Whats the roughest place you have been to in the UK or US ?

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

New Tredegar / Aberbargoed.

It’s literally still 1978 there.

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Phillipstown is that way isnt it dont they call it Monkey Island.?

I found the New Cross area in London less than totally hospitable when I was mugged and attacked with a broken bottle in 1976. I was passing through the area at night on my way to Germany (it was pre-M25 and I was hitching). After a violent attack of punches and kicks to the face in a back alley cul-de-sac I was dragged into, one of the assailants espied a broken bottle as he was about to return to the main road 15 yards away. He decided to return with his mate, broke the bottle against a wall en-route and proceeded to attack my face with it. Although he caught the top of my head with it in various places (subsequently stitched), I managed to put my hand over my face just in time. I sustained cuts on my right wrist, a cut on my chin and a piece of glass cut the skin very lightly to the right of me eye. However, my left hand took the brunt of it and the broken bottle severed a vein and three tendons and part of my knuckle was also severed. Although bleeding like a pig and the severed vein pumped blood out of the wound I managed to flag down a car just as I was about to pass out. An ambulance was called by someone and I spent a few days in Greenwich hospital. Courtesy of nylon, my three tendons were re-joined and the scar on the back of my hand is still testament to the shape of the bottle.
This peaceful soul who has never had a fight in his life always carried a sharp knife for a decade or two when passing through London again and wouldn't have felt any guilt in doing the deed to anyone who would fancy trying it again.
Ironically, after developing a bit of a phobia about that part of London I ended up living about a mile from there twenty years later. The nylon tendons are still going strong, I only have a small scar on my chin and my scarred hand is feels a bit string but functions well in general. I can't think what my mental state would have been had I not raised my hand in time.

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

I found the New Cross area in London less than totally hospitable when I was mugged and attacked with a broken bottle in 1976. I was passing through the area at night on my way to Germany (it was pre-M25 and I was hitching). After a violent attack of punches and kicks to the face in a back alley cul-de-sac I was dragged into, one of the assailants espied a broken bottle as he was about to return to the main road 15 yards away. He decided to return with his mate, broke the bottle against a wall en-route and proceeded to attack my face with it. Although he caught the top of my head with it in various places (subsequently stitched), I managed to put my hand over my face just in time. I sustained cuts on my right wrist, a cut on my chin and a piece of glass cut the skin very lightly to the right of me eye. However, my left hand took the brunt of it and the broken bottle severed a vein and three tendons and part of my knuckle was also severed. Although bleeding like a pig and the severed vein pumped blood out of the wound I managed to flag down a car just as I was about to pass out. An ambulance was called by someone and I spent a few days in Greenwich hospital. Courtesy of nylon, my three tendons were re-joined and the scar on the back of my hand is still testament to the shape of the bottle.
This peaceful soul who has never had a fight in his life always carried a sharp knife for a decade or two when passing through London again and wouldn't have felt any guilt in doing the deed to anyone who would fancy trying it again.
Ironically, after developing a bit of a phobia about that part of London I ended up living about a mile from there twenty years later. The nylon tendons are still going strong, I only have a small scar on my chin and my scarred hand is feels a bit string but functions well in general. I can't think what my mental state would have been had I not raised my hand in time.

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That’s a horrific experience, so glad you came through it.

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Originally Posted by IanD

Parts of Vancouver. There was a drug-related shoot out when we were there with 4 killed and, I think, 6 seriously injured.
Belfast...early 80's. Keep driving. Dont stop. Avoid the debris following a riot the night before. Also, the border with Eire on the same trip. Dont go in certain pubs. Dont speak to such and such. FFS dont let on you are from Britain.....the car reg was a bit of a give away though. Driving down a country lane, turned a bend, a gap had been cleared in a hedge and we were staring straight down the barrel of a light marching gun. It was (thankfully) the British army on patrol. Not a place to hang around.
Other dodgy places...northern part of what is now Namibia near the border with Angola, also in the early 80s. In the days when S Africa had invaded Angola to keep the Cuba-backed communists at bay. SA army were driving v-shaped armoured vehicles to reduce the effect of IEDs planted in the road. We had an Opel Kadett. All that for a bit of wildlife viewing.
Egypt...a coach load a Greek tourists were killed on the road to Giza from Cairo a week after I'd taken a school trip along the same road....mistaken for Israeli tourists. Outside Cairo we were driven in convoy by armed police everywhere. Bit like visiting Swansea��
Israel, near the border with Jordan and in Jerusalem when rockets had beed fired in the direction of. Again a school trip. A very tense time visiting the Western Wall. Armed people everywhere. Scared the students seeing so many firearms/protesters with banners screaming away through loudspeakers. There was trouble at the Al Asqa mosque, above the WW not long after and a siege at the church of the Holy Nativity which got shot up.
Back streets of Naples. Again with a school group when we had been dropped off miles from where we were going and took a wrong turn. Used syringes and dead dogs in the street. Leary locals watching us and you got the feeling any stragglers would be relieved of their possessions at knifepoint in daylight.
Northern Ethiopia near the border with Eritrea...we had an armed escort everywhere we went. Thankfully relations between the two countries have improved. Land mines were an issue if you strayed off the beaten track, too.

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Is there a long waiting list of pupils for this school? Sounds a hoot:hehe:

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

I found the New Cross area in London less than totally hospitable when I was mugged and attacked with a broken bottle in 1976. I was passing through the area at night on my way to Germany (it was pre-M25 and I was hitching). After a violent attack of punches and kicks to the face in a back alley cul-de-sac I was dragged into, one of the assailants espied a broken bottle as he was about to return to the main road 15 yards away. He decided to return with his mate, broke the bottle against a wall en-route and proceeded to attack my face with it. Although he caught the top of my head with it in various places (subsequently stitched), I managed to put my hand over my face just in time. I sustained cuts on my right wrist, a cut on my chin and a piece of glass cut the skin very lightly to the right of me eye. However, my left hand took the brunt of it and the broken bottle severed a vein and three tendons and part of my knuckle was also severed. Although bleeding like a pig and the severed vein pumped blood out of the wound I managed to flag down a car just as I was about to pass out. An ambulance was called by someone and I spent a few days in Greenwich hospital. Courtesy of nylon, my three tendons were re-joined and the scar on the back of my hand is still testament to the shape of the bottle.
This peaceful soul who has never had a fight in his life always carried a sharp knife for a decade or two when passing through London again and wouldn't have felt any guilt in doing the deed to anyone who would fancy trying it again.
Ironically, after developing a bit of a phobia about that part of London I ended up living about a mile from there twenty years later. The nylon tendons are still going strong, I only have a small scar on my chin and my scarred hand is feels a bit string but functions well in general. I can't think what my mental state would have been had I not raised my hand in time.

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Nasty...very nasty and could have been a lot worse. Sounds like physically you are ok but the mental trauma often lasts longer with something like this. I've not been down that way for a few years. Even passing through in daylight there is still a bit of a "mind your back" atmosphere. My sister lived there in the 80s for a while. Not a nice place at all.

What happened to Penrhys is it a tourist destination now ?

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Originally Posted by life on mars

What happened to Penrhys is it a tourist destination now ?

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No definitely not a tourist attraction.

Much smaller than in its heyday.

I lived in Townhill for a year in 1991

I went jogging in a Cardiff top - I felt like Rex Kramer 'Danger seeker' (NB I did go very early)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwk6r8TJD2U

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Originally Posted by splott parker

Is there a long waiting list of pupils for this school? Sounds a hoot:hehe:

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Hmmm. No. I've left. It closed down and reopened under another name.
You can throw in Amsterdam, Auschwitz, the brothel in Pompeii, a dodgy hotel in the back streets of Tunis, some over-amorous guides in Morocco (the female students being their target, before anyone titters) and a tour of Belfast by ex IRA/UVF (or was it UDA?...best not mix the two) and a near riot when our students tried to take on a load of German lads in a pub in Mallorca....as some of the places/experiences with school groups. Safest places were central London and Bae Caerdydd. Iceland the safest country if you dont mind the odd minor earthquake. Rarely did a trip not sell out although Tunisia didn't one time as there had been a bomb go off on the beach.

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Originally Posted by IanD

Hmmm. No. I've left. It closed down and reopened under another name.
You can throw in Amsterdam, Auschwitz, the brothel in Pompeii, a dodgy hotel in the back streets of Tunis, some over-amorous guides in Morocco (the female students being their target, before anyone titters) and a tour of Belfast by ex IRA/UVF (or was it UDA?...best not mix the two) and a near riot when our students tried to take on a load of German lads in a pub in Mallorca....as some of the places/experiences with school groups. Safest places were central London and Bae Caerdydd. Iceland the safest country if you dont mind the odd minor earthquake. Rarely did a trip not sell out although Tunisia didn't one time as there had been a bomb go off on the beach.

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Tunis used be a nightmare, prob still is. A group of about 10 attempted to kidnap my then misses about 20 years ago, tried dragging her off as she was walking to meet me on her own. If I hadn’t intervened she might never have been seen again.....hindsight eh?

Hull, Toxteth, Peckham, Harringay, Plaistow, North Philly, Chicago Southside, Detroit, East New York, the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. But the worst and most scary place I have ever been to by far, is Juarez just over the Mexican border from El Paso.

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Originally Posted by Whisperer

Brandy Bridge nightclub in the petrol station in Merthyr definitely one of the roughest dives I been in UK.
Scoring dope down on Avenue D on the lower east side NYC was pretty scary on a few occasions.

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There are luxury apartment buildings on Avenue D now. I lived on Avenue C about 10 years ago. It was fine. Wouldn't have ventured past Avenue A in the 90s though.

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Originally Posted by Taffy Blue in Berkshire

Many years ago whilst on a business trip to the US I was in Philadelphia and went for a drive. Got lost and ended up in South Philadelphia. Finally found my way out, told some US friends about this and they were horrified. I quote:-

While the majority of Americans report that they believe Chicago is the most dangerous city in America, looking solely at the murder rate per capita, Philadelphia could be considered one of the most dangerous big cities in America with a murder rate of 21.5 per 100,000 people.27 Jul 2020

Also got lost in Baltimore on the way back from DC.

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South Philly is not so bad. It's mostly Italian. North Philly is like a war zone.

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Originally Posted by Welshcake.

Lyon was particularly rough for me the two times I've been there. Lots of homeless people and a lot of large tower block areas that the poor are channeled into.

Middlesbrough is probably the roughest UK city I've stayed in as a whole. The bigger cities like London/Manchester probably have rougher areas but these are counteracted with nice areas. I saw no redeeming features in Middlesbrough.

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I lived in Lyon. "Rough"? You're having a laugh. Undoubtedly one of the prettiest and friendliest places I've ever lived.

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

Hull, Toxteth, Peckham, Harringay, Plaistow, North Philly, Chicago Southside, Detroit, East New York, the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. But the worst and most scary place I have ever been to by far, is Juarez just over the Mexican border from El Paso.

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I'd go for Mexico City. When I was there a colleague, who posts on here occasionally, and I played guess the maximum distance between private security guards while driving through it. This was all set off by watching "Man on Fire". That one film put me off Mexico for life.

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Originally Posted by binman

I lived in Townhill for a year in 1991

I went jogging in a Cardiff top - I felt like Rex Kramer 'Danger seeker' (NB I did go very early)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwk6r8TJD2U

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I wasn’t expecting that :hehe: Thought it was going to be some Evil Kaneevl style stuntman trick.

Im surprised Sludge and his ilk haven’t got that video removed off YouTube.

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

Hull, Toxteth, Peckham, Harringay, Plaistow, North Philly, Chicago Southside, Detroit, East New York, the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. But the worst and most scary place I have ever been to by far, is Juarez just over the Mexican border from El Paso.

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I used to teach geography (of crime). Juarez was a case study of drug cartels' route in for the class A and firearms out to pay for them.....and how the cartels have divided up Mexico. Best avoid Juarez. All good geography mind and kept Yr 9 interested. Just needed to be careful with the teaching material. Beats "wheat from the prairies" any day for keeping interest up.

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Originally Posted by goats

Tunis used be a nightmare, prob still is. A group of about 10 attempted to kidnap my then misses about 20 years ago, tried dragging her off as she was walking to meet me on her own. If I hadn’t intervened she might never have been seen again.....hindsight eh?

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Businessmen from Libya.....Year 9/10 girls. You get the picture. Tunis reminded me of the film Casablanca. Right dodgy characters about.

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

I wasn’t expecting that :hehe: Thought it was going to be some Evil Kaneevl style stuntman trick.

Im surprised Sludge and his ilk haven’t got that video removed off YouTube.

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I read that as "Thornhill"! Llanishen best avoided when I was a lad.

Livingston and tredegar

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Originally Posted by az city

I lived in Lyon. "Rough"? You're having a laugh. Undoubtedly one of the prettiest and friendliest places I've ever lived.

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It's a sh*thole :hehe:

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

My sister lives in Norbury, South London which isn’t too bad, a lot of young professionals live there now, but there’s some estates near by in Mitcham and Merton which that I certainly wouldn’t venture out at night. Tooting also.

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I live in Tooting, unless nurses and doctors are now considered intimidating folk, I think it's moved on considerably.

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

There are luxury apartment buildings on Avenue D now. I lived on Avenue C about 10 years ago. It was fine. Wouldn't have ventured past Avenue A in the 90s though.

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From 89 - 97 A-B were okay you had to keep your wits about you but C & D were really heavy with the Hispanic and Caribbean drug gangs. I nearly got killed outside CBGB'S when a Puerto Rican pulled a gun on me in broad day light, I managed to run across the Bowery and got away from him to this day i thank my lucky stars.

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Originally Posted by Der Kaiser

I live in Tooting, unless nurses and doctors are now considered intimidating folk, I think it's moved on considerably.

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Tooting is alright, spent a few months in that area working, some people are soft :hehe: There are some dodgy estates in south london, around Camberwell, Brixton, Streatham, Tulse Hill etc and a little to the east in Peckham, although i didn't gave any problems at night, even in stockwell. The people were fine. Cardiff on a saturday night when the city centre is full up with roided valley boys is much more dangerous than most parts of London, in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by IanD

I used to teach geography (of crime). Juarez was a case study of drug cartels' route in for the class A and firearms out to pay for them.....and how the cartels have divided up Mexico. Best avoid Juarez. All good geography mind and kept Yr 9 interested. Just needed to be careful with the teaching material. Beats "wheat from the prairies" any day for keeping interest up.

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I can still remember learning about the Chinook winds that blow across the Canadian prairies.

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

New Tredegar / Aberbargoed.

It’s literally still 1978 there.

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That's a fair point, lots of social problems in concentrated areas. I have a friend who married a psychologist who was from and previously practised in Philadelphia, working with all types. He got a job with Aneurin Bevan health trust, which serves the Rhymney Valleys and Gwent valleys. I was talking to him about the differences he has encountered while working in south wales, his reply was this ' You have these small communities where there are alot of social issues and drug and alcohol addiction, maybe 1500 people of which 600 are suffering with mental health' ' In Philly we have guns, thank **** you don't have them over here as half of the south wales valleys would be ****ing dead'! :hehe: shouldn't laugh....

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Originally Posted by Tuerto

That's a fair point, lots of social problems in concentrated areas. I have a friend who married a psychologist who was from and previously practised in Philadelphia, working with all types. He got a job with Aneurin Bevan health trust, which serves the Rhymney Valleys and Gwent valleys. I was talking to him about the differences he has encountered while working in south wales, his reply was this ' You have these small communities where there are alot of social issues and drug and alcohol addiction, maybe 1500 people of which 600 are suffering with mental health' ' In Philly we have guns, thank **** you don't have them over here as half of the south wales valleys would be ****ing dead'! :hehe: shouldn't laugh....

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It would reduce our obesity rates by a bit mind.

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Originally Posted by Jordi Culé

It would reduce our obesity rates by a bit mind.

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Their looking for new ideas and folk who think out of the box in the new government , I can see a spot for you in the new PHE managment think tank 😉

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Originally Posted by Jordi Culé

It would reduce our obesity rates by a bit mind.

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Easier to aim at-Bigger target? Imagine if fire arms were made legal in the UK? ****ing carnage on a summers evening in Tremorfa, No doubt.

Went out in Pontypridd in my youth. It was like being in a Wild West movie.

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Originally Posted by Tuerto

Easier to aim at-Bigger target? Imagine if fire arms were made legal in the UK? ****ing carnage on a summers evening in Tremorfa, No doubt.

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In my head I had more gun deaths, less fat people. Now thinking about I’m so wrong as the USA have loads of gun deaths but they’re still a nation of fat, lard arsed, wobbly ****ers.

To any citizens of the USA on here, please put your donuts down accept my apologies.

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Originally Posted by Poolerblue

Had tickets to see the Buckaneers v 49ers in Tampa about 20 years ago and staying in Clearwater at the time

Drove into Tampa on a warm, sunny Sunday on the morning of the game and got completely lost trying to find stadium

One minute was in a affluent, pleasant suburb with people out in their gardens, washing their cars etc but literally about 1/4 mile further it got considerably worse. Boarded up houses, gangs of young men hanging about on street corners, burnt out cars etc. Luckily a police car saw us and clocked the hire car plates and stickers. They asked us where we were going and escorted us back onto the main highway

Always remember this day as I was amazed how close these 2 very different neighbourhoods were and how quickly you can get yourselves in the wrong place without really realising it

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Tampa has some right hell-holes, we decided to go and eat at this Vegan place in Tampa, it was a fair old drive from Orlando, put the sat nav on, it took us to a right dodgy area, i stopped and asked at a gas station and was told " this is no place for tourists " , we never did find the place

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Originally Posted by life on mars

Their looking for new ideas and folk who think out of the box in the new government , I can see a spot for you in the new PHE managment think tank ��

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Death squads for the homeless is another of my thoughts.

Not US or UK, but Bogata ( its south america, so maybe i can get away with that ) didnt look good, i met the guy i was doing business with, he drove me to his factory, beck to the hotel, he picked me up that evening to have a meal with his family and show me his cars, i then stayed in the hotel at the airport till my flight ( apart from a taxi ride to a mall ) i do regret not going to the nearby theme park which the hotel said was fairly safe

I know it's outside of the parameters of the thread, but on safari in the Masai Mara several years ago, we needed an armed guard on our 4x4 to protect us from rival warring tribes as we traveled across some disputed land.
Thankfully his services weren't needed.

Bridgend used to be rough at night

Townies v valley boys

Bridgend valleys , some of the most socially deprived in Western Europe

Lewistown , christ

Medan in Sumatra is another very weird shiiithole. Off the boat from Malaysia and for some reason the police filled one bus with westerners. Every street we drive down everyone just turned and stared at us on the bus, until we were out of sight too not just a fleeting glance. Dropped us all off and a crowd develops around us, again just staring, as if they had never seen white folks before.
If we walked anywhere a group would just follow us, more would join them. They would then start fighting over who was driving us in a taxi which would then take forever to organise. Def the strangest place I’ve ever been and I’ve never heard a single good word about it.
Unfortunately you have to go through it to get to the rest of the island which has some incredible places, and of course wild orangutans

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Originally Posted by Der Kaiser

Skid Row in Los Angeles probably the biggest eye opener of my entire life, but I would feel including that as 'rough' would be unfair, the deprivation and squalor for a western country was astounding, but these were people living in tents and wooden shacks as they had nothing else, unlike the other areas I mentioned.

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The amount of homeless people in California is surprising

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Originally Posted by The Bloop

I know it's outside of the parameters of the thread, but on safari in the Masai Mara several years ago, we needed an armed guard on our 4x4 to protect us from rival warring tribes as we traveled across some disputed land.
Thankfully his services weren't needed.

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Sounds like the Rhondda Valley.

Tenderloin in San Francisco is booky. The streets smelt like crack and the area is notorious for crime. But as Der Kaiser said about Skid Row, calling it 'rough' would be harsh due to the poverty