The Knowhere Guide

Best and Worst in St Ives, Cornwall*

St Ives, Cornwall Triumphs and Tragedies

Favourite Building

• Tate great views from inside
• The Shelter on Mans Head
• The bus stop/train station, as the main portal OUT of St. Ives for those stuck in the rut. It's well-advised - move away! You look back on the place more fondly, and it'll be less crowded. The Tate is also a seminal building for St. Ives to be blessed with. Local hardnosers, it ISN'T an eyesore, it used to be a rusty gasworks for f's sake, it couldn't have got any worse now could it?
• I really like the little chappel on the island(the big bit of headland between porgwidden and porthmeor beaches)
• Tate st.ives is lovelly, especially the lower terrace where you can look out onto the sea. I personally think it looks great in winter and autumn. Everyone should make the effort to visit this place
• Tate St Ives should be listed. First chuck out (ok - recycle) the tacky wooden planters in the glorious courtyard. Then list the building. Perfect chill out spaces abound.
• The TATE art gallery

Demolish It Now Building

• Woolworths
• Tate Gallery
• I can't understand the need for so many overpriced, identikit surf-chain stores and sweaty Cornish Bakehouses. If there were less, St. Ives people might look to real jobs and the real world instead. Especially when there's no music shop, no decent film store, and a lack of similar useful amenities. Too many churches too, but just try demolishing one of those in St. Ives. Please. And demolish the old cafe and bus depot beneath the bus stop; replace it with the skatepark you proposed, ooh, ten years ago?
• Piazza Flats, Porthmeor Beach, Woolworths on the Harbourside. Anything on the market for more than 300K
• The Atlantic Hotel Carbis bay. very poor accomadation. very down market. For the price they charge ( not cheap ) you would expect, and can get a lot better.
• nooo, none of them
• Ye Olde Cornish Candy Shoppe on the Wharf The Regent Hotel
• The Porthmere Hotel

The Best Things

• Beautiful beaches with turquoise seas
• The Winter when all the visitiors have gone home.
• PART OF RAISE THE TITANIC WAS FILMED HERE IN THE LATE 70'S, THE LOCAL PUB WAS USED IN A SCENE WITH ALEC GUINESS PLAYING AN OLD SEAFARER.
• Shoreline Tattoo. How lucky that such a small town, has it's own tattoo studio, which just happens to be the home of one of the most talented tattooists I've ever seen? You can look at some of the custom freehand work and understand that it IS an artform. Go there.
• Lively arts and music scene. Everyone in town is an artist, writer or musician -check out cafe Frug at the Salthouse Gallery, happenings at the St Ives Arts Club, Westcotts Quay The old pilchard cellars and net lofts. Norway Stores, Back Road West Ghost walks Dive St Ives - they do courses, wreck diving etc Fruits of the Sea fish shop - cheapers than Stevens
• beaches, booze and fit blokes
• its a lovely town! the people are really nice and friendly. u can chill out and the beaches r gr8 4 talent spotting, sunbathing, surfing etc...
• The beaches and the coastal paths. Spectacular views. Oh, and the residents aren't bad either...
• The sun
• The air and the light.
• The civilised atmosphere.
• FANCY DRESS ON NEW YEARS EVE IS FAB!!!!!
• The culture of the town and the fabulous beaches

The Worst Things

• Parking in the summer months
• The royal british legion for aiding and abetting adultery, tabacco running,drug use and basic non moral activities,....is'nt that right gina davison,matt,rebecca care and mark bridges?!?!?
• SUV 4x4 Drivers who are down visting their second home and and totally unable to negotiate the streets that the rest of us locals can drive through at 30 in a bus. These ponces usually have Personalised Number plates that don't really spell their name so they put in a black screw thinking that the rest of us will me impressed. They go to the Sloop Inn and pretend they are big shots by buying rounds for all the real locals who accept with a smile and then take the mickey for the rest of the weekend. New Years eve- well past it's sell by date - far to many people in hired fancy dress. No Soul left in a once great occasion.
• THE FILM RAISE THE TITANIC......
• The arcades. Like a magnet with too many filings stuck to it, the little gambling rats that gravitate on the harbourfront to do moped burn-outs and spit in puddles really add to that 'Art Haven' image St. Ives is going for.
• People who complain about dogs on Barnaluz beach - the only dog beach in town.
• Very crowded, difficult to get served in pubs and shops. Don't expect to get service in a restaurants unless you have booked days in advance. The town is very hilly and car parking is limited. This place is living on its reputation, it has deteriorated considerably over the last 30 years.
• Stressed out breadhead shopkeepers who scowl at the buskers
• Crawling with insect-like tourists, myself included. But I suppose we bring the cash in. Can't have it all ways can we? Without new blood a town dies.
• tourists&seaguls
• there is only 1 night club
• Lack of parking. If you come in the summer in your car and intend parking in or near town come early cos by lunchtime the car parks are all full!
• The thousands of trogs in the summer.
• The Wharf needs redeveloping. The Town Council.
• Its too far away from all other towns

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

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Credits

Last updated: 2008-07-03