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?

York is full of vomiting, fighting drunks every weekend. They start drinking on the train on the way in at 10am and don’t let up until they’re collapsed in a gutter by midnight.

So are lots of towns in Cambs. Not sure this person has visited recently!

Bradford on Avon
Bath

If you’re happy to be a bit more remote then Cornwall or Devon has lovely towns.

Having worked in York on a weekend wild horses could not drag me to spend free time there on a weekend it is full of pissed up stag and hen parties, during the week totally different more touristy and there are some lovely villages close by Harrogate is lovley with again some lovely villages Otley Ilkley Pool In Wharedale close to Harrogate and Leeds

I wish the council would clean the pavement on the Parade. It looks disgusting. It's filthy and covered with broken slabs, chewing gum and lots horrible stains, probably from lager louts

The Royal Priors is like a ghost town, half of the lower level is empty. It's not somewhere I'm drawn to anymore

Stratford is nicer, Warwick doesn't really have any shops and Kenilworth is all estate agents and charity shops

For shopping I go to MK or Bham

Crew

North Berwick in East Lothian is where I would move to, if I could afford it!
(im in Edinburgh)

Lots of nice palces around various parts of London and parts of Kent

Anyone moving to LIverpool who only knows the city centre, I would strongly recommend you to rent in your chosen location first to see if it suits. Liverpool is VERY mixed. Like, some of it is very run-down and deprived and practically no-go areas. Makes me laugh when you see people posting on here say things like "you can buy a house outright in Liverpool if your budget is that much" and the budget is like 200k 😆. Well, yes, but not in an area most people would want to live.

The desirable areas have REALLY crept up in price the last few years so you're looking at over 400-500k for a larger semi in the best roads, and places in schools round those areas can be a problem in certain year groups.

I grew up in North Berwick. It’s a very special place with loads going for it, but it has just about doubled in size over the last 15-20 years which has made it lose some of its charm.
Also, it does get very touristy in the summer.

I like Cambridge and Bath. Vair pricey, though.

Woodbridge in Suffolk is lovely. Quite small, but lots of shops, pubs and cafes and a generally nice vibe.
I also like Bury St Edmunds.

Bishops stortford

Because Norwich is horribly connected to the rest of the country (probably why it's nice). I managed 6 months there but trying to go anywhere else was a nightmare. I live in rural Cambridgeshire now, 20 minutes from Cambridge, lovely, if a little flat.

Winchester

I never quite understand the love for Malvern. Yes, the hills are pretty lovely but other than that, it's a town of two halves with one side, ( greater Malvern) being very prosperous with humongous houses and wealth, and the other ( Malvern link) run down, rough and impoverished. It always appears to me that the locals live very separate lives, with the wealthy lot never mixing with the ' commoners' and you can feel that tension in the air, making social cohesion impossible. I witnessed this in its entirety one summer's day when 2 music events were being held at the same time- with one in the park in the posh bit, where Waitrose picnic hampers, bottles of champagne and straw hats were aplenty, and the other was down the hill in the common, where locals were getting smashed on cans of woodpecker they'd snuggled in, fights broke out and the police got called. I scampered between the two ( there were loads of great bands on in both events), but it just left me feeling sad really - that the divide between rich and poor was so evident and that there was a real separation between different communities, so much so that neither side had consulted with the other when planning their events to avoid clashing schedules. I got the impression that the Malvern linkers wouldn't have felt welcome at the posh event anyway and the great malverners wouldn't have sullied themselves with mixing with the ' riff raff' down the hill. It's not somewhere I'd feel comfortable living.

Eh... there re hallmarks of a dump/decline:

• high street overrun with takeaways, vape shops, betting shops,

• Only chain stores (full of Greggs, Primark, Tesco Express, EE ...shudder) and no thriving independent shops or anything distinctive

• roller shutters pulled down

• vacant units and depression

• Dodgy looking folks

• Feral teenagers

• filthy streets and buildings looking awful

Bath
Wells in Somerset

An absolute gem (I would love to move there but sadly it no longer has a train station) is:

Bridport in Dorset - with West Bay just 1 mile away
Bridport has lots of independent shops (plus a Waitrose lol), a Saturday street market, good restaurants and a thriving arts scene with lots of events and festivals taking place throughout the year. Lots of musicians and artists of all genres live there so lots of live music in the pubs, especially The Ropemakers. It also has an excellent www.electricpalace.org.uk and on the edge of town the pretty www.symondsburyestate.co.uk with art galleries, cafe, garden shop and walks up to the famous Colmer’s Hill and the ancient Hell Lane.

You can take a leisurely walk or quick drive to West Bay (also part of Bridport) which has a pretty harbour, beaches and cliff top walks…Broadchurch was filmed in and around West Bay.

All around the Bridport coastal area (the Jurassic coast) are charming towns and villages eg. Charmouth, Burton Bradstock/Hive Beach, Abbotsbury, Lyme Regis, and a little further inland is Beaminster. All very unspoiled and lots of beautiful countryside walks too. A lot of people have moved to the area from London and the South East.

So where is that?

Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

Sloughi (sic)

Come on now, John. You were in a bad mood when you wrote that poem.

Reading is still fine (although reaching some kind of noodle shop event horizon). Henley lovely, natch.

Ely (east Anglia) is pretty good. We have lost a few shops but mostly new ones have opened,

Cambridge is also nice but hideously expensive unless you live in one of the rough druggy areas. Yes they do exist.

I moved from Birmingham to Shrewsbury 3 years ago and have never looked back. Whilst there is evidence of anti-social behaviour in the town it is still a million times nicer than many other areas of the country. We have a wealth of independent shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, galleries, history, the river, the market, most weekends some event or the other going on. I always feel so very lucky to live here. Whilst it is not utopia (where is?) we have the advantage of it still being relatively affordable for the kind of lifestyle we have here. I also love the proximity to so many other lovely places around Shropshire / Wales.

Interesting that folks say Bath. DD is at Uni there and I have been shocked at how run down the place feels compared to 5-10 years ago.