What's your unpopular opinion about Barnsley?

This x 1 million. I still get a semi when Ian McMillan says "iambic pentameter" on t'wireless.

 

Which is pretty much what I said.

I'm guessing one of the muted snides has dug back a few years given the sudden use of "sh1thole". Disappointing, but completely typical of them.

Barnsley isn't the worst place in the UK, and it isn't the best either. It has some good bits, it has some bad bits. It has good people and it has bad people. Each one of us will make our own judgements based on what we have seen and experienced, just as we would and do with every other place we've ever frequented.

 

Maybe but I’d have thought the place of your birth or early bringing up would have a special place in most people’s hearts depending on experience .

 

I can appreciate that being the case for some people, and actually, I'd expect that to be a large majority. I've never felt that connection. It's where I was born, its where my football club is based.

 

As far as I can see we all come from a small (once industrial) northern town. No different really to lots of others. Apart from one thing. We’ve got a reputation across the country. And that reputation was created by outsiders.

Barnsley became (still is) a joke town. And that joke was born in ignorance and fear. In the 19th century journalists from London were always coming up to Barnsley to report on the latest mining disasters and deaths. Anyone coming up from effete London must have thought they’d entered some kind of hell - pits, smoke, slag heaps, death, people they could barely understand. In short Barnsley became a by word for the feared, hated and alien industrial north.

The reputation not only lingers on it gets reinforced by the media today. They always pick out the broadest, most extreme accents and views when they interview in Barnsley because they have to play to the stereotype.

Whether we moved away or still live in Barnsley that probably colours the arguments on this thread. Would people from Hereford or say Bristol get so heated about their birthplace? Maybe but I doubt it.

 

I'd be very interested to know the answer to that last question actually. That would be interesting to know and hear views of.

 

We have the ugliest fans in the world.

Going to an away game watching the reds, have a look around. Its like you've walked into the Star Wars bar after taking 20 acid tabs.

 

I can't help that! It's how I was born!

 

We know where you live and will be round with torches and pitchforks forthwith

 

I have lived in London, or to be more accurate Greater London (around 10 miles from Bank tube station) since 1986 - I worked in the City for around 15 years and now have my own business so I guess you could say I have done ok for myself - I was born in Wombwell, lived on a council estate and left school with a few O levels as they were then known - most of my school mates left early without any qualifications to go down the pit and the achievement expectation at school was pretty low, in fact I think there was only 1 lad in our class of around 30 that went to Uni when we left in 1979 - I would agree with some of the posts on here that say parents are part responsible for how well their kids do at school and how ambitious they are and my parents in that respect were a big influence on me - I would also agree with other posts on here that say Barnsley people in general are friendly - I recall when I first got married and we were staying with my Mum at her house in Elsecar and my wife popped out to the shop for a newspaper and came back in a bit of a fluster stating that 3 men had said good morning to her and she didn't know them ! - an alarming thing for a Londoner - I would also say that if anyone asks where I am from I ALWAYS say Barnsley, why wouldn't you? - I personally think you should be proud of where you are from as the place and the people have played a part in who you are -

 

I miss the greenery so much. Driving into Leeds is so depressing when you see all the ugly grey buildings. My second year of uni onwards I refused to consider anywhere that didn't at least have a couple of village greens nearby and a garden area.

I can see umbrellas for the Market Kitchen that I've heard good things about. What exactly is it? Is it a pub/cafe/restaurant thing? At first, I thought it was cafes in the market named that as a collective, then I was confused because Morrisons has just opened up a thing called 'Market Kitchen' a couple of weeks ago (I can sense a legal battle and name change coming on) so I thought maybe people were on about that but I'm still not really sure what it is.

 

It’s a seating area upstairs in market with a number of cafes, takeaways etc also has a bar , coffee shop, outside seating etc.

 

Ah, thank you. I'll take a look next time I'm around.

 

Dolly’s Desserts well worth a visit .

 

I know it's been explained already but it's basically like the oasis at meadowhall. Communal seating area with a few units in it. The odd thing is that the units are all a bit varied with a cocktail bar, dessert bar and few others but it seems to work. It is essentially upstairs in the market but it has a separate entrance from the new square too so it stays open late

 

I THINK SHEFFILD IS A FANTASTIC PLACE TO COME FROM........
It’s just that it’s a hovel to go to!

 

You're right, not everybody is friendly and ive experienced everything negative that you have at various times but one way that I'd say Barnsley specifically, then Yorkshire and then the north is more friendly than other places is the smile, nod or hello that you get from strangers as you pass. I've been to many big cities and you just don't get that very often and regardless of the size of the place I find you don't get that down south at all in general. That's the friendliness that people are talking about isn't it? Not friendly in that they go out of their way to be nice, just in the welcoming greeting as you pass.

 

Lol
I know what you mean about Londoners on a few occasions when asking for directions etc and people diverting out of the way with look of alarm on their faces .
I thought it may have been me at first but others in our company experienced same especially Shepherds Bush Area.
In Barnsley people love to be asked directions I’ve found lol. As soon as a car pulls up people diverting towards passenger side hoping they want directions lol.

 

Leeds has some of the best parks in any city in the north. Meanwood Park, Meanwood Ridge, the Hollies, Scotland Wood & Adel Woods being a great walk, but there is Golden Acre Park / Paul's Pond, Roundhay Park, Temple Newsam & that is missing out 10 other great places.

The food kitchen in Leeds Market is good, but I think the Barnsley one has the edge.

 

It lacks outstanding buildings because basically before the industrial revolution it was a back-water small market town like Pickering or small towns in Norfolk or other rural areas.