Thetownend.com

The above post, on another thread (http://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=51745.msg1201528;topicseen#new), seemed to cause a degree of controversy.

To my mind (football loyalties aside), this should be the most one-sided poll since the 1997 General Election.  What do the rest of you think?

The best bits of Bristol are way better than the best bits of Swindon.  And the worst bits of Bristol are much worse than the worst bits of just about everywhere.

Nicer place to live though?  Not sure.

I have been delivering to all parts of Bristol for many years.

Firstly any town or city with a river...and a big one at that is going to be an exiting and vibrant place to live....and work.

It has taken Bristol along time but the last few years the city has realised that tourism needs a cleaner  place and one more up to date with facilities....apart from the roads they have done a good job.

My fave parts are the Arno Vale cemetery..which is currently getting a facelift,great old cemetery with many of the people who made Bristol great buried there.

http://www.bristolpast.co.uk/#/arnos-vale/4546913736

The Bristol Industrial Museum is a good visit......Clifton is a part of Bristol because of its steepmess remains old Styly with some good old pubs and roads....including Whiteladies Road which gives a clue to its slavery trade past.

The museum below is free to get in...Wills the tobacco magnate donated much of what is in there for the people of Bristol....there is loads in there to see including a full history on Bristol Ware(Pottery) which is more interesting as it sounds.

http://discoveringbristol.org.uk/browse/slavery/category/learning-education

The River makes the City great....it meanders out of the City under the brilliant suspension bridge to Avonmouth.

Is it a nicer place....no....is there more to see and do ....much more, which will have a lot of people saying it is a better place.

Just to throw a further bomb in, without Bristol there wouldn't be a Swindon as we know it

Cannot comment on poll,  haven't been to Swindon for about 5 years and apart from passing through on the train this year haven't been to Bristol for about 25 years!

Bit of a random brain dump as I probably know Bristol better than Swindon.

Better shopping. Cabot Circus & Cribbs Causeway, Park St/Clifton and to some extent Broadmead, blow away anything Swindon has to offer, with the only notable exception being the Outlet Village.

Leisure facilities. Club loyalties aside, there is a lot more to do in Bristol than in Swindon. The waterfront area, Millennium Square, @Bristol, Aquarium, Hippodrome, O2 Academy, Colston Hall to name a few. Swindon has......the Oasis, Link Centre and the Wyvern. No competition.

Two established Universities, Swindon is still pissing around deciding.

Food and Drink. Massive range of bars and restaurants. In fact, my current fave restaurant, Yume Kitchen, is in Bristol. I know Swindon has some good restaurants too, but it can't compete on variety and quality IMO.

I could go on. I personally would rather live in Swindon than Bristol, if only to be closer to the CG, but its difficult to make a case for Swindon to be a better place to live than Bristol IMO. I do agree with Ardiles first post though.

Although I should say, its like comparing apples with pears.

Different people will have different perspectives and opinions on what makes a place good or bad to live in. Lots of different factors involved (i.e. proximity to family, place of work, schools, leisure pursuits). Everywhere is a compromise.

No. I agree with Aridles Bristol has some nicer areas than Swindon, . Plus it has bigger dives than Penhill. But you also have to consider that its practically Welsh. So surely that's enough to make Swindon victor.

Besides, the rich of Swindonshire live in a house, a very big house, in the country. That's very much more appealing than a nice area of Bristol.

One suspects that asking this question on a forum where the vast majority are Swindonians probably won't capture the true picture

Exactly.

Bristol undoubtedly has more variety, more going on, has better amenities/facilites and has some much nicer areas than the nice parts of Swindon.

However it also has more than its share of slummy, rough-as-fuck, shit-heap areas too. Despite what the guy earlier said I wouldn't ride my unicycle around St Pauls out of choice. Gentrification my arse...

I have never lived in Swindon and to be honest have no desire to do so, as sporting teams aside have no ties to the Town at all.

I lived in Bristol for a short time (albeit many years ago) and worked there for about 15 years and similarly to Swindon have no desire to live there either.

So in summary, can I have a "they are both equally shit places to live" option please.

That said I now live in Peterborough, which is probably worse than both :(

In all my life I have never shopped in Bristol so I have no idea how it compares to Swindon for the people who love to shop.  Sadly I had to go into the centre of Swindon to conduct some business at my bank and all I can say what a shit hole the centre of Swindon has become.  Jesus, so many empty shops, dirty streets and shop assistants with an obvious chip on their shoulder!!  And as for that "sculpture" made of corrugated iron words failed me.  If you are in the market for a new phone, have a bet or visit a pound shop you are well served!!

My grandparents lived in Peterboro. Agreed, it made Swindon look good by comparison...

I hate bristolians and their good awful accent. The nightlife is crap, but I do like cribbs and Cabot circus.

Worked in the city for about 5 years driving the whole area and didn't like it one bit. We had a van broken into on a school site once by one of the parents picking up their kids. Nice.

To be fair, that is one of the few things I wouldn't have levelled against it.

Even 10 years ago there were literally hundreds of Bars/Clubs within a few minutes walk of the City Centre.

The biggest problem was usually avoiding the gangs of nutters from all the local towns/villages converging on the City for a punch up on a Friday/Saturday night.

I lived in or around Slave Trade Central for about 10 years. It was Ok but I couldn't wait to move back to Gods Own Town.

You live in Jerusalem then Chalkies!

Another place I know 'well'. I really wouldn't want to live there, although it does have the Oakham Ales Brew Pub. Oakham Citra.....oh yeah.....

Having spent a lot of time living in towns like Westbury, Calne and Warminster, give me the city any day. Bristol is great and has everything I need, I don't see much of the 'rough' areas as I have no need to be there.

My place in Newcastle was in a quite rough area and North Road West in Plymouth was quite grotty. Never had any bother in either though.

I was unfortunate enough to be taken out of my normal working area and sent to Oxford for a week, no big deal I thought.  First three days were spent at a school just off the main drag around Cowley, parked in the visitors car park and reported to the site manager.  First thing he said "Where you parked?"  I told him in the visitors, he immediately said go and fetch your van and put it in my secure compound - he said visitors cars and vans were being broken into at least once a week!!  I realised he wasn't joking when I noticed that there was a police office in the school!!  So it seems our neighbouring cities have a bigger problem than Swindon in that department!!

I don't know either massively well but would vote for Bristol without hesitation.
My daughter loves it and spends many a weekend visiting friends, there always seems to be something going on there.
Swindon, I worked in the centre for a couple of years and visit the CG of course but have not felt for a minute that its a place I'd like to live.  Maybe I've missed it's charms and attractions and I'm sure there are many worse places to be but I've never thought of it as being any more than functional.

disease ridden shit hole

I guess it's fair to say that the higher the population of an urban area, the more attractions and events it will have.

That being the case, I guess this is relevant:

Rank    Urban Area - Population
 1   Greater London Urban Area - 8,278,251
 2   West Midlands Urban Area - 2,284,093
 3   Greater Manchester Urban Area - 2,240,230
 4   West Yorkshire Urban Area - 1,499,465
 5   Greater Glasgow - 1,199,629
 6   Tyneside - 879,996
 7   Liverpool Urban Area - 816,216
 8   Nottingham Urban Area - 666,358
 9   Sheffield Urban Area - 640,720
10   Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area - 579,554[7]
11   Bristol Urban Area - 551,066
12   Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton - 461,181
13   Portsmouth Urban Area - 442,252
14   Leicester Urban Area - 441,213
15   Edinburgh - 420,893
16   Bournemouth Urban Area - 383,713
17   Reading/Wokingham Urban Area - 369,804
18   Teesside - 365,323
19   The Potteries Urban Area - 362,403
20   Coventry/Bedworth Urban Area - 336,452
21   Cardiff Urban Area - 327,706
22   Birkenhead Urban Area - 319,675
23   Southampton Urban Area - 304,400
24   Kingston upon Hull - 301,416
25   Swansea Urban Area - 270,506
26   Southend Urban Area - 269,415
27   Preston Urban Area - 264,601
28   Blackpool Urban Area - 261,088
29   Plymouth - 243,795
30   Aldershot Urban Area - 243,344
31   Derby Urban Area - 236,738
32   Luton/Dunstable Urban Area - 236,318
33   Medway Towns Urban Area - 231,659
34   Dearne Valley Urban Area - 207,726
35   Northampton Urban Area - 197,199
36   Norwich Urban Area - 194,839
37   Aberdeen - 193,379
38   Milton Keynes urban area - 184,506
39   Wearside (Sunderland Urban Area) - 182,974
40   Crawley Urban Area - 180,177
41   Wigan Urban Area - 166,840
42   Warrington Urban Area - 158,195
43   Mansfield Urban Area - 158,114
44   Dundee - 157,808
45   Swindon - 155,432
46   Burnley/Nelson - 149,796
47   Oxford - 143,016
48   Slough Urban Area - 141,848
49   Ipswich Urban Area - 141,658
50   Newport Urban Area - 139,298

...but there again, some of the nicest places to live are probably unspoilt villages on the Cornish coast or similar, so I'm not sure why I bothere copy/pasting that :D

I lived in fishponds for a while in a DHSS hostel. It was a scummy hole then,  but we're talking about the early 80's.
Rather live, as I do, in the country than any large town or city.

My incident was at a primary school, but I know a lot of secondary schools in Bristol do have police officers on site or have to visit regularly. One incident that happened was a someone came into school and smashed a pupils head in with a brick for no apparent reason!

Don't get me wrong but this can happen anywhere. It's just my experience of Bristol isn't a good one or very nice at that.

No

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuh1WE-RVw

Different strokes for different folks, innit.  Whoever said everywhere is a compromise is spot on.  For my own two penneth, I lived in Swindon for eighteen years.  I have lived in a number of other places since, some smaller, some larger.  Never lived in Bristol but half my family come from there I have spent a fair bit of time there.  I would pick Bristol over Swindon as a place to live, but there is no right or wrong answer. 

I'm quite lucky in the fact that the girlfriend's sister lives in Bristol, so we can always head down the M4 and find something to do over a weekend. Fuck all to do in Swindon!

Grillstock has been my highlight so far!

I wasn't saying St.Paul's is delightful, merely it's not that bad and there are plenty of worse areas in Bristol.  Lots of big old houses that had become run down in a central area, lots of money to be made.  You could see the tide had turned when they shut down the Black & White.  It's got the reputation from 30 years ago which people can't get past, that's all.  Most of the problems were kicked over the M32 to Easton, and it's now much more in vogue to mention Stapleton Road when talking of inner-city ghettos, just so you know.

Rich, nice try on claiming Clifton as south of the river.

Whoever mentioned Southmead, yeah it's a dump.  Not as bad as it was in the 90's when a few families made it seem more like Knowle West, but dump is fair.

We should have a worst town/city in England competition.  Middlesbrough should get a pass to the semis mind.

Yeah fair enough but it's central more than anything.

To be honest I interpret 'north of the river' as Gloucester Road onwards.

West  :)

Need to check that out soon, the menu looks amazing

Where's the Bath is nicer than both option ;)

I guess the pollster didn't include the stating the bleedin' obvious answers :)

Twerton and Weston?  :sherlock:

Weston is really nice. And anyone who genuinely thinks Twerton is rough has lived a sheltered life.

Id say it is yes.

I prefer living in my pretty little town  :), all the bigger places can be visited as required within half an hours drive. That'll do me.

Bristol's got loads going on, I'd like to live there. Great music and nightlife scene, lots of amenities.

I'd be pretty depressed if I had to live in Swindon. I can't see that it's got much going for it.

Of course Bristol is a better place to live, anyone who thinks otherwise has clearly never set foot outside of Swindon.

I'd agree with this. Mate of mine lives in Bristol and loves it! The city centre is decent and makes for a good night out too. Like most towns/cities in the UK it has its fair share of crap holes on the outskirts too mind. I'd rather live in Swindon than St Paul's for example, regeneration or no regeneration.

Agree about the accent, must be among the most unpleasant sounding ones in the UK.

Gurt lush.

It is foul isn't it? Like a combination of guttural valleys welsh and rolling lazily pronunciated westcountry.

I actually quite like shopping in Swindon. Due to where I grew up, it was a preferable choice to Oxford in terms of practicality.

I don't know Bristol but as an outsider I like Swindon. Oxford is a far nicer place than any city of a comparable size in a fairly large radius but I wouldn't want to live there.

I've only really been to Bristol for Football,Gigs and the odd piss so I'm mainly basing my opinion on watching Skins,those Crusty types that always seem to come from Bristol and a late 80's record label. 

You've been to Bristol just to go for a piss?

Yes, and having been at university in Bristol for 4 years, I can confirm it is.

I'm moving to Swindon within the next year or so, coming from Croydon. No contest

 
Crewkerne and Martock.....i bleeding love it round that way...Chard is a little Ropey in places though  ;D

Pretty much sums it up, as the same for any City compared to Swindon. The better bits are going to be way more lively, entertaining and interesting and the shit bits are going to make pen hill look like the European capital city of culture 2013.

Poor old Penhill.  The best thing that used to be said for it was that at least it bordered open countryside.  It can't even lay claim to that any more.

Its the inhabitants........ :nod:

Born and bred in Pighill and have been fortunate to visit most,if not all towns and cities in the Uk and a fair few on mainland Europe, through work not as a tourist.Most places have got good and bad.
In answer to the initial question,dont know never lived in Brizzle.
Can understand why people knock Swindon though - lets face it it is a shithole but its its our shithole.

Having lived in Chard for 8 years and before that for a year in Crewkerne I can assure you that Crewkerne has more "ropey" areas!

But then saying that every town and city has good and bad areas and it is all relative. The worst area in Swindon is still better than the worst area in Bristol and the worst area in Bristol is still better than the worst area in London etc etc. All have relative merits and minus points.

You fucking know this to be true!

I was always frustrated with Swindon in the way it dragged its feet, the town has much potential to make it a wonderful place, but the attitude of the council etc really does let it down!

I like Bristol too, would prefer to Live in Bath tho if I had the choice!

I have lived in bath and it's a fucking nightmare

Pretty much this, the harbourside bit near Temple Meads is lovely.

Bath is better than both as long as you're made of money though/

Have any of you lot left Swindon to live elsewhere and inexplicably missed it despite living somewhere unquestionably better?

I'd say when I moved to Swansea for Uni  it was the first time I missed Cirencester in that I started to appreciate I was lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country. Swansea has loads more to 'do' though, which back then was better.

I've never been to anywhere in South Wales.  Not Swansea, not Cardiff, not anywhere.  Is Swansea worth the trip?  I hear a decent weekend can be had in Cardiff.

I've never missed the town at all.

I think the town gets knocked as the town centre has declined badly in recent the years. Thing is that is the same in other town's too.
Don't like the amount of house building that is and has gone on as I think its got to big. I'm looking to move to Devon once the kids move out.

If you're up for the whole 'shots and slags' culture, then Cardiff's great. Good for history buffs too, with Castle and so on. Swansea has a fascinating history (something along the lines of 80% of the worlds copper passed through it at one point), although you have to work a little harder to find it. The town itself of Swansea has its pretty bits, but is, on the whole, not that pretty/tourist friendly. Couple of good places to eat/drink though, No Sign bar on Wind (pronounced wine) street is a great little pub. And Wind Street itself is a great place for a night out (I lived in Swansea for three years, went to uni there).

Gower's gorgeous mind, and Swansea's the perfect place to explore it from. Likewise, Swansea's a great place to explore the Black mountains/valleys. These are stunning, and a great drive if you're into that. The A4069 over the Black mountains, A4061 through the ogmore vale and Treorchy, and the A4107 past the Afan Forestry are all terrific if memory serves.

Honestly though, take a map, pick a wiggly bit of road, and go for it. I have yet to be disappointed by it.

Plymouth, Exeter or Torquay to watch then Arriba?

It was good as a student, lots of pubs, clubs and the Gower coast just road the corner. But I was last there in 1995, its changed a bit since then...

torquay for sure.

Slags are fine, I tend to steer clear of the shots though :)

Would like to head down to that part of the world, just out of curiosity really.  No car though, unfortunately, so I may never experience the wiggly roads!

Do you miss the UK?

Yes.

I have never since been able to top a late 1990s night out in Old Town, finishing up with a curry on Victoria Hill and then a party back at my house on Stafford Street.  It had a pub table in the back garden and - for those who don't know the area - panoramic views out over the town to the north.  One of my pals called it 'the verandah of Swindon'.  Slightly tongue in cheek, I'll grant you, but he was right.  We set the world to rights many times over at 3am at that pub table.  It had an Arkells pub umbrella as well that I picked up from the brewery.  Very happy days.

 :( I'm welling up and I've never even lived in Swindon :)

Shame about the lack of car, but getting there by train is a piece of piss. Swansea's at the end of the line so you can fall asleep and be sure you're not going to miss it.

I've done this before with my mates: go to Swansea in the morning, have a pootle about, wander around the museums (didn't do that with them, but if you're interested in the area they're worth a look), have lunch (there is a restaurant/pub at the top of the tower in the marina that it's worth buying a drink in just to take in the view), take in the indoor market in Town (if you're there on the right day), then off to Cardiff in the evening for the clubs, drinks, girls and a travelodge for the night. Next day you can explore Cardiff whilst a little hungover, then get the train back in time for tea.

Perfect!

Sounds like a plan.  I'd suggest a TEF weekend trip but everyone on here is a cunt :)

Sometimes yes. Especially during the summer time.

You come back often, or at all?

Not made it back once. (13 years)

I keep meaning to but lack of funds, work commitments and other things keep on preventing it.

What are you hiding from? :)

Wow, you really did take the plunge when you went out there then.  Had you lived anywhere else (besides UK and Thailand)?

Was it the horror of the 1999-2000 season that made you leave?  What was your last game?

Eastenders and TOWIE

I'll reply later, have my hands full now.

It's 2.30am in Bangkok.  The mind boggles.

My little boy has decided it's a good time to wake up

I can relate to that.  Good luck.

He looks like Chairman Mao!

I've never lived in Swindon, just born there.
Lived in cirencester, perrots brook, stonehouse, Stroud, Oxford, Edinburgh and Luxembourg in no particular order. Moving to London in october hopefully.

Edinburgh was probably where I had the best time.

I've been homesick ever since I moved here. Not for a particular place that I've lived, just the UK in general.

I'd love to live abroad one day... can't see it happening for a little while, however.

Any place in particular?

Used to use the Bear Inn at Perrots Brook as a home pub for quizzes...15-20 years ago now mind. Used to be proper freezing out there on a Monday night in January. Last time I went past it was no more  :(

The old landlord was an ex services type...navy, you used to get a lot of these, get a decent pension quite young, then run a country pub to keep the missus happy...Monday was ladies darts night.

They used to have the odd student band gig at The Bear in the early 90's, unfortunately being the one with the driving license and car I got to be the sober one. The Bear went tits up a while ago now.

Had a girlfriend who lived in Perrott's Brook too.

It would have been early 90's that I drank there...no bands on a Monday night...were they in the outbuilding which may have been a skittle alley?

Also quizzed against the Hooray Henrys from the Royal Ag College....used to enjoy stuffing those wankers, the sort who I could happily slap. They'd use the Tunnel House at Coates...an otherwise fine establishment.

Just wasn't content in the UK (obviously). Friends and acquaintances were seeing the world and I wanted some of that. I followed a couple out to Kavos were I stayed for 5 months, I found it even harder to settle back home after that experience.

I despise the cold. If if Britain wasn't so cold I may still be there. I was also very shy and needed to expose myself to life more to remedy my shyness.

Sold my house to do some travelling. The intention was to land in Bangkok and travel south to Australia to get the bug out of my system before returning back home and settling. I had a decent job a Nationwide-wide Life waiting for me (they gave me a sabbatical)

I chose to stay in Thailand. Personal reasons aside, I think most people that come to Thailand would quite to stay. I was one of those that did.

I have never regretted it.

Very jealous.  Would love to move abroad, my shyness was stop me though, couldn't up sticks on my own.

If you really want to do it then just take the plunge. Or you could just read about other people doing it  ;)

I'll do the latter and just try to get as many holidays in per year as I can, that has taken the edge of the desire a little bit

I quite like the idea of Canada or Germany, would consider the US too. To raise a family (as I'd be getting on towards that), it'd have to be somewhere relatively developed and 'easy'. Would love to end up somewhere warm and Latin though, learn the language, enjoy the culture, relax and that.

I've always fancied South America myself.

The US will be predominantly Hispanic within a few years anyway, so that covers off your Latin requirement.

Brother has just gone to Munchen to work, will keep you posted - seems a bit expensive and high in tax but early remarks are good beer (knew this from visiting already) and cheap wine.

I like how this has turned into a 'living abroad is better than Swindon' thread.

Honestly though, I'd be quite happy to be living in the US/Asia/South America. I want to take the plunge but lack of money is always the problem. I really want to get out there and explore some more before it creeps up on me that I've hit the age where it's not really doable. I don't want to be someone who wishes they'd done all that stuff in their life when they're emibittered and ancient.


Well, we could draw Swansea/Cardiff in the cup this year (presuming we get that far), in which case that's a goer.

Why leave Calne when the world is so accessible? I wouldn't have it any other way.

To take the thread a completely different way - I haven't lived in Swindon since I was 18, and now I am 29.  I've always lived in the UK.  Since leaving Swindon, I have been to uni, which I loved, I've met the woman of my dreams and got married, and I have two kids, who are now my whole world.

None of my family live in Swindon anymore.  The last to leave was my Mum, and she left about 8 years ago.

Yet - in some internal way, I still miss it, and on the odd occasion I go back it feels like home.
But its memories, not the place.  And in the end, memories are about people, not places.  The place reminds you of people.  But people are what matter - what I remember when going to Swindon is my childhood.

Not sure what my point is - but it might be the old classic of "you can never go back".

I get nostalgic sometimes.  Sorry.

Never fancied moving abroad partly due to my health problems but fair play if you can do it and want to.

Born and bred in Swindon until I was 20 then I have lived in Hammersmith for a 3 years while at Uni and wierdly I loved it but missed Swindon really badly, I lived for a few months in Exeter, Bristol and Bournemouth, Guildford then back to Swindon until 2000 when I moved to Yeovil with my new wife and then moved to Crewkerne and then been in Chard since 2004.

I do miss Swindon, its a lot better place to live than most people realise who actually live there, its only when you move to a quiet town you realise the amenities that you miss especially if you enjoy shops/eating out/fast food/entertainment/public transport etc.

In Chard we have 2 chip shops, 2 indian restaurants, 2 chinese restaurants and one kebab house/pizza place, all of which with the exception of the kebab shop shut at 8.30 every day of the week, but we do have 10 pubs in a town of 10,000 inhabitants. We have about 6 buses a day to Taunton and Yeovil.

If I want to buy anything we have a small Tesco and an even smaller Co-op and Sainsbury all of which shut by 10pm but the nearest large Tesco or Asda are both 20 miles away as is the nearest Macd and any other named fast food/large retailer.

But on the plus side.....I love the quiet and lack of hassle, everything in South Somerset/Devon is at a much slower pace than the rest of the country!

I am a 10 minute drive from the beaches of East Devon at Beer and Seaton and also Lyme Regis is only 15 minutes away. The lack of crime, mind you that helps living next door to the Police Station.

Local farms sell rough scrumpy at about £1 a pint and its good stuff.

Would I go back to Swindon.....yes.....would I rather live there over where I am now....I doubt it.

Life is what you make it where you make it.

What kind of indian restaurants shuts at half 8 in the evening?!?

They've got to catch the cats at some point.

Don't know, a shit one?  I can't see the word Chard without mentally prefixing it with 'At Cricket St Thomas near'.. Stupid 80's TV bombardment advertising

My grandparents used to take me to Cricket St Thomas frequently as a youngster. Used to love Crinkley Bottom.

It's all abandoned now :(

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/other-sites/74353-blobbyland-cricket-st-thomas.html

One that would never serve you!

That looks ace, like a Blobby version of Pripyat.

Still remember going there as a kid. I never could quite fathom why it existed in the first place, was mr Blobby/Noel's House Party really all that popular? I do remember watching it as a kid, but it never seemed particularly attraction-worthy.

Berlin, Swindon, Colchester, Leicester and Shrewsbury (many, many years) as a youngster. Bangor (North Wales) at Uni which was awful, followed by stints in Bristol, Madrid, Bournemouth (lovely place) and now Calne.

I didn't get on with anyone anywhere, beginning to think it's me and not them. Too much pointing the accusing finger at others and time I manned up to the fact i'm not a very likeable person. I've had to move around quite a bit because I felt a rising tide against me. Best just to start afresh.

I've always fancied the idea of living on the Cornish coast, somewhere like St Mawes, St Ives or Fowey.

Back to the initial question.

 I lived on Frederick Place in Clifton, just off Park Street, for 4 months and helped run the Total Petrol Station by the famous suspension bridge on Avon Gorge. The fuel station has now been replaced with luxury flats. The place genuinely does have a "village" feel and although very swanky the folk were not stuck up. The ghetto of St Pauls is somewhere I was warned not to walk through as a white person.  For the heck of it one evening I drove through the notorious area and witnessed assemblages of people on nearly every corner. It was overtly threatening. Hoods up,  stuff changing hands, all manner of gesticulations and glaring eyes. Not to be recommended.

The students were very cliquey and had a malodorous sense of superiority. Undoubtedly the architcechure is great but with dark undertones. Remember, this was a place built upon slavery. However, there are some shocking examples of 70s concrete utilitarian buildings that give the city centre a feeling of incongruence. A river running through a town or city undoubtedly favours a place, gives it a sense of hubbub, and they'd done a good job of energising the Canalside, though I think the 3D Cinema had become something of a white elephant.

 Much as I love Swindon, the rich Great Western Railway history apart, we are mundane at best. Ask Mark LeMarr or Julian Clarey. Actually don't, they're both cunts. Still, we are certainly no Slough, Crawley, Telford, Skelmersdale or Cumberlaund, despite TV's efforts to bracket it us into such soulless comparison with.

Good post .

Swindon's not a bad place to live really, it has its faults as do many other places. It's close enough so you can visit bristol or london on a day out.

Yes. I lived in Bristol for about 6 months, tried to like it there but I just couldn't. I guess I'm just a small town boyyyy... livin' in a lonely world.

This is a weird moment.

Dossy is now a valued TEF'er.

I recently holidayed in Guernsey and thought what  lovely place it would be to live. I understand in the news headlines today that they are chasing these tax places/ crown dependencies for unpaid money. I am a cursed fucker. Beautiful island all the same and the people I met are certainly not rich buggers. Take people as you find them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdO85Qf4Poc


ALL HATE SHREWSBURY FC. LOVE SWINDON

It was pretty popular for a year or two. Not sure it warranted a theme park though.

In any case I mat be wrong but I thought the bloody annoying adverts I referred to per-dated Blobby. Was there something there before that they took over?

I was referring to crinkley bottom, but the safari park/country house side of it was a bit like Longleat from what I remember. Old stately home, African animals in the grounds. Drive about in your car. Get it taken to pieces by the monkeys.

Yes. It is.

People who are saying it isn't are getting confused between building a tolerance for Swindon and actually liking Swindon.

this was posted on facebook today by a friend of mine.

"One year in Bristol. 0 Fights. One night in Swindon...... 2. I recommend the opening of a colouring book centre for these chodes."

Julian Clary isn't from Swindon but his parents live in Westlea, I saw him a few months back in the West Swindon McColls.

I always seem to read that he likes the place?