Best and Worst Places you've Been

[RichmondCommu]

New thread time!

What's the worst and best place you've ever been? It can be in the UK or International.

Best Place - Richmond, London. Seriously, if I ever become rich, I'm gonna buy a house in this area. Really pleasant place with Kew Gardens nearby to visit on a lovely summers day.

As a resident of Richmond I concur that its an expensive place to live. However my wife and I have proved that by getting an education and working hard its possible for people from very modest backgrounds to own a nice house in Richmond.

I agree that Kew Gardens are lovely however so is Richmond Park which is just a few minutes walk from our house. And then of course we have the river!

In answer to your question I have three favourite places; Antibes where we've had some wonderful family holidays, Sydney where my wife and I got married and Munich for its beer halls, beer gardens and views over to the Alps.

I only have two places which I really dislike. Hong Kong; I spent a year out there with my job and I thought the place was awful. In summer the humidity was horrendous, accommodation is a high rise tower block (even if you have money) and the way the poor are treated is a disgrace. And when I was living there the airport was horrible to fly in and out of although thankfully that has long since been closed.

The other place that I can't stand is Eltham in SE London. Its just a very nasty area with a deep seated reputation for racism. On the whole though I love London and I hope that Brexit will not wreck it as a place to work in and thrive.

 

[anti-pacer]

As a resident of Richmond I concur that its an expensive place to live. However my wife and I have proved that by getting an education and working hard its possible for people from very modest backgrounds to own a nice house in Richmond.

I agree that Kew Gardens are lovely however so is Richmond Park which is just a few minutes walk from our house. And then of course we have the river!

In answer to your question I have three favourite places; Antibes where we've had some wonderful family holidays, Sydney where my wife and I got married and Munich for its beer halls, beer gardens and views over to the Alps.

I only have two places which I really dislike. Hong Kong; I spent a year out there with my job and I thought the place was awful. In summer the humidity was horrendous, accommodation is a high rise tower block (even if you have money) and the way the poor are treated is a disgrace. And when I was living there the airport was horrible to fly in and out of although thankfully that has long since been closed.

The other place that I can't stand is Eltham in SE London. Its just a very nasty area with a deep seated reputation for racism. On the whole though I love London and I hope that Brexit will not wreck it as a place to work in and thrive.

Agree about Eltham.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Agree about Eltham.

When Stephen Lawrence was murdered I was living in Lee which is close to Eltham and the night after he died I traveled over to place some flowers by the bus stop and pay my respects. Someone then came out of their house and told me to stop crying over a ******. Not joking. And I'm white. Lee is okay but I left shortly after to move to Putney.

 

[sk688]

London is rather full of grim, crime-ridden suburbs once you get out of about zone 2 - certainly I'd only consider living in London if I was rich enough to live quite centrally.

Some of the inner suburbs are quite rough , like Harlesden etc , but when you get to Zone 5 and above , some of the suburbs are very nice , like Richmond , Moor Park , Stanmore , most of the Met line after Harrow on the Hill , Northwood

Most of outer suburban NW and SW london is quite well off and nice

 

[fergusjbend]

Best: Faversham, Kent.

Worst: Everywhere else.

 

[Groningen]

Best: Faversham, Kent.

Worst: Everywhere else.

And your residence is Faversham?

 

[yorksrob]

As a resident of Richmond I concur that its an expensive place to live. However my wife and I have proved that by getting an education and working hard its possible for people from very modest backgrounds to own a nice house in Richmond.
.

Sadly, I'm not convinced that the same can be said for people coming through the education system today, given the state of the housing market.

 

[Cowley]

And your residence is Faversham?

He may have tried everywhere else and just really wants to move there?

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Didn't think much of San Francisco, we stayed there a fortnight, maybe that was really too long a stay. There's probably enough to do for a week but a fortnight is probably too long a stay. We didn't stand a chance of going over to Alcatraz, all the boats were fully booked up for a good few days, probably people booking online before their holiday.

San Diego is a nice place, we've been there twice, plenty to do there, you've got the wildlife park nearby (think it was just over an hours drive away), day trips to Universal Studios and Disneyland and you can also get the trolley down to the border with Mexico and visit Tjuana for the day (expect VERY long queues to get back across the border at times).

New York is also a nice place to go, we walked west from where the New Yorker is, then walk alongside the river all the way down to Battery Park. We didn't go over to Liberty Island either time we've been but the 2nd time it seems to be one ferry that's got the monopoly over the journey. Apparently the highest up the statue that you can go is the top of the concrete bit. You actually get a better view from the Staten Island ferry

 

[D365]

For anyone who hasn't heard of it, the book Crap Towns may be of interest.

There is of course a Crap Towns II.

Available on Amazon or at your local library*.

*Assuming that your library hasn't been closed due to Tory cuts.

Indeed there is, I'm very familiar with the town featured on the cover...

A bit of a late reply I'll admit, but our now-ten year old library has been threatened with closure too.

 

[meridian2]

Britain has some beautiful places, some grot and a lot in between you'd have to be from to understand. Many places were dog rough visually and socially in the 1970s and 80s. London had yet to become a global dormitory and was a larger version of every other mucky English city. The heart had been torn out of country towns by redevelopment and ring roads and traditional industries were dead.

On the other hand property was cheap, globalisation had yet to kick in and popular culture wasn't dominated by music moguls and Microsoft. The nicest areas are generally where the money is, old rural cash that can afford to keep everything like grandfather's day, or new money sprucing up former ****holes. The worst places are those that lack either. I remember the pre-war council estate my parents retired to as a kind of model village, immaculate gardens, highly polished cars and shoes, the sort of place people put a shirt and tie on to go to the pub. By the time they died it was cars on bricks, gardens full of scrap and an evening chorus of police sirens. Who knows what changed?

 

[northwichcat]

Rochester's not too bad. What about Richmond, in the Yorkshire Dales?
Ravenglass? Roxburgh? Ripon? Ross-on-Wye? Rye? Rothbury? Redruth? Ringwood? Reston? Renfrew? Roybridge? Ruthin? Rhuddlan? Rhayader?

Rawtenstall, Rotherham, Rhyl and Reading were the first ones that came to my mind. I did think of Ripon and Ross-on-Wye but I've not been to Ripon and I could only think of Ross-on-Wye being somewhere you have to get to the other side of to reach the Forest of Dean.

 

[Alex 2901]

Of the places I've been to, this is my list (Willenhall is only included because I always get a feeling of existential dread on returning of an evening!)

Best Town

Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire
Bewdley, Worcestershire
Windsor, Berkshire
Bridgnorth, Shropshire

Best City

Worcester, Worcestershire
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Derby, Derbyshire
Manchester, Greater Manchester

Best Village
Somerton, Somerset

Best Place
Isle of Arran, Coast of West Scotland

Worst Town

Cannock, Staffordshire
Willenhall, West Midlands
Blackpool, Lancashire
Skegness, Lincolnshire
Southport, Merseyside

Worst City

City of London, Greater London

 

[anti-pacer]

Some of the inner suburbs are quite rough , like Harlesden etc , but when you get to Zone 5 and above , some of the suburbs are very nice , like Richmond , Moor Park , Stanmore , most of the Met line after Harrow on the Hill , Northwood

Most of outer suburban NW and SW london is quite well off and nice

There are plenty of nice areas out east too, once you pass the East End.

 

[anti-pacer]

When Stephen Lawrence was murdered I was living in Lee which is close to Eltham and the night after he died I traveled over to place some flowers by the bus stop and pay my respects. Someone then came out of their house and told me to stop crying over a ******. Not joking. And I'm white. Lee is okay but I left shortly after to move to Putney.

That's awful!

 

[anti-pacer]

Of the places I've been to, this is my list (Willenhall is only included because I always get a feeling of existential dread on returning of an evening!)

Best Town

Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire
Bewdley, Worcestershire
Windsor, Berkshire
Bridgnorth, Shropshire

Best City

Worcester, Worcestershire
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Derby, Derbyshire
Manchester, Greater Manchester

Best Village
Somerton, Somerset

Best Place
Isle of Arran, Coast of West Scotland

Worst Town

Cannock, Staffordshire
Willenhall, West Midlands
Blackpool, Lancashire
Skegness, Lincolnshire
Southport, Merseyside

Worst City

City of London, Greater London

What's wrong with Southport?

 

[backontrack]

A smiley face would have helped.

It was a (feeble) attempt at dry wit.

 

[Matt Taylor]

My favourite place outside of the UK is probably Singapore although I loved Brisbane but only had a couple of days there. In the UK I love my home city of Portsmouth but Edinburgh is probably my second favourite. To the other extreme I recently visited Whitley Bay and found it incredibly run down and depressing, never been a fan of Bognor Regis either. Looking further afield Melbourne gets an awful review from me seeing as it rained every single day we were there and New York I found stifling and underwhelming.

 

[Gathursty]

I also find places like Alderley Edge and Wilmslow a bit suspect. All those high-walled fences around property. Anything could be going on behind there.

 

[meridian2]

I also find places like Alderley Edge and Wilmslow a bit suspect. All those high-walled fences around property. Anything could be going on behind there.

I have a friend who was born in Alderley Edge. He said it was mostly spinsters and boffins trying to heat oversized houses while avoiding starvation. The Barbie-fication of the area is a relatively recent phenomenon.

 

[sk688]

There are plenty of nice areas out east too, once you pass the East End.

Ah thats intresting . I dont usually head that far out , so I just thought most of East London was rough

 

[D365]

I also find places like Alderley Edge and Wilmslow a bit suspect. All those high-walled fences around property. Anything could be going on behind there.

I've always thought that these areas of Cheshire try to see themselves as more posh than any Cambridge district.

 

[J-2739]

Havering is pretty decent, with open spaces. I also quite like Newham as well, despite being in the East End.

Tower Hamlets, however...

 

[fowler9]

My favourite place outside of the UK is probably Singapore although I loved Brisbane but only had a couple of days there. In the UK I love my home city of Portsmouth but Edinburgh is probably my second favourite. To the other extreme I recently visited Whitley Bay and found it incredibly run down and depressing, never been a fan of Bognor Regis either. Looking further afield Melbourne gets an awful review from me seeing as it rained every single day we were there and New York I found stifling and underwhelming.

I quite liked Melbourne, was only there for a week in the Spring but we lucked out with the weather which is notoriously changeable. I have a mate who lives there and he sent me a miserable message last June (Their winter obviously) saying it was 19 degrees and raining. I told him to stop moaning because it was the same in Liverpool and it was summer.

 

[Alex 2901]

What's wrong with Southport?

I just didn't like it while I was there for the week, nothing for 11yr old me to do, other than go into Liverpool with my family, which was definitely regretted (the riots started on the same day we were there...). That, and I rained non stop while I was there

I went back a couple of months ago, and it was still dull, raining & a complete pain to get to & from, mind you, letting my dad (who's knowledge of public transport is umm, questionable at best) navigate by train, wasn't the best idea ever...
Probably only included it for that, and the Pontins i stayed at, rotting & falling apart, never again...

 

[RichmondCommu]

Worst City

City of London, Greater London

Why don't you like the City? It has some lovely old buildings.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I've always thought that these areas of Cheshire try to see themselves as more posh than any Cambridge district.

There was at one time a sort of local AMEX Gold Card , the Wilmslow Card.

Back in the days of the proper Manchester Pullman - which was first stop London after Wilmlow , there was a particularly (to my mind) a fairly superior group of "Manchester Captains of Industry" aboard , large brandies after breakfast etc. Superb afternoon tea service.

In terms of worst places - a very wet weekend in Blaenau Ffestiniog comes close to a disaster , we got no walking and climbing done - the then 3 pubs were either hostile , very hostile or just about bearable for an hour. When we got onto the Sunday FR train back - we did a Manchester Pullman and ordered large scotches all round (with coffee), thanking our release from driving rain and greyness. Played Monopoly indoors all weekend. Dire.

 

[Calthrop]

Looking further afield Melbourne gets an awful review from me seeing as it rained every single day we were there...

I quite liked Melbourne, was only there for a week in the Spring but we lucked out with the weather which is notoriously changeable. I have a mate who lives there and he sent me a miserable message last June (Their winter obviously) saying it was 19 degrees and raining. I told him to stop moaning because it was the same in Liverpool and it was summer.

There's a comment on this general theme by Bill Bryson in his book on Australia, Down Under (my feelings about Bryson are kind-of "split" -- at times he can be very funny, and can come up with decidedly acute and penetrating observations re his subject-matter; at others I find him, in various ways, a total prat).

Anyway, Bryson has a great love for Australia; which he discovered a fair way into his life-span, from a position of almost complete non-knowledge. He finds the country and people delightful -- a place utterly unlike anywhere else in his experience. His first visit ever to Australia, consisted of a week in Melbourne -- among his initial impressions is the mention that "it rained, rained the whole week, which delighted me inordinately because it was so totally not what I had expected".

 

[fowler9]

There's a comment on this general theme by Bill Bryson in his book on Australia, Down Under (my feelings about Bryson are kind-of "split" -- at times he can be very funny, and can come up with decidedly acute and penetrating observations re his subject-matter; at others I find him, in various ways, a total prat).

Anyway, Bryson has a great love for Australia; which he discovered a fair way into his life-span, from a position of almost complete non-knowledge. He finds the country and people delightful -- a place utterly unlike anywhere else in his experience. His first visit ever to Australia, consisted of a week in Melbourne -- among his initial impressions is the mention that "it rained, rained the whole week, which delighted me inordinately because it was so totally not what I had expected".

Ha ha. Melbourne did surprise me in one respect. When we got collected at Tullamarine Airport at 6 in the morning by my mate and his dad I didn't expect my first view of Australia to be of green fields and trees and freezing fog. Ha ha.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

In terms of worst places - a very wet weekend in Blaenau Ffestiniog comes close to a disaster , we got no walking and climbing done - the then 3 pubs were either hostile , very hostile or just about bearable for an hour. When we got onto the Sunday FR train back - we did a Manchester Pullman and ordered large scotches all round (with coffee), thanking our release from driving rain and greyness. Played Monopoly indoors all weekend. Dire.

I will agree on Blaenau Ffestiniog, it's a really interesting and oddly pretty place, and the railway and Lechwydd Slate Mines are well worth a visit, but there's absolutely nothing else going for it sadly. Betws-y-coed just up the road is a lovely little place though.