Crap Towns

Ipswich..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORZZ-SUGHXg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vVdzfwDOCU

lol

Croydon, no doubt. I remember going to Roberts (Croydon), taking the train in London Bridge.
It was a fairly sunny (not so warm) day in May, by the time the train got to Croydon... it was snowing.
Fucken place has its own climate.

#203 superb

kudos to them for rhyming 'Godiva' with 'saliva'

says it all about cov

and 'vagina'

Long Eaton?
FUCKING SHIT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zelhrqklhnk

Why is that watching a video from a town in the north or in the south doesn't really bring anything new, and the whole lot seems identical ?...
There's no obvious difference between city planning/landscape between towns.
At least when it comes to city centers, all have a high street with the same shops, the same 150 takeaways, Tesco's, etc...
Oli, you seem to have city planning as a fav subject. Please enlighten me.

^Fair observation. All provincial market towns are pretty much identical, it's a sad thing. Wasn't so bad when they were thriving despite the identikit approach, but every third shop is empty in most town centres now. Thatcher's britain....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-H0dhpcuyI

Daventry

chelmsley wood.

I know near to 0 when it comes to crap towns 'round Britain even because I know nothing above Bristol... unfortunatelly, or not.
I have a mate, living in Berlin now, he did uni in Edinburgh, he could swear for his life that this little town next to Dundee,
had to be the worst place in this fucken island. He had traveled a lot with a theater company, all over the UK....
?******? is my biggest reference of shit hole.

Any ideas what it could be?

There are so many choices... I'd guess either Tayport, which is a total scuzzhole, or Arbroath. But Dundee in itself is a pretty serious contender. The funny thing is that Carnoustie and St Andrews just along the coast are cashmere sweater, pashmina scarf and brogue hotspots.

I have no desire to go back to any of these places for exactly these extremes of deprivation and affluence that make them equally unpleasant-Dundee made me feel like Gulliver surrounded by angry midgets (I'm 5'10 so not used to being above average height which is why I remarked on it) as the population seem to have all started smoking and drinking at the age of three and stunted their growth.

On the subject of town planning, the last I heard St Andrews town council vetoed the presence of any chains such as Mc Donalds etc (though I checked and they have tesco, subway, Zizi, Pizza Express... so not against chains, just totally chav ones obviously)

Bognor Regis, Yeovil, Bridgewater, Minehead, Torquay

There are so many choices... I'd guess either Tayport, which is a total scuzzhole, or Arbroath. But Dundee in itself is a pretty serious contender. The funny thing is that Carnoustie and St Andrews just along the coast are cashmere sweater, pashmina scarf and brogue hotspots.

The latter sounds worse to me than the former. :)

The thing is the folk in St Andrews are totally oblivious to what extends beyond the town limits unless they happen to swoosh through it in daddy's Bently or take a helicopter to one of their chum's estates.

Arbroath, like a lot of Scottish coastal towns, used to be really nice until the fishing industry was wound up (Thatcher, anyone...) and all the local jobs dried up. Now they spend their time drinking, taking drugs and hunting paedos with claw hammers (I actually spoke to a guy from another town near there who was going to court for this at the time. He scared me.)

But yes. Uber-rich golf resort and trust fund babies is what St Andrews is all about.

Welwyn Garden City,

i've been in WGC all weekend visiting my folks. I grew up there. I've just (cover your ears Will) recorded a song about it with my current band. About the town I mean, nothing to do with me, it's all about the (failed) experiment of Ebenezer Howard and Frederick Osborne to create a new way of life by marrying the town and country and removing the need to commute to the city to work. It's called "Garden City".

It was boring as all hell to grow up in but i find the the whole garden city thing a kind of interesting subject these days. I'll see if i can find a way to post a rough version of it i've got on my phone. hang on....

i've been in WGC all weekend visiting my folks. I grew up there. I've just (cover your ears Will) recorded a song about it with my current band. About the town I mean, nothing to do with me, it's all about the (failed) experiment of Ebenezer Howard and Frederick Osborne to create a new way of life by marrying the town and country and removing the need to commute to the city to work. It's called "Garden City".

It was boring as all hell to grow up in but i find the the whole garden city thing a kind of interesting subject these days. I'll see if i can find a way to post a rough version of it i've got on my phone. hang on....

Alesha 'well ghetto' Dixon is from there too

i've been in WGC all weekend visiting my folks. I grew up there. I've just (cover your ears Will) recorded a song about it with my current band. About the town I mean, nothing to do with me, it's all about the (failed) experiment of Ebenezer Howard and Frederick Osborne to create a new way of life by marrying the town and country and removing the need to commute to the city to work. It's called "Garden City".

It was boring as all hell to grow up in but i find the the whole garden city thing a kind of interesting subject these days. I'll see if i can find a way to post a rough version of it i've got on my phone. hang on....

My dad grew up in Leuna, which is a garden city near Leipzig. It was built to accommodate factory workers at the local chemical factory. It's still a beautiful place (outside the factory, of course). The concept isn't all that bad if you're not located in close proximity to an international mega-centre which sucks the lifeblood out of most things surrounding it. I can't vouch for Leuna being interesting for young people, of course--I'd guess it would have been pretty boring--, but as a planned town it works very well.

think she went to my old school. as did david james. my mum taught him maths. she said he was a "nice boy".

wrestling with soundcloud and itunes on a creaky old laptop at the moment. they're not playing nicely together. stressful times.

Edmonton

Tooting

Wandsworth

Finchley

Leytonstone

Acton

Twickenham

Hounslow

Kingsbury

walthamstow

Greenford

Croydon

Peckham

Shepherds Bush

to name but a few.

i've been in WGC all weekend visiting my folks. I grew up there. I've just (cover your ears Will) recorded a song about it with my current band. About the town I mean, nothing to do with me, it's all about the (failed) experiment of Ebenezer Howard and Frederick Osborne to create a new way of life by marrying the town and country and removing the need to commute to the city to work. It's called "Garden City".

It was boring as all hell to grow up in but i find the the whole garden city thing a kind of interesting subject these days. I'll see if i can find a way to post a rough version of it i've got on my phone. hang on....

Im not hating on the garden citys, i myself went to boarding school in letchworth garden city so spent many years there.
I do find the concept of the garden cities very interesting. Unfortunately they are boring as hell and pretty rubbish places.
Do you not think that Welwyn in general smells of shredded wheat?

man what a faff. here it is.

http://soundcloud.com/allanjbegg/garden-city-demo

ruff as all hell. first stab at a demo recorded sat on my bed into my iphone and reading freshly scrawled lyrics. if anyone gives a flying fuck (now i've got a soundcloud account and all) i'll post the full version avec strumpet brushie brushie and fiddles etc in the guitar nerd thread probably. .

hope you like it.

hayes, middlesex

Do you not think that Welwyn in general smells of shredded wheat?

used to. the factory's gone now. hence demise of the whole concept. it was never meant to be a commuter town.

hate away dude! i did for many, many years. the tune linked above is an exercise in embracing the crapness for the sake of the song*

*cringe. sorry.

while back back there last night i played the full version of this to my mum who is both the fiercest critic of anything i do and a 28 year resident of WGC. she smiled all the way through it and laughed and nodded at the end. in a weird way it was one of the best reactions to a piece of my music i've ever had.