UK city so dirty

[Ontobetterthings]

Just come back from my holiday abroad. Had a city break. It was lovely, beautiful buildings. Everything was so clean.

Was just driving home (midlands city). Everything looks do run down, dirty and it's just so depressing 😞

When on holiday we only seem to see the nice things.

I'm currently in Malta. Had a fab week, never been before and we've enjoyed it, but there is litter, graffiti and dog poo everywhere. I'm actually not bothered by it but not everywhere but outside the UK is perfect.

I also include Spain and Italy in that. I go away a lot, approx 6 times a year so well traveled and don't have rose tinted glasses on when abroad.

Some places are beautifully kept.
Some places look like a dump.

The above can apply to the UK as well as the rest of the world.

You went on holiday and you stayed in a holiday destination. Probably somewhere fairly central. Venture outside a bit and you will find the same. I have a flat in Spain. The beachfront is beautiful but walk 15 min up the mountain and you are faced with plastic bottles in ditches, graffiti and dog poop.

Many cities in Italy are similar, graffiti and dog shit.

You have obviously never been to Naples op.

Where have you been OP??

Agreed @SnacklessWonder I love Italy, used to live there, but it can come across as very run down. I still absolutely love it though.

Make a difference and clear up your little patch of it, encourage everyone around you to do the same.

A lot of European cities are designed for outdoors living so lots of squares and boulevards. I think that tends to help with their upkeep but yes definitely the roads into and out of most major cities are pretty groitty.

To budapest

I don’t know where you live op but Budapest seemed pretty scruffy to me. Not as scruffy as Bucharest though which was really down at heel. Paris also always seems scruffy to me. Lots of places are run down, in the UK, rest of Europe and beyond.

Depends where you went, many countries are grimy and filthy plus on holiday you tend to see the nice bits. Honestly take Paris, nobody goes to the rough or even middling parts

Central Budapest is lovely, if you come in on the train though you see the rougher bits

We got back from Las Palmas a week ago and I agree, it was beautifully clean compared to the UK. Bars and restaurants everywhere but no litter on the streets. So many well turned out people too, there seems to be a much greater sense of pride there!

I have found mainland Spain (coastal and central) to be really bad for litter, graffiti and dog mess. This year we went to Menorca and it was so clean.

I've never seen so much dog poo on the street as there was in Paris, such a shame.

Local authorities have had budgets cut year on year from central government. Funds need to be directed to social care and education before environmental/landscaping/litter. Heck, many LAs are in a perilous financial position.

It is just a fact of the fiscal position the country is in. Higher taxes would be required to make the country look like it did 30 years ago.

Actually, I remember Seville being full of dog shit in 1999.

I go to Budapest fairly regularly and there are lots of places that are filthy. There's a whole stretch along the river bank south of central Pest which is occupied by a lot of people living in tents, there's rubbish and graffiti everywhere.

Blaha Luzja Ter is very grotty, especially the underpasses at the metro station where a lot of homeless live. The area around Keleti station is also filthy.

If you only visit the centre it is very beautiful and clean but you don't have to go far to find dirt and mess to rival any British city.

I live in Salzburg and visitors always go on about how beautiful and wonderful and clean it is. Yeah, if you go to Mirabell gardens and the old town or some of the nicer areas of town. There are plenty of absolute shitholes around not far from the centre.

I went to Prague recently and the streets were a shit tip.

It’s true. Everywhere in the UK is a squalid dystopian cesspit and everywhere else is a verdant, clean utopia. It must be. I’ve been on holiday there.

Our village is clean, because we have regular litter picks, our roads are clean, because we have a lovely old chap who goes out on his bike every day and collects litter from the verges.

The council have recently cut all the verges and done a big clean up. So pretty lucky.

The problem is the feckless little shits who speed around the lanes throwing their takeaway trash out the windows. Their parents obviously have no pride, or standards, and therefore their children have no social responsibility. It's a societal issue.

Also litter breads litter, if you get used to living in a tip, you don't notice any more. I think councils should spend money in street cleaning, and also make it obligatory for shopping center shops, and restaurants to keep their areas clean and tidy.

Even central Paris stinks of piss. Always has, always will