What places in the UK have weirded you out?

[Oollliivviiaa]

I know Glastonbury and Bath always come up but where else have you been that just felt "off". Not scary or unsafe as such, just made you feel unwelcome and want to leave. And logically, WHY do you think they do?

Mine are

• Glasgow Centeal station. I've been to lots of stations at all sorts of times but this station always makes me uneasy even during the day when it's busy. Maybe it's because it's such an odd station and easy to get disoriented in.

And

• Berwick on Tweed. Really, really weird vibes there. People were nice enough but it felt a bit like there was some sort of sinister undercurrent. Why? I actually don't know. All I can think of is that it feels quite isolated and a bit like the edge of the world. Maybe the history of the place, means it feels like a no man's land? I know lots of people really like it.

And

• Holy Island. The history, bleakness and again, isolation I think. Plus when we went, all you could hear was the wind and seals which is a bit spooky. I liked it there though.

Lancaster.
Went years ago and just felt on edge for no reason all of the time.

Bradford. Went recently for the first time and never felt so unwelcome or afraid for my personal safety. It's an absolute third World shit hole. I felt safer in the slums of Mombassa or Banjul. I didn't even park up, and just decided to drive straight out again! Never seen anywhere like it in the UK. Litter everywhere, drugs paraphernalia on the ground, drug deals openly being done on the street, loads of burned out or derelict buildings, burned out cars on the street. Awful place!

Another one saying Camden. I lived in London for 10 years and Camden is the only place I used to get a bad feeling from. There was always a weird, seedy dangerous undercurrent to it.

Dover.
Feels empty and I always feel an odd, slightly depressed feeling the few times I’ve been around there.

Surprised about people saying Liverpool. It’s one of my favourite UK cities. I always feel a warm, at ease feeling when I’m there. The same in Leeds.

The place in Dorset with the massive brick wall all the way round it and the entrance gates with the 5 legged animals. Creepy.

The Dracula museum / 'experience' in Whitby. So badly done that's it's actually v creepy.

That's because councils "shipped" their problem people there to fill up the empty guest houses and hotels. They're not locals. Same has happened with other seaside resorts. Of course, no increased resources to deal with the obvious increase in anti social behaviour etc.

Ipswich. Stopped there on the way to the Norfolk Broads and it was so hostile. People walking into me and glaring. A homeless man offered me a dirty flower he’d picked then called me a sl*g when I said no thanks. Then I got accused of shoplifting in HMV while I was paying for a CD! He asked to look in my bag. Couldn’t wait to get back to my car.

Redcar, Middlesbrough.

I thought it would be a nice overnight stop heading north. I was wrong 😆

There is an open piece of land near us which gives me and DD the most horrible vibes and we are not sure why. It is a big open stretch dotted by gorse bushes and fringed by forest. There is a campsite at one end and a river runs along one edge. There is a house I find very spooky sitting on the edge of it. In theory it would be a good place to walk the dog but I avoid it like the plague.

St Andrews. It's a tiny rural place and I've never felt the difference between town and gown so acutely. Like all the locals are just getting on with life on the high street, meanwhile dodging these absolute twats with braying loud voices who completely ignore the fact that anyone else actually lives there. (Apologies to the students who aren't like that, I know there are loads.)
I found it a really depressing place. Couldn't wait to leave. I was only there a few hours!

Oh! Now I've remembered somewhere I haven't been since I was a child but which always felt creepy. Dartford Heath, which is also an open stretch of land covered in gorse bushes.

Glossop is a bit weird.

Some of these places already mentioned..
Milton Keynes - soul less weirdness
Manchester and Blackpool - felt unsafe always
Ilford - shudder
Marlowe- bizarre smugness of people living in an empty cold place that’s basically a main road and river, with some houses. Could tell lots of people lived in houses with mortgages they couldn’t really afford. Same for Windsor, at least Windsor is beautiful.
Not UK but Luxembourg is the weirdest country I’ve ever been to. Nothing felt comfortable, nothing fit together. A bit like Cyprus.

😂😂 I remember a memorable trip through Wigan on a Friday night once. I grew up nearby and was home from uni visiting my parents. My new South African boyfriend (foreign student at my university) had come to visit for the holidays. He hadn't been in the UK long and certainly had never visited the north West. We picked him up from the train station and drove through the thronging crowds of a Wigan Friday night. It was about minus 2 degrees outside, but all we could see around were tiny bulging skin tight leopard print and zebra striped dresses, and large expanses of mottled cold bare legs tottering on high heels, plastered drunk and loudly screeching. My boyfriend was absolutely horrified. We joked that this was a more exciting safari than any he'd been to in the Krugar National Park back at home.

Before anyone gets very insulted, I myself have been one of those girls too, so I'm talking from experience.

Hallsands is the abandoned village, it got partially washed away in a storm due to the Victorians dredging out at sea. Many years ago there were still a few cottages and you could walk down to the beach but that is blocked off as it is too dangerous

I always find Beesands a bit depressing.

Edited I'm feeling very nostalgic now as I haven't visited that part of Devon for a very long time and I want to go back

We spent an early Bank Holiday morning in King's Lynn last summer and it has a very odd atmosphere! Lots of interesting history but it had more of a zombie apocalypse vibe than I was expecting.

That quote upthread about the wealthy elasticated trouser wearers of Totnes is comedy gold!

I was there some time ago for a conference. Some of us were in the pub when a group of students walked in, in blackface. It felt like something out of pre-civil-rights era America. But also like it was a completely normal occurence for this particular pub and town.

I had something similar happen in a small country village I drove through in the dark and in a storm. A 2D black figure that seemed to lurch towards me at the side of the road. I almost thought he had a gun. I sped off and debated whether to call the police. Didn’t seem human and thought I didn’t have enough information.

Went through the village again in the sunshine a few days later. It was a black silhouette of a soldier as a memorial for Remembrance Day.

I am not saying your moving creature was one of the memorials but I am sure other people must have been spooked by these silhouettes when it’s dark and windy.

Harwich - the most soulless place I’ve ever been. Felt totally depressed and like the joy was being sucked out of me being there.

Evesham. Architecturally it was obviously lovely once, but now a shit hole, with a very depressing vibe.

Bruton.
Chipping Campden.
Weird vibes from both.

I feel like this about the Fens too, all that flat open space, very odd vibes

I love Thurso! xx

I lived in Southern Africa (not RSA, but close) for years and worked in Wigan as a contractor about 10 years ago. I know exactly how he felt!

Yes! Boscastle really weirded me out too, couldn't put my finger on why