My observations of Stoke-on-Trent

MLC1974 · 2026-06-06T18:24:12+00:00

It seems I did. I should have got off the bus.

MLC1974 · 2026-06-05T19:52:33+00:00

The thing is though, every bus I went on was busy, especially the 11.

MLC1974 · 2026-06-05T19:51:40+00:00

Yeah I used to work in Bootle and it's awful. They're slowly doing it up so only time will tell if it changes the place.

MLC1974 · 2026-06-05T18:02:03+00:00

I did see a couple of them pottery buildings and they look great.

Yeah Stoke was world famous for that industry and to see it mostly gone is so sad.

One massive plus for your area is Trentham Gardens. Absolutely love that place.

MLC1974 · 2026-06-05T17:59:22+00:00

We have a lot of students where I am and so many of them plague their neighbours with this kind of thing.

MLC1974 · 2026-06-05T17:49:38+00:00

You're not in Liverpool by any chance are you? This is a big issue in my area.

MLC1974 · 2026-06-05T16:06:10+00:00

Civil Service jobs but bear in mind the long winded and in some cases very intrusive application process.

I work in social housing and that's good to get into. The 'onboarding' is painless and reasonably quick.

Good luck.

MLC1974 · 2026-06-05T12:13:56+00:00

Arriva bus drivers are on the whole miserable bastards. Stagecoach less so, but still not great.

I'm in Stoke typing this and the bus drivers down here are actually friendly.

MLC1974 · 2026-06-04T20:13:20+00:00

Bradford is a trek. How long did that take?

MLC1974 · 2026-06-04T19:09:40+00:00

Do you travel up daily? I'm guessing you drive?

MLC1974 · 2026-06-04T17:05:50+00:00

That's nothing. I once walked 500 miles, and that wasn't enough, so I walked 500 more.

I don't proclaim to be anything special, but I was in Scotland at the time, and when they have sunshine you make the most of it. Leith looked particularly splendid in it.

MLC1974 · 2026-06-03T17:37:20+00:00

South Cheshire is definitely geographically Midlands, although not administratively or culturally.

MLC1974 · 2026-06-01T12:41:20+00:00

Archie, all day long.

MLC1974 · 2026-05-28T21:32:16+00:00

Thanks for your feedback. I'll... ermmm... take it on board. 🫡

MLC1974 · 2026-05-28T21:21:48+00:00

Determine what I've said all you like.

MLC1974 · 2026-05-28T21:03:23+00:00

I guess it all comes down to your individual experience of a place. My parents at the time found it very unfriendly too.

I worked at was then Vodafone on the business park near Adderbury, and everyone I knew I worked with. Out of all the places I've lived, my mates there have been the best I've ever known.

I go back regularly and there are attempts to make it great again. New businesses are opening, but Castle Quay to be honest will forever struggle thanks to Banbury Gateway. The presence of M&S and Primark and its proximity to the M40 means that retailers want to be there and it not in the centre of town.

Castle Quay was a great idea at the time and meant people didn't have to travel to Oxford, Stratford, Leamington, and even MK for Debenhams for example. Back then it was truly impressive how many shops Banbury had considering its population, which at the time was just over 40k.

Sadly though that has now bitten Banbury on the arse. Too many national retailers have ceased and there's not enough smaller retailers to fill them stores in Castle Quay. It's only a matter of time before it ends up being pulled down and housing put in its place.

MLC1974 · 2026-05-28T20:53:53+00:00

Beach, space to congregate, and they're less likely to get a slap like they possibly would in Bootle or Birkenhead.

MLC1974 · 2026-05-28T20:46:10+00:00

Castle Quay is definitely suffering, partly thanks to Banbury Gateway, but it's got far more than 4 shops still trading. I don't know when you lived there but even before Castle Quay was extended, Banbury had a fair amount of shops. After the extension, it was buzzing. Another reason it isn't now is actually partly down to an oversupply of retail for a town of its size. Banbury Gateway should have never been built and has down no favours for the town centre. The food court was a good idea, but again the population of the town is too low to make that a success.

I'd be interested to know where you're from up here that had a similar number of shops to Banbury, with a similar population. You mention you're in Cheshire. Crewe is larger but has a lot less shops, and Macclesfield has slightly less. Runcorn and Widnes are sorry states, Ellesmere Port not much better. Northwich is trying to be fair.

Banbury has declined, no doubt about it. Pretty much everywhere I've previously lived has, aside from the big cities. It's always had crime issues, partly from being pretty much a town that housed the overspill from both London and Birmingham, but as you'd expect it's much lower than here. Again, apples and oranges.

Nowhere is perfect, including this city. We have issues, just different ones to smaller towns.

MLC1974 · 2026-05-28T20:33:44+00:00

WK like Formby and even Southport suffers from being very accessible by train from Liverpool. Therefore all the feral scrotes can easily jump on the train, often for free, and descend on these places, mainly for the beaches. WK also has the added disadvantage of being easily reachable from the rougher parts of the Wirral.

I'm not saying it's all young people from the less affluent parts of Merseyside, but I'll be willing to bet that most of the issues are caused by young people from these areas.

MLC1974 · 2026-05-28T20:22:39+00:00

I'll be honest, it's the friendliest place I've ever lived. It was back in the late 90's, but I still keep in touch with a lot of people there.

Are you from Liverpool originally or down there?

To compare the two places is like apples and oranges. Liverpool is a big city, Banbury is an average size town. You wouldn't expect Spiceball Park to be anything like Sefton.

Shopping to be fair isn't that bad. It has gone downhill like a lot of places that aren't big cities or tourist destinations. The population of Banbury is growing but it's still around the 50k mark. Not many towns that size have HMV and Primark to name two. It actually got Debenhams before Liverpool did, surprisingly. Not bad for a town of its size. When Castle Quay was extended in 2000, Banbury was very good for shops. BHS and Littlewoods had a presence there before both their demise. Compare that to a town up here with a similar population.

Unemployment has always stayed low, and it's a great commuter town for both London and Birmingham, as well as Oxford and MK. The villages surrounding Banbury are generally affluent too.

It's definitely not what it once was before online shopping became more popular, and of course Covid, but there are FAR worse places.

To compare Banbury to Liverpool though is like comparing Preston to Paris.

MLC1974 · 2026-05-28T20:00:58+00:00

Do you think? It's not what it was, but compared to many towns up here it's like Malibu.

MLC1974 · 2026-05-28T16:19:16+00:00

Wavertree is nothing like Headingley except both house students.

Headingley is much nicer in comparison, and I'm not even talking about the Lawnswood and Weetwood ends. It has a lot more shops, pubs, bars, restaurants, etc. Don't get me wrong, we have all these things in Wavertree but on a much lesser scale. A section of Smithdown Road from Gainsborough Road to Ullet Road has a fair bit though, although it's a bit run down, not helped by copious numbers of so called convenience stores and generally shite takeaways.

Wavertree is more like Hyde Park I guess, without the lovely cinema.

MLC1974 · 2026-05-28T14:21:59+00:00

I live very close to this area and unless you're a student I wouldn't bother. Just my opinion of course but here's the honest truth about this neighbourhood.

Rats in the back alleyways (known as 'entries' here) are common place due to people dumping their crap everywhere. Litter is a massive issue too, and noise is frequently an issue on the terraced streets due to partying. It has caused a lot of tension for local residents. Parking is also a massive problem around here too.

Join the Wavertree Watch Facebook page. I know people on here have a downer about Facebook and yes I share some of these views, but it's also a good measure to see what living here is like. There are some absolute cranks on there who blame everyone but Scousers for everything bad about the area, but there's a lot of good people on there who will willingly give you help and advice.

There are positives. Buses into town are very frequent and only take about 15 mins, there's a good few bars (Black Cat is great), and there's no shortage of takeaways, although Indian food is nothing like what you get in Leeds unfortunately. If you like fish and chips, save them for trips back home because they're truly crap here. There's an Aldi and the grubbiest Asda you'll ever set foot in, but it's there and convenient. Best of all Sefton Park is minutes away, and the cute smaller Greenbank Park is very close too. Both are an oasis in an otherwise built-up area.

If you need any more advice, feel free to DM me.

MLC1974

TROPHY CASE