Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Triumphs and Tragedies
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Favourite Building
Stoke Station is actually quite good.
CREATION 4 IT'S CONTEMPORY DESIGN.
Fenton Manor!
You've got me there.
stupid big tall unity house
A what building??
VALE PARK !!!!!. sixth form college is good too
STOKE, GOOD BUILDINGS? FUCK OFF
Potteries Shopping Centre -now 13 years old (2000)and still looks spanking new
comparred to the scum around it.
Telephone Buildings in Hanley that they converted into another shit trendy bar.
Burslem Library
Shelton church. A real architectuctural land mark - in every sense. I did a lot of snogging among the gravestones there.
The victoria hall now its been done up is OK. Also the new town hall in stoke is good
What do they call that church by the Potteries Centre? There was a huge petition to save it from demolition when they were building the centre in the eighties, and the bloody thing got boarded up before they had even sent the builders home.
Demolish It Now Building
the only thing in stoke uglier than the girls is unity house!knock it down before i blow it up for you!
Every council estate in stoke, thats all of it then!The shittania stadium also a council house.
The question is what building wouldn't I like to see flattened.
Hanley bus station officially matches all of the physical requirements for Hell.
Unity House.
That terrifying statue on the side of what used to be Lewis's.
The old arcade in Hanley town centre.
Burslem. For god's sake, just start from scratch.
THE FOUNDER.
DEMOLISH ALL BUILDINGS IN STOKE!
Any house/flat in Meir, Bentilee, Bucknall, Longton, Shelton,Chell heath, Burslem, Cobridge... Meir park tesco! Le Shaz in Longton! Bus station in Hanley and the numerous cardboard boxes in the bus station that are the homes of beggars!
Brittania Stadium
Vale Park
The A500. Tailbacks of 5 miles at 3.30 on a Tuesday afternoon on a regular basis? not where i come from thats a dead cert.
British Steel Shelton Works Plant.
The whole of Longton and Stokes town centres.
Fail park the so called Wembley of the north.What a pisser.
Has to be Newcastle-Under-Lyme school. Nothing against the buildings just the school.
Wetherspoons Pubs... Bring back live music!!
ABC no need to say why!
Unity house
Every single building with maybe the exception of the Post Office in Hanley. In particular, the old Shopping Arcade that has about two dodgy shops left and stinks of piss and Stokey's. Also, Hanley bus depot, I have never seen such filth in all my life. That Orange box they call the Potteries. And finally, that dark, looming, deralict building that welcomes anyone approaching Stoke-On-Trent from 50miles away.
the shittania stadium. that 'thing' on the wall of lewis's still gives me nightmares, fuck it off
That thing next to the incinerator on the A50, apparently a football team play there n all.
Stoke
THE ENTIRE COUNTY OF STAFFORDHIRE
Basford Workingmens Club- it's so run down and weeds are growing out the roof
and it cuts off easy access to Hartshill Park.
Staffordshire University. What a waste of my time and money.
Stoke-on-Trent, yes the entire city.
HANLEY BUS STATION - LIKE THE ARCTIC WASTES
THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS AT LIVERPOOL RD. SOON THE A500 WILL BE MANNED BY HOT DOG STALLS TO FEED THE STARVED MOTORIST.
Unity house, the bus station, Argos building and that whole area.
Has nobody else noticed the ugliest building in the world ??? the huge brown tower block at the bottom of broad street that has been boarded up for years but the lights still go on and off? it completely ruins what would otherwise be a beutiful city...(NOT!)
All out of town shopping malls
The old town hall, Unity House
That monstrous statue stuck on the side of Lewises. If it still is Lewises, that is. I left Stoke at the first opportunity twelve years ago, and still haven't returned.
The Best Things
id jus like to say that stoke is so much better than stockport coz its a shit hole iv lived in stoke all my life an id never even visit stockport if u payed my all the money in the world. stoke i known 4 its amazing OATCKAES tean chippy ,wheatsheaf ,rumi,Scott.C. an Kate.H. ,alton towers coz its the best theme park in the world . leek college coz scott an kate go to it an were hte best wrights pies robbie williams , SIR STANLEY MATTHEWS cheadle its self coz its mint tean coz its close by, bargin booze in cheadle servs any1 cheadle high skool THE BENCH .festival park is mint theres loads of other stuff w cant remember but stoke is so good that its ......good see ya scotty an kate
THE ROAD OUT OF STOKE!
Graham Norton
Nice people. Most people get a long. Good shops, cheap beer on student nights. Goot nightlife etc
Robbie, oatcakes, EMA, battery warehouse in Fenton, HMV, accents, the people are generally nice, shops and community.
The Road to Congleton
The Road to Stone
The Road to Leek
The Road to Nantwich (at least its quick the A500, most of the times at least)
The Road to Shrewsbury
The Road to Alton Towers
The Road to Uttoxeter
Stoke people are only judjed by the bad things visit for yourself and you will be pleasantly suprised
If your from there it is the friendliest city in the world which is great we dont want shitty southerners coming and telling us how shit our home is we know it already. Oh and the fact that were the hardest and Oatcakes.
The fact that everybody around is suffering the same torture as you are every day.
there is a music scene honest great bands such as slight return....10p wasted.
alpha 9
When you leave
Everyone knows each other
Nice country side once you get out of the scum of the cities.
port vale, oatcakes, friendly people (sometimes), the fact that it is a shithole ;), the fact that we are harder than anyone else in the country
Our accent, oatcakes, the sentinel, robbie, the vale, oatcakes, festival park, potteries centre, oatcakes, the art of confusin people on holiday cuz they dont recognise where you're from, the fact everythin is just the right size, did i mention oatcakes?!!
Laid back Frendly City.
Laughing at/Beating up Stokies. And defacing the place.
COMMUNIBUS - THE FINEST DIAL A RIDE AND COMMUNITY TRANSPORT SERVICE PROVIDING A SERVICE FOR THE ELDERLY AND DISABLED, EVEN ON CHRISTMAS DAY - LOVED BY ALL EXCEPT STOKE CITY COUNCIL. COME ON CITY COUNCIL, SHOW YOUR SUPPORT OF A MAGNIFICENT SERVICE.
It's home and the people are down to earth and really friendly.
Matt Tee's zine, The Exclusive, almost the best reason to go into
Fantasy World in Hanley. It is only a couple of pounds and is
one of the best value music zines I've come across. Matt is very
friendly and if you write him a nice letter you'll get a good
reply. (Sorry I haven't written back yet Matt - Heather M.)
The people
I am currently at Loughborough University where I am having a great time. I get a lot of stick for coming from Stoke but I don't care because it is great. At Loughborough there is to many public school, rugby playing wankers who find it amusing to down pints with their penis's hanging out. The people who live in stoke are very genuine but no wonder they are miserable if all that people do when they come is slag it off. There is plenty of things to do in Stoke in particular Golden @ the Void which is arguarbly the best club in the North. So until you've actually experienced what Stoke really has to offer then you have no room to comment.
Oatcakes, Hanley Park (actually in Shelton), Trentham Gardens, Trentham Park, Rudyard Lake, Keele University Stoke Wakes, the 'D' road (for getting to and away from Stoke). Mow Cop castle (the centre of the universe in a book called "Red Shift", The canal through Hanley Park going to Etruria.
15 mins from the peaks, countryside in every direction
The M6 by-passes it to the west.
Stoke City FC
The bus service is ok, but expensive if your coming to stoke you need a buz about which weill take you around stoke on trent cheaper(under 3.00) or a fareday which will take you anywhere in staffs.nightclubs and easy reach of the city
Even though Stoke and Vale fans hate each other they'll join together in joyous harmony to kick the crap out of any and all visiting supporters
Not that far from Alton Towers.
I am one of those persons who tells everyone how wonderful Stoke is - that much is true!
It's in the centre of the Country, so you can get anywhere quiet easily, unlike Newbury.
Another good point: Port Vale are currently bottom of the league!
'Stokies' are very friendly people unlike Southern Softies! That's got to be a plus point.
The buses all have the initials 'PMT' painted on the side, which is dead funny if you have that sort of humour.
Massive cinema complex "Festival Park".
I quite like the accent - it's good for not having to speak to any southerners.
The Potteries Shopping Center has the best range of shops I have seen in my whole life (and I've seen quite a few). The accent is great, best one in the county.
The police are quite friendly(!)
Pubs, Buses, Festival Park.
My ex-boss Spence, again poor choice of footie team in Port Vale.
Comedian, Nick Hancock, shame he supports Stoke City though
People calling you 'duck': you rarely get it elsewhere.
Oatcakes, served with bacon and cheese.
The Worst Things
ERMMM EXCUSE ME P[AL, BUT WHO MANAGES THIS SITE ANYWAY, SEEN AS I WAS LOOKING FOR SNOOKER CLUBS IN THIS AREA, I DISCOVERED A LOAD OF COMMENTS BY SOME PRICK WHO KEPT SAYING ABUSIVE STUFF. WHY DON'T U FUCK OFF AND GROW UP WHILE YOU'RE AT IT!!! AND ALL THE OTHER STUPID FUCKERS WHO GO OUT TO CLUBS AND STAB PPL CUZ THEY ARE WANK, LIKE THIS SHITE WEBPAGE.
The Hengist Podd School of city planners who think everyone gets about in a square wheeled cart which does not notice the holes in every foot of road. WE NEED THE ROMANS BACK TO SORT IT ---- AND TO OPEN AN ARENA FOR A PARTY WITH LIONS, TIGERS AND CITY COUNCILLORS.
The worst thing about stoke on trent is when your coming home from a long journey like yorkshire and you hit the outskirts of staffordshire and you think, what a sh1t hole, then you get to stoke on trent and it hits you again, you think what a real sh1t hole. Ever increasing council tax bills and the council wont even cut the grass, you cant see cars coming from other directions because the grass verges and roundabouts are 4 foot high, there is half a scrap yard of rubbish hidden in the long grass and you lose the dog every time you take it for a walk, you can't see where the dog shit or disgarded needles are and contrary to popular belief, long grass plays havoc with your astma and hayfever about 400 percent more than well cropped grass. The grass is allowed to seed everywhere, so you get unsightly grass growing from every crack in the roads tarmac and weeds are completely out of control, yet the council have spent loads of money over the last couple of years on new grass cutting machinery but refuse to pay people to use it.
move to Newcastle it's only 3 miles away.
The narrow minded sheep like people who will never even think of leaving and see nothing wrong with their routine, sheep like narrow minded existence. And im a born and bred stokie.
The place is famous for making toilets. The prosecution rests...
BURSLEM. If you looked up ghost town in the dictionary it would show a picture of Burslem. You walk into the town centre and see nothing but boarded up shops and travel agents. Oh and there's the KFC as well which used to have a bin outside that said this bin is sponsored by KFC, stupid idea anyway but even stupider because it was right underneath another bin. Burslem is also the only town who's Town hall was turned into a leisure centre. It isn't anymore though because it is now a part of a partially complete pottery museum which is never going to be finished and it looks awful. Burselm also has a football club(Port Vale) that is reguarly relegated and has a half finished stand. You might think that there is nothing wrong with having a half finished stand and there isn't unless, that is, that it has been half finished for nearly 4 seasons now. Quite frankly Burslem is the most depressing place I have EVER been to in my life. If a nuclear bomb were to hit it overnight the survivors would wake up in the morning thinking that the town had been given a face lift.
When you arrive
Everyone knows and shags each other.
stoke city, PMT is a fucking rip off, £1.20 to get from milton to hanley !! stoke fans
The accent. Can you bear Robbie Willimas drawl ?
Crap drivers
EVERYTHING, STOKE IS A SHITHOLE. THE PEOPLE ARE ARSEHOLES AND THE BIRDS LOOK LIKE BULLDOGS CHEWING WASPS
No more industry Mr Blair.
This place infuriates me. Why are these clowns so proud of this shit hole. Your crap at football but it's a religion up here. Your also rubbish (contrary to your popular belief) at fighting. And Robbie Williams is certainly nothing to be proud of.
Someone please tell me it's not that bad, it's my first acceptance choice for uni. What have I done? It seemed nice when I went. The people were all right and though the buildings had the appearance of my kitchen lino after a heavy night drinking i could see me being a student there. Oh yeah and I'm not a slapper, pikey, violent uneducated racist, nor am I ugly. Mind you I don't live there yet.
In all honesty you can't find a worst dump without going to the thrid world. I lived in Stoke-on-Trent for 5 year and I hated every minute of it. The city is full of white racist violent lower working class people who are uneducated and unskilled labourers and who live in nasty terraced houses. Stoke hasn't got anything going for it its got a one of the worst universities in Europe, the worst schools, rubbish football teams, town centres are nothing but a sham and the few girls had are ok looking aren't worth it cos they go around and r so easy that you'll avoid contact with the any sexually transmitted dieseases. I am glad I don't live there any more and I never mention to anyone that I used to live there. There are so many business getting out of Stoke nowadays they've just realised what a cesspit stoke is......well stoke ppl aren't the quickest to figure things out.
THE CITY COUNCIL. THE CENTURIES OLD ROAD SYSTEM. WHERE ELSE BUT STOKE WOULD A DUAL CARRIAGEWAY BE WIDENED TO THREE LANES AND THE SPEED LIMIT REDUCED FROM 50MPH TO 30MPH? THE EVER INCREASING SPEED RAMPS NOT ONE THE SAME HEIGHT. ANYBODY GOT A BULLDOZER?
THE CITY CENTRE OF STOKE.ON.TRENT IS ACTUALLY HANLEY 2 MILES FROM STOKE. TRY EXPLAINING THAT TO VISITORS ASKING DIRECTIONS ESPECIALLY FOREIGN VISITORS!
David Meakin. His left ball keeps falling out.Pete meakin too...pedophile.
A severe lack of interest or understanding of art and culture, though things are slowly starting to happen.
The skirts and shirts (flotillas of guys wearing primary coloured
shirts outside their trousers) that roam at the weekend, fighting
and mating, and shouting at anyone who doesn't look like they're
having a good time/isn't wearing makeup. Saw them when I was on acid
once and I thought I'd gone to hell.
The other people
the accent, which they seem to deny having
The canal through Stoke (those horrble views of backs of houses and factories). Stoke railway station - no car park!
traffic pot banks port vale chell heath port vale festival park motor madness at night, god if only they new how sad they look
the train service
Commoner error: There ARE six towns and always have been. The "five towns" rubbish started with Arnold Bennett's novels - he thought it sounded better, so he left out Fenton. (and no, I'm not from Fenton!)
The worst feature definitely has to be the location of the train station... it looks like some sort of ghetto around there! Whoever said the people (notably women) were ugly has obviously not been out at the weekends in such 'top' spots as Newcastle Under-Lyme and Hanley as this is when the 'beautiful people' come out! It's not very nice to slag off my home town because of the pottery connection, I mean, what person from Oxford doesn't harp on about the University?
I was born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent (Penkhull, to be exact) for the first 18 years of my life. As a journalist I travel a lot and once went on an assignment to Mongolia, where nuclear experiments in a remote part of the gobi desert had led to extreme levels of radiation poisoning, which had affected the local nomads. At one camp I visited - for a very short time - the entire adult population were afflicted with various forms of cancer and a skin disease similar to leprosy, which caused the flesh of the face to fall away leaving the bone visible round the eye sockets and the tongue to swell grotesquely. Children were born with birth defects, some missing limbs, others with rudimentary body parts sprouting here and there from various parts of their anatomies. Even the animals were affected, but the local mongols depended on them for milk and meat and so continued to eat and drink poison. Law and order had broken down completely and there was savage competition for the merest scrap of uncontaminated food. People laughed at the deformed children and left the old people to die of cold in the street. Basically, the weak were killed and eaten. I talked to the village headman who made me welcome as best he could and at length asked me where I came from. "Stoke-on-Trent" I replied. "Jesus, what a shithole!" he exclaimed. He was right of course...
My family live in Stoke. The accent is not that bad except for the use of the word "duck" when talking to you. The women are not ugly. Why would you say that? If you're a culture vulture you'll love the pottery tours. Anyway, I just wanted to say that S-o-T may not be the best town in England, but it does have its good points.
You may well slaughter Stoke-on-Trent saying that it is a very boring place, but unless you've lived there yourself for 19 years, then you can't honestly say that the place is the biggest dive under the sun. Yes the accent is horrible - and no-one can recognise where you come from - common mistakes have been from Liverpool, Manchester and even Newcastle-upon Tyne - how is this possible ?!?
Don't ever go to Stoke, or Newcastle-Under-Lyme. There you will find the unheard-of-but-infamous beardie weirdies, who roam the area with names like "Sam" and eat clay, quorn and other non meat textured vegetable protiens. It is SCARY!!!!!!!
A Up, let's not end on a critical note. Stoke is home to many wonderful attractions - let me think ... have I mentioned the marvellous clay and the extraordinary ummm clay. There is of course the infamous yellowbeard - an entity not to be missed.
The blurb in this guide seems to imply that a good time can be had in Stoke. I have been to stoke and I can honestly say that it would be a physical impossibility to enjoy yourself in this town.
By calling them southern softies I think you class yourselves as northerners, PLEASE don't; you'll give us a baaad name!
As the amazing Jarvis (On Newman and Baddeil) once said: "You know what they say; Stoke-on-Trent, Bent."
From a southern softie - 'Stokies' are not friendly people they are dense 'clayheads'.
Reasons why Stoke-on-Trent is the Arse-end of the World:
Stoke-On-Trent/Newcastle Under Lyme is a confusing patchwork of towns, suburbs and communities which have merged into a vast urban sprawl; resulting in a chaotic road system, mumerous crappy areas and a city centre still far to small and underdeveloped. It is as dull and cultureless as any other British city not called 'London' and has a very low grade economic base; yet local people love it and find it very difficult to leave - why? Precisely because it is a uniquely constructed place with a huge variety of urban landscapes, all built on a very human scale. I lived in Leicester for a year and I didn't like it - it was like living in a diagram from a geography textbook; a big unfriendly centre radiating out to identikit suburbs, you could drive right through it in half an hour. I would imagine people from those sort of cities can quite happily move from place to place without noticing much difference, but Stokies can never quite feel at home anywhere else, becuse despite it's innummerable faults there is nowhere else like the Potteries, and we're all trapped in a sort of love/hate relationship.
The average IQ of a Stokie is less than the average IQ of a beansprout.
People: No supermodels ever come to Stoke-on-Trent, or at least if they do then the ugliness of the local women rubs off on them and we don't notice who they are.
Common error: There are five towns of Stoke-on-Trent not six: Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, and Longton. Fenton is not the 5th of the so called '6' towns!
The transport system: despite being amusingly named, PMT buses are expensive and infrequent (unless you live in the centre). In addition, the fragmented nature of the city (due to the SIX towns thing) means that there is no proper 'centre' so everything is spread around all over the place. I left S-o-T to go to university, I've since lived in Lancaster and Sheffield: both of them are better on almost all counts (except no oatcakes).
Bad points: Burslem, Longport, Middleport, and Chell Heath.
The worst thing is the accent.
People from Stoke, when not in Stoke, who tell you how bloody marvellous their town is and what great pottery/beer/etc. it has to offer. I can cite many examples of this behaviour, unfortunately.
Too much football rivalry and hooliganism between Vale & Stoke.
It is a filthy place, how much bird shit can one city take?
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