The side of Cornwall, UK that tourists don’t see - 8 Worst Places

We visited Cornwall next on our mission to dig out the worst Turdtowns in the UK. This trip was a bit of an eye opener to say the least. Who would have thought such places existed in the tourist capital of England! Cornwall is known for its pristine beaches and lovely countryside. St Ives is in the news a lot for being the ultimate place to say. It in the middle of this big old county there’s some former mining towns that are suffering and worthy of being called the Cornish Turdtowns!

[shirleyswaine]

So, Cornwall is the second poorest region in Europe (I pretty much knew that, living in Dorset and it having been on the local news a few years back) but has the lowest crime rate in the country. Doesn't that give lie to the claim that poverty is the cause of crime?

[lightfootpathfinder]

As someone from Rotherham I thought all those towns looked quite nice. They were all clean with no fly tipping waste, litter or dog sh*t laying in the street and nothing was on fire😂

[bradleyscott]

Thanks for all your hard work in putting this series together.
Well as a 55 year old working class man, it looks to me that we’ve had approximately 45 years of deliberate government underinvestment in our country, that have decimated these working class towns from north to south of this land.

[mikebrown]

The worst thing about Camborne is that not every train stops there on Wednesdays.

[XxLittleALBxX]

I've lived in Redruth all my life. I remember going into town and seeing it when it was busy, with lots of different shops and friendly people. Now there are only hairdressers, cafes, charity shops and random art shops that bring nothing to the community.

People are angry now, not only because we are spending more money to live there than other nicer places, but because the people in charge of the town have no idea what they are doing, and you have to travel all the way to Truro if you want to buy a new pair of underwear, socks or shoes.

We have a ton of homeless and druggies who get shipped off down here, and then they are left to do whatever they want with no repercussion. Every year there is a new "gang" of kids, who think they can do what they want (probably because the cops do nothing except laugh with them) who throw stuff at the windows of the town shops and peoples flats (mine included) breaking them, which then sit there for years looking like crap.

They don't make any building inhabitable, in Town, because they're "Listed Buildings" and then charge people the same, or more, as it is to live in Truro; leaving us to live in a single pane windowed, black mould infested building.

[Tomk]

Fun fact about Camborne, in the 18th/19th century the Camborne and Redruth district was the richest mining area in the world. I live in Camborne and I actually got called a "rich Cornish tory" the other day when I was debating with someone online 😂 So many people north of the Tamar bridge assume everyone in Cornwall has 3 houses and spends 12 hours a day on the beach. If only they knew most of us can't even afford to live here, with some of the highest house prices and lowest wages in the country

[ripvanwinkle]

I don't live in Cornwall but I've been to plenty of Cornish towns. I've also been to Leicester, Sheffield, Bradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Boston, Doncaster, London and many more and I can tell you where I'd rather live.
It's a sad truth that this country is in decline but that's not limited to Cornwall - it's EVERYWHERE. And it's largely government sponsored damage to the economy coupled with a pathological need to kill all town centres.

[astrozombie]

I live in Cornwall and every town you mentioned has a very high, excuse the pun, drug problem. My best mate of 25 years moved to Penzanze and it definitely contributed to his decline in mental health and drug addiction then death!!. Something needs to be done for the whole of Cornwall because the drug problem is in EVERY place!! RIP JOE 🙏

[antman]

The irony is it's a lot worse during the holidays when the people from real turdtowns show up with their turdtown ways.

[james]

I get these places are quite deprived but it feels pretty horrible to judge the people that live in these places for being poor and uneducated. Especially when the judgy, condescending jokes are delivered in a well-spoken accent by someone that sounds like they were lucky enough to benefit from growing up in a more affluent environment with better education and more opportunity.

[CelticSaint]

I have lived my life near to St Austell and whilst there are some bad parts in Cornwall I really wouldn't want to live anywhere else. The UK seems to be in a death spiral and over the next decade or so I can imagine a huge influx of people trying to escape from the cities.

[borderlands]

Former mining towns are always grim. Single employer monocultures, where everyone who can gets out. Those left behind duke it out on Saturday nights or get wasted. In their hey day most of them would have been thriving communities, with social activities that go along with employment and money.

[creepykylie]

Ironically, St Austell town centre was knocked down about 10ish years ago for the new White River Place development, which caused the beginning of the decline as people got used to going elsewhere if they could (usually Truro), and the town council put the rents up to claw money back which then pushed a lot of the independent businesses out. Add to it the two homeless shelters with the residents' incumbent problems and you've got yourself a winning TurdTown. I used to work outside of the town centre and my lift would frequently see drug deals going on in the car park, also someone once drove into the carpark of our building, in full view of all the windows, pulled down his trousers and injected something into his groin area. Also had a car left there which was later set on fire as an insurance job. Classy. People used to leave the building in twos, especially in the winter.

Also the saying about Bodmin is because of St Lawrence's Hospital, which was a mental asylum. The old building has been demolished but the current hospital still houses all our mental health wards. Hope the chap in the fountain is doing OK.

[nunonuno]

Lived near Truro my entire life. The list is accurate. Redruth is known as Red-rough for example. But compared to many places around the UK it really isn't that bad unless you decide to go on nights out on Friday / Saturday nights, particularly St Austell. The biggest issue with Cornwall is people don't like change which stops any form of plans being approved. There has been planning for a new stadium near Truro for over 13 years, we still don't have one. Then the Hall for Cornwall, which caters for a small age group of people, was given £18m to refurbish the building. The wrong type of people making these decisions at the Council, only catering for themselves and close allies, much like most of the UK!

[derekkearey]

Your descriptions of each place you mention are very accurate. I met my wife (a Cornish girl) in Newquay in 1967. Then it was a great place with lots of nightlife, fabulous beaches and surfing. We went back in 2017 to find the place where we met. Newquay is now a shit-hole. We lived in London when we married but we then moved to St Austell in 1974. Easily the worst years of my life. Not much work and not much pay - a complete struggle. What was worse, though, was the fact that 75% of people would not speak to me once they found out I came from London. I managed to last three years down there but could not stand it anymore. We came back to London and civilisation.

[stevewaite]

Redruth a town so bad they built a bypass to avoid it, then they built a new bypass to bypass the bypass. True story I live here.

[ap]

I'm from Hampshire but lived in Cornwall for 2 years. Having lived in other parts of the country too, the wages in Cornwall were by far the worst I'd encountered. You were lucky to get £10 an hour in a skilled position. The next thing I encountered was the phenomenonally high rent and property price in general, in 2017 the pokey 2 bedroom flat I rented was 750 a month. Throw 500 in for bills on top of that . A simple maths equation left me with only pocket change at the end of each month. Your mortgage eligibility in the UK is 4 times your annual salary, so if you earn £10 an hour that's £17000 a year which is a mortgage eligibility of £71000. There are no houses in Cornwall at that price. So essentially you could work your arse off and never be able to buy your own place. I don't blame cornish people for getting on the drugs, they're fighting a losing battle

[andymcevoy]

One suggestion : Instead of using average house prices where outliers can throw the results, how about using the median which would give a more accurate account of what most people living there pays?

[cidermonkey]

A very good video to be totally honest and factually correct.

We live in Cornwall and have done for almost 20 years. We are fortunate to live out in the sticks and in a remote village where people are friendly and the crime rate is minimal/non-existent. Houses are higher priced but it does reflect the area we live in. Cornwall does have issues - drugs, unemployment, low salaries and a Local Authority that screws us for council tax and wastes it paying their dead wood employees offering little in return, a police force that are only around when there is "an incident" because there are not enough of them to go round, poor public transport links, some teenagers who will never work and who have multiple children under the age of 5, little chance of a decent paid job unless you are already in one, an overall apathetic attitude because residents cannot get money so alot turn to to drugs and ultimately crime. A lot of areas do need massive cash injections to make them presentable and often viable but dont see that anytime soon. So that is the bad side however there is a good side.

The good side is that it welcomes several million tourists each year, it used to be between April and October but now pretty much all year and Xmas/New Year is just as busy as the summer. It has stunning beaches, scenery, lovely people, tourist hotspots along the north coast, a reasonably good road network and brings visitors back year on year - some of whom decide to move here. We are not Cornish but have adapted to the slower pace of life, clean air, friendly and helpful people and a place that we call home. We have lived in big cities and towns, worked in the rat race, had dirty streets, overpopulated places and high crime but do not in any way have that now. I dont worry when I leave my house, I dont revert to crime to make ends meet, have worked all my life (yes I have the ability and intelligence to hold a decent job down) and close my door when I come home and think how lucky I am to live in a nice place, where neighbours talk, a community is there to be part of and crime is low bordering on non-existent. If you are pleasant to people they will be pleasant to you (manners cost nothing), integrate with society and embrace the county for what it is and look for the positives.

I live within 4 miles of one of the towns mentioned and it is very accurately portrayed but go a few miles away from those town centres and it opens up a whole new world and one that I am more than happy to live in. The town centres are run down due mainly to rising (greedy shop owners) rents, main street shops trimming resource so getting closed due to online shopping and supermarkets vying for your business so being involved in price wars when they can. Food is food wherever you go but we all need to eat. The overriding factor though is quality of life and Cornwall has this in abundance.

[mikefriend]

If I could add a positive note? Obviously there is a huge difference between living in Cornwall and visiting and I’m just back from my first ever holiday in Cornwall. We picked April to avoid the summertime congestion I’d heard so much about and got lucky with the weather - one really warm day, otherwise cold but dry and generally sunny. Stayed in Newquay (lewinnick Lodge) which has beautiful views across the bay. Night skies were spectacular- full of stars which we never see in London. We love our seafood and by and large Cornwall did not disappoint. Admittedly if I had to return to the tired high street on a regular basis, it might get me down but there’s a lovely harbour and beautiful beaches to distract the eye. Most definitely one of the better seaside towns I’ve been to.