Luton! The UK’s Worst Place To Live 🇬🇧
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- Опубліковано 3 тра 2024
- Welcome to Luton, Britains worst rated town for the past 10 years. I spent 24 hours here to see for myself how bad it really was or was it actually as bad as they say? I also stayed the night in Luton's worst rated hotel, the infamous hotel Stuart. Welcome to Luton! 🇬🇧
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Luton is pretty much how every town in the UK will look in 20 years.
Infested.
I think you mean, in 20 months time.
try perhaps remove the zero, please.
Cultural enrichment?
@garyb2507 because poverty and despair can't be found in other towns. You probably haven't travelled much around the UK.
I lived in Luton for three years. And I agree it is the worst place in the UK. I was chased by two people with a knife that had been trying to attack two kids before me. Ran around a corner and bumped into a police van. And I told them I was being chased by two individuals with a knife and they where just around the corner. They didn't even care. Someone sleeping rough with diarrhoea thought it was a good idea to use the communal area carpeted stairs where my flat was to go to the toilet. That was there for weeks before it was cleaned. I also saw a man injecting heroin inside the mall while school kids where walking past and no one cared. But I was ridiculed for wearing gym outfit on my way to the gym!
You poor phuqua
At least they have standards regarding attire.
hello so how do you get out?
Luton Airport. 😆
@@bennettstephenson9090 Lorain Chase, luton airport.
As someone who lived in Luton from Birth for 34 years, I can give you some insight. Stuart Hotel was council offices until it was too dangerous to work there and was converted to hotel back in 2013. The river lea is sewage back from the airport, the local sea cadets work with river charities use and clean it. It was open, clean and accesible until the Arndale "Mall" was built which closed alot of the river access and was used for sewage. The ABC cinema (08:43) was closed due to being priced out by cineworld but when it closed cineworld jacked prices up by 300%. Kenilworth is one of our best features which says alot... the people though, they are honest and so underserved. God Bless Luton. When the council actually care about lutonians you might see some improvements but as youve seen... its more likely other towns will follow the demise of Luton before anything picks up... RIP
i have to say from a guy who was born in luton and lived there for 20 odd years before i moved in with my partner in stevenage, luton is a gross town, but people are mostly friendly. alwas a bad apple no matter where you go. also just to note, where i was living someone threatened to stab me over me putting my bin bags outside due to not having a bin. and someone got shot on my road and died as well. YIKES so glad i do not live there anymore.
Most of us here are not bad, but trapped. Plenty of good people sadly it's not a good place
God bless??? Maybe when you were a kid but only one of those fictional people who blesses Luton now is Allah.
We had a canon cinema in Doncaster (formerly ABC) that closed in 1992.
I think that building is still empty 32 year's later.😂
2000% correct
Luton was a fantastic town, great nightlife, and solid working class people. Then the local industry took to their heels industry, and then the local council served the few and neglected the many which amounted to a perfect storm.
You've got to be kidding me. Luton is infamous here in Poland as it's the place where one of our most popular Polish-British youtuber stays. He's accused of some pretty hefty charges involving sexual contacts with children and his name is Stuart - just like that hotel you've been talking about.
hahahahahahahaha - kurwaaa your profile pic makes it even funnier
Pluj dalej do swojego gniazda ty głupi psi wytrysku... A na chuk im to wiedzieć ? Pozytywnego nic nie napiszesz..
When I starting watching this episode I thought my monitor was extremely dark. I started adjusting settings and realized nothing was working. Then I came to the realization that this episode was in the UK and my monitor was perfectly fine.
Welcome to gloomy UK 🇬🇧
@@BackpackerBen the winter settings are brutal here, other times are quite alright and nice
@@BackpackerBenwhat people don’t seem to realise is they now have to fight for their country, their way of life. They still think we’re a first world country…
My parents tell me of the 1970s how the UK was a booming industry with plenty jobs and everyone working with beautiful colourful parks, towns and cities and Eastern Europe on the other hand was cold and grey under Soviet rule, now in 2024 Eastern Europe is getting better with nice colourful towns and it looks like the UK is cold and grey. How sad.
@@ChrisPipinghot yeah we’re heading towards the socialist system lol
It's great to see you documenting the beautiful side of Britain Ben, and not just the rough parts.
Glad you enjoyed it! Lovely
@@BackpackerBen I worked in Holidays Inn Hotel as Electrician for 8 months, The hotel is in wembley park I tell you it is worse than what you shown in here in the video. That hotel like as well as the one you have shown is due for renovation but they do not want to pay because renovation now is way too expansive....
This is what happens when you let those of cultural enrichment lead a town you get fucking chicken and chip shops and barbers they have let the town go to the rack and ruin! I say vote the cunts out and get people of town for the town lead the town!
You have not been in s spike.
I thought It was always Strawberries and Cream in the South?
That's not Luton Station, it's Leighton Buzzard which is a completely different town 15 miles from Luton and on a different train line run by a different company. Trains from Luton get you to London St Pancras International in 25 mins (Midland Mainline) or 30 mins (Thameslink) every 15 minutes all day, they don't ever go to Euston. Most regular rail travellers in Luton are wise enough to save a lot of money by getting a season ticket, eg. for commuting to London for work, or a Network Card and save a third off off-peak travel after 10am. If you're really measuring how bad a town is to live in by its train service to London though, Luton actually does a lot better than most towns especially Plymouth. Trains from Plymouth to London take around 3 and a half hours in my experience, and they never arrive on time. I had to pay over £123 last month for the cheapest Super Off Peak Return ticket from Plymouth to London.
I lived in Luton for over 25 years having grown up and lived in Plymouth until 18. So I have friends and family in both areas and support both Argyle and Luton Town equally! I only moved back to Plymouth recently having elderly parents here, but given the choice would much rather live in Luton, even with all its faults. But I really liked the video, so thanks for uploading it :)
I am from Luton, the Town Centre is indeed very grim, but most town centers all over the UK are, and I am sure some are far more grim too. Luton doesn't pretend to be anything it's not; it's a working class industrial town/commuter town. One thing which is great about Luton is that it is surrounded by the Chiltern Hills; what an incredible luxury this is to have.
I've been to the UK a few times over the last years, and was really shocked with how dirty it is everywhere, almost as if people just gave up...
Crazy mate in so many places
@@BackpackerBeneveryone who possibly can has left the towns to live in the countryside.
We only buy houses in the towns to rent out to those who can't afford to escape them and do absolutely minimal maintenance. The councils have no money because everyone who earns enough to be taxed has fled to the countryside.
Outside of london are most UK cities dirty? Have they gotten worse post pandemic? Haven’t been to the UK in over a decade.
Thats tory little britain 2023@@avancalledrupert5130
Was always that way
I've been watching videos of horrible towns in the US and UK - how are we going to fix all this? Our leaders have failed us.
It will get fixed when people will stop relying on some imaginary leader to come and save their arses. Once everyone realises that simple old truth - things will start changing.... in other words - it will never happen 😂
@@Sininelu True. It's a hard truth - but we're ultimately responsible for our situation. Even in ideal times, there will be boom and bust towns, but our solution is to move elsewhere rather than reviving the town. But that's easier said than done and people are too busy surviving to worry about a town's reputation.
Stop pointing your fingers to some leaders or at someone all the time.. This where your problem started.... You failed as public, as nation and on top of it you dont even control the country... Arabs and moslims do and it looks exactly like overthere... Gonna get worse as Russia, China and Iran is getting grip on power.
Unless. You have kids growing up there, why d'yoi care about the reputation
Why do people need to be told to do what's right?
“Smells like orange juice from 15 years ago, blended with piss” killed me off that Ben 😂
My family moved from North Italy to Luton back in 2008- I was 8 years old then, but I can remember a time when Luton was not this grim and you had more options than multiple poundlands and savers. Since completing A-levels in 2016, I moved to sunny Brighton- only occasionally visiting Luton as my folks still live there, and it gets progressively worse each time I return... I never thought I'd be the one saying this, but Luton could do with some gentrification as things are getting out of hand
Wherever they go they turn a place like their thirld world country....luton is like this thank to mass migration...from africa and middle east
When was that 1850
I live quite close to Luton and there is something that just can't be conveyed in a video. It might not be the ugliest place ever, but jt just has a depressing ,unsafe atmosphere. You always feel on edge in Luton
And Bedford, it’s Luton 2.0
@@simonebell928 Hatfield isn't great either 😅
I went to college and worked in Bedford, early - mid nineties. I live in Australia now, went back there in 2016 and 2023, couldn't believe how run down the town centre had become. My brother lives just outside the town centre and says that the interchange retail parks killed the shopping centres. Milton Keynes being just up the road doesn't help either.
Although, speaking of Turd Towns.....this channel might want to hop over to MK and check out areas like Fishermead and Coffee Hall. Just be sure to wear something blade proof.@@simonebell928
I got the same feeling in Wisbech. A Georgian market town that's gone to pot.
Because it’s full of scummy Eastern European degenerates
Charging 70 pounds for that should be a crime
I lived in Luton for a couple of years and it's one of those places with a horrid mix of people, it's like all of the alcoholics, crackheads, gangs, hooligans and criminals moved to one town. The town centre is From Dusk Til Dawn at night and you need garlic and holy water just to buy some haribo from a local shop. During the day it's not too bad though and it has some nice parks and historical buildings.
Nice video, I never would have thought such a town would be like this. I'll thought other towns would be bad and they were further north but this. Wow, just wow, it is pretty bad!
In fairness Ben "a pile of vomit next to a vodka bottle" is the official Luton Coat of Arms
Love that one willsmith39. Peace and goodwill.
LMAOOO 😅
Andrew tates hometown
Hahahaha
£70!!! I recently booked a private room in a hostel for one night in Glasgow, and it cost me £23. My room was immaculately clean. Plus, that £70 room had single glazed windows, that's some 1970s shit.
That’s twice the price of the local Ibis/Travel Lodge/Premier Inn franchises according to Google Maps.
@rabgoldie3772 Google a bit to check the real estate prices in Luton. You'll see it's not at all cheap.
Hiya, where was that? I am in Oz but will be in UK soon and wish to see Glasgow......thanks......
That hotel is generally used for temporary accommodation for undesirables from what I understand so I doubt they give much thought to the cleaning.
I got bed bugs at a hotel once, about 20 years ago, and that hotel that you just showed brought back some bad memories. Always check under the mattress, and keep your stuff stored on the hard tile floor. Obviously, if you SEE any bugs, ask for a different room. Preferably far from there.
As some one that lives in Luton and grew up here, but also regularly travels, let me tell you it's not THAT bad. The exaggeration in the comments is hilarious. Depends where you live. Stopsley, Bramingham, Saints, Biscot are fine from my own experience. Never been mugged or given a dirty look. I've worked in the town hall. In the airport. I think the loss of our night life changed the town. No more clubs here.
It is that bad, it’s dirty and the people are either foreign or absolute mutants.
Why are there no more clubs?
@@88PJbecause people probs don‘t have the money anymore…same with the dying pub culture
What happened to Liquid?
I used to live in Luton and it was such an amazing place to live. Looking at this video today is a sad reality of most towns in Uk not just Luton. Luton bets a lot of stick but I will always love it and it holds a special place in my heart.❤
He's just making this video for clicks
He went down and alleyway to say how bad things are.
He's a prick.
Don't push on the like button.
Sadly most of Britain is going rotten and most of us know why but unfortunately no one can do anything about it
Well, stopping reading the Daily Fail and not voting tory will definitely improve things.
@@lalalalalala8147What makes you think the solution is with the other current parties?
@@Cartoonman154 Well, maybe 13 more years or tory rule will "sort everything out". As I'm leaving the country, it is no longer my concern. Good luck with it all!
Oh, where are you leaving to? 😊@@lalalalalala8147
@@Cartoonman154 looking back at the UK being considerably different under the labour party. That’s how you can know the difference. More funding for public services and councils.
I grew up in Luton and used to work at the shop at 11:12 it used to be a stone masons back then. I had a good childhood but the town took a bad turn when I was about 15. In 2005 I was able to move my wife and kids to Ireland for a better life. Thankfully I was able to see how things were going. Clear to see I made the right choice.
Ireland is on the same road atm. Need to stop the boats before it goes too far.
I totally agree with this comment
@@BruceWayne-sz3thok karen go fix you’re teeth
Tony Blair's job
I feel sorry for you
I turned the video on, he said "good morning" and my 2 year old daughter waved and said "hello" 😂😂 bless her lil heart
haha awesome
Beautiful place and so picturesque. I can see why it is such a tourist hotspot in the UK.
We've had previous recessions but the levels of deprivation in towns and cities across the UK is off the scale. I believe this is being done intentionally.
What’s the intention ?
For Islam to take over.
Correct
This is what happens when wages don’t keep up with inflation for decades. Paired with austerity measures and cuts that have gone on for over a decade, this the the expected result.
This is where all our ills have come from. Stagnant wages and money that is worth less, paired with negligent spending and cuts from central and local government leads to this depravity, filth, poverty, and social breakdown.
Start asking questions as to why those in charge of the public purse spunk money away, claim they have less than ever before despite cuts and profits (and GDP) increasing, and what they intend to do about it as they are the decision makers here.
this is what happens when cultural progressivism takes over, this is blatantly obvious in US cities
The English people deserve much better than this. We are led by treacherous politicians and councillors. I would like to leave this broken country.....
Then get ur ass,s up and graft no good holding a beer in ur hands and a roll up on thi other hand and crying
You vote for them ha
@@namename1yes and they always do the opposite they say when in power it’s all bs politics
@stephenelkins9568
Do I know you ?
The English created multiculturalism, England are responsible for created East and West Pakistan for Muslims out of Hindu land, English have done so much wrong it's unreal, anyway as of now in 2023 Londonistan will soon become an Islamic state.
I'm Australian and visited family in the UK (including Luton) just before Covid and was shocked at how filthy the place was. It's honesty something you'd expect in a third world nation not the UK. Brits also litter a lot more compared to Aussies, you should be proud of the country you live in enough to keep the place looking decent!!
If you see any very old videos the uk was spotless.
I lived in America for more than 2 decades. The biggest differences since returning & visiting big cities are diversity (foreign language), general dirt & rubbish in the streets, closed shops in high streets etc.
We remembered that British people were not good at customer service. Living in Dallas, Texas (mostly) might have increased my expectations but it’s definitely worse than I remembered!
Buying a house & applying for permits to make alterations & build was a truly shocking experience! Everything costs a lot of money but nothing is done with even basic competence AND no one holds any responsibility for the work they’ve done! By comparison, in Texas you hire experts to take the responsibility from you.
my dad and grandparents were born in the UK, thank god they left so i didnt have to be born there. also glad i dont have to live in some wasteland like LA, SF, portland, seattle, chiraq or NY
@@rootigaroot9922All of you doom and gloom fucks are hilarious, nothing is as bad as your metal state lol
I lived in Luton for a couple of years, from 1999-2001. I still haven’t got over the experience.
Lol. What happened?
Ouch😮
1999-2001??? Ha! It's about a hundred times worse now compared to back then
If i wasn't depressed before entering that hotel i would've been by the time i left. Thanks for heroically standing on the Frontlines for us and documenting your experience. You deserve the purple backpack medal for your service bravery and heroism in the face certain unpleasantries. Truly first class. Keep the good fight going sir we appreciate you🫡
Loooooool
Hahah
They give you anti-depressants along with your room key.
Plenty of places with similar "feel", try walking outside MK shopping centre and see the tents under the bridges. Stevenage, Bradford, London. If grime is what you're after you can find quite a few competitors to Luton
Luton is not an hour and a half away from London! 😂 more like 15 mins on the fast train.
It's often a good hour by car though. and it is still more than 15 minutes by train
Great to see Timmy back in good health. Looking forward to the next video!!
Mad man! He loves it
England is just shameful now. I really hate it here.
Gotta vote Reform
Same here. I feel that Brexit only made this country worse than it was.
@@DigUrOwnHole Brexit ? get over it mate, i was in Luton in 1990, horrible place back then
Reform is controlled opposition. It is a wasted vote. Vote Britain First.
@@smc2069 lol that u think voting will fix this
This hasn't happened recently either. 20+ years ago when I lived in Cheshire, I applied for a job at Luton Airport. It would've been a step up for my career. On the day of my interview I remember turning off the motorway and as I was prety early, I took a quick spin round the town. To cut a long story short, 10 minutes later I was back on the motorway northbound, after calling the company to cancel the interview. I have no idea how the job would've worked out, but nothing could have made living in Luton worth it. One word... GRIM. More recently I've found myself flying in and out of Luton Airport a couple of times, because the flights were cheap; I never went near the town itself, just straight off/on the motorway, but even the airport, compared with airports, seems to represent how Luton town compares with other towns; grotty, chaotic, crumbling, littered with garbage and just plain ugly. I don't want to put people down, I feel sorry for those who have to live there, but I didn't feel too much at ease with some of the characters lrking around either. Enough said about that. I have travelled a lot in my time, and spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe not long after the breakup of the Soviet Union,; I also traveled across Ukraine and Russia. I have to say Luton depressed me more than anywhere in those countries, even then. About the hotel... I once stayed in a hotel that was actually on a similar level to the Stuart, from what you showed us (maybe even worse, and in a smaller room.) To be fair I should mention that it wasn't in Luton (there's no excuse for spending a night there, except for research as you did!) Not only did I sleep fully clothed as you did, I also kept my shoes on, I didn't want to touch the carpet with my feet. I used the bathroom just for a piss and checked out early after a sleepless night without even brushing my teeth or having a shave!
I worked moving an entire office out every night for a week about 4 years ago in the town centre my god is was winter and so bleak ,the cold wind blew down the street and it stank
I was so happy when we finally left that place
Hotel is shocking, you enter your room and you see someone’s backpack on your bed and water bottle, bed is un done too, truly shocking.
Camera doesn’t do it justice how grim it was. Should of phoned in
@@BackpackerBen Should have.
Haha
@@KarlPilkington89nice
That was Ben's backpack and water bottle. Been said he slept in the bed already. With his clothes on
The stamp machine at 10:00 hit me hard.
What contrast between the faded beauty of the old stamp dispenser and the complete and utter ugliness of everything else in Luton.
We've lost so much...
Exactly my thought
@@BackpackerBenta mate. loving the UK vids. merry Christmas
And you mate!
👍
Luton isn't completely bad, there may be a high crime rate and a lot of people sneaking in from other countries along with a underqualified hospital but it has a cheap airport along with cheap housing and the schools/colleges are very good too. I grew up in Luton and it was pretty decent, especially the LU2 area.
A lot of towns are like this unfortunately the councils just cannot manage finances at all. They spend money on vanity projects and not on stuff that actually matters like making the place look nice and fixing the roads.
Its actually inconceivable that Luton is in an even worse state now than it was when I lived there back in the day.
Back then at least the different groups of thugs and crews would stay in their lane, stay in their own pubs, and if you minded your own business you could mostly stay out of bother.
It was really poor but at least it was relatively clean, people made the best of it, and despite being run down you could find things to do and find friends.
The Arndale Centre wasnt without problems but back then it was clean, had lots of security, and it was unimaginable that someone would shoot up there.
When did you live there ?
@@adriang2053 A very very long time ago mate.
I still live here (52) it went tits up like everywhere else ten odd years ago
Before that it was a belting place to live with a vibrant nightlife
It was self policed by locals no bother unless you looked for it then they all moved out and things changed
Still full of old school types just the town centre changed out of sight
I was born in Luton, grew up just outside it in Dunstable, and worked there for a couple of years, two minutes from the shopping centre. There's small pockets near Stopsley and Warden Hills which aren't too bad, but most of the town is a fucking abomination. It was always pretty rough, but I think the closure of the Vauxhall factory around 25 years ago and the influx of migrants took things to another level of shit.
Dunstable people don’t know the crack with Luton whatsoever
They’d shit themselves and stay in Dunstable like big babies
Dunstable; that's the place that had me thinking (about 10 years ago) of moving to Luton, because of the cost of living in London. The reason Luton was a consideration was because I visited Dunstable with friends about 28 years ago ( I was 24 at the time) and found the people to be friendlier than what I was used to here in London, and I struck up friendships with a few who came to live in London for work reasons - they just seemed more relaxed and had community spirit that I liked. I guess things have changed significantly over the years, and the area is off of my 'wish-list' as a place to potentially settle down, because of how crazy things have gotten.
Northing to do with migrants, British people are quite capable of shitting in their own backyard. Blame decades of underinvestment in local services and cuts by the Tories, not migrants. 🙄
I lived in Luton for 4 years. I used to live in London. I can honestly say that that Luton is like every town, you have the horrible places and the wonderful areas. I absolutely loved staying there, I had access to local markets but lived in the new builds. I had the best of both worlds. There are also very expensive areas with amazing houses. The schools are decent as well. This is not a true representation of Luton, you only showed the dodgy sides
It is a true representation of Luton town centre... and a lot of Luton.... and even if you live in a better area ... that crap isn't far away and getting closer. Stopsley was a super location ... moved downhill very rapidly, Round Green disappearing quickly , Leagrave the same
You’re on drugs
In 2008 my dad had decided he wanted to move our family out of london and he started house hunting, it came down to a house in luton that was in our budget or a house in milton keynes that was a pricier but in a much nicer area. Thank God he didn't cheap out! Milton Keynes has it's dodgey areas, sure, but I had a great school and work experience living there (don't what it's like now though as I moved to Denmark in 2016. another epic decision on my part this time. So clean and safe here. Sad to see how England is getting so much worse than ever)
Amazing to think this place is only 15 minutes from Harpenden/St Albans. Some of the most affluent towns in Britain!
And hitchin lol
St Albans city is for the rich
Hideous wealth gap growing daily
10-minute drive to Harpenden and it’s like a different world. Insane
5 mins outskirts of luton are lovely
In the 1970's, Luton was the industrial engine of the South East of England with a booming town centre & jobs attracting people from all over the UK. Successive Labour councils have presided over the decline of a once prosperous town.
I don’t know if you could call it the industrial engine of the south east - Asides the Vauxhall plant there wasn’t loads more
@@bomb-de-dyl SKF, Electrolux, Kent Meters, Bedford Trucks, Chrysler, Pre Star Engineering, Laporte Chemicals & AC Delco. Vauxhall alone employed 26,000 at its peak. It was serviced by many small specialist engineering companies on every industrial estate in the town. The airport was, & still is owned by the council.
@@711honved and whitbread amongst many more
Let's not forget how corruption has caused this. Luton council OWN Luton Airport, a great asset, from which they are suppose to collect £55 million annually. On many occasions they end up collecting nothing from the private company that is operating it.
On top of that the council with its corrupt body, Luton Rising, took £300 million that should be spent on developing the Town, and built a useless 1mile rail link to the airport that was never needed. Buses were doing the job fine and bus operators contracts meant they did it for free.
This is how large contracting construction companies work hand in hand with corrupt government and councils, to build useless projects and make huge profits.
Rather than projects that provide a revenue stream.
I spent some wonderful time with my family in Luton between 2005 and 2008. It also received the title of the worst place to live but we enjoyed it nevertheless. Went back there for a bit in 2016 and still feel an attachment with the town. Even worked part time as an IT assistant in the central library in 2008. Hope the town will become better. Love from Kuala Lumpur.
Luton, Bradford, Burnley, Blackburn you see a pattern.
include Bolton
And Slough
No...why don't you just tell us.
Theres a lot of Eastern European yes Muslims they stay in bury though
And Leicester
I cycled 2500 km throught the UK in summer visiting cities like Sunderland, Hull, Middlesbrough and Wigan. The bad roads you can see in Luton is more or less the standard quality in most english regions. Infrastructure is really run down in the UK.
Infastructure compared to where ?
@@anthonydowling3356It doesn't have to compare to anywhere. It's just shit, especially for the amount of taxes we pay.
Part of the complete destruction, bankrupting and dismantling of the west. In 100 years there wont be any British in Britain anyway.
@@anthonydowling3356 Compared to Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Chech Republic, Poland, Norway, Finland, Spain, ....
@dirkmeier5115 : I've also travelled a lot & every country you mentioned there also has many run-down, shit hole areas (as do all countrys on this planet) once you start to venture off the usual tourist hot-spots.
Reminds me of Croydon. numerous places in the UK are just as grim. At least Luton has an airport to get out to the Med. I've left the UK altogether tbh.
Lorraine chase and the Luton airport TV commercial always comes to mind
I've spent about 4 months working in Luton back in 2016, and I'm "glad" to see that almost nothing has changed in the 8 years since 😂😢😞
Loved to see Timmy in the end lol, btw as someone who lived in Luton for 2.5 years i can say it's not that bad, it has a few really nice neighbourhoods and easy access to an airport/london but yeah...the town center is a bit rough
Yea mate many saying this
@@BackpackerBen Also Luton FC was in the top flight during the 80's with that horrendous plastic pitch.
The Town Centre was rough even back in the 1970's and 1980's , even though the Council tried to tidy it up with the likes of the Arndale Centre . However , some of the newer suburbs like Stopsley are quite nice .
such a candid review
Well, in fact, I had a feeling of going back in time in the East London 25-30 years back. I used to live in Hackney (never mind it is now all posh and expensive and been done up in the past 15 years), but 25 years ago Hackney or especially areas around Leytonstone and even Stratford looked quite similar to what Luton is now. Not sure if Leytonstone is any better these days would be curious to have a quick peek at it ))
I dunno, the people you met in Luton were quite nice, it's a bloody shame that the city has fallen into such a state. I'm also glad you're back in the U.K. for the Christmas season. I'm also quite glad that Timmy is going to join you. What he endured in Central America with Mr. Bald was quite traumatic for both men. I hope you guys go to someplace nice, instead of another depressed city like Luton. In fact, none of the UA-camrs ever go to anywhere nice in the U.K., I know they exist because my family is there, and I love visiting.
Max Fosh put a welcome to Luton sign near Gatwick airport in one of his videos. People about to land were horrified!
Where’s the nice places at 👀
Check out Ilkley West Yorkshire you can get the train from Bradford 😂😂@@BackpackerBen
I grew up in Luton. My mum and dad and sister all still there. What has happened to the town centre is bad, but it's not unusual. I work in regeneration and I've seen worse.
Also COYH!
@@BackpackerBen Plymouth? Dunno, your home town, Ben.
The Vauxhall Factory that closed years ago had a huge Negative Impact on Luton, you could offer me a 3 bedroom house, Mortgage/Rent free in Luton and I still wouldn’t live there. Awful town.
This looks like a small northern german city in the beginning 1980's...out of a transistor radio I can hear "Baggy Trousers" by Madness...😮
...that parking lot with the grotesquely huge pothole is where my mum parks as she works in one of the buildings in the area. Driving through that is no fun, and your video makes it look better than it is 😂
Looks like the UK has seen better days as a country based on your videos....
Absolutely
If you go to any town and stay in the worst rated hotel it's probably going to be bad. What did you expect and what does it prove? Why didn't you just stay in a better hotel?
Exactly! Staying in the worst rated hotel only creates an even worse image of the city. When in reality every city has bad hotels.
The whole video he is just slagging off Luton, I have lived in Luton for 40 years and some of those back alleys he was filming I don’t even know how to access them. Interviewing refugees in St George’s Square who have only been in Luton for a minute, it’s funny how people who say Luton is the worst town to live in the UK have never lived or visited Luton, Up yours!! The lot of ya!
Guys just a melt, pandering to everyone's opinion that has obviously never been to Luton. He literally cherry picked the worst parts of just the town centre and left out the whole actual town lol. People like this are scum, telling lies and exaggerating for views. Happy to know you'll never be in Luton again, and if you like talking shit about places in UK maybe you should emigrate
Ben you need to get to Medway. Parts of Gillingham, Strood and Chatham (including our own Luton) will give Luton a run for its money
Haha this was a funny, but sort of dark episode of Backpacker Ben . It's sad how towns and cities can degrade and decay like this one here. The images of the pound stores reminds me of a television show i sometimes watch on the Public Broadcasting System about an English fellow who manages a small store like the ones shown here and has funny interactions with regular customers and the townsfolk. Ok i looked it up and its called "Still Open All Hours" LOL !!
I moved near to Luton 40 years ago,and frequently went shopping there with my wife and kids.It was ok,and there was full employment thanks to Vauxhall, and there was little crime.The shoppers were generally smartly dressed,and polite.
Today I know a police officer who won't take his teenage daughters there ! It really is disgraceful how this has been allowed to happen virtually everywhere.
Drugs and immigration are mainly to blame !.
The airport brings in fresh Roma gypsy from Bulgaria daily.
Moving all production to China and austerity plus Covid. Election year next year though.
Absolute filth, welcome to immigrant England and don't forget Vote Conservative !!
Lincolnshire has always been blue. Not sure abt Luton, should not be a Tory town.@@JimsGym-wj6cd
@@JimsGym-wj6cd Vote Conservatives! so you want more of this then?
Great you covered Luton.
It really needs a lot of investment, especially the football stadium.
I met some wonderful people from living in Luton, the aesthetics don't do it justice and its not as bad as it looks.
The council is trying to redevelop the town centre but not enough money. It is so depressing nowadays. Please put more money here ❤
I stayed at Luton last year, for a couple of days. It definitely has a bit of an air of tension. Odd characters and incidents that just spontaneously happen (like arguments in the middle of the centre.)
But i was welcomed when i came by a very friendly chap. Would i live there or visit again? No, probably not. But honestly, luton looks a little worse than when i went going from this video.
So bleak 😢. Great to see Timmy up and well. Looking forward to your next town 🙂
Many times I have visited places where the locals insist the place is "unfriendly" whilst being very friendly themselves and then everybody else you meet are also quite friendly....Funny that
dont confuse the covetous for the friendly
I was in Luton over a year ago, it was okay, I would like to spend some time there as the airport is so accessible.......Thanks and Blessings........
I think this area in general has become the equivalent to your typical seaside town with how run down it is. I grew up not far away from here and I can tell you all the towns surrounding it bar a few like harpenden are the same. Look at Milton Keynes and Bedford. It’s a shame with how towns are going because I genuinely remember a time pre 2015 where Luton was okay, now although I have family there I wouldn’t go back unless I had to.
Wonder why the Afghans are covering their faces, maybe they shouldn’t be here!
Or because its cold you racist idiot.
One other thing to note - if you look through the comments, there are very few from people currently living in Luton. If you currently live in Luton, especially around the areas he covers in the video, there is a good chance English is very much a second language (if you have it at all). You wouldn't leave a comment
they need to go back
fuck off youve never seen an immigrant before
@@untenableposition this ain’t ur country to make decisions but ur xenophobic nose out of it
I am shocked to see how similar all these cities are getting across the globe, grey, dirty, soulless places. it's like people are just done being responsible for all this technological wealth. And just live in it, surviving in it like rats. That guy went to work there. I could not bring myself to smile aha. Strong!
So agree mate..I travel all over Europe for work.. ratholes, dumpsters all over the place..only country side village give a semblance of decent civilization nowadays
Cities have always been dirty, grey places. We like to imagine they were all charming, cobblestoned places with gas lamps and impeccably dressed people in top hats. But for centuries the streets of cities were full of raw sewage, horse shit, rats in every corner, and filthy street urchin children who were desperate for a crust of bread. Cities today are not great and they never will be, but 2024 Luton is comparatively better than 1890s Luton and that's a fact.
@@cosmojairzinho14 Ye it's more barbaric than tribal people before rome. There is no point to living like this at all. People are just rotting away along with the stuff they build, really hoping to be saved by something allmighty that will just fix the error.
@@posysdogovych2065 Not sure mate. some of those old buildings, the tile work, even drainage pipes looked awesome. And people had some nifty stuff back than too.
Some stuff people would claim to be modern invention. Nikola Tesla was already so long ago. And when you see some of those first old photos and cinema reels restored here on YT, they do seem all to be in top hats and well dressed... Nowadays its just walking zombies oozing drugs and media influencers. People do some insane shit today our ancestors never did, all because of computers and internet.
Can't imagine 50 years ago, a bunch of teens in a super market doing some insane moves in front of their friend with a camera whilst staring everyone down that interupts them.
Girls fake dancing at a rave for views on tiktok or myfans.
Girls and men going to dubai for 30k dollars to do some crazy stuff you wouldn't think about in your worst nightmares.
There are just about 8 billion people on earth. its like were going insane with to much and to good.
Drugs are too good, foods are too good, television series and cinema's are to good. games are too good and yet every complains Maybe i am getting older, in that case fuck...xD
Im from Leighton Buzzard close to luton! Should come look around here mate loads of cool history around here!!
A wonderful insight to my lovely hometown. It definitely wasn’t that bad when I lived there.
Me too.I’m a Lutonian. My siblings all-live abroad, myself included, bar one, who lives in Leagrave. I was there last Christmas had a lovely time though it wasn’t in Luton proper. A sad looking place by the sights of this video. Might explain why my family all voted to Brexit. Really happy about Luton Town football club.
My parents are still there funny enough they are in leagrave too. I moved to MK just before the 1st COVID lockdown. The town centre just looks and feels so different to what I remember.
@@jimonhisbike Milton Keynes. Is it the architectural utopia it was touted to be?
@@sararichardson737 it’s alright. Has its own bad areas like tintown in Luton but mostly it’s good
Holy Chit!!
Timmy survives the Darien gap wit Bald and appears in Luton with Ben!! 🤯
Brilliant!!
He ain’t seen nothing yet…
@@BackpackerBen Can't wait to watch it all unfold mate! The grit, the grime and the debauchery! Cheers from the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Northern California. 🍻 👍
Stay safe.
after experiencing Luton he will beg to return back to Darien
Really looking forward to the next video with exitment! Especially with this great duo
More to come!
I worked in Luton for 18 months and worked in London and the South Est previously. I have to say they Luton is as rough as most of the places where i have worked where there has been a lack of investment by local and central governments along with along with the decline of their manufacturing base. Instead of tearing these areas down, folks should fighting for their development.😢
That little river was the River Lea, once a rare habitat chalk stream, but now 100% (treated?) sewage water.
You need to go to Rotherham,Grimsby, Stockton On Tees,Nelson,Oldham,Blackburn and Rochdale, they are even bigger dumps than Luton.
Thanks for mentioning Luton Town Ben. The capacity of our stadium is 11,000 now with the new bobbers stand..
Nothing beats Sparkle's hotel off the hagley rd Birmingham closed down now but who ever stayed there knows what i am talking about
Thank you for showing us some part of Luton, hopefully I could travel to UK…
Completely unexpected to see Timmy with you 😊 I have a deep hope in my heart to have a bald and bankrupt surprise in next video ..yes am part of B&B fans❤ Looking forward for next adventure Ben!
Will see 👀
I was passing through Luton on my way to a friend a few towns over. The cabby, who lived there clearly said 'other than the murders, Luton's alright'
Did the cabby mean there's too much murder or not enough?
Such a shame.
Do the politicians watch videos like this and they want to fill our country up with illegal immigrants WTF ! There's huge unrest and troubles coming big time in the uk. What with WOKE , ISLAM, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS , NHS failures , TRANS shit , COVID threats DENTISTS lack of ,DRUGS , LEFTY SOCIALISTS, LIBERAL shit , it ain't looking good isit ? Our lack of armed forces , no soldiers to defend our once beautiful nation -- we re ripe to be invaded aren't we ? 😢🤔😳
It reminds me a bit of my home town in the supposedly affluent south-east. Down at heel, grey for 9 months of the year, asylum seeker hotels, tatty closed shops, town centre needing a lot of tlc, potholes everywhere. High point for the UK seems to have been about 20 years ago, we've just been stagnating ever since. My county council of Hampshire is on the verge of bankruptcy and is cutting back on so many services. How did it come to this?
Us Brits love to talk shite about our country but as a person who has lived in several countries, most of our cities are ten times more beautiful, perhaps some cities like Luton are horrific but be grateful. Even the States, where I live now has become fucking grim
Used to live about 20 min far from Luton, few years ago, been in Luton many times especially for the casino and just chilling around .it was kind of bad but what u showed does look even worst. Love the UK and it is a shame to see it like that. What shocks the most in the country is the difference in about 10 min drive between a deprived town and a peferctly normal one, never understood that. Nice documentaries anyway
I dont know why but countries where the emphasis on equality is greater than liberty, tend to have more ghettos, more shanty towns and slums.
Capitalism sucks
The central part of Luton has had many attempts at rejuvenation since WW2 , but none seems to have led to lasting change . Even the building of the Arndale Shopping Centre in the 1960's - then the largest shopping centre in Europe . Luton does however have some very nice suburbs , but the residents don't visit the Town Centre much . The Centre has always attracted large numbers of unemployed ,but in recent years , there are large numbers of homeless as well , just "hanging around" . I've heard Antisocial Behavior incidents per 1000 population are among the highest in England and there are about 3,400 homeless .
I drove through Luton. I thought I was back in one of the grimy inner London suburbs. its full of Asian shops with garish cheap shop fronts. Has a really seedy feel about it.
Poor Kat missed out on another quality establishment, you’ll have to pencil this one in for the honeymoon
Booked in next weekend in hotel Stuart
@@BackpackerBen 😂
I don't know why I like these "worst place" videos but they are fascinating. It's clear the government chooses where to spend the money and it isn't in Luton.
The Tories specialize in " Robin Hood in Reverse" policies.
How full were the knife amnesty bins ?
Thanks I tried to turn up my lighting but saw it was on full brightness.not as bad as Joburg.
Hey Timmy, nice to see him in your video. ❤
Boggles me these places aren't shut down due to hygienic reasons. This is Britain, not some other place where you'd be more understanding in ways.
Import the 3rd world become the 3rd world.
I was living in UK for more than 10 years. Some of the most depressing years in my life.
I can totally relate
People only go town centre for Galaxy; the cinema is pretty nice. Town is miserable but everywhere else is decent.
Ah, I love seeing ben exploring his own country, won't miss any of them for sure !