Stoke-on-Trent is shit

[AverageJoe]

Theres a church that has been turned into a lapdance joint in Stoke.

And when I went into the Wetherspoons there, I was the only person not in a motorised wheelchair. They had taken all the chairs out so people could get around.

I had to stand.

Only been once. The longest three days of my life.

 

[meurig]

I know fuck all about Stoke apart from Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton played for them, and Radio Stoke has Britain's finest radio show http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/blues.shtml?stoke/northernsoul.

So I think I can forgive them.

 

[Andy the Don]

So does Stoke qualify for the title of "Worst Town/City in Britain"?

I thought that Hull won Britain's crappiest city competition..

(Although before I get lynched by Longdog, Roadkill & the rest of the Hull urbanites, I hear that Stoke is not as nice as Hull & that the competition was biased against the City of Hull.)

 

[Roadkill]

I thought that Hull won Britain's crappiest city competition..

(Although before I get lynched by Longdog, Roadkill & the rest of the Hull urbanites, I hear that Stoke is not as nice as Hull & that the competition was biased against the City of Hull.)

Nah, Hull got it in 2003 and Stoke the following year.

Needless to say Hull never deserved it whereas Stoke does.

 

[gnoriac]

Stoke should be booming, it's close to the M6 and M1, it's on a main railway line, it's mid-way between prosperous Manchester and Birmingham, property is cheap. But no - while the local paper uses its front page to boast of "employment booms" and "master plans to save our city" on an almost daily basis, the only employment making an entry is big companies building vast, grey, minimum-wage-slave warehouses, distribution depots and call centres.

Same's true of Cov, it's the fate of post-industrial cities in the UK, except for a handful of big / trendy ones.

 

[poster342002]

Same's true of Cov, it's the fate of post-industrial cities in the UK, except for a handful of big / trendy ones.

And even in those you'll find shocking levels of permanent poverty alongside hordes of decadent, braying trustafarian britbrats.

 

[KeyboardJockey]

I lived in Stoke for about 4 months and I have never lived in a more depressing place in my life.

If you think Stokes bad you should live in Dagenham for a while.

The loudest sound in my local pub is peoples knuckles dragging on the ground.

Sample conversation:

'The asylum seekers are eating the faaking swans aint they dirty theiving bastards. It must be true I read it in the Daily Star'

 

[ada]

I spent a weekend in Stoke once, and found it exactly as others describe it, the most downtrodden place I've ever been.

Isn't the problem that it was gutted by the bulk of the potteries industry shutting down their operations there? It's a town/conglomeration built for a far larger population than it has now - the number of boarded up churches, and even a boarded-up new-looking hospital near the shopping area... it's really sad.

 

[moose]

Actually, I think the Potteries generally have a lot going for them. They're making an effort to emerge from the ruins of their industrial heritage and investing in culture and tourism.

 

[Kenny Vermouth]

Someone once told me Castleford was a vile shithole - anyone know if there's any truth in this.

 

[Roadkill]

Isn't the problem that it was gutted by the bulk of the potteries industry shutting down their operations there?

Much the same could be said of many northern towns. Bradford has never fully recovered from the loss of the textile trade, Sheffield from the contraction of the steel industry, Barnsley from the pit closures, Hull from the contraction of the docks and fishing industry etc etc...

 

[Fuzzy]

Same's true of Cov, it's the fate of post-industrial cities in the UK, except for a handful of big / trendy ones.

i think coventry is a great city to live in. different people and different expectations and all that. who cares?

 

[longdog]

Actually, I think the Potteries generally have a lot going for them. They're making an effort to emerge from the ruins of their industrial heritage and investing in culture and tourism.

Culture, tourism and Stoke in the same thread?

Am I missing something?

 

[nino_savatte]

If you think Stokes bad you should live in Dagenham for a while.

The loudest sound in my local pub is peoples knuckles dragging on the ground.

Sample conversation:

'The asylum seekers are eating the faaking swans aint they dirty theiving bastards. It must be true I read it in the Daily Star'

I agree, I've never lived in Dagenham but I've visited it and it isn't a pretty sight. I can't say that I think much of Barking either...though I have seen a nice bit, near the abbey.

 

[KeyboardJockey]

I agree, I've never lived in Dagenham but I've visited it and it isn't a pretty sight. I can't say that I think much of Barking either...though I have seen a nice bit, near the abbey.

Thats the bit you see when you leave

 

[pogofish]

I've got vague memories of some guy there running-up & repeatedly headbutting a bus. Is that normal for Stoke?

 

[gnoriac]

who cares?

Those of us that have had to work in the vast warehouses and call centres.

 

[jiggajagga]

Stoke? Gods country!

 

[astral]

I've got vague memories of some guy there running-up & repeatedly headbutting a bus. Is that normal for Stoke?

yes. His name is Mike.

 

[learydeary]

lived in stoke for a year twenty years ago

Guess by the discussion it's not changed much


but imagine a time when

a pint in the union bar was 48p

you could buy a house in stoke (£4000) and your GRANT would pay your morgage

Bands
housemartins, cult, mission, cramps,..........er a bit stuck

Lived in a cardborad box as well
bottom of a well as well

 

[Vintage Paw]

I moved to Stoke to go to uni in 1996.

I'm still here.

No, it's not Birmingham. It's not Manchester. But now it's home. Yes, there are people who sit outside the Social with a can of special brew all day every day. Yes, there is a noticeable BNP presence. Yes, it doesn't look very pretty. But it's home.

You get eejits anywhere you go, but there are also a lot of very nice, kind and sweet people in Stoke-on-Trent (I'm one of them ).

There are plans to regenerate the city/series of towns over the next 15-25 years. I don't think anyone can expect to wake up one day and find it is suddenly a busy metropolis. It takes time. Although I have no doubt it isn't being done in the best way, but it's being done by a bunch of New Labour-ites, so what do you expect? Stoke has hit the bottom - it seriously cannot get any lower, so now it can only go up *fingers crossed*

Saying that, I can't wait until I can move out of shitty Shelton and move out in the 'burbs of Newcastle

 

[poster342002]

There are plans to regenerate the city/series of towns over the next 15-25 years. I don't think anyone can expect to wake up one day and find it is suddenly a busy metropolis. It takes time. Although I have no doubt it isn't being done in the best way, but it's being done by a bunch of New Labour-ites, so what do you expect?

Will these plans provide work for the local working class people currently out of work - or will it just be yet another bonanzer for middleclass britbrats?

 

[Roadkill]

lived in stoke for a year twenty years ago

...

Bands
housemartins, cult, mission, cramps,..........er a bit stuck

The Housemartins were from Hull!

 

[tarannau]

You're sounding vaguely obsessional with this class-based mullarkey Poster. What do you expect them to do - re-open the potteries, textile factories and other stereotypical 'working class' industries.

I'd expect them to try and create some jobs that local people would be suitable for - hence the regeneration aspect. I suspect they're not ticking a 'class quota' box and thinking 'oh, we simply must employ more interior designers and a couple of fops from London, and for those new construction projects we'll only use builders who like lattes and hold BSc qualifications in Middle Classology'

I strongly suspect that the most of the people who'll be seeking employment over the next 15-25 years of these regeneration projects won't be considering whether the job's for the right class or not - they'll just want to work. A friend's been on the dole for umpteen years in Stoke, but recently worked as a rep for a wine importer. Does that make him a middle class ponce now, or is he simply seeking a job?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Stoke has some wonderful industrial architecture.....

 

[poster342002]

You're sounding vaguely obsessional with this class-based mullarkey Poster.

A friend's been on the dole for umpteen years in Stoke, but recently worked as a rep for a wine importer. Does that make him a middle class ponce now, or is he simply seeking a job?

1. Class does impact on every aspect of a person's life, unfortunately. Class is obsessed with me, you could say. I could try to ignore the impact of high prices, high rents, low wages etc that being working class brings me - but these things would insist on making their impact felt.

2. The guy you mention would still be working class. However, a great deal of people will not even have the opportunity to take such a job. Most of the "new" jobs being created in areas of hihg unemployment are ones that those made redundant from previous industries will most liely be ineligble for. The ratio of jobs to those still unemployed will also be inadeqaute.

 

[BEARBOT]

i recently heard some thing VERY positive about hull, never heard a good word about stoke EVER.
AFAIK in hull there is an alternative/non-mainstream scene of sorts
for a example a close friend in leeds makes experimental films.she recently showed films at a pub called the lamp in hull.she loved the venue and freindliness of the people running this regular event...she feels it would be easier to connect with the people doing creative stuff in hull cos they are so welcoming compared with leeds...

my basic point is..do ANY nights like this exist in stoke?
any alternatives to mainstream culture at all beyond say a rock pub

 

[editor]

Ugh.
Faces of 19 paedos & perverts brought to justice this year in Stoke-on-Trent

 

[killer b]

I've visited stoke twice this month, and had a great time both occasions: once to see a play at their very pleasant rep theatre, and once to visit the ceramics biennial, which was amazing: so nonces aside - and I'm sure a similar news piece could be put together for any town in the UK - stoke has a thumbs up from me.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Ugh.
Faces of 19 paedos & perverts brought to justice this year in Stoke-on-Trent

To be fair you see the same sort of article in almost every local paper these days - it used to be people done for shoplifting and stuff, now it is this awful stuff.

Wonder what happened to chio though - he came to a Manchester meet about fifteen years ago I think.

Not a fan of Stoke and pass through it often - the station is a nice building, but never ventured into the town itself. It looks a bit depressing like many towns.