The worst places in Northumberland, UK
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- čas přidán 17. 09. 2023
- #northumberland #england #uk #travel #newcastle #turdtowns #blyth #geordies
Welcome back to Turdtowns the channel which visits the lesser known places in the UK and today that will be for bad reasons. Now to be fair we thought Northumberland was pretty nice and we don’t like to just include places so we can get to 8 places. So today it will the the five crap towns of Northumberland. Apologies that this isn’t a long as my normal videos. The weather stopped me from filming and my feet refused to carry me any further. - Komedie
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Building a cinema in order to reduce poverty has to be the most insane idea ever
I agree. Cannot find the logic in that daft idea.
That’s what happens when you have tories who have never heard of “working class people” in their lives running the country…
Cinemas are going out of business now
The useless eaters will be occupied with drugs and video games…
@@sabrinam6895 I swear cineworld is going under
As someone who was born in Ashington - I completely agree that these places are a bit rough in some ways but the one thing that keeps Northumbrians going is their character and community. Northumberland has a lot of truly beautiful places too, but the thing I take greatest pride in coming from the region - is the people.
I was born in Ashington also, there was an old billboard advert from 1980 I remember well, 'A region built on Coal and Steel and People made of sterner stuff'.
I agree. The people and the potential for those people to be employed to great effect is all there. It was like that once and can be again.
People agree,it’s still a turdtown though 😮
It doesn't help when you get some Tosspot driving all the way up from Kensington to rip the shit out of your county, Northumberland has more beauty than any other English County, why didn't he show that. Oh, and one other thing, unlike London and the South East, English is still the dominant language in Northumberland
@@toshishimuraThat's why the channel is called Turd towns, not rural Northumberland walks channel.
Once the mines were shut nothing of any consequence took its place. The heart was ripped out of the community. Men got very rich on the bloody and broken bodies of men, women and children who in some pits still lie where they died. The people want a purpose, want work, so the government build a cinema. While they give more steel making to India
You nailed it. It's all thanks to the Tories who do not believe the UK should make anything, own anything or build anything of purpose or value. Just more bread and circuses thrown to the masses (a cinema?) to keep people from rioting, supposedly. Managed decline disguised as a move to "net zero" which in itself is a totally insane concept that's gonna make us all poor unless you're in the top 1%. Wind turbines? You're having a laugh!
It's the same everywhere in the north east. I don't understand local council's obsession with building cinemas.
@@VKillershoe They are hoping it takes their mind of what’s happening around them.
Point
@@machendave I get that. But it kind of cements the fact it's not going to distract from the fact nothing is being done to make these towns better.
This channel is both interesting, depressing and compelling.
Grey lifeless towns
Haha exactly!
Guardian readers will love it, as self-hating as you can be.
Definitely weighted more heavily towards the depressing.
This channel is a damning indictment of decades of hyper-centralised southern English government. It is a great argument for the north breaking away from the south.
I left Blyth 39 years ago but still occasionally have to go back to see my parents. They've just got no concept of how bad it is coz they've always lived there. 😢
I agree. I live close to Blyth and travel to Plymouth monthly by road - the investment difference is staggering once you get south of Leeds.
I live in blyth and it’s a hole slowly filling up with boat men from abroad.
I adore my Northumberland but we’re an abandoned mess.
They have a decent chippy, parking is free and the beach is nice.
See I disagree, I've gigged all over the UK and I find most of the UK on a similar level. They have their high points and their low points, drugs, crime, etc, from as far south as Southampton and Bristol all the way up to Inverness. There isn't another town where I've thought "shit, I wish I lived here".
Forgotten where you come from
I am postie in Ashington and yes it is depressing and irrelevant, but lets be honest about it like most places Ashington has a corrupt council that steal the wealth from the people.
Lavery.
I live in Northumberland and cannot disagree with you , I laughed all the way through it because it's bloody true .
Cramlington is actually canny I live there lol
I love Northumberland, so I'm interested to see this.
@@markscouler2534 Least u have a sense of humour and hey saying goes if u dont laugh , u cry
Gives a good old chuckle eh
Same. Lived here my entire life and I can't disagree with much that has been said here. I was in Ashington yesterday. It's got worse since this was filmed. It makes me really sad.
Ditto
I found Newbiggin to a charming place, very few vacant commercial units, independent shops, decent selection of restaurants, lovely beach and not full of tacky arcades like some seaside towns!
LOL go to a local pub on a Saturday night and see how that works out!
so you didn't mind all the heroin addics then?
Newbiggin has a nice museum and tearoom right by the sea. That wasn't mentioned😮
Very interesting video. Thanks for posting, please keep up the Great work 👍..Greetings from the South.
@@brendaburnhe didn’t go down to South Breach at Blyth either which is the nicest part
It might be in one of the nicest counties, but Ashington is one of the most depressing places I've ever been to.
Still no where near as bad as Blyth.
I use to live there and it is depressing but so many places in England are to be fair. It’s what you make of them
Its pronounced Errshington or ashghanistan.
The people are down to earth I never came across any kind of snobbery there and that’s always a big plus
@@jeeves_uk Parts of Blyth are nice, but most are not.
Doesn't your heart just weep for people like the lady at 10.18. Head down and no hope. What the hell have we done to this world
She's walking up hill, but I do take your point.
Grey parlour and all look 10 years older than they are
What have we done to this world? We let in the tories and russian oligarch money. In short, Britain sold its soul
Blyth looks exactly like the deprived seaside towns in Suffolk/Norfolk, you could've lied to me and I wouldn't have questioned it. Maybe they all look the same.
East coast ..North Sea, it's the zeitgeist. West is best . ✅
@@billy4072disagree. This is a small area and worst part of the North east coast which is overall beautiful. The Cumbrian coast is horrific in comparison.
East Anglia is prosperous though,and has many rich seaside places ,Leiston might be crummy but Southwold ,Aldeburgh ,Wells Holt and a good few others are very pleasant.
Let me introduce you to Great Yarmouth, Hunstanton and Cromer 💀
Lowestoft is horrible
I can confirm it's so bad in that area people from the nearby 'town' of Cramlington think they live in a nice place.
It’s… fine here. Not bad enough to be a total dump, but not far off
The town centre of Cramlington is on a different level to Blyth and Ashington .I have always found Cramlington to be like all new towns , soulless .The song about houses all looking the same comes to mind and the roundabouts drive me nuts .
Cramlington is soulless but after moving here you start to appreciate it. Low crime, easy access to east and and west end. 5 mins to fantastic beaches. People come from all those towns mentioned to do their shopping in Cramlington. I can walk 100 meters with the dog and be in proper countryside. Train station where the train is 15 minutes to Newcastle. As long as your not after an old house with original features and tall ceilings its about as nice a suburban town as you will find up here. @@davidmontgomery9846
@@davidmontgomery9846once you learn to drive they should be fine.
Lived in cramlington for 38 years and love it , I get your point of it being a bit soulless but it's proximity to beaches , easy access to major roads , close to beautiful villages , countryside etc makes it hard to be beaten . House prices still ok , cinema , hospital , station , shopping centre restaurant's are brilliant to have on your doorstep . It's certainly better to live here than most places I can think of !
Ashington is the home town of legendary Newcastle United footballer Jackie Milburn and he was the uncle of World Cup winners Bobby and Jackie Charlton who also grew up in the town. More recently, England cricketers Steve Harmison and Marcus Wood both grew up in Ashington.
If it could produce another Bobby Charlton then it would redeem itself
It's not deprived enough now. When boys had to work in pits that was a big incentive to be a good footballer
and they left!
@nurlechauffeur4421 Jackie always remained there and never forgot his roots.
Jackie was a great bloke, Bobby is a miserable sod, there cousin who
Blyth did have railway station but it was closed and demolished a long time ago - a casualty of Dr Beeching I think
I think he's being sarcastic, by paraphrasing the ads "your NEW railway station", because saying "we're reopening your railway station" makes the government sound like the villains of a saturday morning kids cartoon.
He mentions later they haven't had one for 60 years.
"Passenger services were withdrawn on 2 November 1964 under The Reshaping of British Railways; the station buildings stood derelict until they were demolished in 1972. Today nothing remains of the station itself or associated buildings, except for the Station Master's house in Delaval Terrace which survives as a private home." Wikipedia.
Cinemas aren't likely to bring in business like they used to 15 years ago with everyone now having 65" tvs, surround sound and schneidy firesticks. There are much better things that could be built that would be of benefit to the communities in these areas
Like what?
Yea I’m not sure what id spend the money on either anymore. Feels a bit hopeless at timesz
@@Turdtowns Agreed, but a CINEMA ❓❓ No-one goes to the cinema anymore, surely. Most watch netflix, or films here on utube - I know I do - it's (almost) free after all. I just can't understand any logic in a cinema - madness. And what's more, several other towns are building cinemas (or so they say...) and you can be sure the entrance price will be extortionate ... better to have money spent on employment, of which there is almost none up here - nearly ALL of the North East is in poverty. REAL poverty - you have to live here to see it - and coming from London you can see the glaring contradiction. So sad 🙄🙄🙄 So very sad. What is sadder is that some people have never lived anywhere else and think this is all there is, and just accept it. 😏😏
@@joline2730 the ass has fallen out of the cinema industry and Covid made it worse as narrow profits dried up. Many families now simply can't afford the cinema regularly. More cinemas are closing than opening and it's a worldwide phenomenon. Many closures in the USA and Australia even in bigger cities. The profits just aren't there anymore especially in the age of streaming and blu-rays. To spend that much money on a new cinema these days is madness especially in a struggling town. The money would have been better spent on a multi function community centre or the like, something that would be used regularly.
Maybe they could reduce tax so actually wanted businesses could open
Slap bang in my part of the UK. You've hit the nail on the head with these places.
Newbiggin has always tried to be a tourism destination and locals go nuts if you tell them it isn't!
Stakeford (and the others within it) has always been like that - mine or no mine, a strange place.
Cambois is OK if you like looking at the remnants of what industrial NE England looked like. The locals are actually quite nice there.
Blyth isn't getting a new railway station - it's being placed outside the town because there was once a railway station in the middle of the town but it closed. The council allowed development on the route of that railway and thus a new station is having to be built away from it! The lovely market place is being ripped up to provide a very small cinema that concentrates on selling beer and food not films. The building is being advertised as community space for groups to move into - local community groups have their own places. Blyth actually has a cinema but council leaders think that backing an outsider and giving favouritism is best practice.
Crime in Blyth is rife. Statistics are manipulated terribly - go to the town at 11am for the zombies to head for their daily fix of medication and you'll see the place in its true glory. Yes shops are all shut - it had nothing to do with how early you went.
Ashington was a wonderful town before the mines closed. It had 52 social clubs (I'm serious) and a whole variety of nightlife and social venues were available. There was little crime back then - the town being a 'latch key' one - no need to lock your door because everyone looked out for each other. When the mines closed the town was hit really hard. So much went down hill and it broke my heart to see a younger generation with nothing to aspire to, no jobs and social life to look forward to. Crime, drink and drugs became the way of Ashington and almost every day the police helicopter pays a visit. Ashington and the new railway station - they have two close by and could use those (Pegswood and Morpeth) but the truth is, few have any money to pay a fare on one never mind spend at a destination. Council leaders claim that the railway will bring investment but honestly, not even us who live a few miles away want to visit the place! The cinema is to be built on a hole - leaders had a hole dug and walked away from it. It's been like that for years and is a local joke. As you say, the cinema will do nothing for the place - much like the Blyth one won't. Oh!! That stunning big building near the bus station was a huge CO-OP store. It closed when the town fell to its knees.
I lived in Ashington for six months, the most depressing place, everyone was miserable and hostile to southerners. There was an onshore wind which kept it 10 degrees colder than the rest of the UK, imagine living there till you die.
If your from London or the South East tbh I would keep quite about being from there when up North. your people are the reason there is such a wealth gap and why we have been left behind so much
Live there till you die? You wouldn't notice the difference!
I agree entirely with your choices as I live in Blyth. Very depressing every street has a ,so called, Turkish Barber make of that what you will. Almost every shop is owned by an Asian, no decent shops at all apart from Frameworks which is high end and very good..I wish I could be optimistic about Blyth.
Im dead and i still live there...now i like it.
@@llanieliowe794 "your people are the reason there is such a wealth gap" Nope, people in Ashington could get on their bikes and move somewhere, where there are prospects. Or, here's a novel idea, get off your backsides and make something of yourself.
Ashington, known to the locals as 'Ashghanistan'.
It's like South Africa now, white erased bit by bit
I grew up in Blyth. Left there around 2 years ago. Can confirm it used to be worse... 🤣
It’s no better now mate😂😂
@@KimiFan2002 Greggs on the beach mate, all I'm saying 🤣🤣🤣
@@mattheworam7238 cause a few extra greggs solves decades of poverty and starvation in the town obviously😂😂😂
I live in Blyth. You wouldn't believe how many Africans have have been 'dropped' into Blyth this year. They have literally been plucked straight out of Central Africa. I'm not saying it's crazy but it's definitely bananas.
@@gingerjessy I agree. I live near Blyth and wow - so many immigrants on bicycles or even driving cars erratically. I couldn't believe my eyes when I drove down Plessey Road past the Spartans ground - so many barbers. Are people getting hairier? The shopkeepers for the barbers were all sat on the kerbs outside due to no trade - or are they a cover for truly horrible crime gangs..
Really enjoyed this one.
Ashington was famous as the birthplace of Jack and Bobby Charlton.
All these mining towns that leave social deprivation in their wake is so depressing.
arrogance, lack of intellect and inbreeding is the main reason...
I love Newbiggin by the sea, I’ve holidayed there many times, it does get up to 25c in the summer. The fish and chips are first class and the people are very friendly.
Yes they fry in Yorkshire lard even though it's in Northumbria
Most people don't realise but a lot of mines closed during the 60s and 70s. We think the 80s was the period this happened, but it had been going on for some time until the miner's strikes of the 80s. It's a shame these places haven't found a way of shaking off the decline.
The unimaginative like to whine about Maggie because they're ignorant of the decades of mismanagement and subsidy that preceded her
UK Limited went insolvent in 1945
i have the solution if you can implement it. so, coal can be used to make carbon nanotubes, and we as a species are going to need TONS of them in the future. infact making CNT and graphene is amazing in itself, you use coal ASH (so the waste product) as a substrate to COOK the coal on at i think 5000 degrees (it may have been 2000, you would have to check the papers) which can actually facilitate energy production! so it uses its own waste as part of the process that also generates heat or electricity TO make the nanotubes that will eventually bring us in to space (also useful for 100000 things on earth).
More mines were closed under Labour Governments than under Thatcher. Unfortunately, the New Labour team seem more intent on closing down coal and oil than ever.
It's not really about the mines anymore. The current generation of school leavers don't have any connection whatsoever to the mines, and even their parents are too young to have been miners, but they still have an attitude that there's nothing they can do to improve their lot. There are 4 buses per hour to Newcastle (which is less than an hour away and costs £2 each way) where there are plenty of jobs. They can also move or commute to North Tyneside which is 15 minutes away in the car and much more prosperous.
I went to Ashington 12 years ago to visit a friend. The experience hasn’t left me, and I haven’t been back to visit him since!
Interesting video. Playing into the narrative, do your research, lazer focussed on the negatives. I’m proud Northumbrian unlike some of the comments on here! Newbiggin by the Sea in particular had seen some investment and local investors see the opportunities there. Plus outside investment in holiday homes is showing it’s a place invest in. For sure there is a depressing side like all towns in the UK. People from outside the area love to spend time there, that’s also within the county too. Problem is no investment from the local council. Great pubs, beautiful golf course, sandy beaches and lovely people.
You did read the title? It isn't "Lovely places in Northumberland". I agree the research is a bit light on here, because there are many worse places than these, regardless of the reported violent crime rate in Blyth being 90 to 110% higher than the national average. It is still way safer than Los Angeles.
I used to live in Newbiggin, can see my old house at one point in the video - lefr there in 2010. It saddens me to see how run down it's become, the council were supposed to be rejuvenating the place when I left, they'd just spent a fortune importing sand to improve the beach etc.
Seeing all the shops closed on front street was really disheartening, nearly every single one was fairly busy in 2010, but the pubs were going one by one, The Black Pearl had a revamp and changed name, can't even remember what to now.
The main problem I found with the village was the only proper grocery shop was Co-op, and their prices were extortionate, likely still are as they have a captive audience - it has a knock on effect for all the smaller shops though as everyone just goes into Ashington to do their shopping, so all Newbiggin's money is going to Ashington because of the greed of the Co-op, plus there's a Wetherspoons there bang next to the bus stops so they take the pub trade away.
It's a damn shame, really lovely place (and not actually that bad in winter, I spent 3 there) and some lovely people. It's just one of those forgotten towns that's close to somewhere with more amenities, so people go there.
It was pretty busy in summer, not sure how true that is now, and the caravan park next to the church was always full, as was the place just as you enter the village.
I miss being literally a minute away from the beach and a minute away from nothing but fields if you go the other direction, but I'd not move back there, it was very dull with not much to do or see for 10 months a year. Really bad drugs problem too, which is part and parcel of the poverty and boredom combining.
I went for a bike ride from my home in blyth in august. The place was heaving man. This video is really misleading.
Yes. they brought in sand to try and improve the beach but its the wrong quality sand nothing like the original sand. Its worse than builders sharp sand. They can't do anything right, but the fat cats get the money and that's all their interested in NCC
I’m from the area and the main problem with Northumberland council is they spend all the money in the rich areas like Morpeth and Alnwick where the tourists and southerners go but seem to forget about other areas (mainly the south east)
@@AndyWardle place still gives off that weird vibe, like it’s stuck in the past
These NE communities had the hearts ripped out of them in the Thatcher years and have been in decline ever since. Imagine if the banking industry and commercial services sector had been shut down in the south east and the government had done nothing to replace it, except build cinemas that will turn into bingo halls and then into weatherspoons.
Yeah blame thatcher..not the constant labour councils we have.
@jordizee Local councils can't provide the same level of inward investment that central governments can. The Tories have been in power for 30 of the last 44 years (i.e. since Thatcher became PM).
@@expatexpat6531 Why didn't the subsequent labour governments do anything about it? Maybe these problems are beyond the governments power to resolve.
@@haveanotherpinacolada I don't have a patent solution. I last lived in the NE in the 1980s, and the economy was dire back then. The city of Newcastle has been able to revive itself, but the smaller towns and villages on the northern periphery of England on both coasts were often dependent on single and now gone/dimished industries. The UK government needs to consider why large multinationals and UK companies are not investing on a large scale in the NE and address the reasons why (e.g. infrastructure, transportation, skill base, access to markets). Lack of cinemas is probably not one of them.
@@expatexpat6531 the councils spend the money...we need tory councils.
I grew up in Blyth. It used to be a great place. Bustling markets, loads of shops and plenty of stuff to do. I visit occasionally, and it's just so run down and depressing. The coastline is beautiful though, and it's just a short drive to Newcastle and to the surrounding countryside.
Come to County Durham and look around Stanley if you want somewhere depressing.
You need a pint in the top house to cheer up mate. Preferably 10am in the morning with the mobility scooter crew 😂
Consett too, not much better but better history I suppose. Home to such recent developments like: ripping all of the pavement up on middle street to... put some different kind of pavement down.
Ferryhill 😢He won't be there long
@@SirAdamKenna I heard (BBC radio programme, last 5 years) that Consett had a major recovery, considering the massive steel industry lost, and that the local people had put huge effort into new enterprise.
The thing with Stanley is, you really have to put the effort in to get there as it's the highest point around...
Can you only imagine how these places will improve beyond recognition when they all soon will have the pleasure of being culturally enriched.
*Ah, that magic ingredient: Cultural Enrichment?* Stay free, WKTSMF ... 👋 🕊 ☠
Alright boys! It’s time to turn this quiet flowery town into a Bangladeshi Slum!
In this case the isolation, lack of jobs and amenities work in their favour. But it’s only a matter of time
Well, nothing else seem to be helping.
I'm sure people thought the same when the Anglo-Saxons and then the Norse arrived. Times change, either you deal with it rationally or become part of history.
You should have gone a couple of miles north of Newbiggin to Lynemouth. It's very much a "there's something in the water here" kind of place.
I grew up in Ashington, your comment on being left behind is so true.
On the cinema mentioned, this was originally planned to be the new county council offices, proposed by a Labour Council at the time, however this was shelved once a Conservative council was elected and left derelict for 5 or so years. Locally referred to as "The Ashington Hole", there are groups of people who are sarcastically trying to keep it as its a relevant piece of the history and an example of the place getting constantly shafted. I'm really not sure the majority of local people there are in favour of another cinema either
What do you mean another cinema there are non. Ashington had 5 cinema's until late 70's and over the years they've all been closed or demolished
The big building in Ashington is the old 1930s built CO OP. It used to be a department store, with a lovely sweeping staircase as you enter. Like a lot of pit towns it was an OK place in the 70s. It was famous as the "biggest pit village in the world".
A surprising number of quite big towns have no railway station, Wisbech and Devizes among others. Fun fact, Milton Keynes was deliberately built without a railway station as it was assumed most people would work locally rather than commute to London, the planners soon rectified the situation, though. Also MK is worth a Turdtowns(tm) in it's own right, Fishermead anyone?
Fishermead? I think you mean 'Little Somalia' :D
The Lakes Estate, Netherfield, Bean Hill, Heelands - there are so many.
@@shm5547The Lakes Estate is in Bletchley not MK
@@johnmitchell2269 still Milton Keynes, it covers quite a wide area! Bletchley was absorbed into the MK district back in 1974.
I grew up in fullers slade have not been to mk in years but when I did live in the slade it was a dump
At least the residents of Unity Terrace in Cambois have made an effort to paint their houses nicely, that street is actually quite nice. As you go north through the village however, there is a distinct feeling of "threat" in the air. My favourite thing about Cambois is the level crossing which is still manually operated - even North Blyth (which is smaller and just as shitty) has automated barriers on the crossing. Nice beach.
what about Morecambe? if the Eden Project North actually happensit will be gentrified but right now it has the most amazing views and sunsets and is thoroughly stunning, so long as you have the town behind you and your looking away from the place, the town itself is as run down as it gets.
You should come and have a look at Leigh, Gtr Manchester. We're a former mining town that hasn't had a railway station since the 1960's and despite some effort from the council to improve the town centre, we really wouldn't be out of place on this channel. Keep shining the light on left behind towns, because if nothing else this lousy government needs to be shamed into investing in what is essentially a UK rustbelt of their creation....
Lancashire, GreaterManchester, Merseyside has some spectacularly grotty places.
Leigh is a shithole I can confirm. Love from Newton le Willows
They keep talking about extending the tram out to you but it would still take as long as the bus I expect.
I live just outside Leigh It's a shit hole the same as close by Wigan, although Wigan isn't as bad.
Leigh, Greater Manchester is awesome. About 14 miles from the Manchester city centre but more down to earth
Newbiggin has actually gotten a lot better in later years, it would have been closer to number 1 or 2 x 15 years ago. They've built a new glass building cafe on the seafront, the beaches have been cleaned up of the coal dust and church point caravan park has some decent caravans on compared to the rickety old dumps I used to have to holiday in the 90s 🤣
I spent a few days at Church Point earlier this year , really enjoyed both the site ad the town , lovely folks happy to return
I spent a summer working in Northumberland and got to know the county. Its very beautiful and great to drive round. One thing that struck me was how feudal it was. You can drive through one estate into another where all the properties are owned and had the same estate coloured doors and windows. There's also plenty of poor people in the "rich" northern part of the county.
It's an exaggeration to say that the county is rich. The Duke of Northumberland might be but the vast majority of the locals are not. North Northumberland has lots of poverty, just look at Berwick and Wooler.
Did you meet Edmund Blackadder?
Things are changing the Rothbury estate will hopefully be bought by Brian May of Queen, does that change the Feudal scene a little?
Hopefully who ever buys treats the locals well @@ChrisInToon
@@ChrisInToonNo he's not.
@@pulchralutetiathank you for saying this. Just because the poverty isn't screamingly obvious doesn't mean that it's not there.
Well done pronouncing Cambois correctly. And nice to see this perspective on my county. The rich/poor divide you show on the map in the beginning basically just shows exactly the Northumberland Coalfield, and therefore the multi-decade spanning economically depressing effects of deindustrialisation. Cramlington and Killingworth are "new towns" from the 60s on the coalfield that have fared much better in recent years in comparison, due to never having had to deindustrialise. I am from a pit village nearby which has basically no jobs but the small population means the whole village can find commutable jobs elsewhere and overall the village is nice. Blyth and Ashington being large towns, together with the post-industry really exemplifies the area's worst. It would have been good to see some places outside the coalfield however, as Hexham for example could be considered a Turd Town, and the direct comparison to the coal towns would have been interesting.
Yay I finally got one right 😂
I second adding Hexham to the list of Turd Towns.
@@Turdtowns one thing about Northumberland, the towns are shite, villages are good (if a bit isolated).
@@jeeves_ukif you think Hexham is a turd town, you need to see more of the UK. It’s pretty pleasant.
@@alexmason9209 I was there long enough to know it's really not.
Went to Blythe to do a stocktake on the old Poundland (really must quit this champagne lifestyle) my dad texted me "what's Blythe like then?" "I've just seen a Seagull eating sick of the pavement" was my reply.
PMSL
sounds about right, if you waited you'd have probably seen a junkie hunt the seagul for his tea.
I heard someone describe Blyth as "North Shields on universal credit"
I have a soft spot for Northumberland as a county, but when it gets deprived it gets really deprived.
Some of these places are a black hole. Those who live there just can't escape.
Northumbria is lovely mostly
Great vid! As a londoner I'd love to see you do some vids here. Maybe focus on certain boroughs or areas (North, South, East, West) etc. Bit harder though as everything changes so drastically in a short distance here
All this poverty in Northumberland and throughout the north is the result of decades of deliberate policy from Westminster governments who know nothing of, and care even less about, their own country. Utterly shameful - a damning indictment of what is the most centralised state in western Europe. The economic gap between northern and southern England is greater than the economic gap between the eastern and western parts of Germany, and the former suffered under Soviet communism for over forty years. HOME RULE FOR THE NORTH. Other western countries would not tolerate these extreme regional disparities. Why do the Brits?
Northumbria is lovely mostly
Guidepost, Scotland Gate, Hadston, Linton and Lynemouth could have been in a top 10 list
Methil on the Scottish east coast has got to be the grimmest place in existence.
Ashington's main claim to fame (or infamy, apart from it being crime central) is the fact that The Charlton Brothers Jackie and Bobby were born and raised here along with earlier Jackie Milburn. And I do agree that a cinema is the LAST thing the people of Ashington either want or need! When the new rail link to Newcastle opens it will be the final death knell of the shops in the community. Other than that a pretty fair assessment !!!
Durham has alot of depressing former mining towns like Stanley. Chopwell Tyne & Wear is also worth a visit. It was called little Moscow and has streets named after Marx and Lenin
Chop well is awful. Dog poo central
It's not just the North, in Devon whenever I've spoken to the council I get the impression that I'm serving them instead of the other way around.
Agree
You are, councils get money for the size of the population, other than that, why should they sort out your pot holes, bins etc when they can put posters up telling you which pronous to use?
You want to check out the villages on the coast road between Hartlepool and Sunderland e.g. Horden, Blackhall, Easington and Easington Colliery; all are unremittingly grim.
I'd second that, awful places
Vile all round there but tbh the closer to Sunderland you get the shitter everything gets.
The only truly shit place in Northumberland is Darlington... this post was made by a Monkey Hanger.
@@tedparkinson2033 Darlo is nowhere near Northumberland mate it's in County Durham but I agree it's a shithole
@@tedparkinson2033taking the piss surely?
Would love to see you tackle Blackpool and the surrounding areas.
Also if you venture up to Scotland, the Scottish Borders would be interesting
Interesting. The Scottish Borders looks stunning and yet I agree with you - poverty abounds.
Galashiels makes Ashington look like down town Manhattan
LOVED this!! Grew up in cambois in my teens... imagine that joy.. worked in blyth later, and been to everywhere else on the list and your prognosis was spot on! Glad you liked northumberland tho, its a canny place really
Northumbria is lovely mostly
Am I the only non-British here? In any case, this place looks wonderful and I wouldn't mind living here at all. I live in the north of Spain. I can tell you there are places (barrios) in Andalucia (in the south) that are literally third world in comparison to Northumberland.
Por ejemplo? Que opina ud. de La Carolina (Jaen),? Crime is lower in Andalucia. It rarely feels dangerous like the UK even in large cities like Sevilla late at night. Kids are not as feral in Spain. Families feel more intact. Even in places like Carmona there were a few thriving bars and cafes where older people congregated. Ecija was buzzing at midnight.
Don't be fooled by the architecture, it makes it look nice but everything was built in a different time. The buildings lie vacant and the infrastructure is crumbling.
Also a lot of drug addiction and social decay which is not portrayed in the video.
@@pablodelnorte9746 Mostly immigrant areas. Infelizmente, es la verdad.
Im English but lived in Malaga for 8 years. Every town has its bad … and beautiful parts.
I totally agree with you. 👍The north of Spain has also got beautiful beaches and of course much better weather. It is worth seeing here.x
I'm from the North East, currently living near Durham however I have lived in Weybridge in Surrey for many years.
I know there are some towns and villages in the South which are regarded as deprived and turd like, however these towns still have a certain level of wealth compared to say Ashington a town that has been deprived and had no monetary spend for decades if not centuries.
It is not possible to compare like for like.
Opportunities for employment and career choice are massive in the South.
This shite government and many of the ones before have done nothing to provide decent jobs with decent wages to raise people's living standards.
That's why people move away, which in turn makes the place and businesses look even more turd like. 😢
Not sure waiting for the government to ‘provide’ jobs has done the north east much good
Alan: I moved from Essex to a town near Durham in 2015 - and it absolutely amazes me the dire poverty up here. People in the south (especially Surrey, commonly called the Stock Broker Belt) are living in luxury by comparison BUT until you come up here you don't know it !!
I agree Alan.
There are so many more jobs in the South East than in the North.
To be fair, Surrey has a reputation of being very rich.
Surrey =/= "the South"
Lived in Ashington for 30 years now and would never go back to London. Like everywhere that is neglected by those with wealth and power there are problems. I take issue with the anti southerner bollocks though even some of the scarier looking folks I have met have been warm and friendly, damn sight more than in the South. Where ever you are there will always be some morons.
Don't know how i found your channel but was a lucky find. Keep up the good work. Brilliant 👍
As someone who comes from Northumberland, I can guarantee that the top 3 will consist of blyth, ashington and Cramlington in any order.
Also, if blyth is improving, I’m the king of spain…😂😂
Apart from alphabetical....
Northumbria is lovely mostly
@@susanofhullhumberside4753 If you ignore the south I’d agree
Turdtowns, brought to you by Margaret Thatcher
Your commentary cracks me up. If you're in the neighbourhood, you have to do a Tyne & Wear one.
There's a whole host of insanely awful towns right on the border between Norfolk and Cambridgeshire; Wisbech, March, Downham Market (Town in the UK with the highest percentage of its population being OAP, there were plans to open a mcdonalds a few years ago and resudents petitioned against it because it would be "too modern")
Mcdonalds too modern? A company that's been about for nearly a century? Plenty of reasons to petition against them but being modern isn't one of them.
@@haveanotherpinacolada exactly !! 😅😌 I used to live there. It's totally backward 😅
Downham Market may be the most boring town in Britain. It beats Lowestoft because at least in Lowestoft you can look at the sea when you're depressed.
Love the turd towns series. Where's your next port of call 😂?
I do agree that the Northwest is struggling more. We've been forgotten over here!
This video is based Northumberland which is the posh part of the North East. Trust me, the deprived parts of the North East are worse than the deprived parts of the North West.
@@davidj7201 I'm not sure about that considering most people don't even know the north west exists
i disagree. These places suck but they lack the cultural issues that plague the deprived parts of the north west. Perhaps pushing the boundary a bit, but savilletown for instance.@@davidj7201
I don't the govt thinks anything exists past Leeds or Manchester, just a vast empty space before you reach Scotland.
I find these vids very interesting and slightly depressing. I left the UK 18 years ago and when I see it it is like a distant memory of a former life. I myself was born in Ashington but never lived there. I used to go to Blyth with my mom to do shopping. But was raised in Cramlington. Keep up the good work.
Used to live in Ashington, about 10 mins walk from the town centre. It's a dump, although the internet has reached there. It's one of the places we go shopping still, as it's one of the closest places with a supermarket or 3. I can attest to the crime rate, with stolen cars being parked outside my flat more than once. There was even a burnt out BMW on the outskirts for a while. Shame you didn't drive past a lot of the housing estates. There are some nicer streets on the periphery of the town though. Blyth station used to be where the Morrison's is now. The line ran from Newcastle, through North Tyneside, there was a junction outside Blyth, with one line going into Blyth and the other ran north to Ashington, via Bedlingtion, then eventually on to Newbiggin. It closed closed in 1964 as part of the Beeching review. The line remained open to freight, namely the aluminium trains that ran from North Blyth to the Lynmouth alumimium smelter and coal trains to Lynemouth power station. If you went about a mile or so South of Cambois, there's North Blyth, which is literally 4 or 5 short streets of terrace houses and a pub, that's literally it. The afforementioned Lynemouth is also a dump but the Chinese takeaway isn't bad. Cramlington is worth a mention, it's one giant maze of a housing estate with a crappy shopping centre in the middle.
Not forgetting the coal staithes at North Blythe were one of the locations for the 1971 film Get Carter.
Love these videos.Very funny but also very honest.
Blyth had a station:part of the Blyth & Tyne railway line. Closed in the 60s during the Beeching cuts.
The comparison between Blyth and Barrow is a good one. The town has had social and economic problems for years, so hopefully it may be on the mend now. Although not beautiful, as former mining town, Ashington isn't anywhere near as bad as similar towns in County Durham. The people are very friendly and it still has a community despite it's problems, although it has changed for the worse, like many places in the UK.
You should do a video on Swansea and Llanelli, that sort of area, lots of good content to be found there!
My mum came from ashington , left there when she was 14 her family lived there until they died, been there quite a few times visiting and honestly can’t remember a day when the sun shone, contrary to others I found the people friendly and welcoming, don’t forget Bobby and Jackie Charlton both hail from ashington so plenty of good about the town, unfortunately like a lot of the north east when the pit closed down the life went out of the town
My dad lives in Ashington and I go there often (I live in Essex so it well different). It’s weird how much people love living there, there’s also lots of former/currently cricket players that come from there. Went down the local working mens club with dad and ended up having a pint with Steve f*ucking Harmison 😂
It just shows how the NE and many parts of Britain are in decline due to lack of investment. If the Government past and present had invested in Britain we would be world leaders but no they would sooner send the money abroad in the way of investment and aid. When the pits were closed nothing was put in its place hence the towns declined. There was a buzz a few year back at the rumour of the battery processing plant in Blyth being built. There was a big hope but all dashed through lack of investment. All the good industries are being bought up by foreign owners and we are being ripped off. It makes me so ruddy angry that we have been let down.
Blyth had a railway station. It also had a cinema, which was closed. The building still exists.!!! The market place used to be lovely and busy, until it was "improved" several times in recent history. It upsets me to think of how much money has been wasted.
Liked the review just started watching your channel, love it to bits im in NZ now but come from Reading Berkshire have you done one of that county yet
People who think the North East of England is deprived haven't been to West Cumbria. I've lived in both and the Northeast is far better off. After escaping the tedium of Cambridgeshire I now live in Northumberland, not one of the towns in this video. (See previous turdtown's review of Cumbria).
Having recently moved to Carlisle,we've done quite a bit of exploring 'out west' and I have to say I agree with you entirely....bleak in EVERY sense of the word & yet the countryside in-between the depressing towns is lovely! Cockermouth is surprisingly nice though.
If you're saying "Cumbria" then you must similarly say Northumbria. If you insist on saying Northumberland then you should not say "Cumbria", but Cumberland
Its sad to think that there are people so desperate for a better life that they want to come to live in England
I know lol
It's weird how foreigners think England is so rich. Little do they know most are dirt poor in reality. I guess we are comparable (everything is relative) to the Philippines in some ways. We have poverty we cannot break out of and a lot of urban decay and nothing we are seeing will change that. We know most people born poor are likely to remain so. It isn't something that can't be fixed either but the economic system we have works against the people. Immigration will only maintain and aggravate such conditions.
That's because they don't know what it's really like. They see Midsomer Murders and Inspector Morse etc on TV and think it's all like that. If they knew the truth they would never leave France for the UK.
Sad? They shouldn’t be coming here anyway. Population replacement in action 😬
@@royfontaine5526 I was expecting racist bigots to reply but that was fast! 'population replacement' hahaha. Who convinced you of that one?
I'm in tyneside and I cant wait for our roasting! haha.
I agree though, all above are really weird places.
I often visit the North East and love going to Northumberland. Totally agree about Blyth.
I found your channel the other week and it's now my second watch after the Sunderland AFC ones!
Northumbria is lovely mostly
At least Ashittington's got a Wilko's....oh no not any more!
I had never heard of any of these places til today. I will avoid 😂. Please can you do a Kent Turdtowns?
you've not lived until you've lived in Ashington :)
Remember as a child in the 70s going to blyth swimming pool with my cousin and having a great time.check out whitley bay a few miles down the coast, it was a popular holiday resort and booming until around the late 70s unfortunately now a turdtown,so sad.
I left Ashington at 18 for Royal Tunbridge Wells. Lucky me. Fifty years ago and Ashington never recovered from the loss of mining. Nothing much to replace it. It’s a low wage economy area. Really sad.
You need to come to the north east Stockton, Thornaby, Middlesbrough is a prime example of how to destroy an area completely in the name of progress.
Technically those are North Yorkshire, not North East.
@@SirAdamKenna Technically, we have been Tees side, Cleveland, East Riding of Yorkshire over the years, you take your pick.
Fair assessment. I'm a Northumberland local. The one interesting thing you left out is that Ashington has its own accent! Possibly down to most people never leaving and also nobody moving there 😂 Even the kids don't have the CBBC English accent that's been enforced on the youth of the UK, probably will once they get the internet finally.
Durrrg, Purrrb. Pitmatic just like Bedlington.
Northumbria is lovely mostly
@@davidcrawford8583 Cluuuuurb.
As someone who lives in the near by Whitley bay
I can say I never want to go any further north than I am currently
I knew as soon as I saw Blyth at number 2, that Ashington would be Number 1.
Spent a lot of weeks here on holidays, as my Aunt lived here, and Cousins were all nearby.
In fact, where my Cousins used to live on the Nursery Park estate, there's a railway bridge that crosses the Wansbeck just round the back of it, that made national news when some local kids threw a dog from off of it.
Other vivid memories of Ashington for me (mainly from the late 80's/early 90's) are the potholed and run-down bus station, the corner shops with the big blue Embassy Regal awnings, the big Peacocks shop on the high street, and the smoggy air in the mornings when everyone still had coal fires.
Lest we forget also, Wor Bobby and Jackie Charlton were born and raised in Ashington.
Nursery Park is posh! Try Post Street lol
A lot of Get Carter was filmed along this coast and sea coal still washes onto the beach in places too.
the scene by the coal staithes was Blyth and then you see him running along the beach, that beach is Easington in Co Durham - he ran a long way very quickly :)
@@michaelwain3198Artistic license!
You should've visited Tyne and Wear, it was formerly part of county Northumberland until the 70's. If you think Blyth and Ashington are depressing, wait until you visit Wallsend, Byker, North Shields... the list goes on. They resemble something from the Middle-East; it's that deprived.
Because of Tyne & Wear, everybody thinks it's all Newcastle. The other places in it have become nationally regarded as Newcastle. Anyone who writes Tyne & Wear on their address is erasing County Durham & the lost parts of Northumbria eg Whitley Bay
1970 - I visited Cullercoats, to be with my 'dear friend', beautiful Pamela Joy S. We had met during that year's Edinburgh Fringe/Festival, and shared ourselves. A week or so later, I visited Cullercoats/Whitley Bay, and we had a beautiful liaison ... Later that evening, Pam's parents did not want/need me sleeping in their 'quite posh' abode, so it was an unsleepy night in a cold, early-October easterly, North Sea wind within a shore-shed for me.
Whatever, this 19-year-old has never forgotten *First Love.*
Thanks for your uploads, T. In this instance, Cullercoats for me, regardless ... for obvious reasons.
Stay free. Rab 👋 🕊
I'm from Grimsby, and obviously need cheering up. This video has achieved this. 👍
Nice minster in Grimsby. Cleethorpes is nicer though.
Born and currently live in Northumberland and its beautiful. Green, historic and not that bad weather.
Obvious not intelligent enough to understand the video then Ted, typical Northumbrian...
lol the weather is shockingly bad
Northumbria is lovely mostly
Keel Row in Blyth was built in 1991 not mid 2000's lol and compared to even just 5 years ago the town has improved quite a bit tbh
The only real policy Local Authorities seem to have with ALL these places, is to make it more difficult to access by Car, and increase the cost of parking once you're there.
Blyth otherwise known as smack valley, but there are nice parts to it, with good people, and good value housing.
The North East is lovely compared to everywhere else in the uk, such as my homeland of Cumbria for instance (loved the last vid). Even most of the Newcastle/Sunderland/Tyneside area. The people are so friendly and a great laugh. Except for parts of Durham. The ex pit area of Durham is like west Cumbria on steroids
Edit: Large parts of County Durham I meant. The city called Durham is lovely and so are a lot of the places across the county. And it’s a minority of the people that make it worse
@@gilly5094 Durham city is very beautiful, but my got the old pit villages around and the people who occupy them are hostile... so I get what the other person was saying
@@gilly5094 Durham city is lovely and Barnard Castle is too. But there are a lot of very rough places around them
County Durham is the Essex of the north.
@@maxunlimited8876 yeah it’s really weird. Geordies, mackems, northumbrians, even people from Boro and Hartlepool are really friendly, and ex pit towns tend to be too so long as you ain’t a Tory, but there’s something about some parts of County Durham that seem so unwelcoming. It’s a shame cos it’s a tiny minority and most are lovely tbf, but they have their fair share of divvies
It's Cumberland not Cumbria
Only civil servants, out of touch with reality, can come up with a cinema or an "education center for clean energy " as a solution.
11:15 Correction: the actual tax money down the drain is 3 million, and there's an additional loan of nearly 5 million for cinema + shops, although one might ask whether the loan will ever be paid back. So, let's make that a round figure of 8 million in total for Ashington. The other 22 million will be wasted on nearby towns, not on Ashington.
Did you know that the new passenger railway was costed by the Labour ran County Council many years ago - at £45 Million. Tory councillors opposed the idea and it never happened until tory became the board at County Hall. The cost for it by then was £150 Million. Currently, the railway has cost over £320 million and still isn't finished..
Wtf have civil servants to do with this?
@@otaupdate3151 If you have to ask you're probably one of them.
@@jacquesmertens3369 Civil servants play no part in deciding policy. You seem to be allowing your prejudices to sway your outlook on life.
@@otaupdate3151 Where do you think government subsidies come from? Santa Claus? I give you a hint: the answer is in the question.
I live 3 miles from Ashington and right on the edge of all of these places yet 2.5 miles to the west of me is Morpeth, a totally opposite kind of town. Both towns currently have lots of houses being built and are expanding massively.
My sister lives in Blyth with her family and it is rough. She seems to like it though. It does have a decent leisure centre too which you missed
If the word depression could be made into a country, Britain would be it.
Guardian readers would be it.
I've just come across the watery bit between France and England in a dingy and I would beg to differ
Britain has been in a near constant state of decline since the end of WW2. This is kind of inevitable when you go from a global empire to a small country outside of the EU.
Every been to Belgium or Germany or Ireland
@@jimwalker5412 you get handouts the poor people of Northumberland get nought .
Please visit Tyne and Wear - and also County Durham. This channel is very interesting and shows the various parts of the country in their true colours.
Love these videos,please do one of the Humber area
Yeah , my city of Hull, Humberside's capital would be awesome!