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

[goats]

Thats third world in the richest country in the world

LA is a weird place. When I was 19 me and a mate had a 24 hour stop over there on our way back from Oz. Needless to say we didn’t have a clue where we were going trying to walk to Venice Beach. All these nice little bungalows etc, it didn’t look so bad. Asked a bloke for directions he said whatever you do don’t walk through that way as you’ll get robbed and possibly shot. Of course we’d just walked through the area he was on about. I think it was the 8am that saved us.....it wasn’t the image of a ghetto that I had in my head and it’s always stuck in my mind. Getting lost in Mexico City and surrounded by about 200 football fans was interesting also.

[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.

[xsnaggle]

Edmonton in North London is not a pleasant place, I have a friend who lived there and I visited his mother once. A lot of people on the street were looking and she laughed and said, "We don't get many visitors around here"

Almost all of Belfast in the 70s.

Marseilles

[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

[life on mars]

Supermarket St Mellons

[Moodybluebird]

Acapulco in Mexico. Beautiful harbour, lots of lovely homes owned by the rich and famous but.........we had a walk around the beach area at night after the cruise ship docked. We walked around the beach for about 30 minutes before heading back. A lot of the local cabbies seemed to be shouting at us, presumably touting for business, or so we thought. The following day we realised how lucky we had been. The previous night there had been a drug war between the local cartels and number of headless corpses had been discovered on the beach.

[Rjk]

Supermarket St Mellons

that has to be hands down the worst supermarket in Cardiff.
you see some sights in there.

[Rjk]

Parts of Miami right up there for me, really deprived areas.

Went to Watt's in LA which has a bad reputation, but it wasn't too bad, but this was the middle of the day and there were a number of burnt out cars dotted around the metro station - so I imagine it was probably a little more intimidating when the California sun went down... considering the area and the history was somewhat surprised Cardiff Uni sent a small group of us into the area, but nonetheless some good street art and Watts towers, so not a totally redundant visit.

Not in the UK or US but Paris is by far the roughest place I've ever been, and the only city I've been too which I felt truly unsafe in.

Yeah, took some wrong turns on a night out in Miami. not good.

[Trigger]

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.

Your mates know their stats fair play.

[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.

[Mad as a fish]

Bogata , Columbia went in a Taxi to the delightfully named "Bullet St."

[light up the darkness]

In Cape Town a few years back we had a lecture from the hotel reception/security staff about personal safety and the places not to go.
We got back about 9.30 and one of the receptionists who gave us the lecture had her throat slashed when she resisted having her bag snatched right outside the hotel.

Have never wanted to go back there despite what people say about the country generally

[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.

[J R Hartley]

New Tredegar / Aberbargoed.

It’s literally still 1978 there.

[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.

[Hilts]

New Tredegar / Aberbargoed.

It’s literally still 1978 there.

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

[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.

[splott parker]

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.

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

[splott parker]

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.

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

[IanD]

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.

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.

[life on mars]

What happened to Penrhys is it a tourist destination now ?

[Hilts]

What happened to Penrhys is it a tourist destination now ?

No definitely not a tourist attraction.

Much smaller than in its heyday.

[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

[IanD]

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

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.

[goats]

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.

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?