Learn about the UK and no "city" is 'hellish' all cities have good and worse parts and that is regardless of where you live in the UK South, Midlands or North ....... it is nothing like the USA, we don't have "subways" we have the London Underground ( tube)
I suggest you look at a map of the UK, choose a 'city' or town and you could choose any one you find you will find good/bad in them all then search for the tourist website for that town/city, their local newspapers, police crime figures, local council etc just like you would do any research about anything you are writing especially when you have no clue about the subject.
I was born, brought up in the Midlands, so we get missed in the North/South divide debate ( thankfully) the Southerners thinking anywhere south of Watford ( London) is north and the Northerners thinking anything south of Sheffield (Yorkshire) is South, that majority and largest area of those are counties in the Midlands and the North /South divide is often perpetrated by those who really don't know, haven't traveled or lived anywhere else but their little part of the World so repeat spurious stereotypes and we all are fully aware that stereotypes are based on ignorance, lack of education /knowledge and 'isms' ( racism, sexism etc)
http://projectbritain.com/britain/britai...
http://www.bing.com/maps/
Stoke On Trent
Basingstoke
Luton
Plymouth
Sunderland
Middlesborough
Some of those 'identitown' places in the Midlands. Wolverhampton, Coventry etc. For the really nihilistic, go to some of the Scottish cities. Try Dundee, though Irvine Welsh and Alasdair Gray have already written extensively about Scotland.
'Hellish in terms of what?
Well all cities in the UK have their "nice" and their less so nice sides. London for example has awful areas right next to rich affluent areas, so anywhere you pick could really work.
Don't confuse "cities" with "towns" though, and bear in mind "we" in the UK don't use the phrase "metro" it's trains or in London the London underground is called "The tube"
London areas which you could say are known for being bad/rough, Woolwich or Thamesmead, Plaistow, or the usual places; Brixton, Peckham, Hackney, all commonly (and somewhat wrongly) listed as "rough"
You could go for the stereotypical bad parts of the UK, Rochdale has been in the news a lot recently, Salford, or Liverpool.
Or you could go for somewhere a bit less well known, (nothing against these places, just a list) Nuneaton (town) Stoke-on-Trent, (city) Morecombe (town). Lots of town in the North of England have struggled with unemployment in the recent years, and so have become deprived because of that. Of course that's not everywhere, I'm not saying all the "north" is poor, but certain areas are a lot more deprived due to lack of employment.
The cities, outside LONDON, have so very much improved, but are often surrounded by hellish towns..For example MANCHESTER has gone form strength to strength, over the last 20 yrs, but places nearby like BURNLEY are sh1tholes......REMEMBER to us CITY is a very specific term and is ONLY places,generally large ones, which have that OFFICIAL status.....In US, for example, every other place with a BUS STOP is a so called CITY....
Corby is probably the worst I have visited. Luton is pretty bad too. I'm not fond of much of Birmingham. I hear Hull mentioned a lot, but I actually know someone from that area who insists i'it's not all like that' and gets quite upset by it being constantly dissed.
The most unpleasant town I have ever visited was Slough. However, I'm sure many residents love it.
Nevertheless, Georgia is right. There is no such thing as a town or city that is all bad.
Just adding, Glasgow has an underground train system too, called the Clockwork Orange.
Hull probably takes the biscuit. Grim, high crime, high unemployment, and poverty. And it smells of fish.
They all stink, so take your pick.
