So, Cornwall is the second poorest region in Europe (I pretty much knew that, living in Dorset and it having been on the local news a few years back) but has the lowest crime rate in the country. Doesn't that give lie to the claim that poverty is the cause of crime?
@@Turdtowns If you find a contradiction, then you have used a false premise. Aristotle said that are are no contradictions, there are only false premises.
As someone from Rotherham I thought all those towns looked quite nice. They were all clean with no fly tipping waste, litter or dog sh*t laying in the street and nothing was on fire😂
It is pretty good , this guy has done drive through comments on each place he knows absolutely nothing about . If you want a shit hole town .. Londistan..it has the very list of excreta he's listed in huge volumes 😂
@@jasonhartley1305 I agree lol I think our glorious capital beats everywhere else in the country when it comes to that but sadly a lot of places are not far behind
@MiGrant Soul everyone can have an opinion on a place. Also if someone said to me you can live in poverty in Cornwall or live in poverty in south Yorkshire I'd pick Cornwall purely because it looks "nice on the eye". Better to be penny less in the fresh air than in the concrete jungle
Ive been to Cornwall many many times over the last forty years. In the summer it’s beautiful. But very quite in winter. You have to call a cab to get run over. But all In I love it there. Beautiful roads to drive around on. Fantastic beaches. Great food.
Thanks for that, Russ. Any advice for an American wanting to retire to a nice Cornwall town without all the crime and Crackheads? I want to be close to a beach. St Ives and Lands end would be too expensive.
@SeanMorgan280 I've lived in St Austell all my life, and although it's number 1 on this list. Coming from someone who's lived in Cornwall and been around visiting basically every single place here. I have to say it's not actually as horrible as it seems, transport is amazing with most bus routes coming through here, the train station is very central and there's every big supermarket here that you can imagine. We have a lot more amenities than most other places in Cornwall. Not only that but alot of tourists/ holiday makers come down to visit Charlestown which has to be one of the nicest places in Cornwall. Although housing in Charlestown is very expensive. Newquay seems to be a popular spot for diversity, my economics lecturer who also is American happens to live there and he loves it. Falmouth is a very big hippy place due to the university situated there, although it's nice, there's not an awful lot there apart from restaurants and pubs/ bars. U may also be interested in Truro, the only city in Cornwall due to its cathedral. It's definitely one of the nicer places of Cornwall. Crime I've heard is relatively high there though, but there's plenty to do there. Like you've mentioned St Ives from what I've heard is actually the nicest place to live in Cornwall but also most expensive. This may be no use to you, but I hope it helps. I'd recommened before settling down here to maybe take yourself and ur wife or kids down here for a holiday and check out every town. Cornwall also has many small villages which generally are quiet and nice but far away from supermarkets and other amenities so I'd definitely recommend a car
I don't live in Cornwall but I've been to plenty of Cornish towns. I've also been to Leicester, Sheffield, Bradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Boston, Doncaster, London and many more and I can tell you where I'd rather live. It's a sad truth that this country is in decline but that's not limited to Cornwall - it's EVERYWHERE. And it's largely government sponsored damage to the economy coupled with a pathological need to kill all town centres.
I was born near Bradford. And worked there. Now live in SE Cornwall. I know where I will stay whatever anyone says. The influx of tourists is the worse thing mainly because you cannot get anywhere or park; doctors, shops, vets etc. All very difficult.
The killing of town centres is due to less demands for shops being open due to more people shopping online which is more convenient and less time consuming, hence why more shops and businesses are closing down now !!!
I get these places are quite deprived but it feels pretty horrible to judge the people that live in these places for being poor and uneducated. Especially when the judgy, condescending jokes are delivered in a well-spoken accent by someone that sounds like they were lucky enough to benefit from growing up in a more affluent environment with better education and more opportunity.
prtyy sure this fella is from burnham on sea. just up the road from bridgewater what is basically a massive crack den. burnham is a shit hole too. the reallity of it is, the UK is in a desperate state. i'm from St Austell and eveything he said is actually true.
Thanks for all your hard work in putting this series together. Well as a 55 year old working class man, it looks to me that we’ve had approximately 45 years of deliberate government underinvestment in our country, that have decimated these working class towns from north to south of this land.
I agree and would go even further. I genuinely believe that the decimation of which you speak is being done by design. It's like a controlled demolition of the country.
wanna know why ? because cornwall council decides where to send our taxes each year mostly it's kept within Truro and spent on Truro and that's about it.
Thatcher's legacy. Along with Reagan in the States. Low skilled, low wage economy breeds poverty but keeps rich cronies happy. Look at the behaviour of our politicians for example giving billions to their mates for fake PPE.
Fun fact about Camborne, in the 18th/19th century the Camborne and Redruth district was the richest mining area in the world. I live in Camborne and I actually got called a "rich Cornish tory" the other day when I was debating with someone online 😂 So many people north of the Tamar bridge assume everyone in Cornwall has 3 houses and spends 12 hours a day on the beach. If only they knew most of us can't even afford to live here, with some of the highest house prices and lowest wages in the country
Mate so true, I’m from St Austell and I go university in Portsmouth. When I say how poor Cornwall is. I get privileged Londoners tell me how I’m wrong. So infuriating!
I used to live in Plymouth and visited Cornwall a few times for the day, mostly though occasionally for a night or two. There were a lot of people, even in the 80s, who were only employed in the late spring spring and summer tourist season when they worked long hours and were unemployed all winter. These people can't afford to get on the housing ladder and now couldn't find anywhere to rent because of all the retired incomers and second homeowners.
@@niallblackbeard5436 As a fellow st Austell boy. I'm from a village called Bugle, I live in Plymouth now. You would be surprised how much the local Plymouth people despise us Cornish folk. I thought Cornwall & Devon were really good friends until I lived here for the past 10 years.
Former mining towns are always grim. Single employer monocultures, where everyone who can gets out. Those left behind duke it out on Saturday nights or get wasted. In their hey day most of them would have been thriving communities, with social activities that go along with employment and money.
I know, I sometimes have to go to Redruth, I look round at the buildings and house’s they are very grand looking, it must have been really affluent once.
I live in Cornwall and every town you mentioned has a very high, excuse the pun, drug problem. My best mate of 25 years moved to Penzanze and it definitely contributed to his decline in mental health and drug addiction then death!!. Something needs to be done for the whole of Cornwall because the drug problem is in EVERY place!! RIP JOE 🙏
Penzance is well known for this. The theory is at some time they get on a train and don't get off until thrown off, which happens at the end of the line. It's not actually a dangerous place but there are a lot of people with a lot of issues.
Big drug problem here in rural France. I briefly went out with a French journalist who had spent years researching the problem and it's link to sui***e. The tragedy is, she remains prohibited from publishing her findings.... Presumably because 'The French countryside is great?' Best wishes to you. 🌞
A lot of my family grew up in bodmin and I have only heard terrible things about the drug problem there. Its no wonder there are so many flat earthers and other conspiracy theorists there as well.
it is a severe problem here. someone very close to us died as a result not so long ago. Even the rural villages around the towns are rife with the problem.
I've lived in Redruth all my life. I remember going into town and seeing it when it was busy, with lots of different shops and friendly people. Now there are only hairdressers, cafes, charity shops and random art shops that bring nothing to the community. People are angry now, not only because we are spending more money to live there than other nicer places, but because the people in charge of the town have no idea what they are doing, and you have to travel all the way to Truro if you want to buy a new pair of underwear, socks or shoes. We have a ton of homeless and druggies who get shipped off down here, and then they are left to do whatever they want with no repercussion. Every year there is a new "gang" of kids, who think they can do what they want (probably because the cops do nothing except laugh with them) who throw stuff at the windows of the town shops and peoples flats (mine included) breaking them, which then sit there for years looking like crap. They don't make any building inhabitable, in Town, because they're "Listed Buildings" and then charge people the same, or more, as it is to live in Truro; leaving us to live in a single pane windowed, black mould infested building.
@@WELLBRAN Comments on ‘The side of Cornwall, UK that tourists don’t see - 8 Worst Places’ 20.7.23 2116pmmm enjoyed Cornwall as a child -as i did most of the south cost - on hols... as for living there... probably as drab as the rest of the nation. it'd be cool during summer season... but i surmise just as grim as anywhere else... though nowhere is as bad as where you actually are at the time of hating. that's for sure...
Lived near Truro my entire life. The list is accurate. Redruth is known as Red-rough for example. But compared to many places around the UK it really isn't that bad unless you decide to go on nights out on Friday / Saturday nights, particularly St Austell. The biggest issue with Cornwall is people don't like change which stops any form of plans being approved. There has been planning for a new stadium near Truro for over 13 years, we still don't have one. Then the Hall for Cornwall, which caters for a small age group of people, was given £18m to refurbish the building. The wrong type of people making these decisions at the Council, only catering for themselves and close allies, much like most of the UK!
Re: About the Hall for Cornwall and the council only catering for themselves and close allies: It's pretty similar here in Australia and from what I've heard NZ and Canada aren't much different either. What's with that?
I am Cornish and most of the planning approvals are stopped by the people who are not Cornish ,thats a fact, its also a fact that Cornwall doesn't get the funding it was promised, and now the government is using Cornwall as its dumping ground for immigrants, also has anyone really looked at the amount of building postage stamp boxes for so called housing which are a complete eyesore, these shitholes are springing up everywhere ,WHY? they most certainly are not affordable housing, and certainly not for the Cornish people.
I have lived my life near to St Austell and whilst there are some bad parts in Cornwall I really wouldn't want to live anywhere else. The UK seems to be in a death spiral and over the next decade or so I can imagine a huge influx of people trying to escape from the cities.
Dead right mate. The bigger cities are a ticking time bomb. We're moving to Cornwall next year, and don't care about the 'awful' areas there. If you put Cornish folk in Manchester for a month, they'd realise what real, crime, racial issues and dumps are.
The reasons these towns are on here is that they don't become mutton dressed as lamb for the tourists every year, they are unapologetically authentic. I am happy to live on Liskeard, it remains largely untouched by tourists (thankfully!)
12 7:02 years ago I went to Port Talbot, Wales for a work meeting. I was really shaken by what I saw, the place looked like the aftermath of a war, everything shuttered down and closed with no signs of life. People drinking aimlessly in pubs at 10am and so many just aimlessly wondering the streets lime zoombies (drunk or on drugs). The more places I visited the more I visited over the decade the more I realised that MOST towns in the UK now have this affliction, completely bordered up, shut down and lifeless.
A very good video to be totally honest and factually correct. We live in Cornwall and have done for almost 20 years. We are fortunate to live out in the sticks and in a remote village where people are friendly and the crime rate is minimal/non-existent. Houses are higher priced but it does reflect the area we live in. Cornwall does have issues - drugs, unemployment, low salaries and a Local Authority that screws us for council tax and wastes it paying their dead wood employees offering little in return, a police force that are only around when there is "an incident" because there are not enough of them to go round, poor public transport links, some teenagers who will never work and who have multiple children under the age of 5 , little chance of a decent paid job unless you are already in one, an overall apathetic attitude because residents cannot get money so alot turn to to drugs and ultimately crime. A lot of areas do need massive cash injections to make them presentable and often viable but dont see that anytime soon. So that is the bad side however there is a good side. The good side is that it welcomes several million tourists each year, it used to be between April and October but now pretty much all year and Xmas/New Year is just as busy as the summer. It has stunning beaches, scenery, lovely people, tourist hotspots along the north coast, a reasonably good road network and brings visitors back year on year - some of whom decide to move here. We are not Cornish but have adapted to the slower pace of life, clean air, friendly and helpful people and a place that we call home. We have lived in big cities and towns, worked in the rat race, had dirty streets, overpopulated places and high crime but do not in any way have that now. I dont worry when I leave my house, I dont revert to crime to make ends meet, have worked all my life (yes I have the ability and intelligence to hold a decent job down) and close my door when I come home and think how lucky I am to live in a nice place, where neighbours talk, a community is there to be part of and crime is low bordering on non-existent. If you are pleasant to people they will be pleasant to you (manners cost nothing), integrate with society and embrace the county for what it is and look for the positives. I live within 4 miles of one of the towns mentioned and it is very accurately portrayed but go a few miles away from those town centres and it opens up a whole new world and one that I am more than happy to live in. The town centres are run down due mainly to rising (greedy shop owners) rents, main street shops trimming resource so getting closed due to online shopping and supermarkets vying for your business so being involved in price wars when they can. Food is food wherever you go but we all need to eat. The overriding factor though is quality of life and Cornwall has this in abundance.
Ironically, St Austell town centre was knocked down about 10ish years ago for the new White River Place development, which caused the beginning of the decline as people got used to going elsewhere if they could (usually Truro), and the town council put the rents up to claw money back which then pushed a lot of the independent businesses out. Add to it the two homeless shelters with the residents' incumbent problems and you've got yourself a winning TurdTown. I used to work outside of the town centre and my lift would frequently see drug deals going on in the car park, also someone once drove into the carpark of our building, in full view of all the windows, pulled down his trousers and injected something into his groin area. Also had a car left there which was later set on fire as an insurance job. Classy. People used to leave the building in twos, especially in the winter. Also the saying about Bodmin is because of St Lawrence's Hospital, which was a mental asylum. The old building has been demolished but the current hospital still houses all our mental health wards. Hope the chap in the fountain is doing OK.
The "lovely" White River Place, which began sinking just a couple of years after it was built and STILL leaks like fuckery. I use the gym there andeach timeut rains the poor staff have to place bins everywhere in the gym to catch the rainwater. The cowardly little cider-swilling cockroaches in the churchyard are another example of the pride in this town. Real credit to society, they are. Then you have the Baptist nutjobs encouraging the junkies from up-country and making things worse. The wonderful Thin Endhas gone, as has the best oubs. The Scorps kept the local rat population under control and you could actually have a night out back then without being sexually harassed or someone starting a fight.
I did a stint living in Snozzle. The signs were there for the decay back then in 2004/2005. But it was much nicer then. Also it is by the sea. Charles town is part of St Austell and that has a beach etc. There were some great people back then living in Snozzle so it's kinda sad to see it decline. Ironically, I live in Plymouth now (which was on the Devon list) and despite it having some grotty parts, Plym has sunk a lot of money into regeneration. The city centre and the Barbican is better for nights out. Not many cities that you can walk from the centre to the seafront down some steps of the Hoe sea front and sunbathe on little beaches. It seems to be a big hit with University students. So yep, St Austell looks really awful but sad to see it decline. Plymouth is up and coming - glad I moved ftom Snozzle 17 years ago.
@@Mardi-Shorts-DevonGirlUK Charlestown looks like a shanty town now with all the popup toursty shit. Ruined. We used to slide down the clay chutes as kids and came out looking like ghosts and then the guys working there would swear and chase us off. We were little shits, tbh.
@@domino5392 oh that's a shame. I used to enjoy Charlestown on my days off from being a local pub worker. Used to jog up along the cliffs around there too. Are you St Austell born and bred? We probably knew similar people depending on our age. I've got good memories of St Austell living, St Austell people and exploring all the pretty areas near by. Fingers crossed that Snozzle town gets a face-lift and becomes up and coming 🙂
I'm from Hampshire but lived in Cornwall for 2 years. Having lived in other parts of the country too, the wages in Cornwall were by far the worst I'd encountered. You were lucky to get £10 an hour in a skilled position. The next thing I encountered was the phenomenonally high rent and property price in general, in 2017 the pokey 2 bedroom flat I rented was 750 a month. Throw 500 in for bills on top of that . A simple maths equation left me with only pocket change at the end of each month. Your mortgage eligibility in the UK is 4 times your annual salary, so if you earn £10 an hour that's £17000 a year which is a mortgage eligibility of £71000. There are no houses in Cornwall at that price. So essentially you could work your arse off and never be able to buy your own place. I don't blame cornish people for getting on the drugs, they're fighting a losing battle
Thanks AP. It is really good to get a breakdown like that. Here in a seaside town in Australia as a carpenter you will earn the equivalent of 25 pounds an hour but the average house is around 500,000 pounds.
@I Began I think the real measure is how many years does it take to pay off a home. Seems like it is easier in Europe and the UK than in Australia, Canada or New Zealand. Still, I love my life in au.
@I Began What a life to live spending your entire wage on a mortgage to live in a tiny 1 bedroom flat. That's if the estate agent gives you the time of day when you explain your wage just covers the mortgage and not bills too, any estate agent worth their salt would know you're high risk. Plus an apartment will have a maintenance charge as its a leasehold, that'll cost upwards of 100 a month. You're talking out your arse unfortunately
Your descriptions of each place you mention are very accurate. I met my wife (a Cornish girl) in Newquay in 1967. Then it was a great place with lots of nightlife, fabulous beaches and surfing. We went back in 2017 to find the place where we met. Newquay is now a shit-hole. We lived in London when we married but we then moved to St Austell in 1974. Easily the worst years of my life. Not much work and not much pay - a complete struggle. What was worse, though, was the fact that 75% of people would not speak to me once they found out I came from London. I managed to last three years down there but could not stand it anymore. We came back to London and civilisation.
Your obvously not working class because Newquay is a very nice town, lots of restaurants, bars, live music, beaches walks etc. You clearly are stuck in the past where everyone says how beautiful it was, i agree with this also as i started in Newquay in 1976, yes it is different but so is every town in the country if not every bloody where.
@@SILVERFOXSOCIETY I think he's just old enough to remember how beautiful it was. That's not being stuck in the past. I saw an old VHS tape of Newquay back in the 80s. And the place just looked so much better and cleaner. And that was the 80s. The general consensus is that it was even better in the 60s and 70s. Plus the stuff that made Newquay great has gone. The Blue Lagoon was a great swimming venue, that looks like it needs tearing down now (well Last time I seen it anyway), I remember the Harbour looking so much better with way more things to do for kids like swings and crazy golf, and kids were allowed to jump in the water. Run to the Sun used to be filled with kids in the town shooting water pistols at each other, and the street market at Lusty Glaze was great. And the nightlife was Newquay was SOO much better than it is now. The Irish pub and bikers bar long gone.
My parents moved to Cornwall in 1973 and I ended up going to School there . The Cornish kids wouldn't speak to anyone who wasn't from Cornwall so I ended up mixing with the kids who weren't Cornish for the first few months but eventually they accepted us . There really didn't like anyone from "up country" in the early 1970s . After leaving Cornwall about 20 years ago now I wish I had grown up somewhere else .When I left I realized how insular it is down there .
One suggestion : Instead of using average house prices where outliers can throw the results, how about using the median which would give a more accurate account of what most people living there pays?
Damn right, St Austell's average is high because of all the million pound houses and manors. Not to mention all the mansions in higher Gover, Porthpean and Carlyon. Before the pandemic you could get a 3 or 4 bed house for under £200,000 (seen them for 160-180k too), some with a sea view! The video only shows an old council estate and some run down Sanctuary houses, and makes out these houses (which obviously aren't for sale) aren't worth the money 😂
Couple of those towns, like St Austell, are 15 minute bus rides or an hours walk from huge empty beaches and private coves. Not all grim and certainly not like their equivalents up north.
@@TurdtownsMany from St Austell are scornful of the ignored unpleasantness that exists, can’t comment on the town myself as haven’t been there for probably 40 years.
Try doing Middlesborough, parts of Scarborough, and many many other N.towns( I was born in the North). They make all of Cornwall paradise and the proximity of the sea all around is terrific. Shame you see so much to run down.
I was born in Cornwall and moved when I was 18 for uni. Haven’t gone back since (apart from going down to visit family ). There is not much hope or opportunities for me or others my age (I am 27 now). People say to me “oh wow you are from Cornwall!! How lucky!) Feel like they need to see this video. Cornwall is amazing but isn’t all sunshine and roses! This is the accurate real Cornwall.
This isn't the accurate Cornwall for everybody at all. I moved to Cornwall from London over a decade ago and I never want to leave. It all depends on where you are. Sure the towns listed in this video are probably the worst in Cornwall, but even those are a million times better than many other places in the UK. Every county has its crap areas, the worst down here isn't that bad. It's not great either, but there are far worse places you could live in this country. You are right about career opportunities though. There is very little work down here, not a great place for young people setting out in life, but I would imagine it's an incredible place to grow up.
@@martinjeffery3590 Oh god. One of those idiots ('Trolls' I believe the term is). Funnily enough, the evidence actually stacks up against you. Without equivocation.
Well that’s been an eye opener ! I’m from the north and have never been to Cornwall but have often thought that it must be gorgeous and very affluent, never did I think that certain places would as run down as some of the towns featured, especially people doing skag in a church yard with human shite laying about. It’s quite shocking really.
I'm from the north but live in Cornwall. He definitely got the list right but nowhere in Cornwall is like say Grimsby or Hull. There's nothing like that down here . Most places are very pretty and it's very safe . Lowest crime rate of any county. But the entire economy does consists of selling ice cream and pasties. Cleaning hotels , care work and building Holliday homes . Your either a owner so and very very wealthy. Or worker and very poor.
Yeah I'm from Wigan, but grew up in Penzance, most places are run down and boring, especially as everything is too expensive for people living here, and most things are closed during the winter and don't get repaired or vandalism fixed until just before the Easter holidays, but the difference is it doesn't feel as "scary" as being on estates up North, but I do miss being able to afford pies 😅
Dont bother using this Channel as a guide. All counties have poor areas, and Cornwall is no different. Wages are low in Cornwall, but generally that is not apparent, especially in the tourist areas. Cornwall has some beautiful places, and is well with a visit. Dont listen to the click baiter who runs this channel. He slagged off my home town on here, singling out the few negatives while ignoring the overwhelming positives. Oh, and I don't live in Cornwall, but I wish I did. They are so laid back they even have a word like the Spanish manjana. It's "Dereckly" as in "I'll do it Directly " which translated means "ill get around to it sometime ".
If I could add a positive note? Obviously there is a huge difference between living in Cornwall and visiting and I’m just back from my first ever holiday in Cornwall. We picked April to avoid the summertime congestion I’d heard so much about and got lucky with the weather - one really warm day, otherwise cold but dry and generally sunny. Stayed in Newquay (lewinnick Lodge) which has beautiful views across the bay. Night skies were spectacular- full of stars which we never see in London. We love our seafood and by and large Cornwall did not disappoint. Admittedly if I had to return to the tired high street on a regular basis, it might get me down but there’s a lovely harbour and beautiful beaches to distract the eye. Most definitely one of the better seaside towns I’ve been to.
There are lots of nice places to visit, and some of the scenery is beautiful. However just as this vid shows - so many places have been left to rot after a decline in industry. Also it's hard to live here with house prices being expensive due to popular second home demand, sort of driving people to move out to cities for work and joy.
@@AlisonBryen agreed, although i think when i went with my partner it was is late august and it was very busy indeed although as it was our first time there we still managed to enjoy ourselfes. 11hours and 6 changes for the train to get there was a nightmare though 😩
Having lived in Cornwall all my life, and not in the touristy coastal areas, i can concur that most of the stuff talked about here is true. Cornwall is a deprived, depressing place where the sun only shines on TV. Wages are poor, house prices are high and opportunities are low. And i can't see it getting better.
@@lee4171 Well I grew up in Launceston, the first town mentioned on the video, left when I was 18, and now live in Manchester. I prefer Manchester at least tenfold.
Born and brought in in the poor part of Cornwall. Sad, really sad to see what it has become. I moved away about 17 years ago and now dread to come back - and come only to see elderly relatives. So much has been wasted by naff schemes perpetuated by useless councils. Who remembers this daubed on Crofty's wall 'Cornish lads are fishermen, and Cornish lads are miners too. But when the fish and tin are gone what are the Cornish boys to do?' A really depressing video but true in an its rawness. By the way Turdtowns, the reason folk say 'going to Bodmin' refers to the now closed St Lawrence's Hospital in Bodmin (that was the workhouse). St Lawrence's was the main hospital in Cornwall for the mentally ill.
@@MatthewChapmanYT why doesn't Penzance send their soap dodgers and unruly, back up North, supplied with train tickets and bit of dosh. Get their own back on Northern councils? 😉
Penzance definitely has several beaches, they’re just not all golden sandy and more stoney than the north coast. It’s also turned a corner and has lots of fantastic independent shops in the town. Every town is going to get it’s anti social problems and yes, there’s no getting away from the poverty in Cornwall, but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. You have a variety of shops and can walk 3 miles in any direction and literally be in a completely different landscape each time. It’s awesome.
Yes this got has got Penzance all wrong. It does indeed have beaches. Not one empty shop in town. And the only boarded up building shown was the old ritz which isn’t abandoned and awaiting restoration. Unfair judgment made here.
@@georginamartin1682 I said several times I didn’t hate Penzance and it wasn’t that bad. I also took the effort to visit Treneere to see if the media was lying and I spoke to locals. I think it’s a town on the up.
Very true, St Austell used to be a lovely market town, busy and thriving, with lots of character then the eighties arrived and it started to go downhill with the loss of so much industry like China Clay, fishing and mining and all the smaller industries that serviced the bigger industries, then the planners tried to modernise it and ripped it’s heart out, so all it’s character went. We once had one of the best venues in the country Cornwall Coliseum on Crinnis Beach where we saw all the best bands of the Sixties and Seventies, where there were bars and roller skating and a huge swimming pool and discos and dancing, all closed then demolished to build a Cornish Benidorm development, that never got built! So sad to see it now so run down and taken over by druggies, believe it or not it was once a busy alive town.
I live in the north but I’m from Cornwall. The north south divide is real. But as you say the s west is divided off from everything and forgotten. One good source of support from Europe wasn’t valued and many made the awful decision to vote for brexit too
went to Launceston once decided we never needed to go there again. also would regularly drive through Redruth and watch it getting a little more derelict each time
A little way outside most of these run down towns is glorious countryside and nice villages. Even within some of these towns are very upmarket areas. All the government money in Cornwall appears to spent in the Truro area by the county council. It’s like Panem in The Hunger Games. Truro is the jewel of Cornwall. Truro has everything, just like Panem!
Absolutely. St Austell the number One Turdtown, but take a walk down the 'Private' 'Sea Road on the towns seaward outskirts and look at the £4million + Mansions along the Cliffs there! Empty most of the year of course!
@@mycroftsanchez901 Trura is still being developed! Langarth Garden Village is adding thousands of bunny-hutches, yet next to bugger all by way of supporting public infrastructure let alone adding any cultural value.
That's shocking. I visited Cornwall in the mid 90s camping & it was absolutely fantastic. I went to Newquay, St Ives, St Austell, Lands End. I had such a lovely time. So sad to see a place in decline.
I’ve lived in Cornwall my whole life, this was a very accurate list. I especially agree with launceston- it’s basically the most boring town I’ve ever been to. The only part I disagree with as a local is Newquay- it’s changed so much recently, it’s becoming a really nice area. The tourists are the biggest problem as a lot of them are really stupid, but the town itself has a very good surfing culture and atmosphere. It’s still probably the best place in the uk for summer atmosphere and watersports. Especially the crantock/pentire area of Newquay, it’s really beautiful.
Typical Cornish attitude - blame the tourists. If it wasn't for tourists the whole of Cornwall would look like St. Austell. I have relatives who live in Padstow and while the town is 'ok', the surrounding countryside is beautiful. The problem is the 'locals' of Cornwall - on the whole a belligerent, mean spirited lot. The "local shop for local people" attitude is spot on.
Restormel council ruined the Newquay of the 70's & 80's, by pulling down stunning buildings and erecting monstrosities in their place. I'm glad, that since 2009, Konsel Kernow is cleaning up and making good the Newquay that I know and love. It's nice to get Newquay back after all the Emmets have gone back home. Newquay really is a lovely place.
I lived in Cornwall for 20 years and still have family there. The most notable aspect of Newquay to me was that virtually the whole town was shut in winter because so any shops were owned by people who only lived there in the summer but took all the tourist money home.
Aah, Newquay is so bleddy wonderful that the Duchy and other big developers are ploughing up every field as far as Quintrell Downs to increase the town's size by a third. No need to tidy up the town centre though; the incomers will all be working from home on upcountry salaries and do all their shopping online.
Some years ago I browsed the small Woolworth’s in Penzance and found it to be a most depressing experience. Less than half an hour after my visit some poor fellow entered the shop and cut his own throat in front of the shop assistants. I’ve often wondered if he had planned it that way or had just found it to be the last straw. RIP
This is typical of a lot of places around the UK away from London, Birmingham and Manchester where these areas suffer from extreme deprivation and poverty and Cornwall is no exception to this especially since the A30 has been almost completely upgraded to unbroken dual carriageway allthe way from the M5 at Exeter down near St. Ives. However, I did stay in Jaywick near Clacton a few weeks ago and despite Essex adjoining the Greater London area, even there was a huge difference between the rich areas of Frinton and Walton on the Naze to the East and Jaywick to the West of Clacton.
As someone who lives in a village half an hour from St Austell I can honestly say I never go there. You scratched the surface of the amount of visible drug and alcohol use in the town and It's intimidating. When you only visit tourist attractions on holiday you don't see the reality of anywhere.
But almost all those undesirables have been given one way tickets from their local councils to come to Cornwall. Most the druggies in Cornwall are from northern towns
youre talking about Cosgarne hall - rehab that opened - the council got a huge amount of funding for it and suspect MONEY is the only reason they allowed it - that said - the service users are transfrerred to cosgarne from other areas - they are not technically 'locals' ......i think things started going wrong in 2008 when WOOLWORTHS shut down and many private retailers retired ....also home shopping on the internet has stopped people visiting the towns .....my opinion though is Newquay is worse - its chav central - you wont hear a cornish accent in newquay !
@@susanmccormick6022 I'm not Susan. I live about three quarters of an hour from there but I can tell you it is still a very pretty place although we tend to avoid it in the summer.
@@darknightofthescarecrow3551 although Park Bottom might technically be Redruth, in reality it isn’t and nobody there would say they live in Redruth. It’s Illogan, but you could probably get away with telling people you live in Tehidy 😂
As a suggestion, you ought to do a count of charity shops in each town. It's a good yardstick to demonstrate the health of the local economy. Councils would rather throw proper businesses out due to high leases and rent them to charities, than see them shut altogether.
Charity shops blight the High Street. They only pay 20% of business rates when that should be raised to 50%. They also pay less rent and get their staff for free without even expenses. Shop managers are paid the minimum wage for 6 days a week. There are alternatives such as clothes swaps, bring and take book shelves in cafes and community centres and people putting out books etc out on their front garden walls for passers-by to take. There are also sharing websites and apps such as Freecycle, Freehle and Olio. Use them instead.
@TryptychUK I preferred the old run-down charity shops to the new pretentious ones. Because they were always pop ups and in return for reduced rent and rates they had to move out if a business wanted to move in. Plus you knew you could buy cheap in there.
I stayed in St Austell for 3 nights about 5-6 years ago for a wedding. While the town centre is nothing to write home about I didn't find it to be too bad. It was a bit run down, but there were at least a few OK chain restaurants, pubs, and quirky shops. It may have helped that I was there in the height of summer which tends to bring out the best in people and places. Once you stray from the high street though, that's where you see the characters you mentioned - surly looking addicts with beady eyes. I didn't experience any trouble, but I definitely didn't feel too safe either. More than anything there was just an atmosphere that was hard to out into words (which you mentioned), I've only felt that same feeling before in the Welsh valleys and certain parts of London. It's really sad actually, many places in Cornwall just feel totally neglected by the government. It's a shame because it is a beautiful county with some great people
I live in st Austell and yes it had bad places but u did not mention the great beaches , great inde cinema ,Eden, heligan, meva, Charlestown, yes a 24 hr supermarket , people who live in st Austell don’t use the town centre we live around it and go elsewhere
That’s helping to run the town down though because nobody shopping in the town centre makes the local economy worse as your forcing once successful small busines into poverty
Ive noticed that all the shopping centres where i live Cosham, Portsmouth, Waterlooville, are mainly Charity, Betting and Poundshops, along with boarded up shop fronts. This has been a continuous trend over the last few years, the lockdowns just added to the situation.
My uncle’s funeral was in a massive chapel in Bodmin which then became a Wetherspoons but even that has closed I think. Went on a fantastic bike ride on the Camel trail which starts there and goes to Padstein via Wadebridge which are far more touristy. Still means getting out of Bodmin was better than staying.
I’ve always wanted to live there it’s been a dream of mine however after watching this I’ve changed my mind and stick where I am. The grass definitely isn’t always greener
I came to Cornwall in 1970 and it was a great place to be . It has declined over the years due to the influx of second home owners , tourists and students . So keep these vids coming and hopefully they will all go back from whence they came . It will never be what it once was but i it can only improve !!!
Unfortunately, it’s only us “tourists” that will keep places going. I live in East Devon but holiday in Cornwall. We are the same here, places like Lyme Regis thrive but my hometown ,Axminster, is dying on its feet. X
We need jobs the area has been stripped of are proud history of not long ago. Holmans the biggest mining college in Europe shows this are former late and great former MP David Penhaligon said in a speech. Wages here are at least 15% lower, unemployment in towns 15% up to 20% you cannot base an economy stacking deck chairs and selling ice cream!
Hey James. Take your head out of the sand. You can also blame the tourist industry and the main council for running these towns to the ground. High rent, and the landlords just do whatever they want, plus Cornwall Council putting up car park charges to deter car usage. What better way to destroy towns and cities.
Sad decline like Most of the UK holiday resorts ...Cornwall was thee place in my era 60s 70s 80s..i had family that lived 10 miles or so outside St Austell ,quaint villages ,to die for beaches,great country pubs ,a feeling of tranquility and safety,fantastic memories that all my family still share at get togethers ....how sad to see such a decline,...having not visited since my grandmother past away 20 years ago ,and the remaining residents..moved out of the area to North Devon...i do hope Cornwall can return to the good times ,but sadly i fear the rot has set in for good...
We live in Looe and have for the last 10 years for retirement, love it, haven’t regretted it one little bit. There are a few non desirable places but most of it is very beautiful! It’s lovely in the winter, if the weather is good, when the tourists have gone home and the beaches are empty to walk and have a paddle! We live in a lovely community and the people of Looe are very friendly. ❤❤Looe
The moment I saw the first turd towns video I knew Cornwall is coming up soon in the future and I bloody well knew that my home town liskeard was going to show up. A not so proud podium indeed. All the money is going towards a library no one entered even before the restoration and the opening of a Wetherspoons right next door only made the high street a less safe place past 9pm than before. I’m happy with how the video turned out though. Good job mate. 🎉
Im cornish. Left 20 years ago .. thank god! Live up north now.. LOVE IT! Edinburgh.. lake district... love it! Beaches up in scotland ..wow! Castles mountians lakes .. great people.. yeah toodles cornwall .. eary quiet backward slowest part of my life!!
'Your water bill is not the one to fear' Trust me, you do if you live in the South West Water region, it's hundreds of pounds higher than it is in the rest of the country, when i lived in Devon, it was around £400 more than in Wiltshire at the time (not sure what it's like nowadays but i'm sure not a lot has changed). Regarding St Austell also, it's actually Carlyon Bay nearby which is quite nice, as is Charlestown.
@@Turdtowns Wait & see,if we don't get enough rain this year there will be more drought restriction measures & if that fails the water will get turned off.
As someone who has lived in Cornwall for all my life, a lot of the things you've said were really accurate and you've answered a question on what caused the downfall of many Cornish towns. Initially, I quite liked Cornwall growing up but to my surprise, September 2018 was when things went horribly wrong as I kept on facing a lot of issues as a lot of people started to treat me like I didn't matter or my problems were not a priority but luckily I had a support group that made sure things didn't escalate, this is still happening to this day but not as much as it used to back then. Things got so bad that I nearly lost all of my respect for Cornwall and I started to make plans to move out when I'm ready. I really did find it really hard to have something nice to say about Cornwall after 2018 as every time I do find the good in Cornwall, another bad thing happens (welcome to the real world) but back in December 2022, I started to feel like that the bad things that had happened in Cornwall between 2018 - 2021/22 actually did benefit me as I used the hard times to make videos about overcoming problems and hope for a brighter future, although I haven't made any videos like that at the moment, the first set of videos are in the development stage and hoping to release them soon. I would like to thank you for making this video as after 5 years of figuring out what went wrong, I finally have an explanation for what caused the downfall of many Cornish towns as whenever I explain the issues with living in Cornwall, they say that "It's normal for people like me to want to move up-country (Cornish slang for outside of Cornwall) because there isn't much to do down here." which they were right but that was by far not the only reason why I wanted to leave and I think it's safe to say that the decline of the mining industry in Cornwall had a massive impact on modern day Cornwall and why things are the way they are. I do genuinely wish that things don't get any worse in Cornwall and I have learnt that I shouldn't blame the entirety of Cornwall for the problems I've faced growing up there as I have a lot of nice memories and made a lot of supportive friends on the way but instead, condemn the people that made Cornwall look bad as it had affected me a lot. One thing I can say is that you've earned a sub for raising awareness about the dark side of the county and hopefully, the dark side will be a bit more brighter. UPDATE (September 20, 2023): I would like to announce that the 5-year anniversary of me having these terrible experiences whilst being in Cornwall is coming next week and earlier today, I had a talk with one of the people involved in this 5-year long issue I’ve been trying to sort out since the very beginning and turns out that the problems I’ve had these past 5 years was actually caused by a misunderstanding rather than the mines closing down. It really is quite mad how 1 misunderstanding can cause a series of problems for half a decade but what’s important is that it is finally resolved and I feel I now realise what has caused my time in Cornwall to be ruined for the past 5 years. Of course, some of the bad things might still happen and there’s still more steps I need to take for some other problem I faced growing up in Cornwall, I’m still fighting and I’ll always be fighting for a better Cornwall for all (the county’s motto is in fact “one and all” after all) even when I relocate to Bournemouth or Exeter in 2024. I would also like to mention that I still believe the mines closing down did put a huge financial strain on the county especially the former mining towns that are like some sort of wasteland and it’s getting clear now that the decline of the mining industry did have a part in Cornwall’s decline but they was indeed more factors that lead to the county’s decline that has been happing since 2018. You know what they say, 5th year’s the charm.
Life's what you make it , so it's everyone's fault you had issues.. Cornwall is better off without you buddy . Funny the community I live in seems quite happy.
As a Cornishman i pretty much guessed all 8, i'm glad St Awful took the top spot. On the population side Falmouth is usually 1st due to the huge influx of students.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that we were getting free money from the EU. For every pound we contributed to the EU, we got 40p back and that’s at the top end. If Cornish people kept all those pounds they wouldn’t be giving 60p away to Greek pensioners to retire at 56
There might well be something in the water in Cornwall. Back in July 1988, 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate was accidentally released to the water supply for the town of Camelford.
Annual figures released by Defra say that raw sewage was dumped into rivers and coastal areas by private water companies 301,091 times in 2022. This amounts to a shocking 1.75 million hours, or over 800 spills every single day.
Your post is spot on...Visited Penzance and " St Austerity " in 2014....People there look like Death Warmed up....and WHY are most of the girls FAT and covered with Tattoos??? HORRIBLE 😞😔
I agree about most of these - was really surprised to see Penzance on here, though - not sure where you went, there, but it’s a lovely town! Excellent food destinations, lots of independent shops, plenty to do, an Art Deco salt water Lido and a lovely beach, lovely parks like Morrab and Penlee and several galleries. There are some housing estates, but the centre of town is primarily made up of rather fine Georgian townhouses and terraces.
From the video it looks like he walked up Queen Street (with the boarded-up Ritz cinema and the discount furniture store), up Causewayhead (which he mistakenly calls the main street), then up St Clare Street past the block of flats and the housing estates towards the hospital and the A30. Not exactly a highlight tour of Penzance.
I agree. I live near Penzance and I think it’s a lovely town with a lot going for it. Sure, there are some run down areas, but I used to live in Manchester - a great city in many ways - and if you really want to know what depressed looks like, some of its outlying districts make Penzance look like Monaco!
@@VoyagesDuSpectateur yes agree. you can find crappy areas in every town. Penzance has Mounts Bay, and a beautiful coast line, elegant houses (Chapel Street) where the Bronte's mother Maria lived. Lots of history and a great vibe to the town. Am also very surprised to see PZ on here.
Penzance is great, apart from the house prices, and the drug problems, and the violence and the general crime, and nothing to do, and low wages, etc. etc.
Penzance is lovely. To be fair he didn't mention the art Deco lido in Plymouth or the historic busy Barbican and the Hoe sea front in Plymouth when he stuck it on Devon's list. I'm not sure how much he actually checks out these places properly 🤔
Hey........ I live in Launceston 😂.... fun fact, during ww2, some American troops were based here, one evening there was a shoot out between the Black's and White's, you see Launceston locals were OK with black soldiers in the pubs but the white Americans just couldn't hack it, so over a bit of time tension started to grow and there was a gun fight, some of the buildings and the war memorial in the town square still have bullet marks on them 👍
I went on a family holiday to Cornwall 30 years ago and for all it looked very nice, it was really a county that was based on retired people and tourists with very little industry outside of tourism. The less touristy places like Redruth had unemployment rates like inner cities.
And in 30 years retired people and holiday makers started to go to Spain, but don't worry, with Brexit retired people will be forced back into the UK and will be forced to live in any shittown they can afford!
It was wonderful here 30 years ago. Had its problems, like every town does. But it was alot more colourful andwas less whitewashed with twee images of small boats and cottages, etc.
I lived in Cornwall for most of my life but left 15 years ago x its sad to see the terrible decline in that time x it was always poor but there was a great sense of community and it is of course very beautiful x I think the decline is more to do with drug use than anything else
Really sad - I remember St Austell from the days of The General Wolfe, Saffron Records, and the Cornwall Coliseum. Seems like the proximity of the Eden Project isn't benefitting Snozzle very much.
Love how you say these towns aren't as bad as the Welsh Valleys, as a former resident of the valleys, i found myself thinking these places looked quite up market!
I currently in the valleys it’s the most depressing place I have ever lived particularly in the winters but have little choice at moment, but it’s degradation on another level 😂😂
I was born and brought up in St Austell but moved away years ago, and sad to say, you got this spot on. There really are high levels of deprivation and a sense of hopelessness, typified by the drug use. It’s v sad to see, and there are still some delightful surrounding areas, but I don’t see it recovering.
What a sad video this turned out to be. I am heartbroken to see the state the Cornwall has got itself in to. When I was a kid I lived for a short time in Bodmin and coming from London I was enthralled with it and never wanted to leave. All the other places you mentioned have good memories for me but now I am close to tears. So so sad.
Because when you go on holiday to Cornwall or visit for the day from Devon it's easy to bypass Redruth, Camborne, St Austell and Bodmin as the by passes take you around them. You can get to the Eden Project without going through St Austell. They are only places you pass through on the train to Penzance, Land's End, St Ives and Falmouth. We once hired bicycles at Padstow to cycle on the trail to Bodmin but got as far as the vineyard passing through Wadebridge on the way.
I live in Newquay, it's definately got the best nightlife in Cornwall. There's always a band or DJ in the pubs and some place are open until 4am. We have a zoo aquarium, airport that flys to Europe. Every type of restaurant from fine dining to Pizza Indian Chinese and Mexican plus many others..
Great video, well done. The disparity is quite unnerving, I know most of Cornwall reasonably well and once stayed in Padstow for around 6 weeks out of season, quaint but even then (1993.) it was changing and monied Londoners lapping up the fayre of Rick Stein whilst local people continued with their normal lives. Maybe not the best example but I understand why the Cornish can be a little unfriendly at times.
My parents moved to Camborne from Kent in the early 1970s . I remember it when the mines were open , it was a thriving town its sad to see what it is like now ( and Redruth also ). I am glad I left Cornwall there isn't a future there .
As a long-term Cornwall resident I'd say this is a solid list. Bodmin/St Austell I knew would take the top spots. Although it's a smaller town, I'd probably put Camelford somewhere in the bottom half, it's r declined into a proper shithole over the last 20 years or so.
I live in Cornwall, and despair at its TV portrayal of an idyllic place to live work and play. Most of it is grim, and even if you live in one of the more pleasant places, a Cornish winter of unremitting wind rain and "Cornish clag"will be sure to get you asking, "what have I done"
For everyone stating their shock, this is happening all over the world at a much larger and potent rate, this isn’t a British issue. Someone estimated around 20% is like that? That numbers higher in Japan (several ghost towns, weak infrastructure etc) same with US, France (thousands of tents scattered around full of immigrants that looks like something out of Last of Us, also same in the US, I could go on. The UK without a doubt has to fix areas but this is happening everywhere, I haven’t seen a ghost town in Britain, they exist in most other countries particularly so called developed countries like Japan where their population is plummeting and town after town is slowly disconnecting from society.
Don't worry about those people in tents in France - they are all waiting for their number to come up to hop onto a boat to the UK in designer clothes, holding an iPhone and heading to a 4* hotel. Then a s..t leftie lawyer will get legal aid to ensure they say here.
In a small way it's also happening in Australia, a so called "Lucky Country" with lots of minerals for sale. Homelessness has been a huge problem for at least 5 years and it's on the increase. Thankfully Labor is now in government after almost 10 years of massive neglect by the conservatives, the Liberal National Coalition Party (LNP) who talked lots and did nothing for anyone but their wealthy mates plus massive corruption and sex scandals I won't bother to go into details. Labor has recently launched a housing policy amongst many other fantastic policies and has promised thousands of new house's to be built for the homeless over many years.
Same problem as Wales, etc. When the traditional local industries pack in, obviously the surrounding areas suffer. There never seems to be anything like the amount of practical help given either, the places are just left to deteriorate year after year. It's disgusting, and a crying shame for the local working people who aren't able to just relocate like the more middle class people. Once that happens it's a steady downwards slide for the area, and it's increasingly difficult to recover. Many places never do...
I'm from south wales and I can't disagree with mr. turdtowns. The best thing you can do is not be there in the first place. when a generation has passed flatten it and redevelop it as a prime location. the scenery of some locations can be awesome once the deprivation has passed. - we visited Abertillery recently. It was heartbreaking seeing what had happened to a once thriving community. Still very hilly mind that can't be changed.
@@David-wf1hr I live in Abertillery! It's not that bad of a town, but it's a pity the town center is a bit run down these days with not really any shops worth visiting. There's far worse places around here though
I've lived in Cornwall all my life and visited all of these town extensively, I'd say the crime rate is the best metric here, placing liskeard at the top, it literally has no redeeming factors where as many of the towns mentioned do have at least a handful. It is sad to see so many of these towns in such decline, especially with so much money floating around some of the more fortunate coastal towns.
Very sad to see the state of St. Austell now, it was a little slice of heaven when I grew up there in the 70's, back when the white pyramids had pointy tops. The lovely people and beautiful countryside repeatedly let down by p1ss poor local and state government. Glad my parents cant see it now, they'd be heartbroken.
@@martianmuppet I spent a fair chunk of my teenage money in there! Kevin the manager knew the type of music that his customers liked and would recommend new artists based on that knowledge.
My friend lives in Redruth. I have visited there many, many times and you're pretty much bang on. It's not the worst place in the world but it's very depressing. It is surrounded by lots of beautiful areas though so you have to travel to lift your spirits.....
Ahahaha I grew up near St Austell and I'm not at all surprised to hear it's the worst place in Cornwall. Surprisingly, I've been told it was a decent town in the 70s-80s, which is really shocking. It was grim when I was growing up and it's gotten so much worse ever since.
St Austell in the 1970's was good. Then ECLP started shedding staff, out of town supermarkets started to appear, and the main street was pedestrianised. Most of us who grew up there left.
Lived in Camborne in the early 1990s and it was the same then as it is now, I still go back from time to time with work and to see friends, I also fell in love with Cornwalll back themn and need to go back regularly :). Despite the poverty they were three happy years with the locals being friendly and welcoming. I think I agree with your ranking having visited all of the towns in the last few years. However, there is hope as you point out with the high probability of mining restarting in the county, it would be fantastic to see Cornwall enjoy the prosperity it once had again.
I had the good fortune to live in Cornwall for about 12 years (St Ives and Porthleven mostly). I also had the misfortune to live in Newquay for a summer and Penzance for a year. You would only spend time there to a)watch the rugby. b) get drunk and c) bet your mates on who would be next to get thrown out of the pub. (sometimes the thrower would open the door first). Hi to all my friends in Cornwall!
Cornwall is not exceptional, most towns are in decline, where i live in the East Midlands, where rents are through the roof, every old house multiple occupancy, rubbish strewn in the gardens, empty boarded up shops, rough sleepers, people begging outside Morrisons, makeshift tents in the park, rubbish everywhere, the smell of cannabis in the air, hoody wearing dark clothed Young men, watching for opportunities to steal, loud voices at night, groups of scruffy foreign men smoking outside the shopping centre, (half derelict of course) 80% of voices are foreign in town centre, most of the shops Euro stores, Turkish Barbers, junk food takeaways, cars parked on the pavements, 20 years ago my town was a thriving decent, clean and tidy place, a town I was proud of, now it's a nightmare.
I had to move several years ago. The cost of living is ridiculous. I now live in the North East, decent people up here, but my daughters will not grow up knowing Cornwall, which is a shame, my family goes back to the middle ages in Cornwall.
Why don't you get one of those 'Made In Kernow' flag tattoos on your left chest side - then Cornwall will always be close to your heart...😊 (I'm from down ere so I can pull ya leg)
Launceston has a great 2ft gauge railway that runs out into the country for about a mile and is well worth the visit. For this reason I think it is a great town to visit.
it's bloody expensive for what it is and unlike the castle locals don't get a discounted rate add to the fact that theres naff all to do in town it's no wonder Lanson is dead * i'm a Lansoner/ I live in Launeston*
I recently visited Penzance two years ago and I had a good time for two days. The people were so friendly as to drive me around to find a place for me to stay for the night. Even offered to put me up for the night. We found a good bed and breakfast while driving about. Great people there and about. The high street was nice too. Some areas were a bit rundown but kind of charming in a way. So I was surprised to see Penzanze on your list. Keep up the great videos.
I live in Carbis Bay, and there's undesirable parts of Carbis Bay and St Ives that tourists don't get to see. However, Helston and Truro would've been the other two towns (if it were top 10, instead of 8). As for Camborne, locals say "the seagulls fly upside down over Camborne", "because there's nothing worth sh!++ing on" 😂
So it seems that the only towns that are any good are the one's that are done up to pander to the tourists; I'm from Looe so I know a bit about that. As a boy, I used to dread being dragged from Looe to go to Lyskerrys (Liskeard) to see my grandparents, but now I appreciate more the peace and uncommercialised qualities of places like that. I also lived in Lanson (Launceston) for a few years and it's a nice place to live, with a lot of really good people in the area. Sure there is a Hell of a lot that needs to be sorted out no matter where you go, there's no denying that, but you don't know a place or its people by driving through it. It is also no coincidence that there are similarities between the Welsh valley towns and the old mining towns in Kernow, mining 'collapsed' and there was no real replacement forthcoming. Same shit; different place. Just about every town has its places that would be suitable to shove the enema pipe and Kernow is certainly no different and lets face it, there are parts of London that would qualify as a turdtown on any day of the week.
So glad you did Cornwall as it's my home county i totally agree with most of what you said especially about st awful luckily I live in hayle which has some really turdy bits but still a nice place overall 😊
Yes, carry on agreeing. At least it will keep the emmets away and those we dont need here. Cornwall has suffered enough from social engineering and being loaded with undesirable incomers. Its been used as a dumping ground.
@@TomK58190 I lived in Falmouth and had my son in Truro in 1998 then we left soon after to be closer to family. Up to West Sussex. Wish we never left to be honest, loved there! I originally come from the Isle of Wight, so that was still like home to me.
When a country loses its industry and manufacturing, it dies .industry gives jobs , hope , money for locals. Loose that and it dies , this has happened all over the uk
So, Cornwall is the second poorest region in Europe (I pretty much knew that, living in Dorset and it having been on the local news a few years back) but has the lowest crime rate in the country. Doesn't that give lie to the claim that poverty is the cause of crime?
It is very strange. It doesn’t make sense when you think about it.
The same is true of West Virginia.
It's also among the least diverse of the counties.
You haven't taken into account of population and other demographics in the comparison. Greetings from Cyprus.
@@Turdtowns If you find a contradiction, then you have used a false premise. Aristotle said that are are no contradictions, there are only false premises.
The worst thing about Camborne is that not every train stops there on Wednesdays.
Classic Jethro quote there 👍
True 😂😂😂😂
Yeh that's a real pain 😤
🤣🤣🤣👌
High crime rate there.
As someone from Rotherham I thought all those towns looked quite nice. They were all clean with no fly tipping waste, litter or dog sh*t laying in the street and nothing was on fire😂
It is pretty good , this guy has done drive through comments on each place he knows absolutely nothing about . If you want a shit hole town .. Londistan..it has the very list of excreta he's listed in huge volumes 😂
@@jasonhartley1305 I agree lol I think our glorious capital beats everywhere else in the country when it comes to that but sadly a lot of places are not far behind
In my city ,it's human shit that's a problem due to the druggies,
Every UK city has plenty of dogshit everywhere, its a given
@MiGrant Soul everyone can have an opinion on a place. Also if someone said to me you can live in poverty in Cornwall or live in poverty in south Yorkshire I'd pick Cornwall purely because it looks "nice on the eye". Better to be penny less in the fresh air than in the concrete jungle
Ive been to Cornwall many many times over the last forty years. In the summer it’s beautiful. But very quite in winter. You have to call a cab to get run over. But all In I love it there. Beautiful roads to drive around on. Fantastic beaches. Great food.
Thanks for that, Russ. Any advice for an American wanting to retire to a nice Cornwall town without all the crime and Crackheads? I want to be close to a beach. St Ives and Lands end would be too expensive.
@SeanMorgan280 I've lived in St Austell all my life, and although it's number 1 on this list. Coming from someone who's lived in Cornwall and been around visiting basically every single place here. I have to say it's not actually as horrible as it seems, transport is amazing with most bus routes coming through here, the train station is very central and there's every big supermarket here that you can imagine. We have a lot more amenities than most other places in Cornwall. Not only that but alot of tourists/ holiday makers come down to visit Charlestown which has to be one of the nicest places in Cornwall. Although housing in Charlestown is very expensive.
Newquay seems to be a popular spot for diversity, my economics lecturer who also is American happens to live there and he loves it.
Falmouth is a very big hippy place due to the university situated there, although it's nice, there's not an awful lot there apart from restaurants and pubs/ bars.
U may also be interested in Truro, the only city in Cornwall due to its cathedral. It's definitely one of the nicer places of Cornwall. Crime I've heard is relatively high there though, but there's plenty to do there.
Like you've mentioned St Ives from what I've heard is actually the nicest place to live in Cornwall but also most expensive.
This may be no use to you, but I hope it helps. I'd recommened before settling down here to maybe take yourself and ur wife or kids down here for a holiday and check out every town.
Cornwall also has many small villages which generally are quiet and nice but far away from supermarkets and other amenities so I'd definitely recommend a car
quiet
I don't live in Cornwall but I've been to plenty of Cornish towns. I've also been to Leicester, Sheffield, Bradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Boston, Doncaster, London and many more and I can tell you where I'd rather live.
It's a sad truth that this country is in decline but that's not limited to Cornwall - it's EVERYWHERE. And it's largely government sponsored damage to the economy coupled with a pathological need to kill all town centres.
Forty years of being governed by self-serving spivs. What you say is true: I fear this country is on a death spiral.
I was born near Bradford. And worked there. Now live in SE Cornwall. I know where I will stay whatever anyone says. The influx of tourists is the worse thing mainly because you cannot get anywhere or park; doctors, shops, vets etc. All very difficult.
You can thank the world economic forum for the global decline
The killing of town centres began in the 1970's with the pedestrianisation of high streets and the growth of out of town supermarkets.
The killing of town centres is due to less demands for shops being open due to more people shopping online which is more convenient and less time consuming, hence why more shops and businesses are closing down now !!!
Redruth a town so bad they built a bypass to avoid it, then they built a new bypass to bypass the bypass. True story I live here.
I get these places are quite deprived but it feels pretty horrible to judge the people that live in these places for being poor and uneducated. Especially when the judgy, condescending jokes are delivered in a well-spoken accent by someone that sounds like they were lucky enough to benefit from growing up in a more affluent environment with better education and more opportunity.
prtyy sure this fella is from burnham on sea. just up the road from bridgewater what is basically a massive crack den. burnham is a shit hole too. the reallity of it is, the UK is in a desperate state. i'm from St Austell and eveything he said is actually true.
I'm from camborn and his jokes hurt me less than your judgments
Thanks for all your hard work in putting this series together.
Well as a 55 year old working class man, it looks to me that we’ve had approximately 45 years of deliberate government underinvestment in our country, that have decimated these working class towns from north to south of this land.
I agree and would go even further. I genuinely believe that the decimation of which you speak is being done by design. It's like a controlled demolition of the country.
wanna know why ? because cornwall council decides where to send our taxes each year mostly it's kept within Truro and spent on Truro and that's about it.
Thatcher's legacy. Along with Reagan in the States. Low skilled, low wage economy breeds poverty but keeps rich cronies happy. Look at the behaviour of our politicians for example giving billions to their mates for fake PPE.
All that funding lost when we left the EU won't help.
Yep! 🌼
Fun fact about Camborne, in the 18th/19th century the Camborne and Redruth district was the richest mining area in the world. I live in Camborne and I actually got called a "rich Cornish tory" the other day when I was debating with someone online 😂 So many people north of the Tamar bridge assume everyone in Cornwall has 3 houses and spends 12 hours a day on the beach. If only they knew most of us can't even afford to live here, with some of the highest house prices and lowest wages in the country
Mate so true, I’m from St Austell and I go university in Portsmouth. When I say how poor Cornwall is. I get privileged Londoners tell me how I’m wrong. So infuriating!
I used to live in Plymouth and visited Cornwall a few times for the day, mostly though occasionally for a night or two. There were a lot of people, even in the 80s, who were only employed in the late spring spring and summer tourist season when they worked long hours and were unemployed all winter. These people can't afford to get on the housing ladder and now couldn't find anywhere to rent because of all the retired incomers and second homeowners.
@@niallblackbeard5436 As a fellow st Austell boy. I'm from a village called Bugle, I live in Plymouth now. You would be surprised how much the local Plymouth people despise us Cornish folk. I thought Cornwall & Devon were really good friends until I lived here for the past 10 years.
Camborne here too and I couldn't agree more
Because ou property prices are lower than the rest of the country, it isn't easily affordable to move out of the county.
when you see Poundland boarded up you know theres a problem...great eye opener video..me thinking its all affluent down there..
Former mining towns are always grim. Single employer monocultures, where everyone who can gets out. Those left behind duke it out on Saturday nights or get wasted. In their hey day most of them would have been thriving communities, with social activities that go along with employment and money.
I know, I sometimes have to go to Redruth, I look round at the buildings and house’s they are very grand looking, it must have been really affluent once.
I live in Cornwall and every town you mentioned has a very high, excuse the pun, drug problem. My best mate of 25 years moved to Penzanze and it definitely contributed to his decline in mental health and drug addiction then death!!. Something needs to be done for the whole of Cornwall because the drug problem is in EVERY place!! RIP JOE 🙏
Penzance is well known for this. The theory is at some time they get on a train and don't get off until thrown off, which happens at the end of the line. It's not actually a dangerous place but there are a lot of people with a lot of issues.
Big drug problem here in rural France.
I briefly went out with a French journalist who had spent years researching the problem and it's link to sui***e. The tragedy is, she remains prohibited from publishing her findings.... Presumably because 'The French countryside is great?'
Best wishes to you. 🌞
A lot of my family grew up in bodmin and I have only heard terrible things about the drug problem there. Its no wonder there are so many flat earthers and other conspiracy theorists there as well.
it is a severe problem here. someone very close to us died as a result not so long ago. Even the rural villages around the towns are rife with the problem.
Bude is FULL of rehomed drug addicts and paedophiles!!
I've lived in Redruth all my life. I remember going into town and seeing it when it was busy, with lots of different shops and friendly people. Now there are only hairdressers, cafes, charity shops and random art shops that bring nothing to the community.
People are angry now, not only because we are spending more money to live there than other nicer places, but because the people in charge of the town have no idea what they are doing, and you have to travel all the way to Truro if you want to buy a new pair of underwear, socks or shoes.
We have a ton of homeless and druggies who get shipped off down here, and then they are left to do whatever they want with no repercussion. Every year there is a new "gang" of kids, who think they can do what they want (probably because the cops do nothing except laugh with them) who throw stuff at the windows of the town shops and peoples flats (mine included) breaking them, which then sit there for years looking like crap.
They don't make any building inhabitable, in Town, because they're "Listed Buildings" and then charge people the same, or more, as it is to live in Truro; leaving us to live in a single pane windowed, black mould infested building.
The side of Cornwall, UK that tourists don’t see - 8 Worst Places 0730am 14.6.23 from margate to redruth - all the streets look the same.
This is happening across the country sadly.
@@stellayates4227 Comments on ‘The side of Cornwall, UK that tourists don’t see - 8 Worst Places’ 0934am 8.7.23 sorry?
I was born and live in Penzance word for word agree with you
@@WELLBRAN Comments on ‘The side of Cornwall, UK that tourists don’t see - 8 Worst Places’ 20.7.23 2116pmmm enjoyed Cornwall as a child -as i did most of the south cost - on hols... as for living there... probably as drab as the rest of the nation. it'd be cool during summer season... but i surmise just as grim as anywhere else... though nowhere is as bad as where you actually are at the time of hating. that's for sure...
Lived near Truro my entire life. The list is accurate. Redruth is known as Red-rough for example. But compared to many places around the UK it really isn't that bad unless you decide to go on nights out on Friday / Saturday nights, particularly St Austell. The biggest issue with Cornwall is people don't like change which stops any form of plans being approved. There has been planning for a new stadium near Truro for over 13 years, we still don't have one. Then the Hall for Cornwall, which caters for a small age group of people, was given £18m to refurbish the building. The wrong type of people making these decisions at the Council, only catering for themselves and close allies, much like most of the UK!
Re: About the Hall for Cornwall and the council only catering for themselves and close allies: It's pretty similar here in Australia and from what I've heard NZ and Canada aren't much different either. What's with that?
I am Cornish and most of the planning approvals are stopped by the people who are not Cornish ,thats a fact, its also a fact that Cornwall doesn't get the funding it was promised, and now the government is using Cornwall as its dumping ground for immigrants, also has anyone really looked at the amount of building postage stamp boxes for so called housing which are a complete eyesore, these shitholes are springing up everywhere ,WHY? they most certainly are not affordable housing, and certainly not for the Cornish people.
Completely agree
I have lived my life near to St Austell and whilst there are some bad parts in Cornwall I really wouldn't want to live anywhere else. The UK seems to be in a death spiral and over the next decade or so I can imagine a huge influx of people trying to escape from the cities.
Dead right mate. The bigger cities are a ticking time bomb. We're moving to Cornwall next year, and don't care about the 'awful' areas there. If you put Cornish folk in Manchester for a month, they'd realise what real, crime, racial issues and dumps are.
Not just a death rattle - but the sphincter has gone too.
i agree i live north from brum and its rough stabbing and shootings on a daily, going on holiday to cornwall in 9 days
@@avoidoneu4061good luck
That death spiral has built up speed since brexit means brexit.
The irony is it's a lot worse during the holidays when the people from real turdtowns show up with their turdtown ways.
Totally agree
The reasons these towns are on here is that they don't become mutton dressed as lamb for the tourists every year, they are unapologetically authentic. I am happy to live on Liskeard, it remains largely untouched by tourists (thankfully!)
@@gemmaadams1270 we love liskeard and been many times everyone has always welcomed us - Daniel West Midlands
Thank you very true very true
Newquay is the worst - i dont think ive ever heard a cornish accent in Newquay
12 7:02 years ago I went to Port Talbot, Wales for a work meeting. I was really shaken by what I saw, the place looked like the aftermath of a war, everything shuttered down and closed with no signs of life. People drinking aimlessly in pubs at 10am and so many just aimlessly wondering the streets lime zoombies (drunk or on drugs). The more places I visited the more I visited over the decade the more I realised that MOST towns in the UK now have this affliction, completely bordered up, shut down and lifeless.
'Bordered' up?
Most town centres are identikit aswell, same chain pubs, shops and fast food joints
@itsinthetreesitscoming7431 he meant boarded up.
A very good video to be totally honest and factually correct.
We live in Cornwall and have done for almost 20 years. We are fortunate to live out in the sticks and in a remote village where people are friendly and the crime rate is minimal/non-existent. Houses are higher priced but it does reflect the area we live in. Cornwall does have issues - drugs, unemployment, low salaries and a Local Authority that screws us for council tax and wastes it paying their dead wood employees offering little in return, a police force that are only around when there is "an incident" because there are not enough of them to go round, poor public transport links, some teenagers who will never work and who have multiple children under the age of 5 , little chance of a decent paid job unless you are already in one, an overall apathetic attitude because residents cannot get money so alot turn to to drugs and ultimately crime. A lot of areas do need massive cash injections to make them presentable and often viable but dont see that anytime soon. So that is the bad side however there is a good side.
The good side is that it welcomes several million tourists each year, it used to be between April and October but now pretty much all year and Xmas/New Year is just as busy as the summer. It has stunning beaches, scenery, lovely people, tourist hotspots along the north coast, a reasonably good road network and brings visitors back year on year - some of whom decide to move here. We are not Cornish but have adapted to the slower pace of life, clean air, friendly and helpful people and a place that we call home. We have lived in big cities and towns, worked in the rat race, had dirty streets, overpopulated places and high crime but do not in any way have that now. I dont worry when I leave my house, I dont revert to crime to make ends meet, have worked all my life (yes I have the ability and intelligence to hold a decent job down) and close my door when I come home and think how lucky I am to live in a nice place, where neighbours talk, a community is there to be part of and crime is low bordering on non-existent. If you are pleasant to people they will be pleasant to you (manners cost nothing), integrate with society and embrace the county for what it is and look for the positives.
I live within 4 miles of one of the towns mentioned and it is very accurately portrayed but go a few miles away from those town centres and it opens up a whole new world and one that I am more than happy to live in. The town centres are run down due mainly to rising (greedy shop owners) rents, main street shops trimming resource so getting closed due to online shopping and supermarkets vying for your business so being involved in price wars when they can. Food is food wherever you go but we all need to eat. The overriding factor though is quality of life and Cornwall has this in abundance.
Ironically, St Austell town centre was knocked down about 10ish years ago for the new White River Place development, which caused the beginning of the decline as people got used to going elsewhere if they could (usually Truro), and the town council put the rents up to claw money back which then pushed a lot of the independent businesses out. Add to it the two homeless shelters with the residents' incumbent problems and you've got yourself a winning TurdTown. I used to work outside of the town centre and my lift would frequently see drug deals going on in the car park, also someone once drove into the carpark of our building, in full view of all the windows, pulled down his trousers and injected something into his groin area. Also had a car left there which was later set on fire as an insurance job. Classy. People used to leave the building in twos, especially in the winter.
Also the saying about Bodmin is because of St Lawrence's Hospital, which was a mental asylum. The old building has been demolished but the current hospital still houses all our mental health wards. Hope the chap in the fountain is doing OK.
The "lovely" White River Place, which began sinking just a couple of years after it was built and STILL leaks like fuckery. I use the gym there andeach timeut rains the poor staff have to place bins everywhere in the gym to catch the rainwater.
The cowardly little cider-swilling cockroaches in the churchyard are another example of the pride in this town. Real credit to society, they are.
Then you have the Baptist nutjobs encouraging the junkies from up-country and making things worse.
The wonderful Thin Endhas gone, as has the best oubs. The Scorps kept the local rat population under control and you could actually have a night out back then without being sexually harassed or someone starting a fight.
I did a stint living in Snozzle. The signs were there for the decay back then in 2004/2005. But it was much nicer then. Also it is by the sea. Charles town is part of St Austell and that has a beach etc. There were some great people back then living in Snozzle so it's kinda sad to see it decline. Ironically, I live in Plymouth now (which was on the Devon list) and despite it having some grotty parts, Plym has sunk a lot of money into regeneration. The city centre and the Barbican is better for nights out. Not many cities that you can walk from the centre to the seafront down some steps of the Hoe sea front and sunbathe on little beaches. It seems to be a big hit with University students. So yep, St Austell looks really awful but sad to see it decline. Plymouth is up and coming - glad I moved ftom Snozzle 17 years ago.
@@Mardi-Shorts-DevonGirlUK Charlestown looks like a shanty town now with all the popup toursty shit. Ruined.
We used to slide down the clay chutes as kids and came out looking like ghosts and then the guys working there would swear and chase us off. We were little shits, tbh.
@@domino5392 oh that's a shame. I used to enjoy Charlestown on my days off from being a local pub worker. Used to jog up along the cliffs around there too. Are you St Austell born and bred? We probably knew similar people depending on our age. I've got good memories of St Austell living, St Austell people and exploring all the pretty areas near by. Fingers crossed that Snozzle town gets a face-lift and becomes up and coming 🙂
I went to college and lived in the town for a little while. Bloody horrible place...
I'm from Hampshire but lived in Cornwall for 2 years. Having lived in other parts of the country too, the wages in Cornwall were by far the worst I'd encountered. You were lucky to get £10 an hour in a skilled position. The next thing I encountered was the phenomenonally high rent and property price in general, in 2017 the pokey 2 bedroom flat I rented was 750 a month. Throw 500 in for bills on top of that . A simple maths equation left me with only pocket change at the end of each month. Your mortgage eligibility in the UK is 4 times your annual salary, so if you earn £10 an hour that's £17000 a year which is a mortgage eligibility of £71000. There are no houses in Cornwall at that price. So essentially you could work your arse off and never be able to buy your own place. I don't blame cornish people for getting on the drugs, they're fighting a losing battle
Thanks AP. It is really good to get a breakdown like that. Here in a seaside town in Australia as a carpenter you will earn the equivalent of 25 pounds an hour but the average house is around 500,000 pounds.
@I Began good luck finding that 👍🏻
@I Began I think the real measure is how many years does it take to pay off a home. Seems like it is easier in Europe and the UK than in Australia, Canada or New Zealand. Still, I love my life in au.
@I Began 80000 is 9k more than 71k. Again, good luck finding a house in Cornwall for 71k
@I Began What a life to live spending your entire wage on a mortgage to live in a tiny 1 bedroom flat. That's if the estate agent gives you the time of day when you explain your wage just covers the mortgage and not bills too, any estate agent worth their salt would know you're high risk. Plus an apartment will have a maintenance charge as its a leasehold, that'll cost upwards of 100 a month. You're talking out your arse unfortunately
Your descriptions of each place you mention are very accurate. I met my wife (a Cornish girl) in Newquay in 1967. Then it was a great place with lots of nightlife, fabulous beaches and surfing. We went back in 2017 to find the place where we met. Newquay is now a shit-hole. We lived in London when we married but we then moved to St Austell in 1974. Easily the worst years of my life. Not much work and not much pay - a complete struggle. What was worse, though, was the fact that 75% of people would not speak to me once they found out I came from London. I managed to last three years down there but could not stand it anymore. We came back to London and civilisation.
Your obvously not working class because Newquay is a very nice town, lots of restaurants, bars, live music, beaches walks etc. You clearly are stuck in the past where everyone says how beautiful it was, i agree with this also as i started in Newquay in 1976, yes it is different but so is every town in the country if not every bloody where.
Civilisation 😂
@@SILVERFOXSOCIETY I think he's just old enough to remember how beautiful it was. That's not being stuck in the past. I saw an old VHS tape of Newquay back in the 80s. And the place just looked so much better and cleaner. And that was the 80s. The general consensus is that it was even better in the 60s and 70s. Plus the stuff that made Newquay great has gone. The Blue Lagoon was a great swimming venue, that looks like it needs tearing down now (well Last time I seen it anyway), I remember the Harbour looking so much better with way more things to do for kids like swings and crazy golf, and kids were allowed to jump in the water. Run to the Sun used to be filled with kids in the town shooting water pistols at each other, and the street market at Lusty Glaze was great. And the nightlife was Newquay was SOO much better than it is now. The Irish pub and bikers bar long gone.
My parents moved to Cornwall in 1973 and I ended up going to School there . The Cornish kids wouldn't speak to anyone who wasn't from Cornwall so I ended up mixing with the kids who weren't Cornish for the first few months but eventually they accepted us . There really didn't like anyone from "up country" in the early 1970s . After leaving Cornwall about 20 years ago now I wish I had grown up somewhere else .When I left I realized how insular it is down there .
You got that spot on, just subscribed. Loved the comment from Rotherham saying it all looks nice as there was no fly tipping and nothing was on fire 😂
One suggestion : Instead of using average house prices where outliers can throw the results, how about using the median which would give a more accurate account of what most people living there pays?
Will do
Damn right, St Austell's average is high because of all the million pound houses and manors. Not to mention all the mansions in higher Gover, Porthpean and Carlyon. Before the pandemic you could get a 3 or 4 bed house for under £200,000 (seen them for 160-180k too), some with a sea view! The video only shows an old council estate and some run down Sanctuary houses, and makes out these houses (which obviously aren't for sale) aren't worth the money 😂
@@JoshsFish exactly these emmets haven't a clue of the area , best keep it that way . We don't want them ! .
No one works in Cornwall so does it really matter? lol
St. Austell is known as St. Awful by Cornish folk. It's a place you drive past while doing the sign of the Cross repeatedly.
😂😂
Couple of those towns, like St Austell, are 15 minute bus rides or an hours walk from huge empty beaches and private coves. Not all grim and certainly not like their equivalents up north.
The town itself is though.
@@TurdtownsMany from St Austell are scornful of the ignored unpleasantness that exists, can’t comment on the town myself as haven’t been there for probably 40 years.
@@Turdtowns So? So are towns everywhere that do not have the other places Cornwall has. Your articel was unbalanced and wrong.
Try doing Middlesborough, parts of Scarborough, and many many other N.towns( I was born in the North). They make all of Cornwall paradise and the proximity of the sea all around is terrific. Shame you see so much to run down.
@@cynthiastogden7000 No sea around Scarborough and Middlesborough?
I was born in Cornwall and moved when I was 18 for uni. Haven’t gone back since (apart from going down to visit family ). There is not much hope or opportunities for me or others my age (I am 27 now). People say to me “oh wow you are from Cornwall!! How lucky!) Feel like they need to see this video. Cornwall is amazing but isn’t all sunshine and roses! This is the accurate real Cornwall.
Can I ask where are you move to?
Exactly what people say to me when I tell them I'm from Cornwall.. then I have to explain.
This isn't the accurate Cornwall for everybody at all. I moved to Cornwall from London over a decade ago and I never want to leave. It all depends on where you are. Sure the towns listed in this video are probably the worst in Cornwall, but even those are a million times better than many other places in the UK. Every county has its crap areas, the worst down here isn't that bad. It's not great either, but there are far worse places you could live in this country. You are right about career opportunities though. There is very little work down here, not a great place for young people setting out in life, but I would imagine it's an incredible place to grow up.
Students who study in Falmouth seem to like it.
Plenty stay in the area after they graduate.
I'm dissapointed Truro wasn't on here, but Truro is the city of Cornwall so it makes sense. Awesome video!
Being from Kernow, I can concur with the conclusions here. It's very funny, but depressingly accurate. Cornwall has suffered for hundreds of years.
Mostly caused by people who think its Kernow ,its england ,simples
@@martinjeffery3590 Oh god. One of those idiots ('Trolls' I believe the term is). Funnily enough, the evidence actually stacks up against you. Without equivocation.
What about Curnow ?
Well that’s been an eye opener ! I’m from the north and have never been to Cornwall but have often thought that it must be gorgeous and very affluent, never did I think that certain places would as run down as some of the towns featured, especially people doing skag in a church yard with human shite laying about. It’s quite shocking really.
I'm from the north but live in Cornwall.
He definitely got the list right but nowhere in Cornwall is like say Grimsby or Hull. There's nothing like that down here . Most places are very pretty and it's very safe . Lowest crime rate of any county.
But the entire economy does consists of selling ice cream and pasties. Cleaning hotels , care work and building Holliday homes .
Your either a owner so and very very wealthy. Or worker and very poor.
It’s the shite which feeds those pretty spring flowers among the abandoned gravestones - so we’re very grateful, really.
Yeah I'm from Wigan, but grew up in Penzance, most places are run down and boring, especially as everything is too expensive for people living here, and most things are closed during the winter and don't get repaired or vandalism fixed until just before the Easter holidays, but the difference is it doesn't feel as "scary" as being on estates up North, but I do miss being able to afford pies 😅
The guy is ill informed as there are only 15 towns in Cornwall, it's the way you word it
Dont bother using this Channel as a guide. All counties have poor areas, and Cornwall is no different. Wages are low in Cornwall, but generally that is not apparent, especially in the tourist areas. Cornwall has some beautiful places, and is well with a visit. Dont listen to the click baiter who runs this channel. He slagged off my home town on here, singling out the few negatives while ignoring the overwhelming positives. Oh, and I don't live in Cornwall, but I wish I did. They are so laid back they even have a word like the Spanish manjana. It's "Dereckly" as in "I'll do it Directly " which translated means "ill get around to it sometime ".
If I could add a positive note? Obviously there is a huge difference between living in Cornwall and visiting and I’m just back from my first ever holiday in Cornwall. We picked April to avoid the summertime congestion I’d heard so much about and got lucky with the weather - one really warm day, otherwise cold but dry and generally sunny. Stayed in Newquay (lewinnick Lodge) which has beautiful views across the bay. Night skies were spectacular- full of stars which we never see in London. We love our seafood and by and large Cornwall did not disappoint. Admittedly if I had to return to the tired high street on a regular basis, it might get me down but there’s a lovely harbour and beautiful beaches to distract the eye. Most definitely one of the better seaside towns I’ve been to.
There are lots of nice places to visit, and some of the scenery is beautiful. However just as this vid shows - so many places have been left to rot after a decline in industry. Also it's hard to live here with house prices being expensive due to popular second home demand, sort of driving people to move out to cities for work and joy.
Tourism in Cornwall also contributes less than folks think and the constant footfallis destroying our land and our culture here. 😢
Try St Ives next very beautifull town, sandy beaches, interesting acheteture, and plenty of decent restarants.
@D413373R but avoid St Ives in August at all costs...
@@AlisonBryen agreed, although i think when i went with my partner it was is late august and it was very busy indeed although as it was our first time there we still managed to enjoy ourselfes. 11hours and 6 changes for the train to get there was a nightmare though 😩
Awww, I like Penzance. Theres some great pubs!
Very friendly and down to earth people too!
I don’t mind it either but it’s got some bad stats
@Turdtowns True, I get that. I just wanted to put it out there that despite what the stats say, it's definitely worth a visit 👍.
Having lived in Cornwall all my life, and not in the touristy coastal areas, i can concur that most of the stuff talked about here is true. Cornwall is a deprived, depressing place where the sun only shines on TV. Wages are poor, house prices are high and opportunities are low. And i can't see it getting better.
We have all that in Manchester, at least your county is beautiful. Lancashire is foreign dump these days.
Manchester is buoyant by comparison.
@@neilhilton35 It would depend on what you mean by buoyant.
@@lee4171 A bouyant economy with salaries to match. Sadly house prices to match too 😂
@@lee4171 Well I grew up in Launceston, the first town mentioned on the video, left when I was 18, and now live in Manchester. I prefer Manchester at least tenfold.
Born and brought in in the poor part of Cornwall. Sad, really sad to see what it has become. I moved away about 17 years ago and now dread to come back - and come only to see elderly relatives. So much has been wasted by naff schemes perpetuated by useless councils. Who remembers this daubed on Crofty's wall 'Cornish lads are fishermen, and Cornish lads are miners too. But when the fish and tin are gone what are the Cornish boys to do?' A really depressing video but true in an its rawness. By the way Turdtowns, the reason folk say 'going to Bodmin' refers to the now closed St Lawrence's Hospital in Bodmin (that was the workhouse). St Lawrence's was the main hospital in Cornwall for the mentally ill.
It’s nice to see Penzance on the list, my ex wife went to live there when we divorced. She’s probably the one taking it down the shitter.
Penzance is the end of the train line and many councils from up north send their folk down here on a one way ticket to get rid of their problem….
@@MatthewChapmanYT why doesn't Penzance send their soap dodgers and unruly, back up North, supplied with train tickets and bit of dosh. Get their own back on Northern councils? 😉
Lol
Penzance definitely has several beaches, they’re just not all golden sandy and more stoney than the north coast.
It’s also turned a corner and has lots of fantastic independent shops in the town. Every town is going to get it’s anti social problems and yes, there’s no getting away from the poverty in Cornwall, but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. You have a variety of shops and can walk 3 miles in any direction and literally be in a completely different landscape each time. It’s awesome.
Even st Austell?
I'm talking about Penzance…
Yes this got has got Penzance all wrong. It does indeed have beaches. Not one empty shop in town. And the only boarded up building shown was the old ritz which isn’t abandoned and awaiting restoration. Unfair judgment made here.
@@georginamartin1682 I said several times I didn’t hate Penzance and it wasn’t that bad. I also took the effort to visit Treneere to see if the media was lying and I spoke to locals. I think it’s a town on the up.
Penzance is great until 8pm..
We always hear about the north south divide but the south west is very often ignored in that conversation
Very true, St Austell used to be a lovely market town, busy and thriving, with lots of character then the eighties arrived and it started to go downhill with the loss of so much industry like China Clay, fishing and mining and all the smaller industries that serviced the bigger industries, then the planners tried to modernise it and ripped it’s heart out, so all it’s character went. We once had one of the best venues in the country Cornwall Coliseum on Crinnis Beach where we saw all the best bands of the Sixties and Seventies, where there were bars and roller skating and a huge swimming pool and discos and dancing, all closed then demolished to build a Cornish Benidorm development, that never got built! So sad to see it now so run down and taken over by druggies, believe it or not it was once a busy alive town.
@@marywebber593 I remember when the Eden Project was built people were sold the idea it would totally revive the town. It didn't
I live in the north but I’m from Cornwall. The north south divide is real. But as you say the s west is divided off from everything and forgotten. One good source of support from Europe wasn’t valued and many made the awful decision to vote for brexit too
went to Launceston once decided we never needed to go there again. also would regularly drive through Redruth and watch it getting a little more derelict each time
And Bodmin not much better, I think in this day and age we expect more from a town, we can’t go on blaming Covid forever
A little way outside most of these run down towns is glorious countryside and nice villages. Even within some of these towns are very upmarket areas. All the government money in Cornwall appears to spent in the Truro area by the county council. It’s like Panem in The Hunger Games. Truro is the jewel of Cornwall. Truro has everything, just like Panem!
Heard that a few times now Truro did look noce
Absolutely. St Austell the number One Turdtown, but take a walk down the 'Private' 'Sea Road on the towns seaward outskirts and look at the £4million + Mansions along the Cliffs there! Empty most of the year of course!
Sadly Truro had become so over-devloped it is in sharp decline and will be on this list in a year or two.
I volunteer as tribute!
@@mycroftsanchez901
Trura is still being developed! Langarth Garden Village is adding thousands of bunny-hutches, yet next to bugger all by way of supporting public infrastructure let alone adding any cultural value.
That's shocking. I visited Cornwall in the mid 90s camping & it was absolutely fantastic. I went to Newquay, St Ives, St Austell, Lands End. I had such a lovely time. So sad to see a place in decline.
Been in plateau of decline for decades lol
I’ve lived in Cornwall my whole life, this was a very accurate list. I especially agree with launceston- it’s basically the most boring town I’ve ever been to. The only part I disagree with as a local is Newquay- it’s changed so much recently, it’s becoming a really nice area. The tourists are the biggest problem as a lot of them are really stupid, but the town itself has a very good surfing culture and atmosphere. It’s still probably the best place in the uk for summer atmosphere and watersports. Especially the crantock/pentire area of Newquay, it’s really beautiful.
Typical Cornish attitude - blame the tourists. If it wasn't for tourists the whole of Cornwall would look like St. Austell. I have relatives who live in Padstow and while the town is 'ok', the surrounding countryside is beautiful. The problem is the 'locals' of Cornwall - on the whole a belligerent, mean spirited lot. The "local shop for local people" attitude is spot on.
Restormel council ruined the Newquay of the 70's & 80's, by pulling down stunning buildings and erecting monstrosities in their place. I'm glad, that since 2009, Konsel Kernow is cleaning up and making good the Newquay that I know and love. It's nice to get Newquay back after all the Emmets have gone back home. Newquay really is a lovely place.
I lived in Cornwall for 20 years and still have family there. The most notable aspect of Newquay to me was that virtually the whole town was shut in winter because so any shops were owned by people who only lived there in the summer but took all the tourist money home.
Aah, Newquay is so bleddy wonderful that the Duchy and other big developers are ploughing up every field as far as Quintrell Downs to increase the town's size by a third. No need to tidy up the town centre though; the incomers will all be working from home on upcountry salaries and do all their shopping online.
@@ChangesOneTim tiz true that shag
Some years ago I browsed the small Woolworth’s in Penzance and found it to be a most depressing experience. Less than half an hour after my visit some poor fellow entered the shop and cut his own throat in front of the shop assistants. I’ve often wondered if he had planned it that way or had just found it to be the last straw. RIP
Sounds like it was planned to be in front of one of those assistants, woolworths was the god of shops when i was young👍
@@noeyes6151 I’ve just googled ‘penzance woolworths suicide’ and read several newspaper reports. A tragic waste of a good looking young lad’s life.
LOL
@@sirierieott5882 Really?
Bill, I like your name. I am visualizing you wearing a Top Hat! 🎩🤔
Best wishes from a French forest.
This is typical of a lot of places around the UK away from London, Birmingham and Manchester where these areas suffer from extreme deprivation and poverty and Cornwall is no exception to this especially since the A30 has been almost completely upgraded to unbroken dual carriageway allthe way from the M5 at Exeter down near St. Ives. However, I did stay in Jaywick near Clacton a few weeks ago and despite Essex adjoining the Greater London area, even there was a huge difference between the rich areas of Frinton and Walton on the Naze to the East and Jaywick to the West of Clacton.
As someone who lives in a village half an hour from St Austell I can honestly say I never go there. You scratched the surface of the amount of visible drug and alcohol use in the town and It's intimidating. When you only visit tourist attractions on holiday you don't see the reality of anywhere.
But almost all those undesirables have been given one way tickets from their local councils to come to Cornwall.
Most the druggies in Cornwall are from northern towns
youre talking about Cosgarne hall - rehab that opened - the council got a huge amount of funding for it and suspect MONEY is the only reason they allowed it - that said - the service users are transfrerred to cosgarne from other areas - they are not technically 'locals' ......i think things started going wrong in 2008 when WOOLWORTHS shut down and many private retailers retired ....also home shopping on the internet has stopped people visiting the towns .....my opinion though is Newquay is worse - its chav central - you wont hear a cornish accent in newquay !
Clare:Are u in Fowey?I hope that dear place hasn't changed too much.Kernow Kensa.
@@susanmccormick6022 I'm not Susan. I live about three quarters of an hour from there but I can tell you it is still a very pretty place although we tend to avoid it in the summer.
I virtually never go into St Austell either.
Have you ever been down Minorca Lane in Bugle? That's third world poverty.
Hello! I am from Redruth! My house was actually in your video... Listen... you were wrong.... Cornwall is FAR worse than you thought xD
Agreed. If I was to describe how delicate the situation in Cornwall is, well there is nothing so delicate to describe it.
i am moving to redruth in a few months! what is park bottom like? is there many burglarys? i wont be in a lot of the time.
@@darknightofthescarecrow3551 in that respects it’s fine. Redruth used to be worse whereas now it’s mostly a town for old people
@@darknightofthescarecrow3551 although Park Bottom might technically be Redruth, in reality it isn’t and nobody there would say they live in Redruth. It’s Illogan, but you could probably get away with telling people you live in Tehidy 😂
As a suggestion, you ought to do a count of charity shops in each town.
It's a good yardstick to demonstrate the health of the local economy.
Councils would rather throw proper businesses out due to high leases and rent them to charities, than see them shut altogether.
Charity shops blight the High Street. They only pay 20% of business rates when that should be raised to 50%. They also pay less rent and get their staff for free without even expenses. Shop managers are paid the minimum wage for 6 days a week.
There are alternatives such as clothes swaps, bring and take book shelves in cafes and community centres and people putting out books etc out on their front garden walls for passers-by to take. There are also sharing websites and apps such as Freecycle, Freehle and Olio. Use them instead.
@@lemsip207 Agreed. Most are a total eyesore.
@TryptychUK I preferred the old run-down charity shops to the new pretentious ones. Because they were always pop ups and in return for reduced rent and rates they had to move out if a business wanted to move in. Plus you knew you could buy cheap in there.
@@lemsip207 Very true. I can accept that, but a lot of these are now permanent fixtures. They should pay the same as everybody else.
@@TryptychUK Or 50% of business rates.
I stayed in St Austell for 3 nights about 5-6 years ago for a wedding. While the town centre is nothing to write home about I didn't find it to be too bad. It was a bit run down, but there were at least a few OK chain restaurants, pubs, and quirky shops. It may have helped that I was there in the height of summer which tends to bring out the best in people and places.
Once you stray from the high street though, that's where you see the characters you mentioned - surly looking addicts with beady eyes. I didn't experience any trouble, but I definitely didn't feel too safe either. More than anything there was just an atmosphere that was hard to out into words (which you mentioned), I've only felt that same feeling before in the Welsh valleys and certain parts of London.
It's really sad actually, many places in Cornwall just feel totally neglected by the government. It's a shame because it is a beautiful county with some great people
I live in st Austell and yes it had bad places but u did not mention the great beaches , great inde cinema ,Eden, heligan, meva, Charlestown, yes a 24 hr supermarket , people who live in st Austell don’t use the town centre we live around it and go elsewhere
That’s helping to run the town down though because nobody shopping in the town centre makes the local economy worse as your forcing once successful small busines into poverty
All the places you mentioned are outside of there apart from the 24hr supermarket. Is that the only positive of it?
I live about three miles from St Austell and I can't remember the last time I went into the town centre.
exactly, this video seems to just look at town centre and not surroundings
Ive noticed that all the shopping centres where i live Cosham, Portsmouth, Waterlooville, are mainly Charity, Betting and Poundshops, along with boarded up shop fronts. This has been a continuous trend over the last few years, the lockdowns just added to the situation.
Amazon!
I'm in fratton what a shithole now!!
My uncle’s funeral was in a massive chapel in Bodmin which then became a Wetherspoons but even that has closed I think. Went on a fantastic bike ride on the Camel trail which starts there and goes to Padstein via Wadebridge which are far more touristy. Still means getting out of Bodmin was better than staying.
All roads which lead away from Bodmin are worth using, even the cycling trail…
It was a wetherspoons until not long back and now I believe it's under the punch tavern umbrella
I’ve always wanted to live there it’s been a dream of mine however after watching this I’ve changed my mind and stick where I am. The grass definitely isn’t always greener
Plenty of nice places in Cornwall still
If you think Cornwall's bad, you could always try: Bloxwich, Rugeley, West Bromwich, Skipton, Stockton, Blyth
Skipton isn't deprived, quite the opposite
I came to Cornwall in 1970 and it was a great place to be . It has declined over the years due to the influx of second home owners , tourists and students . So keep these vids coming and hopefully they will all go back from whence they came . It will never be what it once was but i
it can only improve !!!
Unfortunately, it’s only us “tourists” that will keep places going. I live in East Devon but holiday in Cornwall. We are the same here, places like Lyme Regis thrive but my hometown ,Axminster, is dying on its feet. X
What a hypocrite....
We need jobs the area has been stripped of are proud history of not long ago.
Holmans the biggest mining college in Europe shows this are former late and great former MP David Penhaligon said in a speech.
Wages here are at least 15% lower, unemployment in towns 15% up to 20% you cannot base an economy stacking deck chairs and selling ice cream!
Hey James. Take your head out of the sand. You can also blame the tourist industry and the main council for running these towns to the ground. High rent, and the landlords just do whatever they want, plus Cornwall Council putting up car park charges to deter car usage. What better way to destroy towns and cities.
@@stephenholmes1036 councils and politicians banging on about equality but there's no equality of wages!
Really enjoying in these videos. I think you guys a doing a great service highlighting these much forgotten areas.
Thanks my friend
Sad decline like Most of the UK holiday resorts ...Cornwall was thee place in my era 60s 70s 80s..i had family that lived 10 miles or so outside St Austell ,quaint villages ,to die for beaches,great country pubs ,a feeling of tranquility and safety,fantastic memories that all my family still share at get togethers ....how sad to see such a decline,...having not visited since my grandmother past away 20 years ago ,and the remaining residents..moved out of the area to North Devon...i do hope Cornwall can return to the good times ,but sadly i fear the rot has set in for good...
We live in Looe and have for the last 10 years for retirement, love it, haven’t regretted it one little bit. There are a few non desirable places but most of it is very beautiful! It’s lovely in the winter, if the weather is good, when the tourists have gone home and the beaches are empty to walk and have a paddle! We live in a lovely community and the people of Looe are very friendly. ❤❤Looe
It sure is a nice place
The moment I saw the first turd towns video I knew Cornwall is coming up soon in the future and I bloody well knew that my home town liskeard was going to show up. A not so proud podium indeed. All the money is going towards a library no one entered even before the restoration and the opening of a Wetherspoons right next door only made the high street a less safe place past 9pm than before. I’m happy with how the video turned out though. Good job mate. 🎉
At least you have Trago's :)
We didn’t get to go in Trago’s it looked really cool from the outside though!
Im cornish. Left 20 years ago .. thank god! Live up north now.. LOVE IT! Edinburgh.. lake district... love it! Beaches up in scotland ..wow! Castles mountians lakes .. great people.. yeah toodles cornwall .. eary quiet backward slowest part of my life!!
'Your water bill is not the one to fear' Trust me, you do if you live in the South West Water region, it's hundreds of pounds higher than it is in the rest of the country, when i lived in Devon, it was around £400 more than in Wiltshire at the time (not sure what it's like nowadays but i'm sure not a lot has changed). Regarding St Austell also, it's actually Carlyon Bay nearby which is quite nice, as is Charlestown.
They still can’t shut your water off. They are terrified of customer complaints too.
@@Turdtowns Wait & see,if we don't get enough rain this year there will be more drought restriction measures & if that fails the water will get turned off.
@@jonathanlake6053 they've extended the hose pipe ban, but at least we got £30 off our bill...
As someone who has lived in Cornwall for all my life, a lot of the things you've said were really accurate and you've answered a question on what caused the downfall of many Cornish towns.
Initially, I quite liked Cornwall growing up but to my surprise, September 2018 was when things went horribly wrong as I kept on facing a lot of issues as a lot of people started to treat me like I didn't matter or my problems were not a priority but luckily I had a support group that made sure things didn't escalate, this is still happening to this day but not as much as it used to back then. Things got so bad that I nearly lost all of my respect for Cornwall and I started to make plans to move out when I'm ready. I really did find it really hard to have something nice to say about Cornwall after 2018 as every time I do find the good in Cornwall, another bad thing happens (welcome to the real world) but back in December 2022, I started to feel like that the bad things that had happened in Cornwall between 2018 - 2021/22 actually did benefit me as I used the hard times to make videos about overcoming problems and hope for a brighter future, although I haven't made any videos like that at the moment, the first set of videos are in the development stage and hoping to release them soon.
I would like to thank you for making this video as after 5 years of figuring out what went wrong, I finally have an explanation for what caused the downfall of many Cornish towns as whenever I explain the issues with living in Cornwall, they say that "It's normal for people like me to want to move up-country (Cornish slang for outside of Cornwall) because there isn't much to do down here." which they were right but that was by far not the only reason why I wanted to leave and I think it's safe to say that the decline of the mining industry in Cornwall had a massive impact on modern day Cornwall and why things are the way they are.
I do genuinely wish that things don't get any worse in Cornwall and I have learnt that I shouldn't blame the entirety of Cornwall for the problems I've faced growing up there as I have a lot of nice memories and made a lot of supportive friends on the way but instead, condemn the people that made Cornwall look bad as it had affected me a lot. One thing I can say is that you've earned a sub for raising awareness about the dark side of the county and hopefully, the dark side will be a bit more brighter.
UPDATE (September 20, 2023): I would like to announce that the 5-year anniversary of me having these terrible experiences whilst being in Cornwall is coming next week and earlier today, I had a talk with one of the people involved in this 5-year long issue I’ve been trying to sort out since the very beginning and turns out that the problems I’ve had these past 5 years was actually caused by a misunderstanding rather than the mines closing down. It really is quite mad how 1 misunderstanding can cause a series of problems for half a decade but what’s important is that it is finally resolved and I feel I now realise what has caused my time in Cornwall to be ruined for the past 5 years. Of course, some of the bad things might still happen and there’s still more steps I need to take for some other problem I faced growing up in Cornwall, I’m still fighting and I’ll always be fighting for a better Cornwall for all (the county’s motto is in fact “one and all” after all) even when I relocate to Bournemouth or Exeter in 2024. I would also like to mention that I still believe the mines closing down did put a huge financial strain on the county especially the former mining towns that are like some sort of wasteland and it’s getting clear now that the decline of the mining industry did have a part in Cornwall’s decline but they was indeed more factors that lead to the county’s decline that has been happing since 2018.
You know what they say, 5th year’s the charm.
Great to hear it from someone who grew up in Cornwall. Appreciate it - thanks.
Life's what you make it , so it's everyone's fault you had issues.. Cornwall is better off without you buddy . Funny the community I live in seems quite happy.
As a Cornishman i pretty much guessed all 8, i'm glad St Awful took the top spot. On the population side Falmouth is usually 1st due to the huge influx of students.
Camborne/Pool/Redruth is by far the biggest urban area.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that we were getting free money from the EU.
For every pound we contributed to the EU, we got 40p back and that’s at the top end. If Cornish people kept all those pounds they wouldn’t be giving 60p away to Greek pensioners to retire at 56
There might well be something in the water in Cornwall. Back in July 1988, 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate was accidentally released to the water supply for the town of Camelford.
Annual figures released by Defra say that raw sewage was dumped into rivers and coastal areas by private water companies 301,091 times in 2022. This amounts to a shocking 1.75 million hours, or over 800 spills every single day.
I recall it turned people’s hair green.
Your post is spot on...Visited Penzance and " St Austerity " in 2014....People there look like Death Warmed up....and WHY are most of the girls FAT and covered with Tattoos??? HORRIBLE 😞😔
@@oldfascist38.evil. Maybe the davos mob had something to do with it
I agree about most of these - was really surprised to see Penzance on here, though - not sure where you went, there, but it’s a lovely town! Excellent food destinations, lots of independent shops, plenty to do, an Art Deco salt water Lido and a lovely beach, lovely parks like Morrab and Penlee and several galleries. There are some housing estates, but the centre of town is primarily made up of rather fine Georgian townhouses and terraces.
From the video it looks like he walked up Queen Street (with the boarded-up Ritz cinema and the discount furniture store), up Causewayhead (which he mistakenly calls the main street), then up St Clare Street past the block of flats and the housing estates towards the hospital and the A30. Not exactly a highlight tour of Penzance.
I agree. I live near Penzance and I think it’s a lovely town with a lot going for it. Sure, there are some run down areas, but I used to live in Manchester - a great city in many ways - and if you really want to know what depressed looks like, some of its outlying districts make Penzance look like Monaco!
@@VoyagesDuSpectateur yes agree. you can find crappy areas in every town. Penzance has Mounts Bay, and a beautiful coast line, elegant houses (Chapel Street) where the Bronte's mother Maria lived. Lots of history and a great vibe to the town. Am also very surprised to see PZ on here.
Penzance is great, apart from the house prices, and the drug problems, and the violence and the general crime, and nothing to do, and low wages, etc. etc.
Penzance is lovely. To be fair he didn't mention the art Deco lido in Plymouth or the historic busy Barbican and the Hoe sea front in Plymouth when he stuck it on Devon's list. I'm not sure how much he actually checks out these places properly 🤔
Hey........ I live in Launceston 😂.... fun fact, during ww2, some American troops were based here, one evening there was a shoot out between the Black's and White's, you see Launceston locals were OK with black soldiers in the pubs but the white Americans just couldn't hack it, so over a bit of time tension started to grow and there was a gun fight, some of the buildings and the war memorial in the town square still have bullet marks on them 👍
I went on a family holiday to Cornwall 30 years ago and for all it looked very nice, it was really a county that was based on retired people and tourists with very little industry outside of tourism. The less touristy places like Redruth had unemployment rates like inner cities.
And in 30 years retired people and holiday makers started to go to Spain, but don't worry, with Brexit retired people will be forced back into the UK and will be forced to live in any shittown they can afford!
It was wonderful here 30 years ago. Had its problems, like every town does. But it was alot more colourful andwas less whitewashed with twee images of small boats and cottages, etc.
Bit of a what came first, chicken or egg issue. Are the drug issues home grown or imported from elsewhere?
@@lisapinfold506both you get drugs everywhere
I lived in Cornwall for most of my life but left 15 years ago x its sad to see the terrible decline in that time x it was always poor but there was a great sense of community and it is of course very beautiful x I think the decline is more to do with drug use than anything else
I'm in awe of your descriptions.
This sort of thing's worth knowing if you're thinking of going somewhere.
Thanks my friend that’s always our aim means a lot that you think that.
Really sad - I remember St Austell from the days of The General Wolfe, Saffron Records, and the Cornwall Coliseum. Seems like the proximity of the Eden Project isn't benefitting Snozzle very much.
No like all large business owners they just horde their money instead of helping the local community
I visited st Austell recently and it's bad. Yet 10mins away,mevagissey and charlestown are really nice.
Love how you say these towns aren't as bad as the Welsh Valleys, as a former resident of the valleys, i found myself thinking these places looked quite up market!
Apart from St Awful
I currently in the valleys it’s the most depressing place I have ever lived particularly in the winters but have little choice at moment, but it’s degradation on another level 😂😂
I was born and brought up in St Austell but moved away years ago, and sad to say, you got this spot on. There really are high levels of deprivation and a sense of hopelessness, typified by the drug use. It’s v sad to see, and there are still some delightful surrounding areas, but I don’t see it recovering.
Someone I know who lives in Cornwall calls st. Austell st. Awful. Sad really.
If you moved away years ago - How do you know what it’s like 🤷🏻♂️
I feel like I'm missing something. I thought these town to be ok. They looked really clean
@@lightfootpathfinder8218 That's because there is so much crime there is no shortage of litter pickers on Community Service!
@@SteveChiverton as someone from Rotherham I don't buy that as we have plenty of crime lmao 😂
What a sad video this turned out to be. I am heartbroken to see the state the Cornwall has got itself in to. When I was a kid I lived for a short time in Bodmin and coming from London I was enthralled with it and never wanted to leave. All the other places you mentioned have good memories for me but now I am close to tears. So so sad.
Because when you go on holiday to Cornwall or visit for the day from Devon it's easy to bypass Redruth, Camborne, St Austell and Bodmin as the by passes take you around them. You can get to the Eden Project without going through St Austell. They are only places you pass through on the train to Penzance, Land's End, St Ives and Falmouth.
We once hired bicycles at Padstow to cycle on the trail to Bodmin but got as far as the vineyard passing through Wadebridge on the way.
I live in Newquay, it's definately got the best nightlife in Cornwall. There's always a band or DJ in the pubs and some place are open until 4am. We have a zoo aquarium, airport that flys to Europe. Every type of restaurant from fine dining to Pizza Indian Chinese and Mexican plus many others..
I'm in bed by 10,
4am night clubs are no use to me any more 😂
@@Peterbrendanalbert I had a nightmare experience with a very expensive Pukka pie in Newquay....benchmark
Had a indian in nesquay was vommingting it up soon after lamb passanda nice beach views in restaraunt pacjed but food poisoning
I sang on an open mic in Newquay got asked for an encore. Feel I made a good impression.
Great video, well done. The disparity is quite unnerving, I know most of Cornwall reasonably well and once stayed in Padstow for around 6 weeks out of season, quaint but even then (1993.) it was changing and monied Londoners lapping up the fayre of Rick Stein whilst local people continued with their normal lives. Maybe not the best example but I understand why the Cornish can be a little unfriendly at times.
It’s absolutely sickening when Londoners buy Locals out taking there homes, buying Business fronts
In the late 1970's a friend of mine bought his first house in Padstow because he couldn't afford anything in Newquay.
My parents moved to Camborne from Kent in the early 1970s . I remember it when the mines were open , it was a thriving town its sad to see what it is like now ( and Redruth also ). I am glad I left Cornwall there isn't a future there .
As a long-term Cornwall resident I'd say this is a solid list. Bodmin/St Austell I knew would take the top spots. Although it's a smaller town, I'd probably put Camelford somewhere in the bottom half, it's r declined into a proper shithole over the last 20 years or so.
Along with Callington and Torpoint. I agree about Camelford. I'm inclined to nominate Delabole as the most depressing place in the whole county.
I live in Cornwall, and despair at its TV portrayal of an idyllic place to live work and play. Most of it is grim, and even if you live in one of the more pleasant places, a Cornish winter of unremitting wind rain and "Cornish clag"will be sure to get you asking, "what have I done"
We got to know many people who relocated to Cornwall, expecting year round summer
We found if they coped through two winters they usually stayed!
Excited to see you come to North Wales at some point. Rhyl, Holywell, Denbigh and Bethesda would all feel at home on these lists...
For everyone stating their shock, this is happening all over the world at a much larger and potent rate, this isn’t a British issue. Someone estimated around 20% is like that? That numbers higher in Japan (several ghost towns, weak infrastructure etc) same with US, France (thousands of tents scattered around full of immigrants that looks like something out of Last of Us, also same in the US, I could go on. The UK without a doubt has to fix areas but this is happening everywhere, I haven’t seen a ghost town in Britain, they exist in most other countries particularly so called developed countries like Japan where their population is plummeting and town after town is slowly disconnecting from society.
Don't worry about those people in tents in France - they are all waiting for their number to come up to hop onto a boat to the UK in designer clothes, holding an iPhone and heading to a 4* hotel. Then a s..t leftie lawyer will get legal aid to ensure they say here.
World economic forum. I rest my case
In a small way it's also happening in Australia, a so called "Lucky Country" with lots of minerals for sale. Homelessness has been a huge problem for at least 5 years and it's on the increase. Thankfully Labor is now in government after almost 10 years of massive neglect by the conservatives, the Liberal National Coalition Party (LNP) who talked lots and did nothing for anyone but their wealthy mates plus massive corruption and sex scandals I won't bother to go into details. Labor has recently launched a housing policy amongst many other fantastic policies and has promised thousands of new house's to be built for the homeless over many years.
@@somattalistenta all by design WEF own nothing be happy 2030
Yep, it's a scary future for sure.
Same problem as Wales, etc. When the traditional local industries pack in, obviously the surrounding areas suffer. There never seems to be anything like the amount of practical help given either, the places are just left to deteriorate year after year. It's disgusting, and a crying shame for the local working people who aren't able to just relocate like the more middle class people. Once that happens it's a steady downwards slide for the area, and it's increasingly difficult to recover. Many places never do...
I'm from south wales and I can't disagree with mr. turdtowns.
The best thing you can do is not be there in the first place. when a generation has passed flatten it and redevelop it as a prime location. the scenery of some locations can be awesome once the deprivation has passed. - we visited Abertillery recently. It was heartbreaking seeing what had happened to a once thriving community. Still very hilly mind that can't be changed.
It’s a vicious cycle if you’re born there it’s hard to break it
I love South Wales, but you can see the effect of the mines closing, etc.
@@David-wf1hr I live in Abertillery! It's not that bad of a town, but it's a pity the town center is a bit run down these days with not really any shops worth visiting. There's far worse places around here though
I've lived in Cornwall all my life and visited all of these town extensively, I'd say the crime rate is the best metric here, placing liskeard at the top, it literally has no redeeming factors where as many of the towns mentioned do have at least a handful. It is sad to see so many of these towns in such decline, especially with so much money floating around some of the more fortunate coastal towns.
What did you visit lol. Poundland?
Very sad to see the state of St. Austell now, it was a little slice of heaven when I grew up there in the 70's, back when the white pyramids had pointy tops. The lovely people and beautiful countryside repeatedly let down by p1ss poor local and state government. Glad my parents cant see it now, they'd be heartbroken.
I agree. I grew up there in the 1970's too.
Remember Saffron Records?
Yup, spent a fair chunk of my teenage years in there! @@cornishhh
@@martianmuppet I spent a fair chunk of my teenage money in there!
Kevin the manager knew the type of music that his customers liked and would recommend new artists based on that knowledge.
The media seems to con people about Cornish weather. Met office records show that rainfall is higher than anything on the eastern side of the country.
My friend lives in Redruth. I have visited there many, many times and you're pretty much bang on. It's not the worst place in the world but it's very depressing. It is surrounded by lots of beautiful areas though so you have to travel to lift your spirits.....
I visited St Austell 50 years ago wow how can a place deteriorate so much 😢same with the other places you featured 😮
Happening all over the world. No work. Anybody with any get up and go, gets up and goes.
Ahahaha I grew up near St Austell and I'm not at all surprised to hear it's the worst place in Cornwall. Surprisingly, I've been told it was a decent town in the 70s-80s, which is really shocking. It was grim when I was growing up and it's gotten so much worse ever since.
Ye I can see how it may have been okay at one time
yeah the older folks say the same exact thing about Penzance, Newlyn, St Ives, Camborne, Redruth, St Just, Pendeen, etc etc. 😅
St Austell in the 1970's was good. Then ECLP started shedding staff, out of town supermarkets started to appear, and the main street was pedestrianised. Most of us who grew up there left.
Lived in Camborne in the early 1990s and it was the same then as it is now, I still go back from time to time with work and to see friends, I also fell in love with Cornwalll back themn and need to go back regularly :). Despite the poverty they were three happy years with the locals being friendly and welcoming. I think I agree with your ranking having visited all of the towns in the last few years. However, there is hope as you point out with the high probability of mining restarting in the county, it would be fantastic to see Cornwall enjoy the prosperity it once had again.
I had the good fortune to live in Cornwall for about 12 years (St Ives and Porthleven mostly). I also had the misfortune to live in Newquay for a summer and Penzance for a year. You would only spend time there to a)watch the rugby. b) get drunk and c) bet your mates on who would be next to get thrown out of the pub. (sometimes the thrower would open the door first).
Hi to all my friends in Cornwall!
Newquay was great back in the 80s, went back in the early 2000s and it broke my heart. It's now Blackpool South.
At least Blackpool is cheap….
Cornwall is not exceptional, most towns are in decline, where i live in the East Midlands, where rents are through the roof, every old house multiple occupancy, rubbish strewn in the gardens, empty boarded up shops, rough sleepers, people begging outside Morrisons, makeshift tents in the park, rubbish everywhere, the smell of cannabis in the air, hoody wearing dark clothed Young men, watching for opportunities to steal, loud voices at night, groups of scruffy foreign men smoking outside the shopping centre, (half derelict of course) 80% of voices are foreign in town centre, most of the shops Euro stores, Turkish Barbers, junk food takeaways, cars parked on the pavements, 20 years ago my town was a thriving decent, clean and tidy place, a town I was proud of, now it's a nightmare.
You've just described Wolverhampton perfectly!
All by design WEF
You blokes turned into America in just a decade.
I had to move several years ago. The cost of living is ridiculous. I now live in the North East, decent people up here, but my daughters will not grow up knowing Cornwall, which is a shame, my family goes back to the middle ages in Cornwall.
Why don't you get one of those 'Made In Kernow' flag tattoos on your left chest side - then Cornwall will always be close to your heart...😊 (I'm from down ere so I can pull ya leg)
Everyone goes back to the middle ages when they visit Cornwall.
@@Guttlegob haha very true!!
Many of the locals that I have met, call Devon and Cornwall the 'forgotten counties' and you can see why.
Launceston has a great 2ft gauge railway that runs out into the country for about a mile and is well worth the visit. For this reason I think it is a great town to visit.
it's bloody expensive for what it is and unlike the castle locals don't get a discounted rate add to the fact that theres naff all to do in town it's no wonder Lanson is dead
* i'm a Lansoner/ I live in Launeston*
I recently visited Penzance two years ago and I had a good time for two days. The people were so friendly as to drive me around to find a place for me to stay for the night. Even offered to put me up for the night. We found a good bed and breakfast while driving about. Great people there and about. The high street was nice too. Some areas were a bit rundown but kind of charming in a way. So I was surprised to see Penzanze on your list. Keep up the great videos.
I live in Carbis Bay, and there's undesirable parts of Carbis Bay and St Ives that tourists don't get to see. However, Helston and Truro would've been the other two towns (if it were top 10, instead of 8). As for Camborne, locals say "the seagulls fly upside down over Camborne", "because there's nothing worth sh!++ing on" 😂
I’ve heard the same seagull joke about Truro too 😂
I’ve heard that joke made about ‘Druth
So it seems that the only towns that are any good are the one's that are done up to pander to the tourists; I'm from Looe so I know a bit about that. As a boy, I used to dread being dragged from Looe to go to Lyskerrys (Liskeard) to see my grandparents, but now I appreciate more the peace and uncommercialised qualities of places like that. I also lived in Lanson (Launceston) for a few years and it's a nice place to live, with a lot of really good people in the area. Sure there is a Hell of a lot that needs to be sorted out no matter where you go, there's no denying that, but you don't know a place or its people by driving through it. It is also no coincidence that there are similarities between the Welsh valley towns and the old mining towns in Kernow, mining 'collapsed' and there was no real replacement forthcoming. Same shit; different place. Just about every town has its places that would be suitable to shove the enema pipe and Kernow is certainly no different and lets face it, there are parts of London that would qualify as a turdtown on any day of the week.
I like both Camborne and Redruth, both interesting places. Unfortunately the mining industry was destroyed by the falling Tin price
So glad you did Cornwall as it's my home county i totally agree with most of what you said especially about st awful luckily I live in hayle which has some really turdy bits but still a nice place overall 😊
Yes, carry on agreeing. At least it will keep the emmets away and those we dont need here. Cornwall has suffered enough from social engineering and being loaded with undesirable incomers. Its been used as a dumping ground.
Where are the turdy bits in Hayle?
Hayle has improved a lot since the 1970s
I was in Hayle last September, love it there!
@@Nickpaintbrush used to use the pubs years ago Saturday night in the penmare at the disco pint of Newquay steam in the copperhouse
I used to live in Falmouth, sad to see the rest of Cornwall hasn't changed for the better
Me as well
I know people at Falmouth uni that love it...
I lived in Falmouth in the early 90's and absolutely loved it but I remember Redruth and especially Camborne being really depressing to visit.
@@TomK58190 I lived in Falmouth and had my son in Truro in 1998 then we left soon after to be closer to family. Up to West Sussex. Wish we never left to be honest, loved there! I originally come from the Isle of Wight, so that was still like home to me.
Isn’t Falmouth full of students and wealthy yacht owners?
When a country loses its industry and manufacturing, it dies .industry gives jobs , hope , money for locals.
Loose that and it dies , this has happened all over the uk