Bought to you by the Cumbrian tourist board.....Just kidding! What is the best UK city?

Moving from London to England sounds quite attractive.

Myself and my partner moved to Carlisle less than a year ago from Cornwall. Best move we ever made, Carlisle has been great. Amazing history, great transport links, a high street that still has something going for it and some great places to eat out. The locals are great as well, very welcoming. Genuinely good people. Special mention to Hereford as well, very similar to Carlisle.

I've lived in Carlisle for over 20 years now and I couldn't agree more with this video. It gets a bad rep, so thank you for showing what Carlisle has to offer ☺️

I'm with you on the food. Comfort food such as pies, roast dinners and fish and chips seem a lot better up north.

I like the railway station in Carlisle. It has the be the only railway station in the whole of Britain that I actually don’t mind sitting and waiting to change trains. The atmosphere is pleasant and it’s never crowded which is always a bonus!

I grew up in Carlisle and couldn’t wait to get out. As soon as turned 18 and got my A levels I packed up, went to University and never returned to live there. I’m 40 now. When I do occasionally visit, I am very struck by all of the things you mentioned and I guess it is lovely to live when you are a bit older. As a teenager there I just felt so isolated. I am glad I’ve retained a bit of the accent though.

Fun fact, the pubs in Carlisle were state owned between 1916 and 1973, it was called the State Management Scheme. Even more of a fun fact, buying rounds of drinks was banned for the first three years of the scheme.

If I moved back to England I would consider Carlisle. If you are into camping and hiking, then you get the best of England and the best of Southern Scotland, all within a few hours drive. It is literally some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK. On top of that the people there are much friendlier than down south, and thats coming from a Londoner.

Carlisle is a good place. Fantastic bookshop and cafe called Bookcase and the amazing Alexandros Greek restaurant. Most of the people are friendly too. The cathedral is beautiful too. Your on the mainline to Glasgow and London too.

Moved here 2 months ago - though I'd been scouring the country for years looking at a perfect place to relocate. Superb place to live, relatively cheap too.

Carlisle is stupidly friendly. I came here in 2014 to do a speed awareness course - got done for speeding in England but Scotland (where I live) don't run the courses so I had to come to England to do it . Went for a night out afterwards and was adopted by friendly locals. The main entertainment street, Botchergate, has a barrier at each end so it can be closed to traffic on weekend nights to allow sozzled people to stagger around safely.

The airport was commercialized right before lockdown and ended up going back to private use. We also have a grounded Vulcan bomber available to view without having to pay an entry fee. I often slate Carlisle but it is actually a really nice place to live and it's good to see it get some positive recognition as we're often so overlooked up here.

Nicest city I ever lived was Wells. Yes I know, not a proper city, but was great back in the day, especially when Hot Fuzz came to town. Honorable mention to Canterbury, pity its eye-watering house prices.

As an Aussie who hasn’t visited the UK yet, I just love the history and buildings. Our history here is relatively young and I can’t wait to see it all for myself. Am coming next July, fingers crossed.

Norwich is a pretty nice place to be too. Lots of history, a Norman castle, two cathedrals, the original 900 year old one with the huge spire, and an RC one that's about 150 years old. At one time there were more than enough churches for a different one every Sunday. Then there was the pub situation, with around two pubs for every day of the year. And that was within the old city walls. Plenty of nightlife, and the University of East Anglia has a lot of really good gigs, with some pretty large bands playing the Student Union venues.

Carlisle's great! I stayed here one weekend and theres so much to see and do - Carlise Castle, Tullie House Museum, Bitts Park, Aviation Centre, the Citadel, the old courthouse, and so many good places to eat and drink. Not forgetting how close you are to Hadrian's Wall. Id move there too if i could.

Carlisle is pretty nice from my experience, good to see it get the reputation it deserves :)

So glad to see my home town getting something nice said about it. As somone who grew up here you only realise how amazing and special Carlisle is until you move away. Always planned on heading back eventually.

As a cyclist the area around Carlisle is absolute paradise especially to the west and sw very pretty rolling countryside village pubs and dead quiet lanes to get lost in. Holiday twice up there this year. If you have the means it’s definitely an area to escape many of the country’s problems.

Always nice to hear an outsider's take on Carlisle! Its a great city. Fun fact: The layout of the Lanes shopping bit actually follows the old victorian slum streets that were cleared to build it in the 80s.

I highly recommend the Boardroom pub (right by the cathedral). Excellent pub quiz on a Wed. Nice cozy pub where you can have a conversation. Friendly regulars and staff. No blaring music! Also no kids allowed. I also recommend The Howard Arms and The Sportsman (which, despite the name, does not blast live sports but is a lovely old fashioned cozy pub with friendly staff and regulars. Pub quiz Monday night.). Great pubs for lovers of real ale.

Wells is beautiful and for those who want larger city facilities Bath and Bristol are handily close along with Bristol airport and loads of beautiful countryside and places like Cheddar Gorge and the Somerset coast are handy. Somerset people are also lovely I have lived here for past 35 years and will never leave now.

I really like the description you gave to Carlisle and make me very curious to visit one day. Thank you 🙏

im impressed at the lack of litter ,thats a good start.

I don’t know if I ever make it to Carlisle, but it’s uplifting to know that there are still nice places. Perhaps subscribing to this channel makes a bleak sentiment creep in in the long run.

I find all these videos interesting and the one about Carlisle has made me decide to visit this place during my next journey to UK. I like many cities, but my favourite, apart from Lnd is Newcastle, nice atmosphere, excellent pubs, crazy nights, shopping, old buildings, beautiful sights and bridges. What’s more? The sea is quite near and it’s lovely!!

I have lived in Carlisle, Reading, Hounslow, Chester and Caernarfon during the past 40 years. I can without a doubt place Chester as the nicest place to live with Carlisle being a close second and Hounslow a distant last place.

I lived in Carlisle as a kid in the 70's and 80's. It was a different back then but I'm chuffed to see this video and the way in which the 'town' as we called it has endured. My Brother still lives there so I get back there sometimes. Actually he worked on the construction of Debenhams which was added to the Lanes in the late 90's.

Ive spent some time looking to move to this area from the south west to start a new life. Ive actually settled on this area and hope to head there by this summer 2024. I think its the most beautiful part of England with some really nice cities Carlisle as we see here and theres York and Durham which are also really nice. Plus you have the Pennines, North Yorkshire Moors and Kielder Forest with Northumberland National Park next door. Bonus with the Borders area of Southern Sacotland and all its gorgeous and quanit wee toons. I currently live in a certain town in North Devon as featured in a previous Turd Town, the one with all the junkies and I hate it. Love the channel, You must do some Scottish cities. Trust me itll take you to a level of turd you never knew exsisted

Personally, I wasn't too keen on Carlise. But then again, I was there for work and not leisure. Can't deny the location is great though, with it being close to the Lake District and Hadrians Wall etc. When it comes to historic british cities, nowhere beats Edinburgh and York in my humble opinion.

Great stuff as always! Not sure about moving anytime soon, but will certainly consider a city break here. 🙂

Bang on this! Fantastic location, great bars & restaurants and shops, most independent too! Everyone loves the Great Border City 😍

Was just there on Saturday. The location aspect you mention is such a good point - Carlisle is within easy reach of Dumfries and Galloway, Northumberland National Park and the Lake District, and all the Scottish Borders area, then it also has the benefit of being 90 odd minutes away from both Glasgow and Newcastle, and not that much further to Manchester too. It's too small to suffer from the problems of bigger cities, but big enough to have a good enough shopping and entertainment scene.

Winchester is small but beautiful city in Hampshire and surrounded by lovely countryside. Not far from the New Forest.

I'm Carlisle born and bred (though been in the Midlands for the last 25 years). I manage to head back every year or so and always enjoying seeing the changes. Glad you're showing it some love as it's one of those places the media tends to ignore...

We visited Carlisle last year on our trip to the UK from the US. It was one of my favorite spots. The views on the train from Glasgow to there and then from there to London were breathtaking. The city has such a cute atmosphere and everyone we met was incredibly friendly. 10/10 would recommend and would love to come back one day.

I hear they are thinking of renaming the city to Carlisle Under Water because it floods so often, check where you are buying a house there is a reason some areas are so cheap.

Best thing about Carlisle - the road out! to Brampton!!!! OK, not...but Hadrians Wall, Lanercost Priory (good cafe!)....

I like your style and really enjoyed this video - thanks😊

Looks great I will put it on my list to visit. Favourite cities Wells and York

A very fair survey of Carlisle. I would also rate York and Norwich. The Carlisle accent isn't soft Geordie - it is a Scots / Lancashire mix, genuinely "north country."

No, don't tell everyone! We moved there almost three years ago after a thorough research project. I have lived in the four corners of the UK as well as in California (San Jose), Normandy (near Barfleur) and Zurich. Each and every place I've lived has some good points. However Carlisle is the overall best. I hope that they will fix the railways at some point, and make the West Coast Line the joy that it was. The only thing I miss is a good Chinese restaurant!

I moved to Carlisle 20 years ago. I agree with just about everything you say. The people are very friendly, in that grumpy Cumbrian way! The surrounding area is stunning. The Solway AONB is somewhere not mentioned It is a great place to live. But not if you want shops and good public transport!

Personally I like Cardiff. Plenty of independent shops right in the centre, the bay is nice. Decent transport links though buses can be a bit funky. The valleys are pretty. The people here are actually really friendly though there's always some nobheads. It's easy to walk around most of the best bits if you're reasonably able. It has plenty of things that could improve of course but I've lived here nearly 3 years and I love it.

Carlisle indeed has some grotty bits like everywhere else, but overall seems a pretty nice area to live in. An historic city, a pleasant town centre, good parks, excellent transport links (there are 6 rail routes converging on the city, a similar number of long distance A roads to and from the city and even a motorway heading north and south). As an important regional centre, it also has all the retail outlets and services you might expect. The place also had it's own regional ITV station (Border tv, now broadcast from Newcastle) and an airport (mothballed since covid). Property is relatively affordable (beware of floodable areas) and there would seem to be jobs here, with half the average joblessness of the region.

Leeds - great university, architecture , cultural offerings, pubs and restaurants, waterfront, people, shopping, sport offerings, employment opportunities, Etc. Must be for a southerner like me to admit it

Visited Carlisle about six years ago. A lovely small city. It’s a pity about Debenhams, I agree. It was such a nice store with the cafe looking out over the castle. My sister visited the castle and I chose the beautiful cathedral. We also went to Linton Tweeds.

Thankyou for sharing.

By a strange coincidence, we ended up in Cumbria dog sitting just a few days after your last video came out and ended up in half the towns! We stopped at Carlisle on the way back from Hadrian's wall and loved it too. It was a Sunday afternoon but the market area was really vibrant. Gotta say we liked Whitehaven too - The rum story was great. Overall though I'd say my favourite city is Liverpool. We've done all the beatles stuff to death, but I recommend dodging all that and seeing the rest the place has to offer. Great city!

Lancaster is the best city! Smallish (for a city) so nice and quiet but loads of amazing food places still. Has the Uni so not just full of angry old people. 5 mins from the M6, less than an hour from Manchester and only just over 2 hours on the train to London. The river lune goes right through the middle and that and the canal has endless lovely walks or cycle rides. Easy access to the lake District too. Perfect!

The H24 services & superstore just off junc.43 of the M6, were always a welcome 'half-way' sight on my monthly 'commute' back to rural Perthshire. Thinking of fresh bread & milk for the morning & my electric blanket on it's timer at the house, usually made the second-leg less tedious. : )

Great video. I think Carlisle is a decent place to live, as towns go. Be just and fear not! ❤

If you went to Carlisle on a Saturday night you might have a different opinion. The last trains from Carlisle to the Cumbrian coast are dry trains (no alcohol) and need the police force to screen all the passengers before they get on! Lovely

I particularly like the way they stuck a four lane ring road between the castle and the town. Special touch.

Consistently good content. I love that you flip the commentary occasionally to praise the good. Its crucially important when town councils too often sell out public spaces to private developers in exchange for some modest amenity they promise, to recall the best spaces are still publicly owned and developed organically, gently adapted to collective desires. We all need to notice what we have got and work to keep the good. Great use of drone footage. Pan a little bit slower with the phone, though. The walking shots would be better with that smoothing algorithm available on some phones. Subscribed!

Great video mate! Gotta try and get these town’s to sponsor you to come visit them and give ‘em an honest review haha!

Thanks for this video, I've lived my whole life here and I've come to realise that while Carlisle is relatively isolated from other parts of England and the UK, that's actually not a bad thing at all and I do like where I live. P.S. please delete the part where you talk about house prices before everyone moves here and I get priced out of buying one myself lol.

Interested to hear about Carlisle, shame the location is so inconvenient. IMO York is the best city in the UK, just simply gorgeous and the best pub crawls in the country

Edinburgh! I moved from over crowded South of England to a beautiful Scottish Island and I visit Edinburgh every month.

Really lovely old housing stock here, a quick Rightmove search showed some incredible properties for such good prices. Looks like a well looked-after place to live. I also think one of the nicest places to live in the country is Cheltenham, especially for a family - but its just a bit too expensive for most.

Beautiful accent in Carlisle. To most people it sounds like a north eastern accent but it is actually Cumbrian and sounds quite different when you get used to it. You did not specifically mention the cathedral and castle, both well worth a visit.

Carlisle saved my bacon quiet literally on a camping trip to the scottish highlands a few years ago. I got half way up the M6 and realised I'd forgotten to put my ice box in the car and so I had no food or means of keeping it cold if I did. Thankfully it was super easy to find a Halfords right next to a big asda there just a few miles off the motorway.

Ely, The cathedral is so amazing

Never been there but it looks good!

Chester is the best city in the UK. Long history, nice looking, close to beaches, hills, nice countryside- and big cities. 2 hours from london. A scene of its own. And you can afford a house.

I'd rather live in Carlisle than London...that's for sure. I love Bath...although living there with all the tourists would be annoying...

Carlisle looks very nice - Ive seen other documentaries about Carlisle and all good. As Im from the south, I would recommend Canterbury as a city to visit. Ive also fancied visiting Ludlow - looks so interesting, clean and good shops - also the properties look reasonably price. As for the Turd Towns - you havent done Sussex yet. I could recommend quite a few towns here.

As someone who lives in Carlisle, I'd definitely agree with the comment about location. Not only do we have the Lake District and Scotland on our door step, but also the Eden Valley, Hadrian's Wall and Solway Plain. It's also got fantastic rail links, on the famous Settle to Carlisle line, just over an hour from Edinburgh and Glasgow and only three and a half hours from London.

The only problem for a suverner is that, when it doesn't have an aesthetically pleasing coating of snow, the weather in Cumbria can seem pretty s**t unless you like way more grey sky and rain and 5C less on the thermometer than you're used to down sarf.

No matter which town or city you live in, the UK weather is what really lets us down more than anything else.

Good video interesting stuff. Been to Carlisle a few times. Only bad things i've heard about it is things can get very violent at night. Only heard though not seen so could be crap.

I lived in Carlisle from 1999 until 2010, it's a great city. Nice that you can walk everywhere too.

Wells is the most beautiful city in the UK for me. Vicars Close has to be one of the most stunning streets I’ve walked in England. I personally love Chester as well. Liverpool best nightlife. My family are huge Beatles fans so Matthew Street on a Friday night really stays in the memory. A friend keeps telling me to try Salisbury so that one is next on the list!

I don't like many towns and cities in England, but I always recommend York and Whitby

Really appreciate your videos. As someone (obviously) living in london, slaving away to capitalism with limited time to leave the city, it can be hard to get any kind of feeling of how the rest of the UK looks like. Definitely rightmove-ing this one now!

I love Carlisle. Always worth a visit up from Morecambe. Great castle, Tullie House Museum, lovely modern little cathedral. Great town centre, pubs and gig venues. I can't agree with you about the football stadium. Brunton Park is a shed.

Carlisle is the best city in the uk if you work from home and you enjoy the outdoor lifestyle. A friend of mine from uni bought a 3 bed terrace back in 2019 for 75k and it’s really nice , you’d pay at least 250k for it in Birmingham let alone London and the south east.

Proud to be Carlisle born and bred - it's a great place to live!

I hope Turdtowns reaches the Graceland of 100k subscribers soon. Another banger video, Marky.

Visited Carlisle earlier this year, lovely place

West of me I am from Newcastle I like Carlisle

Favourite cities: Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, York, Canterbury, Wells, Bristol, Winchester, Brighton, Norwich, Exeter, Truro and, of course, London. As for towns - I'd be here all day. Most market towns are nice and typically surrounded by gorgeous countryside and villages. I love driving the A Roads in the Cotswolds and South West, in particular. Stunning places.

Carlisle is on our retirement list (three years away) I loved the video! So far, we've only spent a weekend there.

Nice dude! My favourite cities in the UK are London, Bath, York, Canterbury, Oxford, Brighton. They are all wonderful in their own way. The best are the little villages down south though, across Oxfordshire, Somerset, Hampshire, Dorset.

Lived in Carlisle for most of my 61 years. Carlisle people are on the whole welcoming and friendly. Although the town centre has lost many shops over the last 3 years ( like many places i would imagine) it still has a decent selection of High street staples like M&S, Primark, House of Fraser etc and a good selection of independant shops and cafes. It is an attractive city with many historic buildings and reasonably priced housing. Wouldnt want to live anywhere else!

Although it's not a city, Halifax in West Yorkshire is full of greenery, beautiful architecture with cobbled streets and history and a thriving town centre. It also feels really safe but is very affordable and young people can actually buy. Like Carlisle it's also around a beautiful area with mountains and lakes, the people are also very friendly and cities like Manchester aren't far. From living here, It would be the top place I would recommend for sure.

Great video. It looks like heaven. I think there's lots of nice towns but it's the people that make you either feel welcome or not. If I think of all the places live lived it's the association with friends rather than necessarily the scenery that stands out. It tends to be friendly up north, people are more open and socialable towards strangers. Liverpool, The Wirral and the surrounding area (like Formby and The Moss) is scores pretty highly I'd say. I liked your piece thanks.

I almost went to Uni in Carlisle. I never visited though. People often said it’s like a fishbowl, there’s not much outside the city so a lot of people never leave. And some people there have a bit of a insular worldview.

never been there, but i think york would be top of my list

Hereford!... Or St David's!..🏅

I lived there for 10 years; it's a nice compact city that is easy to get around now. The traffic was horrendous for a few of those years due to United Utilities digging up every other street, but things are much improved due to the recently built western bypass. A southern bypass is on the drawing board now and may have even started. The big drawback is lack of job opportunities and very low pay, even for professional positions. Parts of the city have been prone to flooding and may be difficult or expensive to get home insurance for. I would pay very close attention to the environment agency's flood risk maps before buying a property there. I lived there at the time of two very large floods and it was not a pretty sight.

Been there a couple of times and I'm going there again this weekend. I look out for the Carlisle Utd away fixture when checking my team's fixtures. I make a long weekend of it and do something on the Sunday as there is a huge amount of places to visit nearby.

York is nice, Oxford, Cambridge, Norwich

IMO Sheffield is the best city to live in England, it's ome of the largest cities yet is both full of nature and isn't only close to the Peak District, it crosses into it, so you can actually live in both Sheffield and the Peak District. The city centre itself is mid but the surrounding areas are varied, independant, and have a great sense of place. It's also the greenest city in europe woth approx 5 trees per person. Despite being the 4th biggest city im england (by single city limits population) it always feels small, accessible, and friendly.

I like Carlisle, only living about an hour north of there. I sometimes head to Carlisle just to go somewhere different to do my shopping.

Sounds like a nice place and if I'm ever in pommy land I might give it a gander.

Definitely give Exeter a visit!

I love your videos . Humorous but also tells it as it is . In terms of best places you should come to Swansea . That is the greatest City in the UK in my opinion. Like most city’s does suffer from closed big chain shops but unlike most city’s you will find a lovely beach and bay right next to the City. People are very friendly . There’s plenty to do. It’s a cracking nightlife , been voted the best in many student nightlife guides . You’ve got the Mumbles and Gower all nearby . Yes it does suffer from the odd twat tainting it’s image but For me Swansea is the best city by a mile.

Thanks worth thinking about but I don't drive anymore I'm a pensioner so could be good for me I love outdoors hiking and nearby sea