Larissa

Listed below is the top 50 crappy towns as listed in a new book... anyone live in the top 5?

1 HULL

2 CUMBERNAULD

3 MORECAMBE

4 HYTHE

5 WINCHESTER

6 LIVERPOOL

7 ST ANDREWS

8 BEXHILL-ON-SEA

9 BASINGSTOKE

10 HACKNEY

11 Portsmouth

12 Stockport

13 Crouch End

14 St John's Wood

15 Croydon

16 Islington

17 London

18 Peterborough

19 Wolverhampton

20 Didcot

21 Ascot

22 Brighton

23 Aldeburgh

24 Leiston

25 Ipswich

26 Hayling Island

27 Horsham

28 Mirfield

29 Tintern

30 Peterhead

31 Oxford

32 Dover

33 Sth Woodham Ferrers

34 Newport

35 Billingham

36 Reading

37 Maghull

38 Huntingdon

39 Hastings

40 Keighley

41 Dagenham

42 Slough

43 Alresford

44 Bridgwater

45 Yate

46 Skelmersdale

47 Barrow-in Furness

48 Widnes

49 Hinchley Wood

50 St Albans

What about crappy Aussie towns? (So we can avoid them!)

Larissa

Just thought I'd add the rest of the cut 'n paste in a PB stylee... and yes, I have been bored lately...

NEW BOOK EXPOSES BRITAIN'S 'CRAPPY' TOWNS Oct 3 2003


The 50 worst places to live in Britain exposed by their disgruntled residents

By Andrea Henry And Stephen White


A BOOK published this weekend lists Britain's 50 "crappiest" towns.

It has shot into the top 200 list on the pre-order list of internet booksellers Amazon. And top - or bottom - of the pile is Hull. The pocket guide, Crap Towns, was compiled by The Idler magazine, who asked readers to nominate the worst place to live in Britain.

They were inundated with hundreds of people anxious to dump on their home town. But each of the top 50 was also given the chance to defend itself.

Hull is damned by one commentator as "home of the biggest council estate in the world" but credited for friendliness: "You can speak to people at the bus stop without being thought of as a nutter."

Among those listed are some of Britain's most upmarket areas such as Hampshire beauty spot Arlesford: "Great if you're under three and over 53, s**t if you're anywhere in between."

HULL

THE silent threat of violence along with the smell of the chocolate factory hangs in the air, according to the book.

A local describes Hull as a prosperous maritime town destroyed by German bombs in the 40s, and then by architects in the 60s and 70s.

CUMBERNAULD

THE book says "town-planning students visit Cumbernauld as an example of what not to do".

A former resident adds: "When Asda opened I found myself going there as there was nothing else to do. You know it's bad when Asda is a local night spot."

MORECAMBE

THE Lancashire town is third on the list: "Why would anyone go there unless they are attracted to misery and squalor?"

Of its drug problem, a resident adds: "You are now more likely to find needles on the prom rather than lollipop sticks."

HYTHE

NOT good for Hythe with the book saying: "There are swathes of old men and women patrolling the streets, bored out of their wits."

A local man adds: "The sort of town where incest rules to such an extent that men give themselves Father's Day cards."

WINCHESTER

ALTHOUGH Winchester has one of the world's finest collections of 15th century graffiti scattered round the cloisters of its college, the book says, "the town's undoubted beauty is scarred by the broken beer bottle violence of its Friday nights...and soured by priggish complacency".

LIVERPOOL

LIVERPOOL is the butt of "countless bad jokes about moustaches, tracksuits, accents and thieving".

A resident adds: "Liverpool has more Georgian architecture than anywhere in the UK except Bath but it is ruined by graffiti on the sexual antics of an ubiquitous couple."

ST ANDREWS

"THE home of Scotland's oldest university, a lovely beach, international standard golf courses and thousands of nauseating toffs," says the book.

Residents complain of parents who queue up to deposit "vile offspring" three times a year.

BEXHILL-ON-SEA

THE book says the town is populated by people who have nothing left to do but die and "it smells of ammonia and cats".

One resident says: "It is a town waiting to die with no one prepared to do the decent thing and put a pillow over its head."

BASINGSTOKE

"BASINGSTOKE was a small, inoffensive market town until 1961 when it was chosen for London overspill."

One visitor describes a drive through the town: "M3, car park, car park, roundabout, car park, roundabout, car park, tart, roundabout, M3."

HACKNEY

"IT'S cheap, near Central London, has some great parks and pubs. Hackney would be a great place to live - if living there wasn't so dangerous," says the book.

One local doctor adds that the hospital A&E wards are "worse for gunshot wounds than Soweto".

artep

I can't understand why Pompey isn't No.1???????????

renth

Have a look at this, it's where the book came from I think:

http://www.idler.co.uk/html/frontsec..._5/england.htm

Carl B

I'd have thought that leeds would have made the top five, but it's not even listed in the fifty!

Loopy

What's wrong with Leeds??????????

Can't believe Oxford made it into the top 50 either.

Loopy

tiredwithtwins

know what you mean....I would have had sheffield in the top 5 !!

bundy

Somewhat surprised that Norwich doesn't feature...I grew up there, all but left when I was 16. Went back there yesterday for the first time in ages and it depressed me a great deal!

What's the criteria for a crappy town, anyway?

Carl B

Whats wrong with leeds? OK the city centre has been tarted up considerably and deserves praise, but the outlying areas along with with the inhabitants don't. My main gripes are:
1) The one eyed ar5e holes which follow the city's second rate football team (violent and racist)
2) The inhabitants' obsessional hatred and a chip on the shoulder about all things Manchester.
3) The way that the inhabitants go around with an over inflated view of the importance of their city and with the one eyed view that leeds is somehow a better place to live than other areas in the country. Armley, Holbeck, Beeston, Chapeltown, Richmond Hill, Harehills, East End Park, Seacroft, Burmantofts, Gipton etc - lovely areas to live?
4) The violence, general unfriendliness and insular nature which prevails in this city.

I've vistied many towns and cities in the UK and, with hand on my heart, leeds is in my opinion the most un-welcoming. Sorry.

PeteY

Number one crappy town in aus has to be Coober Pedy.

Bleuwgh.

Sunlover

Haven't been to that many small towns but some crappy ones I have seen include:

Townsville - pretty crappy (apart from the Strand which is fairly nice).

Moe in Victoria - very crappy.

Renmark in SA - very crappy

Mildura in VIC - semi-crappy (nice climate).

Geelong in VIC - crappy

Colac in VIC - crappy and cold


As cities go I'd rank them in the following order with worst first:

Perth
Melbourne
Adelaide
Sydney
Brisbane

Haven't been to Darwin or Canberra yet but husband has been to Canberra and says it's pretty crappy.

All just MHO ofcourse

PeteY

Yes but you think everything is crappy so you don't count.

bundy

I actually spent a couple of the best weeks of my life in Geelong, so it can't be all bad...

Sunlover

Why do you have to be so abrasive to everyone ? ? ;-)

Hey I didn't ask the question........and as I said JMHO.

Good luck in Townsville BTW - hope you enjoy constant, unpleasant humidity without any attractive tropical surroundings to compensate. (I'd have thought Cairns was a better bet).

PeteY

Not everyone. Just a select few, and your name happens to be on the list.

And i LOVE constant tropical humidity. Its what i live for.