What is the worst city in the UK?

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ILikeXiaolongbao@reddit

I know that all places have redeeming qualities.

But anyone that’s spent significant time in Birmingham and Manchester should laugh at the idea that the former is the 2nd city.

Ugly, car-oriented, forgettable, unimportant culturally.

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_CheddarRex_@reddit

Birmingham has a population of more than a million people. Manchester has about half that. That's the reason Birmingham is the second city, it's the second most populous city

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soton_indies@reddit

Birmingham people don't crow about their city like Mancunians. I've always enjoyed going to both cities and they are proper cities.

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Slightinsight@reddit

I am from Birmingham and planning to move to Manchester. It is way way nicer

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Commercial-Choice-31@reddit

Lincoln near the train station today was like a zombie apocalypse

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signol_@reddit

Rochester is the worst at being a city.. lost city status because of someone in the city council forgetting to file some paperwork.

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witdim@reddit

I can obviously only judge those that I've been to. By far the worst is Birmingham. It's like some sort of post-apocalyptic hellscape.

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soton_indies@reddit

Birmingham is great. The people are ace. I love going there.

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DatGuy82772@reddit

Don't get the Brum love at all. It's awful.

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Immorals1@reddit

Coventry is the first that comes to mind.

Very grey and stale, only redeeming features are the cathedrals

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Slightinsight@reddit

I hate the massive highway roads in the middle of the city. Who designed that?

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DatGuy82772@reddit

There's still some beautiful hidden architecture around Coventry.

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Choice-Demand-3884@reddit

Got Herman Goering to thank for that, tbf

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PingouinFluffy@reddit

And the post war planners, turned a medieval city into a concrete jungle.

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Pixie_UK@reddit

Loads of it has been demolished to make way for more apartment buildings in the city centre. It truly is dismal, empty shops, vapes stores, etc.

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JChristSocialist@reddit

All cities have their benefits and drawbacks, however London does not want anyone even vaguely poor to live there - so London.

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L00ny-T00n@reddit

There's a lot to choose from, and as Luton is yet to be named a city, the award should go to Peterborough. Nice cathedral but surrounded by urban hell (Except the Ostrich Inn, a bit of an Oasis)

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DatGuy82772@reddit

Peterborough has plenty of nice buildings tbh.

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ikxbtd123@reddit

I’m surprised nobody has said Doncaster yet

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DatGuy82772@reddit

Doncaster is dreadful but Bradford is worse.

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rockdecasba@reddit

Dunfermline, it's barely a city and somewhere you'd only venture to buy a second hand car

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Wooden_Mushroom_1756@reddit

I live 10 miles away and haven’t set foot in the place in nearly 30 years.

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catjellycat@reddit

Coventry - for lots of reasons beyond its control.

It’s a good place for getting other places tho, I’ll give it that

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Went to Coventry and Wolverhampton in the same day, as a day trip thing from my base in Birmingham. So I can only comment on the city centres here, but based on them, Wolverhampton was much more depressing than Coventry.

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catjellycat@reddit

I’ll be honest - I googled if Dudley was a city before I gave my answer!

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DatGuy82772@reddit

I think Dudley is better than Wolves. It has a zoo and a castle.

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soton_indies@reddit

Good night out in both.

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DatGuy82772@reddit

I agree. Wolves is horrible.

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rybnickifull@reddit

Having grown up around Reading, it was amazing visiting Cov for the first time. Their ring road is an actual ring for instance!

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MurdockMow@reddit

What’s wrong with Reading

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-Rhymenocerous-@reddit

Insane amount of car theft for starters

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MurdockMow@reddit

Really? I don’t drive so I wouldn’t know

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soton_indies@reddit

A lot. The only thing going for it now is the Elizabeth Line.

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MurdockMow@reddit

When was the last time you’ve been? I’ve had no complaints about it. Could be better but there’s a lot worse. Bus system is one of the best in the country

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DatGuy82772@reddit

Reading is nicer than Cov.

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CelDidNothingWrong@reddit

I’m glad that the people of Coventry at least get Nuneaton to look down on

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DatGuy82772@reddit

I agree. Nuneaton makes Coventry look good.

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DatGuy82772@reddit

I actually don't think Cov is all that bad apart from the odd architecture.

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Ynoxz@reddit

Lived there for 3 years whilst at uni. I actually didn't mind it really.

I'd go with Bolton. Went there for a job interview back in 2006 and my train had bricks thrown at it.

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soton_indies@reddit

😂 Did the job have danger money?

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Party_Advantage_3733@reddit

Bolton is a dump, but it's not a city.

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Desperate-Drawer-572@reddit (OP)

What about warwick

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soton_indies@reddit

Yeah Warwick doesn't even have its own university. It's in Coventry.

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catjellycat@reddit

It doesn’t meet the perimeters of your own question! It’s not a city!

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DatGuy82772@reddit

If you mean actual cities I would say Bradford. If not then I would say Oldham.

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Randomfinn@reddit

Love oldham. Not from there, but found the people friendly, it had a nice downtown. Elected Churchill. I think it is less white than a lot of the UK so ppl don’t like that. Bradford I also thought was fine, wasn’t amazing, but again I think a lot of the shit spoken about it is mostly racism.

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DatGuy82772@reddit

I don't think it is racism. It genuinely just appeared shit to me.

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Excellent-Law-218@reddit

If you mean actual cities

Well they said city didn't they? Then again, they also asked for reasons, and you didn't give any.

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DatGuy82772@reddit

Reasons: litter, dereliction, chavs, crime etc.

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Diplomatic_Gunboats@reddit

Belfast.

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Icy-Belt-8519@reddit

Not many place I've been I really don't like, but Coventry wasn't great!

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Educational_Sound188@reddit

Croydon

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CelDidNothingWrong@reddit

It used to be one of the roughest parts of South London, and the country in general. Some of the worst gang wars in the 90s and 2000s, and it’s where most of London’s weed is still grown. BUT, the actual city centre has been pretty gentrified, and only West Croydon remains actively dangerous.

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Educational_Sound188@reddit

I lived there a year ago. I still stand on my point.

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Neat-Suspect-6666@reddit

Luton

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MurdockMow@reddit

England

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spoo4brains@reddit

The education system failed you badly.

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MurdockMow@reddit

Perhaps so mate

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ThrowRAkitty13@reddit

Bradford, no explanation needed.

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colbysnumberonefan@reddit

Typical racist response.

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ThrowRAkitty13@reddit

You're the one brining race into it.

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promsuit@reddit

I mean, do you wanna live there? It’s a fucking shit hole and everyone knows why

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Party_Advantage_3733@reddit

It's because of the Brats right?

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promsuit@reddit

No it’s because of people from the global south turning it into a shite dump

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Furicist@reddit

How? It objectively is awful, druggies all over the streets, dangerous, driving standards are awful, rubbish and degeneration everywhere. Big mix of people but it just isn't a nice place to live as far as living standards go.

Then there is the lack of bypass so you have to drive through Bradford if you're trying to move around due to the lack of quality planning, it takes absolutely ages to get anywhere. Bradford as a city seems broken, financially and in general.

I had a flat tyre in Bradford and the cinema nearby was nearly 60 quid to take me, my Mrs and kid in while we waited for the tyre to be changed down the road.

Gangs everywhere, some streets are literally just dirt roads, can't even drive on them due to all the rubbish blocking the way. So many homes seems to just have their front garden as a landfill. It's disgusting.

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DatGuy82772@reddit

Is it?

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FinanceBloke99@reddit

Depreston

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AdministrativeLaugh2@reddit

Went for uni there and it rained probably every single day for at least the first six months. Loved my time there but my god it is a shithole

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BillWilberforce@reddit

In Cardiff it seemed to absolutely piss down 1 in 3 days, particularly on a Wednesday morning when most of my lectures were. The sewers couldn't handle it and it was about a half hour walk to the Uni. So about 1 in 5 goes, there would be a colossal puddle in the middle of the road. Some car would go through it at speed and I'd get absolutely drenched.

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OGSkywalker97@reddit

I mean it sounds like Depressed Town so

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DatGuy82772@reddit

Ehhh, not great but not the worst imo.

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Victoriaspalace@reddit

I applied to study at UCLan a good few years ago and lasted 3 months before I packed up and left. Such a depressing little place.

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VisibleOtter@reddit

Not sure it’s a city, but Redcar made me want to emigrate before the pubs closed

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Icy-Belt-8519@reddit

My friend lived in Redcar, I've never been but she couldn't speak enough shit about it 😂

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youaresoincorrect@reddit

I reckon at least 75% of the comments are people posting their own towns/cities or previous towns/cities lived in lmao

I love the British standard that wherever you live is just "a shitehole"

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MoleDunker-343@reddit

Almost as if it is indeed a shit hole 😅

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Usual-Sound-2962@reddit

I found Bradford to be genuinely grim, there just seemed to be no local pride, rubbish dumped everywhere and at times felt genuinely unsafe.

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Barry_Umenema@reddit

I haven't been to many of them, because, generally speaking, cities are shit holes.
I have been to Leeds though... holy shit 🫩

I've been to Winchester. That was actually really nice.

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W51976@reddit

Probably Grimsby.

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DatGuy82772@reddit

Not a city though.

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soton_indies@reddit

Winchester. It's more of a suburb of London than a City.

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DatGuy82772@reddit

Eh?

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miscfiles@reddit

Winchester is certainly an unusual choice for worst city.

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HuntingTheWren@reddit

Funnily enough, someone wrote a book called Shit Towns about 20 years ago which featured Winchester at number 1. I think the author had been thumped by a squaddie on a night out in Winchester.

It’s actually a marvellous place to live. Not perfect but it’s got so much going for it. Location is great for nature - green or blue - schools are good, it’s got culture, history, decent pubs, it’s well connected by road and rail, there’s a uni… Less positively, it suffers from a total overwhelm of chain shops and restaurants plus the use of space is poor (the old shopping centre and the even older bus station, notably) plus the house prices are fucking stupid. But on balance it’s a great little city.

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soton_indies@reddit

It's only a city because it has a Cathedral. It's not on the official list of importsnt cities as judged by local authorities.

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miscfiles@reddit

It's not big, but it's certainly got history. Reading is jealous of Winchester's city status.

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stampmanf12020@reddit

?

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turbo_triforce@reddit

Access to the South Downs, good walks, history, a beautiful river through it.

Absolutely not.

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Extension_Pickle_581@reddit

Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. A throughly depressing and deprived place. I had to work there a few times a couple of years ago. No more thank goodness. Apart from a really good record store, The Musical Box, there is nothing else to recommend the place.

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DatGuy82772@reddit

But it's not a city.

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SometimesMonkeysDie@reddit

Colchester.

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DatGuy82772@reddit

How?

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Proud_Durian6956@reddit

Leicester

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DatGuy82772@reddit

Leicester isn't great but it's historic and interesting at least.

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MoleWhackSupreme@reddit

How can Leicester be the answer when Bradford exists

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AloneChance0@reddit

Stoke on Trent is mundane and depressing, only good thing about it, is that it's close to Alton Towers

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DatGuy82772@reddit

I agree. Stoke is horrible. And if you wanna go to Alton Towers Uttoxeter is a closer place to live anyway.

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Moving4Motion@reddit

Bradford, Birmingham & Coventry.

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arethainparis@reddit

Dunfermline. Crock of shite

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Do_You_Want_Lunch@reddit

Utterly ashamed no one has said Birmingham yet. Repulsive place

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soton_indies@reddit

Wells in Somerset has got to be another candidate. Equivalent to Winchester. Both full of money but nothing else.

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crumpetsandchai@reddit

Rhyl

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Excellent-Law-218@reddit

Rhyl isnt a city, dumbo.

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idontlikemondays321@reddit

As someone who has been to about 70/76, it’s Stoke so far

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Bbew_Mot@reddit

St. David's. Maybe it's not such a bad place but it is emblematic of how meaningless and arbitrary the word 'city' is in this country. We should be like Japan and declare every settlement of more than 50,000 people a city.

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vientianna@reddit

Boston

Not a city, but truly the only place in the UK I’ve felt uneasy

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humblepaul@reddit

Worst in what way? Nightlife? Crime? Food options? Housing costs? Farmers Markets? Availability of charcoal sourdough?

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refundpackage@reddit

Yes

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Top_Mix_6519@reddit

Bangor, Northern Ireland

Go visit and tell me how that absolute hovel is a city

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