Luton.

[DannyL]

That's completely correct. I enjoyed that aspect - went to a few nice restaurants - but I have to wonder if that's a substitute for a functioning economy that going to provide for the whole region.

It's a model that's been taken on by quite a few English towns. I went to the "Folkestone Biennale" a few years ago (with Rich, in fact) and we all had a great day but there's that nagging concern. These towns are trying to attract artists I assume as harbingers of greater gentrification. Having an actual industry seems like a crazy dream

 

[Murphy]

TVC were a sound system from Kent. Did loads of good nights all round the county and country, bashes with DiY et al. Based in Whitstable. God I’m old.

 

[Leo]

Based in Whitstable.

another town on the same hellhole tour...we were about 20 years younger than most anyone else, and we're old as fuck.

stayed at a cool fisherman's hut, beers at sunset at the outdoor tables behind the Old Neptune.

 

[IdleRich]

swung thru margate four or five years ago (after stopping by Brighton and Hastings...my UK hellhole excursion, it appears), seemed like it was being rebranded as a place for artists/hipsters. somewhat tattered, scruffy, worn around the edges, slightly druggy, Tracey emin, Pete Doherty, turner contemporary. 90-minutes from London by train, "shoreditch-by-the-sea".

That's exactly what I understand although I've never actually been there. Would like to go though. Dan - is that where Jemma lives now?
Folkestone (and to a lesser extent) Hastings are a little like that I think. Folkestone has the art thing, record shops and so on, Hastings has those guys who owned Green and Blacks chocolate, they sold up and set up some kind of hipster health thing there with pilates and stuff.
In each case these things work for me - the towns both have a kind of mixture of "real" stuff and hipster-ish stuff but in my mind they sit together better than in many other places. Maybe cos they're by the sea and people are more chilled, or cos it's mainly older people coming from London so perhpas they don't clash with the local yute... I dunno.
But yeah, maybe it's not sustainable, certainly if every town starts doing it. I don't even know how these places are now, haven't been for years.

 

[DannyL]

Yeah, she's in Margate. She's doing art stuff with local people but not really clear on what it is. But it seemed community rooted anyway. They've also got the Tate there as well, in terms of direct evidence of the art/gentrification strategy.

Hastings seemed very hip when I visited, enough for me to buy a really expensive record anyway, like a low key Brighton. I do always puzzle whenever I'm in these places as to what the local economy actually is.

 

[woops]

It felt like I could see Pendle Hill from whereever I was.

A sure sign it's about to start raining

 

[luka]

Woops has talked a lot to me about how the north doesn't allow any racial mixing on any grounds. The divisions are heavily policed. White or Asian. This side of town or that. There's no crossing those lines on pain of death.

 

[luka]

northerners are not open minded people. Very mean spirited cruel spiteful suspicious from what whoops and other say

 

[slackk]

The North > Greenwich

 

[IdleRich]

More what? I'm guessing more mean spirited, cruel and spiteful.

 

[luka]

The North > Greenwich

Move back then ya cunt!

 

[Murphy]

BNP was Ilkeston, but for every one of these



there's a

 

[luka]

Ive never been to the north but I've heard so so so many horror stories from northerners who are traumatised refugees in London that Ive got a massive phobia. I know they're not lying.

 

[IdleRich]

I remember that article that you wrote about it in The Times under the pseudonym of Katie Glass.

I am more nervous about going to Leeds than I would be going to a war zone. But then, I am making this trip for a boy, and domestic bliss is not my forte. “You’re being ridiculous,” says my friend Tanya. As always, she is right. So I brace myself and head up north to the Boy’s house. If only, I decide, for the novelty.
I have never been t’north. I have a “to do” list ready. The Angel, of course, the Liverpool Tate, Hadrian’s Wall. I want to wear a flat cap, eat chips with gravy, race a whippet, read Viz and see David Hockney. I want to go to a warehouse rave and walk down a Hovis advert street.

 

[john eden]

The North is a lot.

 

[slackk]

Move back then ya cunt!

I haven't lived in London for years now man. It's nice to visit but only select places now. Working in Greenwich borough for nearly ten years makes you realise how much of a dump it really is lol

 

[slackk]

Dont work there anymore either. No regrets

 

[Mr. Tea]

The North > Greenwich

Now that's fighting talk!

 

[martin]

I only lived there between '89-'94, and went back up a few times between '96 - 2001 to see friends, a girl, a dying dad, etc. So I might not be the best person to ask. But as Neil Transpontine hasn't turned up (he was busy learning Gaelic folk songs, last time I checked Facebook), guess I'll have to be the Lutonian ambassador.

Let's put the boot into this dump! Except

1) Luton's not the shittest place in the UK. It's not even in the top 10 shittest places. Southampton, Portsmouth, Aberdeen, West Croydon and Uxbridge all make Luton look like Vegas.

2) It might have had brutalist architecture, bleak industrial estates, crumbling 70s infrastructure, post-apocalyptic parks and factories/office blocks so grimey the windows looked painted over with lard - but go past all that on the X31 on a dark winter morning, listening to Joy Division or Cabaret Voltaire, and it's perfect. Anyway, this is fucking Dissensus - thought you all loved that sort of stuff?

3) Luton Carnival was good - all the reggae and ragga you could shake a stick at. And without the pathetic sight of Tories drinking out of coconuts, or posh homeowners trying to flog you lukewarm Red Stripe at £6 a can.

4) Most of the people are brilliant. Sure, you WON'T see that side if you go in saying "your town's a complete shithole" - you think that's news to anyone in Luton? Plus the insider 'Luton sucks' jokes were way funnier. WashYourHands, you'd be surprised how many pubs you'd have enjoyed if you'd walked in wearing the hoops; there's a massive London Irish overspill there and every second pub was full of CR SMITH and FAI tops. Eddie's Bar was an institution, as was The Cock (essential underage drinker venue) and The Painters.

5) Don't get me wrong, there could be a heavy vibe some nights and thing could kick off at the drop of a hat, but if you want the REAL Bedfordshire 'heart of darkness', head for Dunstable (which was BNP central), Stopsley (city of the living dead) or Houghton Regis (get shot in the head by a pregnant 14-year old with a crossbow if you touch the jukebox).

6) Diana Dors owned a pub in Luton called The Wabbit. "Crap town" my arse.

7) Luton Sixth Form College was ace - great facilities, tremendous dedicated staff, and my happiest learning experience. Tommy Robinson has claimed that he couldn't go there as a teenager, or he'd have been killed by Asians. How odd - I went there for two years without any aggro, and so did a number of extremely skinny, shy, svelt Suede fans - none of whom had any bother. Brave crusader, huh. My history teacher was a Jewish hippy who once shut me and the class SWP clown up by casually mentioning, "Oh, the Angry Brigade...my friend was their defence lawyer...so anyway, the Yalta Conference...". She also gave me her personal copy of Rod Kedward's brilliant "Fascism in Western Europe, 1900-1945" at the end of the course, along with the sage advice: "Try and read some fun things too!"

8) If you think the plastic pitch was weird, how about the fact that Kenilworth Rd banned away fans altogether after the infamous Millwall match? (I hadn't moved there when that happened but a friend went when he was 9, and he assured me it was bad). That whole debacle was a 'last straw' incident that also led to a big push to introduce ID cards at matches.

Result being - reduced atmosphere - less revenues - less advertising - club suffered. They had to ditch the pitch because players were fucking their legs up on tackles - but, IIRC, wasn't there another club in the '80s that installed astroturf?

The MIGs and BOLTs were hardly angels, but the idea they were nazis/racists is ridiculous. Anyway, if there was ever a team for the Temple ov Psychick Youth to follow...

 

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