and York too.

Aldeburgh & Southwold if you don't mind them being pretty but rather boring.

Bath looked stunning the other weekend and yet at 4pm on a Friday I walked past a proper full on drug deal on the Pulteney st bridge pavement.
It had gone a bit wrong but there was lots of got my number, we're cool, kind of chat and the tiny parcel was whisked off on an escooter.
I went to Waitrose but it was too early for yellow stickers.

Ely is still lovely. It was Foodie Friday yesterday, so the market square had street food stalls, mobile bars and live music, and people eat at communal trestle tables.
Always feels lovely and safe. Lots of lovely independent shops and cafes, brilliant weekly markets. The local high school has greatly improved over recent years too.

@Lj8893 Beat me to it. Bath is lovely

I don't think Colchester is a dump at all - a friend moved there a few years ago and likes living there. I think long term locals don't like all the new build estates, which I can understand, but it really isn't a dump.

What’s your budget like?

We’re in SE London and its benefitted in recent times as ‘up and coming’ place

We’ve been here long enough to see the gentrification, but it’s not that affordable

I grew up in Bury and lived just outside Thetford. I wouldn't recommend either place.

Bury isn't what it once was, more crime and empty shops. The market has disappeared and the ark shopping centre has lots of empty units. Same goes for Thetford

The schools locally are also struggling

I went to Waitrose but it was too early for yellow stickers.

I feel like this has the makings of a haiku 🤔

I'm quite surprised by so many responses saying York. It's actually my home town, I haven't been back in a while but all I hear from my friends who are still local is how awful town is on a weekend. Full of drunken stag and hen parties, people completely wasted by 2pm, throwing up in the street, shagging in the alleys in broad daylight etc. it sounds pretty grim to me.

I like it. You're right, it almost has this poetic quality to it 💫

Devon somewhere?

Lewes is still beautiful