Towns others make fun of

Birmingham is my favourite city and to go there by narrowboat is fabulous.

grandimars Elsewhere in the UK a gibbet is a stand where the bodies of those executed were left hanging and rotting as a dire warning not to commit crime. There are still some of them around but, of course, they are no longer in use. Why is the one in Halifax different?

Deeda - a handbag?

Malmesbury, Tewkesbury, Wednesbury, Thursby (is there one?) Fribay (OK I made that one up). I have had such a nice evening drinking Pimms with friends, I feel quite inspired.

I was glad to leave London and have settled back in Birmingham very well except for a few annoying people.
When I was given my redundancy / early retirement I could not get out of the office fast enough and my house was up for sale the next morning.
I was amused when I was sent on a retirement course a few weeks later and they said don't move for a year. Think things over.
Too late. My house had been sold.
I also like Cardiff and Liverpool.

Frank

Think of it as North Windsor Gally. Was it Ricky Gervaise who said that?

"From Hull, Hell and Halifax, good Lord deliver me" is said to be the thief's plea against severe punishment. Hull had a scaffold and Halifax had a gibbet ( a sort of guillotine), and Hell speaks for itself. Both are actually very pleasant towns; I was born in Halifax.

Two grandsons have 'Swindon' on their birth certificates (they live in Cirencester) and a granddaughter and a grandson have 'Slough' on theirs (they live in Maidenhead) : I was very upset at the time

I live in Bracknell - need I say more? Still, at least it's not Slough. If I go to Reading I go by train because I can't find my way round by road at all, but I do like the shops and I've been to the Food Festival for the last two years and had a good time.

petallus; even Rich Hall mentioned Bognor in a disparaging way in his programme about Texas .

Glamma We went to Liverpool a couple of years ago. Thought it was a lovely city. Would love to go again.

Gadaboutgran, excuse me! Oxford has the right shade of blue and we use the correct end of the punt! I have lived in the Oxford area all my life and although I agree the city centre and it's traffic are awful, I am very happy in a village just outside.

Eastbourne - Sunny Cemetery of the South.

Most towns seem to have somewhere else that is the but of their jokes. In Sheffield it is Barnsley.
In local Congleton I think it is Biddulph Moor.

What did they decide was reasonable Galen? You're always coming out with these little gems[envious emoticon]

I feel I have to put in a good word for Hull - there are some good 19C buildings and great shopping malls. I can't deny that there are some very tough estates around the town. Two of my grandchildren chose Hull University and enjoyed the social life of the town

The only town of which I have unhappy memories is Mold - I never thought I would be subject to racism!

I have lived near Windsor, Canterbury, and Chester and I am ashamed to admit that I missed out all the things that tourists are supposed to do!
I love Oxford- have you noticed on Morse/Lewis they can always find parking spaces?

Yes Greatnan Nicholl's ice cream parlour is still there making the most delicious combinations you can think off,my favourite is rum & raisin in fact we where up there just two weeks ago for lunch at the Old Quay on the front then had a strool along the front,it still attracts lots of visitors.Mostyn House Independent School has now closed and is being converted to apartments,such a shame but I think they have to keep the frontage the same as the building has some sort of listing on it.

Don't know which post to comment on first:
Pratt's Bottom - lovey memories of being dropped there on a school trip to do a land use survey (would they do that now?)
Ancestors ran a big laundry in Tunbridge Wells but the fortune went down the drain
Went to Swindon every week when daughter got into the dance centre there so found things to like - unpretentious like Reading, Old town, a church Betjeman raved about, the Steam Museum is fantastic for Gkids , but the roundabouts (road sort) let it down.
Liverpool I love - lots of work trips there & lovely people, Sefton Park, the Mersey.
Oxford - lots of nice bits, the Ashmolean & wonderful old fashioned Pitt-Rivers of course but I hate going there - such awful traffic - trips round colleges too expensive, horribly crowded - best in winter, it's the wrong shade of blue & punt from the wrong end. Now go to Reading for big shops instead (I never have to go at night) & I can get to R by train.
Really like Birmingham - walked from the station to Jewellery Quarter last year- wonderful history & people, great Museum & buildings.

Hove, actually.
Harwich for the continent, Frinton for the incontinent. (Does it still not have a MacDonalds? If so, I salute it.)

Glamma - I agree that the Wirral has some lovely villages and countryside. I can't do the accents in print, but there is a big difference between Kirby (scouse) and West Kirby (BBC).
We kept our sailing boat at Heswall - is there still a wonderful ice-cream parlour at Parkgate?

Wednesbury, is the origin of a historic legal decision. The Wednesbury decision on reasonableness!

I am currently takin' agin Sutton Coldfield....

Oh dear, GNHQ will be on to you (It's OK, I do know the Royal derivation of the phrase!!)

Bugger Bognor!

Port Talbot does not get a good press either. Despite producing:
Richard Burton
Anthony Hopkins
Rob Bryden and Michael Sheen.
Surrounding areas used to tell those essex girl jokes about P'talbot girls.