’Town branded one of the ’most horrible places to live’ in the UK’

31 August 2024 , 08:38

578     0

The town has a population of around 50,000 ( Image: Stuart Vance/ReachPlc)

The small North Lanarkshire town of Cumbernauld, which is just 10 miles outside of Glasgow, Scotland, has been branded "truly horrible" and "ugly" by social media users

The "most horrible place to live" in Scotland has been named as a small town just outside Glasgow.

While Scotland has plenty of stunning villages and picturesque towns, there are a few destinations which don’t have quite the same impact on visitors. Cumbernauld in North Lanarkshire is one of them. The town, which lies just 10 miles outside Glasgow, was branded "ugly" by a Reddit user on its "UrbanHell" subreddit. 

The user, referring to the town as "Cumberland", wrote: "The whole town (around 50,000 population) is like this. It’s truly horrible, seriously look at it on Google Maps and you’ll see. It also has no high street and no shops, just an ugly shopping centre full of chains set to be demolished anyway. I have no idea what went wrong with this town and why it’s like this?"

The post has received more than 6,700 upvotes since being shared on Thursday. It has also been commented on more than 800 times, with fellow Reddit users keen to share their thoughts. One user, correcting the spelling of the town, wrote: "Cumbernauld. It was a ‘new town’ back in the 50s. 

"There were several of these built to ease population density within Glasgow. They were planned and built hastily and became areas of deprivation." Another argued: "Cumbernauld isn’t that bad. It’s one of Scotland’s new towns.

The town lies just 10 miles outside Glasgow ( Image: Stuart Vance/ReachPlc) 

"After the war, Glasgow had a huge housing problem. Tens of thousands living in slums so the government shifted the populations out to new satellite towns/schemes on the outskirts of the city." As reported by the Daily Record, Cumbernauld was previously named Scotland’s "ugliest" town by The Telegraph. At the time, the newspaper criticised its "spirit-sapping" architecture and views.

Greenfaulds High School in Cumbernauld ( Image: Daily Record)

However, the town features a variety of scenic green spaces. Among the highlights are the 300-hectare Palacerigg Country Park, which features a petting zoo and nature trails, and the picturesque Cumbernauld House Park in the centre of town. Elsewhere, Cumbernauld includes a variety of restaurants, cafés, and pubs. Some of the most well-regarded are Italian eatery La Bella, cosy cottage pub The Red Deer, and the friendly Café Alba.

Grace Cooper