Don't Go There

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What's the nastiest dirtiest horrid-in-general place near where you live? If you look slightly below the centre of this aerial photo of Chadwell Heath you will see the railway, and crossing it, the infamous Iron Bridge, linking Chadwell Heath and Becontree Heath. It's not obvious from the map but there's about a 100yd walk either side of the bridge itself, either through a closed alley or on a dirt track by playing fields. The bridge itself has had extra walling and a roof put in, supposedly to deter suicides, but what this means in practise is that no-one can see what's going on up there. So as I'm sure you can guess, this local landmark is a bit of a haven for muggers, rapists and ne'er-do-wells in general. Having said this though, I'm quite tempted to go across it this afternoon to prove how hard I am, though if I do, and DG disappears off the board, you'll know why.

― DG, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

New adding-5mins-onto-your-walk-home-to-avoid answers!

― DG, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Nobody ever answers my questions. :-(

― DG, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Nastiest dirtiest horriblest is probably a pub fairly nearby that is full of aggressive underage drinkers and sad old men clutching a half of stout and a losing betting slip. The seatcovers smell of one hundred year old tobacco and the tables are covered with the stick of ages; the carpet seems both bald and furry with mould. It is a bad place.

― Ellie, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What's the nastiest dirtiest horrid-in-general place near where you live?

shepherd's bush. HAR!

― Alan Trewartha, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Industrial units on way to university, one now burnt down, joyriders abandon cars there (I've seen a car before and after being burnt out, alas not during (I have photos (not yet developed))), kids go ther to burn stuff, or throw rocks at students (I have them on the mantelpiece), covered in broken glass and toys. I haf a fabulous picture of the place that I'll post when I get home.

― Graham, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I try and avoid Brentford.

― jel --, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

See the bridge in the middle, the East end of that. Note the horrible pedestrian-only council estate to the North and East, and notice how secluded it is - grass and trees on three sides (filled with smashed televisions, matresses ect), and the industrial units to the West. It's lovely, honest.

― Graham, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Not that close - a good 35-min walk down Sydenham Hill, on Lordship Lane, near the Horniman Museum - is a large Victorian detached house set in a generous bit of land. The sort of thing that, if it were in pristine condition, would go for, I dunno, 400 grand in this neck of the woods, or, more likely, be split into four or more spacious flats.

But it's actually a shell of a building, utterly trashed, no windows, much of the roof missing, with giant piles of refuse filling the huge garden. Recently, a sheet of corrugated metal has appeared in lieu of a front door, painted 'Home Sweet Home'. I've seen one dishevelled chap edge his way out as I've passed on the 176, and stagger up toward the shops.

I do wonder if this is locally famous in some way - the Blight of Forest Hill - and whether the place is genuinely occupied by its owner, who's just, well, let it (and himself) go a bit. One for Home Truths.

― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

When I stayed in a teepee for the Millennium Eve or whatever it was called we wandered around a bit and found a spooky old house.It was somewhere in a field in Hampshire.And it was very spooky indeed, even in daylight.

― Jonnie, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i live in it, slum-sydney-central - cheapest rents in the city, cheaper thane ven the aboriginal ghetto, and slumlords ready to rip you off so bad you have to take them to court to get money back....grr

― Queen G-bah Humbug, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Finsbury Park (ie the park itself). It's a shame because it could be very nice, but it seems to be going to rack and ruin due to council neglect. The cafe is alright - pleasant staff, old-fashioned tables and seats, and decent chips - but other parts seem to attract drunks, shifty-looking 'weasels', and apparently bewildered Eastern European couples and family groups who might well be thinking 'is this IT? is THIS what we fled to?'

― David, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My neighborhood is on the cusp of being thoroughly Yuppie-fied, so "unsavory elements" are scattered evenly and a lot nicer now: no more monthly "why is there a prostitute on my residential block" and now that it's warm, the drug dealers around the corner are just kicking back on their stoop and waving hello to the passersby. But the other day I was driving past a nearby Home Depot which is along what's still sort of a major prostitution drag ("they put the ho in Home Depot," although this is changing now that a Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware and gourmet market have been added) and due to an accident I had to turn off down a side-street / alley: creepy out-of-view labyrinth along the Chicago River, just piles of construction materials and Dumpsters and and weird fences and condoms strews about and shadows moving violently in parked cars.

― Bitsuh, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm in a reasonable enough patch of suburbia...though arguably South Coast Plaza is horrid because it is antiseptic.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I live in niceland. There's nowhere iffy. My college is right beside Methadonia central though. I tend not to leave campus anyway so again it doesn't bother me.

― Ronan, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

FatNick and myself dared to cross the Iron Bridge today, and came home unscathed.

DG: "Should we pack some sort of weapon or something, just in case I'm not being superstitious?"
FatNick: "Bah! I AM A WEAPON!"

― DG, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Surely that should be I R WEAPON!

― RickyT, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

He was off-duty.

― DG, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Did you pack him then?

― Alan Trewartha, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

He was too big to be concealed, so no. I left him to his own devices like some sort of smart weapon, but really he's not that smart.

― DG, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i live close to dunedin's "red light district". apparently the hookers from stafford st are always fighting with the hookers from carroll st. there was a murder on staffy last year which was supposedly related to this.

― di, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The street at the east end of my street is where all the prostitutes in St Kilda hang out. In fact, most of St Kilda is a grotty hole depending on the time of day. You wouldn't think so watching Secret Life Of Us.

― electric sound of jim, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Gottigen Street in Halifax is hell in Canada. For a small city well below a million its got eh nastiest district in Canda, only a a few hundred meters from the coolest bar in town. Do NOT go those two minutes down Gottigen Street past the Marquee. Any other directionyour fine though, but Gottigen street is crack alley for all of eastern Canda east of say Regeant Park in TO.

― Mr Noodles, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Having zoomed out a fair bit I am disgusted at the over crowding of wher DG R living. I shall attempt to find an overview picture of Sackville. Due to our proximenty to Moncton airport I know such a thing exists (I knew my certain X would come in useful someday).

― Mr Noodles, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd never thought of ver Heath being overcrowded before. How odd.

― DG, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

http://homepage.mac.com/dtcd/glove.jpeg

― Graham, Sunday, 21 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You went to ATP then, Graham?

― Michael Jones, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

YAY! comedy :-) pure class, Mr Jones

― Alan Trewartha, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This week Ines (whose birthday it was on Friday) was robbed there at knifepoint.

― Graham, Saturday, 27 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

seven years pass...

http://gallery.digitaldeviation.com/d/1222-17/sowentthere.jpg

― macaulay culkin's bukkake shocker (bug), Saturday, 23 May 2009 04:49 (sixteen years ago)

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