Originally Posted by
Lencoboy
When I visited my day centre in Burton on Trent, Staffordshire for the first time in 2017, I felt a bit of a sense of unease as the 'vernicular' of that particular part of Burton very much reminds me of parts of Handsworth, Birmingham, and I imagined all kinds of dodgy scenarios playing out there.
Even though at face value said area of Burton might look a bit iffy, it's actually fine (at least during normal daytime hours) and generally has quite a good community atmosphere, plus so far (touch wood) I've never had any issues there personally. There is also a virtual lack of graffiti and litter problems in said area aren't really mega serious either. Most certainly far removed from 'bandit country'!
Sometimes it seems that negative perceptions of certain places are actually all in the mind, especially once one gets to know those areas properly.
Let's face it, even 'notorious' areas like Brixton, Handsworth, etc probably aren't always quite what they seem.