Areas that have gone to pot

[Quhet]

Opposite of gentrification. Are there any areas you can think of that have properly gone to seed over the last 20 years?

Gentrification is a fairly constant process and there are loads of examples of previously rough areas which have become trendy and then quite desirable. I was idly thinking this morning that I can't immediately think of any recent examples near me. Lots of people will say London is going to the dogs but is it really? There are obviously longer term examples like mining towns, Detroit in the USA, and probably lots of other post industrial towns.

Over to you!

Edit - bloody autocorrect. Mods - this should read 'Areas that have gone to st'! Please could you change it?

[vaud]

Bradford used to be the richest town in Yorkshire. In modern times the brain drain to Leeds has accelerated it's decline over the last 40 years. The city centre is a tragic shadow of it's former self with very few redeeming features.

I used to go frequently as a child and now it's once a year at the most for the Alhambra theatre which is quite good. I don't even go for special ingredients for cooking any more.

Some of the towns within Bradford district are ok to very, very nice (Saltaire, Baildon, Ilkley, Burley in Wharfedale) but as a city it's a lost cause.

[PositronicRay]

When I visited Caerphilly 45yrs ago I quite liked it. May have just been me though.

[98elise]

Chatham.

Obviously it was never a particularly great place, but all the big name stores have gone and it's all Poundland and second-hand phone stores now. Also has plenty of empty shops, and a couple of office blocks that have no tenants.

[Yellowfez]

The whole of West London I would say, although it’s mega expensive compared to much of the uk it’s an absolute crap hole now compared to when I was growing up, still live here too

[119]

England.

[Slow.Patrol]

Braintree in Essex

Used to be a nice little market town although it was a bottle neck on the old A120.

They built a bypass which was then followed by crazy levels of house building. Now the town centre is full of people wearing grey tracksuit bottoms.

I spent my first few years on a council estate. The houses were built in the early 1960s and I remember them all being well maintained with tidy gardens. Now the front gardens look like a wilderness with junk and kids toys. No one takes any pride in their environment these days

[ClaphamGT3]

Canterbury.

Thirty years ago it was a prosperous and delightful little city with a wealth of independent retailers, bars and restaurants and a lovely mellow vibe.

I went back earlier this year for the 1st time in - probably - 25 years and it was awful, empty retail units, low grade chain stores & restaurants and a general sense of decay and neglect

[anonymous-user]

Polzeath and a number of areas in that part of Cornwall.

[DSLiverpool]

Birkenhead has gone from a sthole to a deserted sthole - town shops vanishing and bike rats everywhere.

Proud resident of the area !!

[Macneil]

ClaphamGT3 said:

Canterbury.

Thirty years ago it was a prosperous and delightful little city with a wealth of independent retailers, bars and restaurants and a lovely mellow vibe.

I went back earlier this year for the 1st time in - probably - 25 years and it was awful, empty retail units, low grade chain stores & restaurants and a general sense of decay and neglect

We stayed there for a few days and found it a bit depressed, but far better than we expected.

I think most towns are just fked now, very few have thriving retail, and the increase in homelessness and decrease in policing makes town centres a place no-one wnats to be.

Where I live was one of the country's premier retail cities before the internet took over. Now if a Candy store opens where a real shop used to be it's front page news in the paper no-one buys anymore.

[Sheets Tabuer]

EVOTECH3BELL said:

Polzeath and a number of areas in that part of Cornwall.

I've just got back from a week away in Cornwall and was surprised to find almost entire communities empty, rows upon rows of empty houses with QR codes on saying rent me for the week.

No wonder they're going to pot if no one is living in them.

[Nethybridge]

This urban decay seems to be all over the country, almost like, a design, deliberate ,
the result of a massively stupid government policy decision in the late 1990s

Can anyone think of what that could be ?

[anonymous-user]

Sheets Tabuer said:

EVOTECH3BELL said:

Polzeath and a number of areas in that part of Cornwall.

I've just got back from a week away in Cornwall and was surprised to find almost entire communities empty, rows upon rows of empty houses with QR codes on saying rent me for the week.

No wonder they're going to pot if no one is living in them.

Full of Harry, Harriets and Henrys during the holidays then ghost towns the rest of the time.
Multimillion pound houses that no one except the wealthiest from the home counties can afford.
Suppose the locals have bought it on themselves by cashing in, and who can blame them...

[zarjaz1991]

Crewe

Prosperous railway town to derelict empty stehole in a comparatively short time.

The council’s answer was to flatten the sixties shopping area and leave it as a pile of rubble.
They have however built a horrific concrete multi storey car park that looks as inviting as those 1960s brutalist ones everywhere else is pulling down.

[BlueJazz]

DSLiverpool said:

Birkenhead has gone from a sthole to a deserted sthole - town shops vanishing and bike rats everywhere.

Proud resident of the area !!

Liverpool One certainly finished off the pyramids! Still, there's always Caldy and lower Heswall for the powerfully built PH to reside in.

[Kerniki]

[redacted]

[james6546]

Stafford has never been great, but out of town shopping centers and awkward parking has totally killed the center.

[okgo]

Yellowfez said:

The whole of West London I would say, although it’s mega expensive compared to much of the uk it’s an absolute crap hole now compared to when I was growing up, still live here too

Which area?

[Sheets Tabuer]

Bideford and Carlisle were stand out areas for me this year as examples of complete stholes.

As a poster above stated I think it's happening everywhere.