A man who spent £15k visiting 312 towns and cities across Great Britain in six months has revealed the most “run-down” places he stayed.
Matt Hughes set off from his childhood home on the Isle of Sheppey back in May, travelling as far as Inverness before heading back south to Kent, where he arrived last month. The 43-year-old did the entire journey by public transport, staying at budget hotels along the way.
Matt, who set off after returning home from a year travelling Latin America, documented the mammoth trip on social media. His plan was to “find out the reality” behind “worst town” headlines and share it on his YouTube channel The Absolute Ranker.
The former train conductor and flight attendant said he was shocked by the level of deprivation in North East England. He said the County Durham towns of Horden and Peterlee were among the poorest places he had seen not just in Britain – but in the world.
Matt said: “I knew that they’d been messed up by the closing down of the mines but I didn’t realise the extent of it. There are houses going for five grand. Until you go there you don’t realise how bad it is. I’ve been to places like Guatemala which are third world and Horden is on the same level.”
But he said down-at-hill towns could be found further south too, adding that some coastal spots in the South West showed similar signs of decay. He said: “You think of Cornwall as this really beautiful place with beaches but there are some really run down places, like Penzance.
“Some places in the south are on a par pretty much with the bad towns in the north of England. Torquay was as bad as Blackpool and Blackpool has the reputation. Torquay doesn’t. That was an eye opener.”
Meanwhile, he found parts of the capital often considered violent to be much safer than expected. He said: “You hear London has all these no go zones and places people should never go. When I was a kid, parts were really scary. I don’t think that’s the case anymore. Brixton and Peckham spring to mind. They’ve got a really bad reputation and now they’re really gentrified.”
Good experiences in notoriously rough parts of Scotland’s biggest city also surprised him for the better. He added: “I’d been to Glasgow quite a few times before but when you go somewhere as a tourist, you only see the nice bits. You don’t go to Possilpark as a tourist.
“From what I had heard I was fearing the worst. I was wondering if they’d hear my accent and get aggressive. I knew people were friendly but everyone was lovely, even in places that have got a reputation.”
He said Worcester and Lincoln were England’s most underrated places, praising their architecture and cultural offerings. Dundee, Aberdeen and Swansea are also among the most overlooked destinations, he added.
And although he considers Liverpool and Newcastle the two friendliest cities he visited, he believes southerners can be just as sociable as northerners. “I would say it is a shame that a lot of people from abroad only go to London”, he said. “There’s so much in the country to offer.”
For Matt, “lumpy mattresses” and “terrible pillows” were a price worth paying for the “mind-opening” experience. Getting around also proved difficult, with one 40-mile trip from Minehead, Somerset to Ilfracombe, Devon, taking more than six and a half hours by bus – prompting him to hike half the way.
His number one travel tip is to ask local people for recommendations, a tactic he said helped to uncover countless hidden gems on his trip.
