The Six Worst Towns In The Swansea Area! A NEW BIGGEST TURDTOWN?
Vložit
- čas přidán 15. 05. 2024
- #wales #uk #turdtowns #swansea #cardiff #neath #porttalbot #brokenbritain
Hello welcome back to Turdtowns. We are the channel which visits the lesser known places in the UK. I had unfinished business in wales this week. I had to visit the Swansea area but this also included the last bit of The Valleys which has provided me with so much content so far. This is Swansea/Neath\Port Talbot or West Glamorgan. I managed to dig up six pretty bad places for this weeks viewing pleasure. The number one spot may surprise you but I think we finally found a worse places in The Welsh Valleys than Rhymney. Let us know if we missed anywhere out and let us know where we should visit next! - Komedie
Swansea truly is a city of two halves. The city has had tonnes of European money pouring in, building nice university campuses on the outer fringes, but never anything much in more deprived areas (Penlan, Townhill, Mayhill etc). There is a lot of wealth floating around in Swansea, but it never reaches the deprived areas, in favour of richer parts like Mumbles, Sketty and the Uplands.
Labour party socialism, innit?
You can go from upper class mansions to deprived council estates in a five minute drive. Some times youll see mansions in the middle of council estates. Really bizarre place.
The bulk of Welsh people, after generations of single-party Labour rule, are too zombified to notice.
But they know that the evil Tories are just waiting to send children up chilmneys...@@smackheadsgyro
@@smackheadsgyro literally, the nice mansions of Killay literally overlook the Sketty Park estate
It's just not in a good location anymore. Geographically speaking, when you compare the times it was formed to nowa days, the manufacturing and producing of stuff has all but ended in that area of Wales (coal, iron, copper, limestone for cement, fishing etc). What Swansea needs to do is develop its approach to tourism. Make new attractions and tart up its existing ones. Infact Wales as a whole needs to focus on tourism as we produce pretty much nothing these days.
Briton Ferry is twinned with some village in Uganda and the Ugandan's are furious about it.
If you think Port Talbot is bad now . . . years ago it reeked of rotten eggs, thanks to the emissions from the steel works.
Old joke from the 70s: My girlfriend said to me "Kiss me where it smells". So I drove her to Port Talbot. 😃
It still reeks.. I smell it every time I go past there on the train or in the car
Good joke. USAs Big Bang Theory must've nicked it and Americanised it:
Innocent Sheldon: "What do you want"? Eager girlfriend: " I want to be kissed in a place where I've never been kissed before". Sheldon: "You mean like Salt Lake City?"
@@rcogburn12 Sounds like the classic jokes - even the bad ones - will live forever!
Every car has a "Port Talbot button". It's the one that closes the windows.
I remember Port Talbot from the 1950's when there were five blast furnaces operating---one antique, two obsolete and two modern. A "blind date" was meeting a lady in Port Talbot. Three tours of the {then} Steel Company Of Wales decided that my future lay in aerospace. There were 20-25,000 employed in the plant back then and it was a way of life--father-to son and I took my hat off to the men who could work there: hot and dangerous. When they teemed the open hearth furnaces it was like the gates of hell opening.
So disappointed Port Talbot didn't make the top spot. I urge my fellow residents to try harder and reclaim our rightful place.
I’m from Swindon, so I feel your pain.
I hear you brother.
It's a scandal I tell you
LIving in Rhos, not too far away, I'm not going to run down PT, but the best beach to me is and always will be, is Aberafan. love it.
It's OK I've never been to the #1 so for me Port Talbot will always remain the complete shit hole. So many people given up walking and just taken to the disabled battery chairs and it must be the smoking and vaping capital of the world and probably pushing America on obesity statistics.
Briton Ferry does have a green area: a Grade Two listed park which opened in 1928. You can be excused for not noticing it as even many locals are unaware of its existence due to poor signposting.
It also has a Dock built by Isambard Brunel which is totally neglected even though it is listed as a National Monument. Buried by a scrapyard and waste site!
The site of Brunel’s funicular railway track has gradually become overgrown in spite of attempts by locals to preserve Brunel’s heritage.
The town is at boiling point over its state and relying on pensioner volunteers is disgraceful. It needs massive intervention. Thank you for highlighting the neglect by the authorities.
Neath Port Talbot council thinks their Afan Valley Holiday resort development project excuses all their incompetence elsewhere. As if tourists put on their blinkers on their way to their gated luxury resort. The council isn't acting on the needs of its citizens, having wasted decades in preserving jobs in the steel industry which every nation in the world now has.
There is nothing prettier than the Port Talbot steelworks at sunset on a summer’s evening! They’ve even made it easier to enjoy by imposing a speed limit for traffic on the M4 to reduce pollution 😳
It is if you are 20 miles away on the North Devon coast.😆
Only in Wales lol
😂😂
NPT and Swansea councillors I HOPE YOU ARE WATCHING THIS VIDEO.
Regarding empty Welsh chapels and churches, in the religious peak of Victorian towns there were always huge numbers of chapels built in most places - the various religious factions were competing to build the most & biggest chapels! This resulted in ludicrous numbers of huge chapels that coudn't possibly be filled! It wasn't unknown for a small place of under a 1000 people to have 3 Chapels that could hold 1000 people each! This was pretty crazy then, and will the decline in rural population and decline in religious attendance, the greater proportion of chapels became redundant - with the results that are visible today.
Thanks
i suppose the one saving grace is its testament to a lot of people coming to their senses.
My late mother was born and grew up in Tonna and in the 1950s. It was still a Welsh speaking town and chapels were full for cwrdd on Sunday mornings and cymanfa ganu in the evenings, which was 6pm in summer and 5pm in winter. The chapels were a social hub plus they organised trips out and choirs. Most people who went weren't even that religious. They kept the pubs shut on Sundays cause the ministers didn't want the competition. My mum was the last generation raised in that culture. There's still a bit of it left around Brynamman but it's dying out fast.
@@richardpegg9265 not really, they are property tax exempt so they just speculate with the land.
The Catholic Church is one of the largest land owners in the world.
Echoing what some others have said, those chapels were community hubs, provided social security before the welfare state, contributed significantly to literacy for the commom people, preserved the Welsh language when it was under the most aggressive attack and was the main means of meeting spouses. But they also represented a lot of toxic emotional repression and extreme passing of judgement
People leave Croatia to work at Amazon's mega plant in Port Talbot and think done well for themselves. Let that sink in.
Really? We live in an amazing world. I'm guessing they must be rural Croatians as the country generally is on the up from a very low state, good tourism industry.
compared to Britons turning up every year to Goa India or Bali where the opposite occurs; it's not that pretty unless you got money to spend while Port Talbot it is amazing for what being there facilitates if you make a decent living, human nature. ;)
Those poor Croatians, wonder why they are shipping in people in from so far away not locals that have had a taste of working for Amazon already?😂
@@flockthis8392 Maybe the social security payouts are too high, why work if you can get free money.
Are they really from Croatia ? doubt it
Port Talbot = when a hermit crab finds a discarded coke can to live in
You missed CYMMER at the top of the Afan Valley above Port Talbot. It's a mountain top council estate like Penrhys and it's just as grim. Maybe next time eh?
Cymmer is part of port talbot
@@booboobazooka in the same way that Seven Sisters is part of Neath :/
@@booboobazookait's a separate village north east of Port Talbot and within the N-PT county. You surely wouldn't consider nearby Maesteg a part of Bridgend?
Have you been there lately? It’s a friendly village which is a great walk from Rhyslyn in Pontrhydyfen. Very popular with MTB enthusiasts and walkers. Nice little drink in the Refresh when you get to Cymmer, before returning on the circular trail. Of course, many people just want to see the worst of anywhere and don’t venture to the nice bits.
@@Antmadmanda I was thinking more of Croeserw than Cymmer itself, but yes, I admit I have not been up there lately. Looking at Street View it appears there has been some regeneration.
You didn't go to Townhill, but they'd have nicked and burnt your car before you'd got the camera out
Mayhill Glais Penlan all worse tbf
Nah, Townill has a bad rap from a bygone time
The majority of people from the hill are respectable and hard-working.
@@Portekbermglais😂
Not like that anymore up here. We pinch your pension too 😂😂😂
Just for you woke people last comment was a joke. I totally agree with Paddington, we are all for the most part hard working people and all of the trouble come to us, meaning when there was the Mayhill Riots the majority of people was from other areas, there was a crach on a bike where the kids was from another area which I'll not name lol. All the trouble seems to want to come up "THE HILL" as we call it.
The death of the chapel in rural wales has been going on for the past 40 years or so, the younger generations get less and less religious and the older people who went have pretty much all died now, I remember as a kid in the war 2000s doing the Christmas play for school in the local chapel, been closed for years now
There's a glut of old chapel buildings throughout Wales. Some are restored and converted into music venues, cafes and housing. Just up the road from me is a 1800s converted church that's now a set of nice flats but then down the road's a dilapidated wreck from the 50s/60s that really ought to be demolished.
@@ealing456One is turned into a discount store in Roath in Cardiff. Churches have such small congregations now they can only make money by renting out a space in them for a cafe run by outsiders and rooms for meetings. Most political meetings I attended were inside churches.
Swansea has one of the most attractive settings of any city in the UK. Unfortunately the rebuilding of the city following its destruction in WW11 has followed a path of mediocrity in vision & planning with many poor investment decisions. In my opinion it should have been chosen as the home for the Senedd rather than Cardiff which would have had a major regenerative impact. The Swansea Bay Barrage is also a dormant project that could potentially have a major impact on all the other communities you mention
Oh totally agree with the with point on The Welsh Senate
This would got MWP show charges
Swansea's come leap and bounds in the last decade though but still has some way to go. Completely different city to the one I moved to 13 years ago though. There's a local DIY spirit emerging which is fantastic to see. Something has to replace the collapse of chain stores, I suppose. Beautiful beach, great green spaces, very cyclable city too and a good grassroots music scene to boot. I just hope it doesn't fall apart before it gets going.
I have visited Swansea multiple times in the 2010s and I’ve always seen it as a nice place to be, I was even hoping on getting a council house over there (I have family members that have lived there for a REALLY long time so I do have the local connection). From what I hear, Swansea has gotten better since a few decades ago so it was surprising to hear something negative about the city in the present day.
I have had similar thoughts on Bournemouth which is a town I’ve been wanting to move to for nearly 6 years as I was surprised to see Turdtowns rank it as the 3rd worst town in Dorset especially since Bournemouth is known to have a great reputation, but Dorset is known to be a nice county so I don’t really think about it too much.
Swansea is a great town with so much potential. It's easy to get to the M4, easy to get around, has great beaches and coastline close by on the Gower Peninsula and easy access to the Brecon beacons and beyond... and the people are lovely too!
If the leaders and residents of Swansea get it right, it has a very bright future!❤
Cardiff wasn't anything like as prosperous as it now is when it was chosen as the site of the Senedd, in fairness. And it's near lost of places that do need regeneration even more than Swansea. The only hope they have is part of a Cardiff metro area.
ayy my hometown ! graveyard of ambition. Gower is stunning though
Being from Swansea. It is like anywhere. Shit places and nice places and all in between. But Swansea has character and a lot of history behind it, and it's cool you included the guy singing, have walked past him a few times haha.
Exactly, bet you there are far more shit places in England tho, bigger place. I'm from Swansea too and yeah often see the singing guy around usually near Barclays bank lol. In all places as you said there are good and bad parts, doesn't mean the whole place or people are bad hey.
OK, I stayed in an AirBnB about a mile from Briton Ferry a couple of years ago, and used to walk my dog in that direction many mornings. The area has a lot of dereliction, but I found the people friendly, and in terms of local parks, Jersey Park near the station is a beautifully manicured, old-fashioned set of gardens (if green space is what you're after). I actually looked at staying there again not too long ago when trying to make some plans which ultimately fell through!
There again, I like Neath and Swansea too. You want bad? The nastiest bits of East London will shatter your camera lens.
Well said.
Exactly, well said, Swansea isn't as bad as it's being made out to be in this video.
@@emmahowells8334 Like most cities of a certain size, it's beautiful in some areas, a bit rough and ready in others, but I always enjoy my visits. The same cannot be said of a number of other places in the UK!
@@23Daves Glad you enjoy your visits.
I hope you do a video just on Swansea, Townhill is an interesting place, count your fingers when you leave
Don't think he'd come back with the camera 😂
surely you mean blaen-y-meas or port tennant 😉
Uppa-lan boi
Mayhill worse than Townhill. What an absolute shithole.
@@David-wf1hr port tennant ain't that bad 😂 mind you JoJo's got robbed the other day
Just to set the record straight, Swansea is only a crime laden shithole in SOME places. The places tourists would actually go to, you'd never guess this in a million years. Town centre is like a weird mix of it all. But if you go to Mumbles, or even further along the coast, you will be met with mansions upon mansions. The middle and upper class places of Swansea are absolutely amazing and it's a little upsetting that this is the impression you're left with. It doesn't help that the first thing anyone sees when they get off at the train station is the worst rated high street in the entire UK, and one of the worst places in the whole city. They are trying to develop that area a lot, they recently built a block of nice looking student flats directly opposite the train station exit so it looks a bit less embarrassing.
Also yeah, the roads are fucking awful in the centre lol. The only place I've been with worse roads is Bristol.
I was going back to uni (Bay campus) once, quite late at night, and to avoid having to go to the scary area around Swansea station, I got off at Port Talbot and got a cab. It has got better recently though.
Totally , that's the insane thing like Llandeilo tiny place but decent shops
The days of the chain stores are over where every town and city looked the same
they need to look at places like Mumbles, Llandeilo Treorchy and see small independent shops are the way forward, Shopping online is okay but more and more you ask at a shop for an item "Order online collect instore" totally missing the point them being there. I know Ashley gets a bad name but if only the board had taken his offer Debenhams would still be around, It was an Anchor store to so many places. Footfall like Llanelli isn't the problem its all these landlords who would rather keep places empty and rotting. It really is tragic seeing some of these places i saw as a Child, They had some cracking shops. Swansea really needs to sort out that traffic system you can this was well before the 20 mph stuff. They wanted people to use Park and Ride and it never happened.
To be honest, I quite like Swansea city centre. It has a semi-deserted 1960s feel to it. Never too crowded, and very little car traffic.
I am from Birmingham and, once having had a job that put me in to Swansea on a regular basis, I actually like the city and would visit there without hesitation if I had the chance
The roads never used to be bad it used to have this roundabout with under ground walk way crossing it only became a mess since they made it one way and got rid of the roundabout with under ground walk way crossing.
Port Talbot once had an amazing indoor public pool with a wave machine and giant robotic spider that would spray water I think it burned down ironically
Afan Lido, lovely place trained to be a lifeguard there in the 70s
The biggest tur* in Wales is Drakeford.
Briton Ferry has its hidden gems- the park, a local reservoir amidst a hike, lots of great local sporting clubs (2 cricket clubs, 2 great local football clubs, a rugby club etc.) that, for a town/village of its size, is quite impressive. Also, the community spirit is quite strong, with parades and local events regularly being organised by local volunteers. Understandably you wouldn’t get all that from a brief visit.
The demise of every town is out of town shopping centres of course were all guilty including myself because of convenience leaving nothing but charity shops greasy spoon cafes etc, after the death of Woolworths the high streets became deserted and now the results are just a pitiful eyesore.
All down to mass motoring.
I'd say that is pretty much true for all towns in the UK. And don't forget the effect of e-commerce. I try to buy stuff locally but nowhere has what I'm looking for and am forced to buy on-line.
the death of woolworths paired with the boom of Amazon/connivence of online and teleshopping really has killed our high streets :(
Especially supermarkets. Tesco superstores have been the death of the high street
@@jasminappleby779 the creation of Woolworths, and other stores (especially department stores) led to the death of markets. Things move on, the problem is the landlords keep the shops empty for tax reasons rather than rent them out cheap or convert them to housing.
Come and check out Flintshire in North Wales. Specifically what's known locally as the Deeside corridor along the river and estuary. A long line of 7 or 8 of some of the grimmest suicide inducing towns you'll ever clap eyes on.
Dominated by chaotic bumper to bumper traffic and traveller camps.
Lol my mum lives by Queensferry and it's a total dump
@@carldiff Shotton, what a shit hole 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I asked directions to Shotton and the guy finished off with "make sure you have a stab vest on".
@@davidwharton841 👍👍
plastic scousers in shell suits
Good thing the only way I've seen Port Talbot is via Exmoor!
Funny that we’re all happy ish to climb in the water opposite that isn’t it 😂
@@Turdtowns Banksy left bristol to do a piece there once, he has spent 5 years in an oxygen tent ever since , hence why the latest 'Massive Attack' album is on hold
@@Turdtowns you google the story of the bristolian mother who's child had asthma so she decided to move to port talbot without researching it... #truestory LOL
Yeah, Wales gives a whole new meaning to the Bristol channel
Amazing. Loved it. Weirdly there is a hidden green space in Briton Ferry called Jersey Park.
I've visited that park and really like it. A beautiful oasis.
Yes backs on the wooded mountains and the lake
@@flockthis8392 See, that's the thing - so much of this is about your own personal experiences in your life and your perspectives.
I grew up in suburban East London and spent my teenage years living in Essex. The place I lived in (which I won't name) is my very idea of a turd town - tiny parks, lots of Barrett home new builds and 60s/70s identikit houses, and scenery as flat as a pancake. Everything looked so similar that I sometimes used to get a bit drunk and lost on the way back from different pubs despite living there for years. You could take a turn too early down the wrong street and only realise a lot later on.
Wales, on the other hand, has its problem towns but they're never too far away from beauty. Briton Ferry has the wooded mountains and the beautiful park, for example. You can point to the industrial decay and dereliction but it's sometimes surrounded by some of the most striking countryside in Britain. I never go there and think "Oh God, get me out of here now", but I do feel that way about places on the outskirts of London, places in Kent and Essex, and some of the nastier towns and cities in the Midlands.
Briton Ferry actually has quite a large park. It's well hidden though, the entrance is down an alley off the main road and very easy to miss. It's about the only nice thing the town has.
There is also a Seven Sister in North London -
The name "Seven Sisters" in North London originates from a group of seven elm trees that were planted in a circle in the area in the 14th century. These trees formed a distinctive landmark and gave the area its name. Over time, the name "Seven Sisters" was used for the nearby road junction and later a railway station, which further solidified its association with the area. Today, it's a well-known part of London.
Info courtesy of Chat GPT.
My Dad was from Treorchy and always told us it was because of the seven mountains you can see in the distance, right at the top before you head down you can see seven mountains
@@oathy03 Being a Londoner I am well aware of the neighbourhood of Seven Sisters, although since I come from Fulham (in South West London) it is not a place I have had a great deal to do with (it lies in the - to me - strange and exotic North). I'm actually far more familiar with the Seven Sisters cliffs in Sussex, near to Eastbourne.
What makes Seven Sisters even worse. It had everything once. Cinema,Snooker Hall and an open air swimming pool. Well there were 3 pools all flowing into a 30meter long one with diving boards.
@@Khayyam-vg9fw I'm from the strange and exotic North - Enfield and seven sisters rail station is on the route into Liverpool Street.
I live about 5 miles away from ponty, its busy because of all the people travelling to and from Ammanford, Swansea, Morriston and Neath. Plus theres Tesco, Lidl, Argos, Home Bargains, Farm foods etc
I was going to say this… the only closest shops from living just out of pontardawe..
I’m from pontardawe but live just out of there now.. made me laugh when he said it’s not safe to walk at night 😂😂. I used to walk it at night on my own when I was around 15/16 and I was fine 🤦♀️😂😂
As someone who as lived in the Swansea area for most of my life it feels like such a novelty to see the area get some attention. Great that someone is finally highlighting some of the terrible deprivation that some parts of Wales faces. I pretty much agree with your ranking however I do think that Seven Sisters is more of a village than a town and I think there is a lot more to talk about with Swansea. Although the city can be very run down in some parts and also suffers from a significant homeless population, there are some nice parts especially down the Mumbles area. There are also some stunning beaches here and the city can have a lot to offer for students. All in all, Swansea is a very mixed bag which is why I think it would make an interesting video. keep up the good work
Yeahh exactly, also I got kinda shocked hearing him mention the high crime rate.
It has its peaceful parts like it's forrests and beaches near mumbles
And even museums.
I personally love the swansea university, it's the best part about swnasea
@@parzival2077 just started at swansea uni on the singleton campus and it's pretty good so far. Some of the ceiling fell off in the james callaghan building though 💀
@@roodoofilms3660 WHAT no way lol
I have done my Jan and June exams there but I study at Bay Campus
Crime statistics in Swansea is high(ish) relative for Wales but only in certain wards (you know the ones..). As a whole Swansea doesn't really have any kind of crime epidemic.
Watch swansea love story that's a view documentary it's really good
Best thing about Swansea when I lived there in the early 90s was access to nearby Gower and its wonderful beaches.
Also you have the wonderful long strand in Swansea itself, which must be five miles or more in length. It’s not the best place for a dip being so flat and often muddy, but the freshness of the sea air is always a pleasure.
As someone who lived in south London for 37 years and worked in Westminster for a decade, i moved to port Talbot a year ago and i found the entry in this list completely ridiculous and extremely click baity.
Yes you have the view of the steelworks in one direction (which actually looks cool at night in an industrial sense) but it is actually very pleasant to look at everywhere. You have hills and Rivers and the local station and shopping area are all pleasant and look tidy and nice, none of which you showed.
The high street (which you conveniently didn't bother showing) looks good and is full (a rarity these days), you have the shopping centre and the Tesco superstore.
You also mentioned the beach but failed to mention the cinema and restaurants there.
Also the comment about the local people i can only assume was just some made up nonsense because in the year i have been here everyone has been extremely pleasant and its been a refreshing experience compared to living in a big and busy town in south London.
Finally regarding the pollution, Croydon actually has worse air quality than Port Talbot does which actually puts it into perspective for how it isn't actually that bad here.
Honestly this video just screams of made up hyperbole to get clicks and shit on people and areas. Like, what do you seriously expect to find in a town with just over 1.5k people? You aren't going to get a bustling town centre are you...
After 37 years in south London the interior of my cats shitebox would seem picturesque.
@@paulwilliams4156 Nothing wrong with the cityscape views but I have travelled around quite a bit and do think that Port Talbot is very pretty on the whole and find this idea that it's ugly strange.
Again yeah it has the steelworks but there is much more to it than that and it looks cool at night.
Honestly, I haven't walked around port talbot, (I live in swansea), but it was nicer than I expected, even in this biased video.
Anywhere is better than Croydon
I love the fact you moved here recently and are defending your new home town. That speaks volumes. I also moved here 7 years ago(moved from England as the immigration rules prohibited my wife of 20 years from residing in my own country). I also love my new hometown(Neath) and I found peace. That has more to do with the Welsh people themselves who I find sincere and genuine. No class system here.
Where should we visit next? Please comment and share this video it really helps us out ❤❤❤
Try South Yorkshire, it has a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly, all places are under different councils.
What can you turn up in Cambridgeshire? I live in Peterborough, which has been voted the worst city in the UK many times, but it's honestly okay. It's just a bit devoid of character with a dying city centre thanks to out of town shopping, high rent and other typical factors. Mind you, Orton and parts of Bretton can be very dodgy.
West Wales just outside of Swansea. Llanelli is a prime example of a massive turd
You got a wrestling channel bro?
Try Rhyl. Gorgeous
As a local to both Neath and Briton Ferry (for my sins) - I was surprised to hear Ferry being called a separate town, never really heard it referred to as such before 😅
Neath is pretty grim, it wasn’t so bad about 20 years ago but it’s been left to rot. I tend to avoid it and work/do my shopping in Swansea 😅
Still kind of nuts to see local errr…landmarks pop up on CZcams.
My mum's from Briton Ferry, my dad is from the cimla. They both say they're from Neath. I've never seen them as separate.
Swansea is away worse 😂 can’t believe you said you go to Swansea instead
@@MrSimonsonLiftsThanks for your input!
@@adamseab I also work in Swansea and it’s absolutely awful. Littered with homeless and empty shops barely any decent shops. I understand Neath can be quite an intimidating place but it’s also a genuine town mostly full of decent people.
There's a beautiful park in Briton Ferry which is very well kept. It's called Jersey Park.
My favourite channel.. love rolling around in the dirt
Blaengwynfi, Abergwynfi and Cymmer should be here, and definitely a mention for Swanseas uplands and Townhill considering how hard you went in on Pill. Also some would say Seven Sisters and Briton Ferry coukd be considered Neath.
Seven Sisters is barely Neath. It's ten miles away.
Blaengwyfi Abergwyfi & Cymmer are gorgeous areas.... in fact, I'm looking for a property in those areas as Poole -Dorset is ridiculously expensive & no mountain views!
As a person who lives near briton ferry I agree it is awful in many ways however, it actually DOES have a pretty nice park, jersey park. Also despite the number of boarded up shops it also has a surprising number of useful shops like a post office, places to drop of parcels, Tesco express, a bakery, a dominos, several other takeaways and a decent nursery. So despite it's awful appearance I end up going there quite often.
In a way I think that is what is most surprising about it, many other awful places in Wales are awful because they are being abandoned. Briton Ferry is actually very well served by businesses and connected to the M4 as well as being under an hour from Cardiff by train and just 2 trains from London in under 3 hours. But it STILL looks like this.
And it has the superb Briton Ferry Woods!
Being from Briton Ferry, I can agree that crossing the road here is an absolute nightmare. There's about 3 road crossings on Neath Road, and if you want to Jaywalk: you have a slither of time to get across before another car comes. The whole thing feels like one big motarway with houses built around it
Just needs a face lift, bit of a paint job along the main road. Councillors owners to reduce business rates to attract quirky shops (not chain shops) to fill the vacancies.
I loved the GeoWizard cameo mate 🤘. Always watch his videos & russ cook currently out in Africa running the entire length of the continent as the hardest geezer! I really want to come with you on some of your adventures soon mate
Here we go again , nice one mate !🙂👍
I'm from Swindon but know this area well and had been looking forward to you covering it. When I visit Port Talbot I look forward to coming home, and that's saying something!
Jesus, I'm sure very few look to Swindon as their savior!
One fun fact for Port Talbot beach/Aberavon. I burn easily in anything resembling decent sunlight (which is hard to come by), but thanks to the perma-smog created by the steelworks, even on the hottest, most cloudless summers day, the UV index is always very low!
poor old pontardawe… i have never felt unsafe there and the swansea valleys are lovely.
So are the Afan and Neath valleys. This person just chose to concentrate an the run down bits of each area. Also filmed on a gloomy day just to try and prove a point 🙄
Now you have to drive at 20mph you are stuck in the towns longer and have more time to see the decay.
When the towns are looking like these, hospitals are in desperate need of cash....what do the Welsh Gov do??? Spend THIRTY MILLION on 20 mph road signs!!!! Pure genius.
Thirty million spread across the whole of Wales is chicken-feed, and these places were already in decline due to the demise of local industries post-Thatcher, long before the Welsh Government came into existence.
Your right what a waste of money 🤦🏼
Prevention is better (and cheaper) than cure. £30 million wouldn't even pay 1/10th of the cost of a new hospital.
Perhaps it will pay off by reducing the number of road accidents, after which people will need hospital treatment.
The LTNs in Oxford got so much bad press, and ppl span all sorts of conspiracy theories. I love them! My area is 100 times nicer and quieter and safer because of them.
Crime in Severn sisters is a novelty,it has one large shop and one camera on a pole to keep an eye on the odd local who ventures out .Blink and you miss this place 🤣
Neath in the 1974-1990's was way ahead of Swansea place was lovely and i didn't live there but i was happy to visit it. It went down hill when the wildlife park closed and it got associated with Port Talbot.
Spent a few weeks at Neath in the Territorial Army barracks covering the firemans strike at the end of '77. Spent most of our free time in the "Blue Bell" pub. Long gone I think? Been to worse places though. Did our regional training for fire fighting at Swansea barracks practically under the Vetch Field. Luckily the local Nurses at the training Hospital were very obliging? Went back to Swansea whilst staying near Rhossili about a decade or so ago, didn't seem that bad?
I lived in Swansea about twenty years ago and its been hit hard in the intervening years. Last time I went back it made me genuinely sad.
Totally, I cant believe they wasted all that money on the new arena and that stupid bridge, just up the road before you reach mumbles they kicked off about a new skate board park for people. They created hell, The Fact Swansea is a City and not one department store left, We had pugh brothers in llanelli and a chemist linked to it the chemist used to stock everything you would find in Cardiff.
The Ironic thing Pugh Brothers was still making money when it decided to close.
If you bought something from there it lasted years, the customers from the posh parts kept it going, chairs would set you back 2k but they would last a lifetime
Fish love structures, folks.
Yip skipppity yip
Briton Ferry is the first place in any Turdtown video I'd never heard of. Our Lady of the Assumption is the least attractive 1960s church I've seen, and there's no shortage of competition. Like a tyre recycling plant crossed with a dodgy motel.
Welsh Assembly should be ashamed of themselves.
Cardiff looks nice
Blame Westminster Tories
@@Gramscifreedomthats how the welsh government gets away with being incompetent. Everyone blames the tories
@@ScottDaviesCwrwHaf Well they have wrecked the UK economy!
@@Gramscifreedomyep responsible for crap Barnett Formula grants
Im glad to see the channel is growing. Id like to nominate a trip to Hertfordshire. Theres some surprisingly grim places considering its reputation as a "posh home county"
Yeah I’ve asked him many times. Waltham cross, cheshunt, Watford, Stevenage. All dumps.
Stevenage definitely 😁😁
Hatfield...
Bucks and Beds the same. Indeed I'm sure most if not all the counties around London have similar issues. One of the problems is local wages can't compete with London, leaving dormitory towns and villages with no community. Another is the so called London Overspill, where the White Trash get moved into previously not too bad places and turn them into sh*itholes. So you effectively have gated communities and rough dumps. The contrast is so great you might as well be on different planets, and neither sort of places are desirable to live in.
@blackbaron0 the trash that came out of London came in all colours.
In defence of neath you did miss its nicest feature in my opinion which is Victoria garden.. its not saying much but it is a really nice place to go sit for a while, right next to the bus station
Regards Neath: the site of Neath Abbey is really beautiful; a reminder of the area's medieval wonders. Such a pity it's now inside a ramshackle industrial estate.
Agreed
My grandparents lived in Seven Sisters and I went to primary school there back in the 70s when my grandpa John still worked in the mine. We’d go blueberry picking up in the forest at the top of the hill and feed the wild ponies who’d come to the garden gate looking for food. My gran’s best friend Betsy Mac managed the post office and Mrs Smith ran the local shop in Mary Street where there were old fashioned weighing scales and big screw top bottles full of sherbet bonbons. My great grand-dad was a stone mason and helped build one of the churches you showed in your video and my aunt still lives in the part of the village known as Garden City. It’s sad to see it’s decline as it wasn’t always as run down as this, nor was Neath. It used to be my favourite place in the world as a kid ❤
I would like to clarify as someone who works with and is familiar with swansea homeless, they aren't aggressive, they are overall, some of the most grateful but trodden on people I've ever had the pleasure to meet, the aggressive ones are the down and outers who leave their homes in the day and go into the streets to drink, take drugs and get a couple of extra quid in their pockets, I've dealt with both and while it's hard to tell them apart at first glance there is a BIG difference. Show our homeless some love ❤😊
RIP Teabag
@@AledMifyonly saw him once but heard so many nice stories about him, seemed like a great guy.
Sitting in Wetherspoons in Swansea, you constantly get hassled by hobos, especially women. Thankfully the staff are wise to it, and don’t give them the time of day.
I'm glad someone pointed that out. ❤
You missed some gems in the area. If you'd driven along the road from Seven Sisters, you could have sampled the delights of Onllwyn and Banwen. The whole area has grim stories that don't go to the police or social services.
Don't forget resolven 😂
@@RoxZombie On another video, someone said they'd worked in the Rhondda valleys for the LA and NHS in the late 60's. They realized there were problems in the area and wanted to know why.
They noticed that a lot of families had one batch of children when they married and a second smaller batch of children (one or two) about 15 years later.
They wanted to find out why. So, he asked the mid-wives and they said the younger batch of children were really the offspring of the first batch of children (with neighbouring teenagers their own age).
The teenage parents did not marry and were adopted by what were really their grand parents.
This was very common.
Problems then arose because they went on to have children with their half-siblings locally because they did not realise they were related. This had been going on for generations.
When I realized the implications, I was too shocked to reply.
A Cardiff and Swansea suburbs special, loads of fodder in some exquisite locations
Port Talbot and Briton Ferry were my family’s annual holiday destination when I was a kid 😂 I’ve actually got some good memories but even as a little kid I remember thinking it was pretty dire
If you walked along the train tracks in Seven Sisters, you would have come across the wreckage of a train that crashed and couldn't be bothered to move... Further adding to the general vibe
I'm actually going to congratulate you on including the Welsh names of villages, well done - instead of just dismissing the Welsh language out of hand you've actually said 'it's a thing'.
There has been a religious shift in Wales. When I was a kid in the 1980's you'd see throngs of elderly people pouring out of most of the chapels on a Sunday afternoon (you'd see the men coming out of the chapel first and then the 100 metres to the pub - there was generally a pub within 100metres of a chapel). But that was it, most of the congregation were elderly and it was the 1980's so attrition means dwindling congregations. Now, the chapels (despite many being 'listed') are looted by 'architectural salvagers' - and are left to go to a certain level of dereliction, before mysteriously being burnt down 'by vandals' so the ruin can be bulldozed and flats built in their place.
Anyhow, the chapel scene permeated everything - and it was one of the few places where (theoretically) a worker was on an even footing as landed classes (theoretically anyone could give a sermon in a Welsh chapel - so you could fire a broadside via a sermon on the 'wages of sin' etc.at the landed class. Mind you a lot of the landed class were 'Anglican', so it was a moot point.) There was huge competition between chapels - architecturally, in attendances and yes even the stereotypical choir.
The problems with a lot of these towns is chronic underinvestment. Successive governments have failed these communities (I'm not just talking about Wales), a lot of these turdtowns suffer when the sole purpose of their existence -in South Wales' case when the mining and heavy industry sectors, is 'no longer viable'. Most of the South Wales coast would be littered with small fishing villages were it not for the insatiable need for coal during the industrial revolution.
I'm always reminded of the Manics line from PCP - 'systemised atrocity ignored as long as bilingual sign on view'
Spot on commentary
Also many welsh churches have ancient rules written into them forbidding any association with the sale of alcohol at all. I get they don't want them to become church themed strip clubs or something but no alcohol AT ALL. Means they can't become restaurants, small shops, markets etc. This restriction massively restricts what you can do with an old church.
@@jamesdewitt84 Well the parish around Porthmadog was a 'Dry parish' on Sundays until 1997 (at the same referendum that abolished it there was an attempt to make the Rhondda 'Dry' too). Also even in the early 2000's the main Maes at the Eisteddfod was 'Dry'.
But once a church is de-consecrated/sold you can do whatever the hell you like with it as long as you read the contract.
@@efnissien I am no solicitor but my understanding is that restrictive covenants often exist, sometimes requiring that a place remains a place of worship and/or restricting alcohol which can be difficult to get removed.
miners ARE kind of short usually, same thing in america where theres old mining towns theres tons of short dudes.
Briton Ferry is in the Aberavon constituency:
It’s AM is David Rees
Its MP is Stephen Kinnock.
Worked in the open cast mine at Seven sisters . Some real characters working there in the late 70's . Also played youth rugby against them in 1974 took their 2 year unbeaten ground record when we won 6-4 . (4 points for a try then) 2 sent off 1 carried off!! .Going into their clubhouse prematch was like a scene in a western when a stranger walks into the saloon . The pool game stopped along with the darts and everybody stood and stared at you - we all knew it was going to be a tough game and it didn't disappoint.
"I'm not suprised there were Seven Sisters" 😂. Mate you are funny as fuck!
I was expecting gorseinon to be on the list. but their wetherspoons is the best in the area and there aren't many vacant buildings in the high street. they are all low rent buisinesses though. Seven sisters is that even a town? - have to agree with port toilet, neath and briton ferry. Swansea is pants compared to Cardiff but it does have some beautiful coastline
Gorseinon is alright tbh, Waunarlwydd on the other hand…
@@j3ojos What's with Waunarlwydd? We were going to move there -- it seemed OK.
We had a clump of Trees called Seven Sisters in Dawlish, Devon before they got blown away in the Big Storm of 1987. 😊👍
Are the tanning salons still a thing? When I lived in Mid Glam you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting one! All the local girl were bright orange.
Surprised that Cymmer isn't on here, there's nothing up there at all. As for Port Talbot you can smell the steelworks from Porthcawl if the wind is blowing west to east
Briton Ferry was recommended to my Auntie Mabel and Uncle Fred as a good place to visit when they were holidaying near Swansea. They thought it was dreadful as there was nothing there.
In spite of the neglect Briton Ferry does have a fantastic community spirit. There are lots of people and organisations trying to make a difference. The Thatcher years hit the town badly but that was almost half a century ago yet the towns decline continues. It’s Jersey Park is a fine example of what can be done when like minded people pull together. However the sums being put into the community are disproportionate to the level of investment needed to turn things around. Briton Ferry is a victim of decisions made to give funding to other areas in NPT. There is nothing inevitable about its current state and it is not irreversible. It’s about decisions being made to ignore it.
From what I remember of Swansea the West side appeared to be more prosperous, especially towards The Mumbles and Gower areas (SA2, SA3 & SA4) areas. The East side with the exception of Morriston seamed to be left behind.
Probably because no one wants to leave near a massive steel mill.
Swansea has some amazing parts to it like mumbles the many parks and the two marina ,s granted some areas are run down but some areas are fantastic
Forgot to add on the Chapel front. The numbers attending have nose dived where there's still a strong congregation they are doing well, but some of these chapels ended up with below 10 people. A lot are being sold but then issues arise over turning them into flats or re purposing as parking can be a major issue. A fair few around here have been turned into flats as there's no Graveyards and plenty of room to park cars
alright, you've got me: subbed!
The industrial steel area of Port Talbot is known as Treasure Island….
I have to defend Pontardawe. I partially grew up there and am aiming to move back. It's a very quiet place with a fantastic community. It has a deep cultural history with art and music. Years ago there was a very successful music festival which brought in all sorts of interesting people. The place is a shadow of it's former self, but the locals make a large effort to make it nice, there is even a smaller version of the festival still going. As for Swansea, again, a very cultural place, but it is a city of two halfs and the rougher areas are to be avoided as the crime rate is huge. The market is fantastic though. Neath is a place I avoid. I spent a lot (too much) of my childhood there including school (yuck). Some of the locals try and do something with the place, but the rest of them are apathetic beyond belief. Port Talbot should have a sign saying 'abandon hope all ye who enter here'. Filthy, nasty place. For Briton Ferry I have a little story. I used to work in the library there. After work one day, in broad daylight, on the main road, with heavy traffic, I was waiting for a bus home. A house just next to us was being burgled through the front window, with no sense of urgency and people walking past without reacting at all.
Pontardawe doesn’t deserve to be on the list, nowhere near.
I lived around the Alltwen , Pontardawe & Clydach area for years, my boys went to Alltwen primary & Cwmtawe comp . The Pontardawe festival was great & they had the Pontardawe 7's every year too. It was a nice place, though it did look a bit run down in this film , what a shame eh.
It has the NCN running through it. Which is a good thing. But no railway station.
i agree on your number 1 spot - i went there by accident - and it was a total shithole. oddly, i found swansea quite nice and had a good night there - nice pubs and people - but i could see it could have its moments. great series
How did you end up there by accident?
drugs had a fair bit to do with it - and i was in a car with 3 Welshmen having a alcohol fueld disagreement in only the way the welsh can. very fine weekend, although this poor old run down place was not the highlight. Wales in the early 90's - conflict, passion, illegal raves and fierce sudden friendships - marvellous time and place - @@ElsieJay
My cousin lives near Neath and along with Pontardawe I have always found it to be a rather nice little town with a lovely indoor market and park….nearby Port Talbot is a dump though.
Went out with a girl from a village in the valleys about 12 years ago and we used to go into Swansea quite a lot together as it was the nearest town/city. It looks even worse than it did back then. Oh, she also took me to Neath once and I can't remember anything about it except it had a mural somewhere.
I stayed in Swansea for two weeks earlier this year for the purpose of finding a place to move to.
What a mistake that was. Swansea, meaning the actual urban part, is an absolute shit hole.
The only positives would be the beach and in the indoor market.
Also, using the average house price to score an area is pointless.
Should check out Scotland, you get beautiful places like Edinburgh & Stirling, right next to turd town like Falkirk, Linlithgow & Fife
A, Fife is not a town and B, Linlithgow is very pleasant, pretty with its palace and loch, and wealthy.
Stirling is surprisingly shite in some parts. However if you want despair in central Scotland North Lanarkshire is the place to be. Shotts is borderline feral.
@@seancahill5722 name me a place in fife that isn’t a turd town though, who’s moving to Kirkcaldy?
Good job, and respectful too.
I last went to Swansea back in 2009. People I spoke to said that so much had been put into the out of town shopping places that the centre was empty. Not the easiest place to drive into either tbh. People were nice though.
I know living in llanelli. we gets loads down from Swansea but also the population at times you could swear you are in Acton, Ealing the council made deals to re home people they get 3k per person and the people get 1.5k to move.
mostly to houses left empty when brexit happened. it's actually meant Trostre getting new shops, like Primark they moved Homesense from Swansea down to TK Maxx here. B&M just opened a massive new store, Smyths toys is opening
and Sainsburys apparently are toying in the idea of a hybrid local, a bit bigger
than normal but the council want them in the town, but they want up with all
the other big shops. What's happened with Swansea is just insane they messed around so much with the road layout long before things went really bad it went a nightmare going there. Utterly crazy
Regarding the profusion of abandoned churches: this stems from the "chapel culture" whereby every Protestant church splinter group had adherents and they split an awful lot (and add Catholics and Anglicans into the equation). These churches all represent sects, which were often at loggerheads with each other.
Sorry I do not agree with you, Wales had a series of revivals - awakenings that were all born from Non conformity. 1904 being the last of global scope (yes, look it up). these awakenings are a significant but often forgotten part of Welsh History. They were not sects and had many followers - tens of thousands, who did not just attend church but gave their life to a faith (justification though faith in Jesus Christ alone) that is largely forgotten about, not just Wales but the UK as whole. They all believed that core tenant but had different views on church government and Baptism, and so without the central controlling church, they were able to branch out build there own churches and congregations so as worship -grow in number, free and independent of the State - government! This is the reason for the many churches you see all over Wales.
@@jonathanellis1842Absolutely spot on.
Hmmmm you just reinforced my belief that nothing good comes out of religion.
@@jonathanellis1842And all such a waste of time money and effort.
Read about 1904, Men who beat there wife's and children spent all the money on drink and gambling were to be found in tears at Sunday services and committed them self's to Christ and from that moment - day became loving faith full husbands for the rest of there life - pit pones no longer knew what to do as the men were no longer swearing at them but treated them with respect - try this as a beginning. @@philiptownsend4026
the city centre is getting some upgrades at least, shame about the rest of it though. it could really do with more stations and a tram.
Great video. Been living in Swansea University Bay campus for about a year now and I've enjoyed my experience. Swansea definitely has its good and bad areas though.
THREE of these towns I used to frequent through for as many years for education purposes. Feels weird that all of them made this list, but I'm not really surprised.
It isnt just wales, many rural areas in England built "independent" chapels for Methodists and Baptists religions, my home village in the south of England had a Church and 4 chapels at the turn of the 20th century, now has a Church which is barely attended by mostly over 70s and one chapel barely attended at all, one chapel fell down in the 1930s after being abandoned, the other was converted into a fire station in the 1920s then an animal feed store and now stands empty and falling into disrepair.
I grew up in Milton Keynes, moved to Stoke at 18 and now live in Swansea; truly a tour de force of toilet towns.
Oddly though, there is a thriving cricket community in South Wales..
Swansea is just stoke by the sea, which makes it better than stoke because it is by the sea.
@@jamesdewitt84 Yeah, Swansea is slightly better as there’s an improved chance of the whole thing getting washed away in a tsunami..
@@Ben-rq5reJust means we are even closer to the sea.
Have you been to crumlin? That place also seems to be on the down, they also had to tear down a street of houses because at one point it was the most polluted street in Britain.
Also as my family from Tredegar im kinda glad somehow it wasn't on your list.
Yes... I haven’t seen Llanelli in Wales. Its pretty bad. But not as bad as a couple you have shown. One of which I haven’t ever heard of. Perhaps thats why. Great video. I know where not to go even if I heard of it before. Keep looking. I am sure more will TT will pop up.
There’s some pockets of desperation around Greater Manchester. I’m still in shock at Walkden If you don’t do it I will start my own channel called Poo Poo Places.
Walkden is a dream compared to Leigh. We skip Leigh and drive to Walkden to do our shopping.
Swansea is a great town with so much potential. It's easy to get to the M4, easy to get around, has great beaches and coastline close by on the Gower Peninsula and easy access to the Brecon beacons and beyond... and the people are lovely too!
If the leaders and residents of Swansea get it right, it has a very bright future!❤
It has to be on the up .
I can remember spending a lot of time there in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was the most depressing place I have ever seen
Leaders of Swansea get it right? You’re having a larf.
I like Swansea and spent 3 years living there, completely disagree that it is easy to get around though, traffic is dire and there are traffic lights everywhere! Public transport also not brilliant.
Lol, i worked in the Wilko you showed in Neath 💔
Traffic is usual in Swansea, its painful.
Aw mate you should've showed us dyfatty flats! Swanseas finest tower block
Are they still there ? Along with the famous traffic lights ?
@@steve-bk1qd yeah of course 😂😂😂😂
In the 70s there was a punk rock band named after them. Funny stuff.
I'd love to see someone make "TurdTowns USA", showing some of America's worst places.
Gary, East St. Louis, and certain Philadelphia or Detroit suburbs are obvious choices, but I'd like to see more towns I've never heard of like some of the ones you've shown in the UK.
Your videos are great! ❤😊
Look up Nick Johnson and Charlie Bo
Philly suburbs are great. Its big parts of the city that are the problem. @@dionysus1016
As soon as I saw the map I assumed that Port Talbot would be #1, so I’m almost impressed you found somewhere even worse. I’ve gone down the M4 to Swansea a couple times and holy crap that steel factory really is a huge eyesore
Could you do one of the Home Counties next? I’d imagine you’d be spoilt for choice with Kent turdtowns, lol
I know Kent. It is a county of contrasts. Some very nice places indeed and some other god awful places too.
It's only a matter of time before it closes, the guy living next door got out of there
its having millions poured into it, With china flooding the market with cheaper steel its just delaying closure. Once that happens the impact is going to be devastating, the place in llanelli makes the steel suitable for cans etc.
the knock on effect will be all the way up and down the M4. Port Talbot back in the late 80's used to have a decent shopping center I went there about 5 years old quite often. Mc Arthur Glen has hammered a lot of towns, Porthcawl has gone a total dive, I know they are spending a lot of money there but the decline in the town center again is noticeable.
Middlesbrough not far from me faced that kind of decline as well. Once Redcar steel went the town is having to rely very heavily on its student population instead. Churches are no more, factories are derelict ugly hulks but the student accommodation, uni and the bars are thriving. @@oathy03
And thanks to brexit we lost our EU funding !!
If it wasn't for that eyesore Port Talbot wouldn't be there in the first place. Or it would just be another abandoned and destitute place like so many others.
I would love to see your views on Carmarthenshire. My mum said Ammonfords really run down.
Being just out of Ammanford she’s right! There’s nothing there at all anymore. Nothing like it used to be.. really wish they would open more places back up 🤷🏼♀️
Absolutely brilliant video so glad you came! Next time see if you can make it to Llanelli