I had great memories of Gravesend as kid.. took my boy there last week... the park with all the WW2 guns was full of pissed up Russians and indian familys the swing park was 98 per cent Russian/polish when I went to the little shop facing the river the woman who worked there almost looked shocked when I spoke in English and asked for 2 99's and white coffee.
I had great memories of Gravesend as kid.. took my boy there last week... the park with all the WW2 guns was full of pissed up Russians and indian familys the swing park was 98 per cent Russian/polish when I went to the little shop facing the river the woman who worked there almost looked shocked when I spoke in English and asked for 2 99's and white coffee.
That's right - and that crumbling row of Georgian houses fronting the park with an elderly couple eating their sandwiches on a bench under a sodding great cannon. Harmer Street is good, with more Georgian terraces and ironwork balconies. The maritime history and romantic link to Pocahontas are fascinating. A much underrated town, methinks.
HIgh speed costs c£400 per month which is an issue for many and more than the cost of a small mortgage or close to rental costs for some.
Always had a soft spot for Gravesend. Used to be a resort for londoners pre-1920s. Rosherville Gardens was the equivalent of a modern day disneyworld. Other aspects of its history are breathtaking- The ordnance for one thing and those big guns still in place. Still has the regency style grandeur in some parts.
What's really let it down in my view are certain absentee landlords and freeholders. I present to you this property in Burch road. One of these flats has been for sale so i did some investigations. In a row of 8 dwellings there are now 32 flats. The one in the picture is the worst, granted, but look at the trees growing out of the brickwork.
The freeholder is a southend based company. The only tenants i saw on a visit were foreign (only able to afford the cheaper rents presumably) and the managing agent for the particular property is a local estate agent.
None of these parties evidently care too much about their investment. They care less about the affect on the area. They're all getting paid and the tenants are no doubt paying a lot more than they ought to thanks to 'market forces'. Short-termism prevails and the result is blight. Clearly none of the tenants in there either have thought to simply pull up a tree. The leaseholders haven't got together and done anything about the fact the paintwork is peeling and some re-rendering is needed. Each of the leaseholders has held a lease for over 10 years. An internet search on the freeholoder reveals they are notoriously difficult to deal with. They'll make their money on lease renewals and have spent nothing on the external appearance or gutters or roof.
Who to blame? I wonder how it is that Gravesham council don't or can't get involved. Local streets are littered. There's a settee not too far away waiting to be collected. The area feels poor but in fact income is being extracted from tenants by leaseholders, who pay the agents, and by the freeholder from the leaseholders. So some parties are benefitting
There's definitely a few places in Norfolk that could have made the list but probably aren't well known enough. Except for Great Yarmouth.
I once met a French explorer and former offshore oil worker in a bar in Singapore who had travelled and sailed across the globe many times so I asked him the best place he had ever been.
Pulling on a Gauloise and staring into the night air he told me (in thick and dramatic French accent, of course) that to be in the Seychelles in the mid 1970's was amazing- an unspoilt paradise, a garden of Eden, magnifique etc etc.
So, I asked him about the worse place he had ever been and I thought he would choke on his beer.
"Oh my God," he said "there is one place, it is like hell. The women drink pints of beer and vomit in the streets. You will never have heard of it..what a disgrace ...Great Yarmouth."
I got to live there for year and he was right. Makes Gravesend look like the hanging gardens of Babylon.
Ha ha! - great story. The good thing about Gravesend is all the nautical connections, filtering down to little domestic details like a miniature anchor as a door-knocker. On the very eastern edge of town, just before the marshes, and beyond a Trinity House yard storing brightly painted buoys, is Denton Wharf. You think you are trespassing on a working area, but there is a public right of way to the Ship & Lobster pub, right on the river wall.
Great Yarmouth - what a hoot! I believe it was traditionally a resort for folk from the East Midlands: hen-parties of shop girls from Nottingham. Many years ago I took a girlfriend to Lowestoft, just along the coast. Off season. Bad move. 'Grim' doesn't even begin to describe it....
There's definitely a few places in Norfolk that could have made the list but probably aren't well known enough. Except for Great Yarmouth.
I once met a French explorer and former offshore oil worker in a bar in Singapore who had travelled and sailed across the globe many times so I asked him the best place he had ever been.
Pulling on a Gauloise and staring into the night air he told me (in thick and dramatic French accent, of course) that to be in the Seychelles in the mid 1970's was amazing- an unspoilt paradise, a garden of Eden, magnifique etc etc.
So, I asked him about the worse place he had ever been and I thought he would choke on his beer.
"Oh my God," he said "there is one place, it is like hell. The women drink pints of beer and vomit in the streets. You will never have heard of it..what a disgrace ...Great Yarmouth."
I got to live there for year and he was right. Makes Gravesend look like the hanging gardens of Babylon.
Ha ha! - great story. The good thing about Gravesend is all the nautical connections, filtering down to little domestic details like a miniature anchor as a door-knocker. On the very eastern edge of town, just before the marshes, and beyond a Trinity House yard storing brightly painted buoys, is Denton Wharf. You think you are trespassing on a working area, but there is a public right of way to the Ship & Lobster pub, right on the river wall.
Great Yarmouth - what a hoot! I believe it was traditionally a resort for folk from the East Midlands: hen-parties of shop girls from Nottingham. Many years ago I took a girlfriend to Lowestoft, just along the coast. Off season. Bad move. 'Grim' doesn't even begin to describe it....
Enough about her, what was Lowerstoft like?
Ha ha! We stayed at the romantic Ship, at Dunwich, and she forgave me for Lowestoft. After a few months.
HIgh speed costs c£400 per month which is an issue for many and more than the cost of a small mortgage or close to rental costs for some.
Always had a soft spot for Gravesend. Used to be a resort for londoners pre-1920s. Rosherville Gardens was the equivalent of a modern day disneyworld. Other aspects of its history are breathtaking- The ordnance for one thing and those big guns still in place. Still has the regency style grandeur in some parts.
What's really let it down in my view are certain absentee landlords and freeholders. I present to you this property in Burch road. One of these flats has been for sale so i did some investigations. In a row of 8 dwellings there are now 32 flats. The one in the picture is the worst, granted, but look at the trees growing out of the brickwork.
The freeholder is a southend based company. The only tenants i saw on a visit were foreign (only able to afford the cheaper rents presumably) and the managing agent for the particular property is a local estate agent.
None of these parties evidently care too much about their investment. They care less about the affect on the area. They're all getting paid and the tenants are no doubt paying a lot more than they ought to thanks to 'market forces'. Short-termism prevails and the result is blight. Clearly none of the tenants in there either have thought to simply pull up a tree. The leaseholders haven't got together and done anything about the fact the paintwork is peeling and some re-rendering is needed. Each of the leaseholders has held a lease for over 10 years. An internet search on the freeholoder reveals they are notoriously difficult to deal with. They'll make their money on lease renewals and have spent nothing on the external appearance or gutters or roof.
Who to blame? I wonder how it is that Gravesham council don't or can't get involved. Local streets are littered. There's a settee not too far away waiting to be collected. The area feels poor but in fact income is being extracted from tenants by leaseholders, who pay the agents, and by the freeholder from the leaseholders. So some parties are benefitting
Its normally Chatham that features on lists like this normally written by some fuzzy haired shoe gazing left wing tree hugger
Gravesend is OK, its buzzing at night and is having some regeneration money spent on it. As is Chatham, the problem is, like most high streets nationwide the local scumbags whatever their skin hue or nationality congregate in them.
Chatham is everyone's favourite place to call a shithole and in fairness, I'd describe it as a tough place, the dockyard closing absolutely killed both figuratively and literally a lot of people and areas that used to be thriving little local communities and a local economy that was buzzing. Its clawing its way out of being a genuine shithole, medway council are purchasing white elephant buildings on and around the High street and redeveloping them, hopefully this will make Chatham more of a destination rather than the commuter pass-through.
Besides that, I've worked all over the United Kingdom and can think of at least a dozen more undesirable places to live than gravesend or Chatham
Its normally Chatham that features on lists like this normally written by some fuzzy haired shoe gazing left wing tree hugger
Gravesend is OK, its buzzing at night and is having some regeneration money spent on it. As is Chatham, the problem is, like most high streets nationwide the local scumbags whatever their skin hue or nationality congregate in them.
Chatham is everyone's favourite place to call a shithole and in fairness, I'd describe it as a tough place, the dockyard closing absolutely killed both figuratively and literally a lot of people and areas that used to be thriving little local communities and a local economy that was buzzing. Its clawing its way out of being a genuine shithole, medway council are purchasing white elephant buildings on and around the High street and redeveloping them, hopefully this will make Chatham more of a destination rather than the commuter pass-through.
Besides that, I've worked all over the United Kingdom and can think of at least a dozen more undesirable places to live than gravesend or Chatham
The full list if anyone is interested is
1. Hull
2. Middlesbrough
3. Bradford
4. Croydon
5. Hackney
6. Gravesend
7. Salford
8. Nottingham
9. Stoke-on-Trent
10. Barking & Dagenham
West Croydon ~ definitely. I'd feel safer walking down Mogadishu high st or deepest Honduras than West Croydon after dark. Hell hole. The fact that "the Surrey team" play there just adds to the awfulness..
South & East Croydon have actually got something going for them tho'.
Clearly the compilers of this list have never visited Jaywick. If we had the favelas in England ~ they would be in Jaywick.
My dad has lived there most of my life, briefly moved to Dartford, i mean its not the nicest of places but again like everywhere has some worse areas. I grew up as a child there most weekends as stayed at my Dad's every weekend, was actually on a bit of a chav/dodgy estate too lol
I also work in Croydon so agree with that too in places , well parts of Addington and West Croydon.
Bit rough round some of the edges admittedly, but it has unique Thames maritime heritage, second largest Sikh temple in the UK, gateway to the port of London, nice parks, wonderful Georgian architecture and great pubs.
It also has two of my favourite statues in the UK. Squadron Leader Mahinder Singh Pujji DFC down by the river and Princess Pocahontas in the nearby churchyard.
The once bustling town centre had the guts ripped out of it by the introduction of Lakeside and then Bluewater.
Flatten those two God-forsaken soulless chain-store atrocities and maybe nationalise the railways (or at least reduce the fares) and Gravesend would soon be back in business.
Plumstead, Woolwich and Thamesmead knock Gravesend in to a cocked hat as far as shit places to live go. Chuck in Deptford, Tower Hamlets, Stratford (in fact, the entire borough of Newham) and a few other absolute toilets and Gravesend can feel much better about itself.
Lived in Gravesend for two years fairly recently (Parrock Street), I quite liked most of it, Victorian Hamer Street, Windmill Hill area, the park and promenade by the Thames, some decent pubs.
Overcliffe/Milton areas not great, but Chatham/Gillingham are far worse imo I’m born and bred Woolwich/charlton/plumstead/eltham/Kidbrooke in council estates and housing so I’m no snob, but there are far worse areas
I'd much rather live in gravesend in comparison to the likes of Bexleyheath, welling, Plumstead.
The crime rate is a lot higher in gravesend, which is a shame, but putting that aside it certainly has a more joyful atmosphere and people in general seem better.
A lot of normal people joined together to try and help the police catch the jobless useless attention desperate teenage morons yesterday and rightfully enjoyed taking the piss out of those youngsters.
my mate lives down there so once every few months we go and have a little crawl on a Saturday night some nice pubs and last time i was down there was in the same pub as the mayor - most towns are cesspits during the day
I'd much rather live in gravesend in comparison to the likes of Bexleyheath, welling, Plumstead.
The crime rate is a lot higher in gravesend, which is a shame, but putting that aside it certainly has a more joyful atmosphere and people in general seem better.
A lot of normal people joined together to try and help the police catch the jobless useless attention desperate teenage morons yesterday and rightfully enjoyed taking the piss out of those youngsters.
I expect the crime rate in Gravesend is only higher because the Kent Constabulary records offences properly. The Met, well, you can guess can't you? As has been highlighted recently, the Met can't even get to grips with crime amongst its own ranks.
As we mostly all know...the dentist isn't cheap! This one also certainly isn't cheap, but they do a good job and at least have a positive welcome for people.
If you're in two minds about getting braces/fillings/whitening etc then a lady who happens to look like an extra from baywatch ...Will likely have a word with you.
Before you know it...you're gana get yourself a Gravesham Borough Hollywood smile
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I once met a French explorer and former offshore oil worker in a bar in Singapore who had travelled and sailed across the globe many times so I asked him the best place he had ever been.
Pulling on a Gauloise and staring into the night air he told me (in thick and dramatic French accent, of course) that to be in the Seychelles in the mid 1970's was amazing- an unspoilt paradise, a garden of Eden, magnifique etc etc.
So, I asked him about the worse place he had ever been and I thought he would choke on his beer.
"Oh my God," he said "there is one place, it is like hell. The women drink pints of beer and vomit in the streets. You will never have heard of it..what a disgrace ...Great Yarmouth."
I got to live there for year and he was right. Makes Gravesend look like the hanging gardens of Babylon.
Ha ha! - great story. The good thing about Gravesend is all the nautical connections, filtering down to little domestic details like a miniature anchor as a door-knocker. On the very eastern edge of town, just before the marshes, and beyond a Trinity House yard storing brightly painted buoys, is Denton Wharf. You think you are trespassing on a working area, but there is a public right of way to the Ship & Lobster pub, right on the river wall.
Great Yarmouth - what a hoot! I believe it was traditionally a resort for folk from the East Midlands: hen-parties of shop girls from Nottingham. Many years ago I took a girlfriend to Lowestoft, just along the coast. Off season. Bad move. 'Grim' doesn't even begin to describe it....
Enough about her, what was Lowerstoft like?
Pulling on a Gauloise and staring into the night air he told me (in thick and dramatic French accent, of course) that to be in the Seychelles in the mid 1970's was amazing- an unspoilt paradise, a garden of Eden, magnifique etc etc.
So, I asked him about the worse place he had ever been and I thought he would choke on his beer.
"Oh my God," he said "there is one place, it is like hell. The women drink pints of beer and vomit in the streets. You will never have heard of it..what a disgrace ...Great Yarmouth."
I got to live there for year and he was right. Makes Gravesend look like the hanging gardens of Babylon.
Ha ha! - great story. The good thing about Gravesend is all the nautical connections, filtering down to little domestic details like a miniature anchor as a door-knocker. On the very eastern edge of town, just before the marshes, and beyond a Trinity House yard storing brightly painted buoys, is Denton Wharf. You think you are trespassing on a working area, but there is a public right of way to the Ship & Lobster pub, right on the river wall.
Great Yarmouth - what a hoot! I believe it was traditionally a resort for folk from the East Midlands: hen-parties of shop girls from Nottingham. Many years ago I took a girlfriend to Lowestoft, just along the coast. Off season. Bad move. 'Grim' doesn't even begin to describe it....
Enough about her, what was Lowerstoft like?
Ha ha! We stayed at the romantic Ship, at Dunwich, and she forgave me for Lowestoft. After a few months.
I assume it is just a pathetic Halloween excuse to all group together and cause havoc in an organised way.
A large crowd of gobby jobless teenagers, casually decided to chuck a bottle at a police car...then they ran off as fast as they can.
If it wasn't for the disorderly low life aspect in gravesend, then it would be a good town with some useful history, and situated right by the themes.
I very much hope a lot of them at least got identified and arrested.
Just get them off the streets.
Useless Waste of life
Gravesend is OK, its buzzing at night and is having some regeneration money spent on it. As is Chatham, the problem is, like most high streets nationwide the local scumbags whatever their skin hue or nationality congregate in them.
Chatham is everyone's favourite place to call a shithole and in fairness, I'd describe it as a tough place, the dockyard closing absolutely killed both figuratively and literally a lot of people and areas that used to be thriving little local communities and a local economy that was buzzing. Its clawing its way out of being a genuine shithole, medway council are purchasing white elephant buildings on and around the High street and redeveloping them, hopefully this will make Chatham more of a destination rather than the commuter pass-through.
Besides that, I've worked all over the United Kingdom and can think of at least a dozen more undesirable places to live than gravesend or Chatham
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Genuinely interested
I also work in Croydon so agree with that too in places , well parts of Addington and West Croydon.
Bit rough round some of the edges admittedly, but it has unique Thames maritime heritage, second largest Sikh temple in the UK, gateway to the port of London, nice parks, wonderful Georgian architecture and great pubs.
It also has two of my favourite statues in the UK. Squadron Leader Mahinder Singh Pujji DFC down by the river and Princess Pocahontas in the nearby churchyard.
The once bustling town centre had the guts ripped out of it by the introduction of Lakeside and then Bluewater.
Flatten those two God-forsaken soulless chain-store atrocities and maybe nationalise the railways (or at least reduce the fares) and Gravesend would soon be back in business.
Overcliffe/Milton areas not great, but Chatham/Gillingham are far worse imo
I’m born and bred Woolwich/charlton/plumstead/eltham/Kidbrooke in council estates and housing so I’m no snob, but there are far worse areas
The crime rate is a lot higher in gravesend, which is a shame, but putting that aside it certainly has a more joyful atmosphere and people in general seem better.
A lot of normal people joined together to try and help the police catch the jobless useless attention desperate teenage morons yesterday and rightfully enjoyed taking the piss out of those youngsters.
As we mostly all know...the dentist isn't cheap! This one also certainly isn't cheap, but they do a good job and at least have a positive welcome for people.
If you're in two minds about getting braces/fillings/whitening etc then a lady who happens to look like an extra from baywatch ...Will likely have a word with you.
Before you know it...you're gana get yourself a Gravesham Borough Hollywood smile