Hemel Hempstead wins unwanted award.

[Johnuk123]

Britain has been voting for the ugliest towns in the UK. The competition for the ugliest town in the country has been tough, as 'new towns' vied with those suffering radical 1960s makeovers, and those being rebuilt largely out of concrete after the war.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/10240434/And-the-ugliest-town-is...-Hemel-Hempstead.html


Hemel Hempstead has been voted the ugliest town in Britain according to the C**p Towns Returns website.

I don't know the place that well but I would certainly endorse 2nd and 3rd places Luton and Slough both places few people would choose to live if they had a choice.

 

[gordonthemoron]

HH is certainly nothing special, but aside from it's dreadful cinema there are worse places, Skem anyone?

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Luton is definitely worse than Hemel.

 

[CarltonA]

Hatfield and Harlow come to mind in the same general area. Cumbernauld is meant to be quite bad though I have not been.

 

[Deerfold]

Based on just over 3000 votes...

 

[W-on-Sea]

On the other list, Chipping Norton is certainly NOT dull! Maidenhead, on the other hand, may well be...

 

[asylumxl]

Luton is definitely worse than Hemel.

They're about the same.

 

[Lampshade]

HH is certainly nothing special, but aside from it's dreadful cinema there are worse places, Skem anyone?

Skem is diabolical, it's like one big council estate.

 

[bb21]

So the tenth place has 48 votes (out of 3000 people polled). I wonder how many votes the 100th place gets. :roll:

 

[jon0844]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-easy-ways-to-spot-b.s.-news-story-internet_p2

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Skem is diabolical, it's like one big council estate.

There are many people with the same impression as you over that "Iconic" example of a "New Town".

 

[Deerfold]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-easy-ways-to-spot-b.s.-news-story-internet_p2

Any chance you could give us a summary of what this says - I can't access it at work due to the site being classified as "Tasteless"...

 

[Oswyntail]

Hemel is not that bad - any new town is equally drear (Skem, Washington. MK).
What should be given a similar treatment is so-called "regenerated" towns, where anything of merit has been stripped out and replaced with the odd mall, a stadium, a plaza and nothing else. I would nominate Leeds here, which, unless you are a 15 year old girl, is much worse than Hemel.

 

[Searle]

Any chance you could give us a summary of what this says - I can't access it at work due to the site being classified as "Tasteless"...

"5 Easy Ways to Spot a B.S. News Story on the Internet"

"#2. It's a Poll Disguised as a News Story"

that's pretty much it

As we've started a town bashing thread, I've never found Hatfield or Hemel that bad really. However Harlow and Luton are some dodgy places from around here!

 

[causton]

Definitely, I agree with Searle above. Living in Hatfield I may be biased but I went to Stevenage, Hitchin and Luton last week. Hitchin was the only one that was bearable! Harlow... let's not even go there. And by that I mean don't go there

 

[Johnuk123]

Luton certainly seems to be getting a bashing, and quite deserved too.

 

[asylumxl]

Definitely, I agree with Searle above. Living in Hatfield I may be biased but I went to Stevenage, Hitchin and Luton last week. Hitchin was the only one that was bearable! Harlow... let's not even go there. And by that I mean don't go there

Try going for a night out in Hitchin. or hell, try spending more than a few hours there .

 

[Deerfold]

Try going for a night out in Hitchin. or hell, try spending more than a few hours there .

I've had some great nights out in Hitchin. May I recommend Club 85?

Has an increasingly crap bus service unfortunately.

 

[CarltonA]

If the choice is Hell or Hitchin I suppose I would be prepared to try Hitchin.

 

[HST Power]

I do love a bit of town bashing!

I live not too far from Hitchin and I can tell you now it is paradise in comparison to Stevenage!

 

[ScottishIain]

No surprise Cumbernauld is on the list. It's like one giant dull concrete block.

 

[Eagle]

I am completely unsurprised to see Leamington make the dull list.

 

[Searle]

Let's just say Stevenage isn't going to win any architecture prizes soon

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I though Leamington Spa was quite a nice town when I visited. Tamworth should be on that list though, not even Satan himself would be evil enough to make people live there. Awful town.

 

[Eagle]

I though Leamington Spa was quite a nice town when I visited.

Try spending more than 24 hours there and you'll revise that opinion.

 

[asylumxl]

Let's just say Stevenage isn't going to win any architecture prizes soon

But what about the clock in the town centre?

Plus the various alcoholics who frequent it regularly, ofcourse.

 

[causton]

Try going for a night out in Hitchin. or hell, try spending more than a few hours there .

I spent a night out in Hitchin once actually, it was an under 18s party years ago but still it wasn't *that* rough

...Hitchin is not half as bad as places like Harlow are though!

 

[tsr]

It's a pity vast swathes of South London couldn't be included, especially as some of them are (for some purposes) deemed to be in Surrey. Sutton is dull and nasty at times (I've worked there and have friends there); Croydon is abysmal in many ways (sadly I have been there many times too often); Kingston is almost unnavigable to normal humans and not of any special interest to anyone (again - personal experience). Then you have various towns in the South-East which really should try harder. Hastings, Edenbridge, Crawley, Redhill and many of the unmentioned (and usually unmentionable) parts of the Blackwater Valley all spring to mind.

 

[HST Power]

I think by way of London boroughs Slough wins it for me. Never actually been there but they always seem to be there on Brit Cops/Police Camera Action etc. Says it all really.

 

[gswindale]

I think by way of London boroughs Slough wins it for me. Never actually been there but they always seem to be there on Brit Cops/Police Camera Action etc. Says it all really.

It isn't a London borough though. It is a unitary authority in Berkshire.