Its good to be back in blighty!

[Sean 2]

Jumping on the Mansfield bandwagon, and without coming all over TMWLT (Newman, 1993), I believe it is the largest town in Britain without a railway station.

Eh?
My sister lives within yards of the railway station so i think that is incorrect.

Yes,Mansfield,where you can still buy a 2-bed semi with double glazing for
75k.Those lovely ex-miners terraced jobbies still go for fifty,sell your house here and buy a street in Mansfield.

But it is improving as a town and with it being in close proximity to Nottingham there is more chance of work,just looks grim because of those "quaint" old miner's houses forming rows upon rows of streets.

No,i can think of worse.Thamesmead is a place where even rats are too scared to go,Stoke Newington scares the life out of me even during the day and i dread to think how many would-be shoe bombers congregate up the Mile End Rd.

Lest we forget the charms of Custom House aka Canning Town,now those back-streets really are dangerous and i know from experience.

 

[* ORM *]

Can I nominate Barrow in Furness, Worksop, Deptford and Canvey. Gillingham doesn't even qualify as a place. If we were ever nuked it could only improve. Tilbury is "interesting" too

 

[Cricko]

Can I nominate Barrow in Furness, Worksop, Deptford and Canvey. Gillingham doesn't even qualify as a place. If we were ever nuked it could only improve. Tilbury is "interesting" too

Also Stanford No hope ..

 

[* ORM *]

Dreary me, how could I forget Chavburyness - a shocking oversight on my behalf.

Stamford Hill's another great place. If you like Volvos in the daytime or Vulvas after dark you can certainly get both in abundance.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

News story spotted on Yahoo: -

Middlesbrough - Worst Place To Live in UK

It seems the place not to be in the UK is Middlesbrough, after the city topped a poll of the worst places to live.

The city has been given the undesirable title because of high crime levels, severe drug and health problems, and poor education results.

Researchers ranked the best and worst UK places for the Channel 4 show Location, Location, Location.

Hull is second in the list, followed by the borough of Newham in east London.

A quarter of the Top 20 worst places are made up of London local boroughs, while Scotland and Northern Ireland do not feature at all.

The best place to live will be announced on Location, Location, Location on Wednesday.

The independent survey was based on data from bodies including local authorities, the Home Office and the Office For National Statistics.

Here is the Top 20 worst list:

1. Middlesbrough - North East
2. Hull - Humberside
3. Newham - East London
4. Nottingham - East Midlands
5. Merthyr Tydfil - South Wales
6. North East Lincolnshire - Eastern England
7. Islington - North London
8. Blaenau Gwent - South Wales
9. Mansfield - East Midlands
10. Knowsley - Merseyside
11. Blackpool - North West
12. Hackney - East London
13. Stoke-on-Trent - Staffordshire
14. Barking and Dagenham - East London
15. Doncaster - South Yorkshire
16. Cannock Chase - Staffordshire
17. Manchester - North West
18. Haringey - North London
19. Burnley - Lancashire
20. Hartlepool - North East

Funny how the top 20 echoes a lot of postings in this thread, although where the f**k is Luton?

 

[C C Csiders]

Eh?
My sister lives within yards of the railway station so i think that is incorrect.

Yes,Mansfield,where you can still buy a 2-bed semi with double glazing for
75k.Those lovely ex-miners terraced jobbies still go for fifty,sell your house here and buy a street in Mansfield..

As you will see the train station was re-opened in 1995. So it was the largest town without one until then. Sorry to not keep up with railway news from North Notts. How remiss of me. I shall now go and shoot myself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield_railway_station

 

[DTS]

I think I should take a bow after naming the top two in recent threads. Hull in this one and Middlesborough in the worst school trips ever.

 

[Mr Wooly]

Blimey, I've lived in two of those places (Islington and Haringey) and spent plenty of time doing my uni dissertation in Hackney.

I can only assume Nottingham is so high, due to the grossly high crime rate, most notably gun crime. I actually think its a fine city.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

My nearest town has hit the news today! :p
(Currently 2nd most emailed story on BBC News website for today)

Carbuncle 'crown' for Coatbridge

Coatbridge town centre in North Lanarkshire is Scotland's most dismal place according to the Carbuncle awards.
The less-than-coveted title is one of three handed out by the Prospect architecture magazine.

The casino at Glasgow's Springfield Quay got the award for worst building and Pollock's Silverburn Centre was voted worst planning decision.

Coatbridge is the third town in North Lanarkshire to be labelled a Carbuncle.

Nearby Cumbernauld has won the infamous "Plook on the Plinth" prize twice. Neighbouring Airdrie has also been honoured in the past.

Members of the public put forward their nominations for each category earlier this month, from which a panel of judges drew up a shortlist.

The final winners have been selected by a public vote.

Prospect editor Penny Lewis said: "Coatbridge could be a great place, it has a proud history and plenty of people living close to its centre.

"However, poor planning decisions and uninspiring urban design and architecture has destroyed the character of the place."

Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, told the BBC Scotland news website that the award was an "insult to the good people of the town".

She said: "I think the Carbuncle awards are particularly unhelpful for towns like Coatbridge that have risen from the ashes of their industrial past and really improved themselves.

"The people of Coatbridge are extremely friendly and proud of their industrial heritage and have worked hard to make the town a good place to live."

The local politician also had a message for those behind the Carbuncle awards.

She said: "This is nothing more than a patronising publicity stunt. Those at Prospect magazine should get out of their ivory tower and come and tour my Coatbridge and see it's a great place."

The Carbuncles were set up in 2000 and are held every two years.

Organisers argue they stimulate debate and opinion and encourage local authorities to improve town centre planning.

However Councillor Thomas Maginnis, convener of North Lanarkshire's regeneration committee, said: "We do not believe the Carbuncle awards offer anything positive to the towns they choose to include.

"The council and its partners have invested tens of millions of pounds in Coatbridge town centre, and more is still on the way."

He added: "It's very easy to be critical. It's much harder to deliver positive change. But that's exactly what we are committed to doing."