General What is the worst town in England?

[m]

Genuinely walked into a pub which fell silent (just the clock ticking) had a pint of Guinness, left and the noise started up again as the door closed. Never had that anywhere before or since.

Had exactly that in the Saxton Arms, Abingdon.

Right down to the Guiness.

 

[OX14]

Had exactly that in the Saxton Arms, Abingdon.

Right down to the Guiness.

Very strange pub that was, The Midget is much more civilised and not full of people who look like their the cast of the Hills have eyes film.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Near me you have the delights of Widness, Warrington and Runcorn who would, I’d say all get into the top 10. I’d also say Crewe would as well.
On the road with Oxford I’d say Grays is a dire place along with places such as Scunthorpe, Stevenage, Fleetwood and Burslem.
Local to Oxford then I’d say Abingdon and Didcot.
Has Abingdon had any redevelopment to the town centre yet or are the still just building up the outskirts?

 

[OX14]

Near me you have the delights of Widness, Warrington and Runcorn who would, I’d say all get into the top 10. I’d also say Crewe would as well.
On the road with Oxford I’d say Grays is a dire place along with places such as Scunthorpe, Stevenage, Fleetwood and Burslem.
Local to Oxford then I’d say Abingdon and Didcot.
Has Abingdon had any redevelopment to the town centre yet or are the still just building up the outskirts?

The problem with Abingdon is we're just a bus stop between Oxford and Didcot.

 

[Wandering Yellow]

Near me you have the delights of Widness, Warrington and Runcorn who would, I’d say all get into the top 10. I’d also say Crewe would as well.
On the road with Oxford I’d say Grays is a dire place along with places such as Scunthorpe, Stevenage, Fleetwood and Burslem.
Local to Oxford then I’d say Abingdon and Didcot.
Has Abingdon had any redevelopment to the town centre yet or are the still just building up the outskirts?

I feel like all of these tick the "pub falling silent went you walk in" category of places. Kind of places you could get called a "southern cnut" for ordering a lager.

 

[stokeu]

Middlesbrough often gets mentioned too but I actually quite liked it when I went. Certainly way less crap than Stoke.

I wonder if there is any way to mark out a town as "scientifically" the crappest. My money would be on Gillingham/Chatham or Stoke taking the title.

Stoke is poor city with little investment but it's not all a sh1thole. 15 minutes drive and you are in some amazing places so quiet and green., I live just outside and can see the mountains in Wales from my garden on a clear day, cows from my kitchen window, There's one of Britain's finest bluebell woods nearby, . There's decent breweries, Heritage like the Station or potbanks, try Wedgewood or Gladstone or Emma Bridgewater. Some friendly people but has a decent amount of deprivation and dickheads. Burslem isn't the worst unfortunately. Still Boris will be levelling up soon and it will be Shangri-la

Blackpool is worse, and Crewe, Stockport, Liverpool IMO

 

[stokeu]

I feel like all of these tick the "pub falling silent went you walk in" category of places. Kind of places you could get called a "southern cnut" for ordering a lager.

I've experienced this in Oxford, on a stag do starting at the Folly, walking up into town there was a pub on the left (don't remember the name and think it is long gone) , you could hear the piano from outside but hear a pin drop inside, didn't stay long...

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Stoke is poor city with little investment but it's not all a sh1thole. 15 minutes drive and you are in some amazing places so quiet and green., I live just outside and can see the mountains in Wales from my garden on a clear day, cows from my kitchen window, There's one of Britain's finest bluebell woods nearby, . There's decent breweries, Heritage like the Station or potbanks, try Wedgewood or Gladstone or Emma Bridgewater. Some friendly people but has a decent amount of deprivation and dickheads. Burslem isn't the worst unfortunately. Still Boris will be levelling up soon and it will be Shangri-la

Blackpool is worse, and Crewe, Stockport, Liverpool IMO

The outskirts of Liverpool are poor but then city centre is a great place and some of the best bars whether it be day or night for atmosphere.

For towns closer to Oxford I would add Carterton to the list too.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Near me you have the delights of Widness, Warrington and Runcorn who would, I’d say all get into the top 10. I’d also say Crewe would as well.
On the road with Oxford I’d say Grays is a dire place along with places such as Scunthorpe, Stevenage, Fleetwood and Burslem.
Local to Oxford then I’d say Abingdon and Didcot.
Has Abingdon had any redevelopment to the town centre yet or are the still just building up the outskirts?

Abingdon is a nice little place! There must be hundreds like it in England but it’s certainly not a hole

 

[holdsteady]

Abingdon is a nice little place! There must be hundreds like it in England but it’s certainly not a hole

Had me scratching my head, Abingdon is one of the nicer places in the county. No where in Oxfordshire gets in the worst town list for me.

Aldershot is pretty ropey if you ever travel through, a run down garrison town.

 

[m]

Clacton deserves a mention.

 

[m]

And I couldn't help but wonder what the point of Maidenhead was.

 

[QR]

Near me you have the delights of Widness, Warrington and Runcorn who would, I’d say all get into the top 10. I’d also say Crewe would as well.
On the road with Oxford I’d say Grays is a dire place along with places such as Scunthorpe, Stevenage, Fleetwood and Burslem.
Local to Oxford then I’d say Abingdon and Didcot.
Has Abingdon had any redevelopment to the town centre yet or are the still just building up the outskirts?

The walk around the river in Abingdon has got to be one of the nicest walks in Oxfordshire if not the uk.

 

[SteMerritt]

And I couldn't help but wonder what the point of Maidenhead was.

It's personal choice, surely?

 

[ubermeistervonmeat]

Living in the West Midlands there are quite a few candidates - Walsall & Wednesbury & West Brom for a start

 

[m]

It's personal choice, surely?
View attachment 8899

I had no idea!

 

[m]

Living in the West Midlands there are quite a few candidates - Walsall & Wednesbury & West Brom for a start

I went on the lash in Dudley once, was a good evening. The absolute highlight was stumbling into a very small front-room style pub.

Got chatting to the landlord who quickly ascertained that I was not local. When I told him I was from Oxford he beamed and said "you'll not have seen these then!". He then produced a bag of pork scratchings.

"Go on! Try them!". So I did. They were pork scratchings. He was very excited to know what I thought so I told him they were delicious. (Which they were)

To this day I've never really made sense of that episode.

 

[MarkG]

There have been some strange pubs I've been into following Oxford United around the country.
I think this was away at Stockport, they were showing Sky Sports but on a domestic subscription.
They had put some black gaffer tape over the corner of the screen where the pint glass icon would be.
Also a notice on the front door saying "Sky employees or their representatives may only enter these premises by prior appointment".
Pinned to the toilet door was a handwritten notice "taking illegal drugs in these toilets is strictly forbidden".

 

[Wandering Yellow]

There have been some strange pubs I've been into following Oxford United around the country.
I think this was away at Stockport, they were showing Sky Sports but on a domestic subscription.
They had put some black gaffer tape over the corner of the screen where the pint glass icon would be.
Also a notice on the front door saying "Sky employees or their representatives may only enter these premises by prior appointment".
Pinned to the toilet door was a handwritten notice "taking illegal drugs in these toilets is strictly forbidden".

This is standard procedure in many London pubs to be fair. Given the amount of Cocaine in this city I don't think many take any notice.

 

[SteMerritt]

This is standard procedure in many London pubs to be fair. Given the amount of Cocaine in this city I don't think many take any notice.

Surely the message is completely redundant though? Taking 'illegal drugs' is.... erm... illegal? I can't believe a note attached to a door would make someone who was about to take some drugs think 'Oh, OK, I can't do that in here'...