A little unknown town called Worksop

The fair old Town of Worksop. So what is there to say about this hell hole planted in the middle of the United Kingdom?

Well apart from the bias opinion I have already reflected in my opening line. Lets give it a chance and go back to back in the day shall we?

First of all for those of you who do not know and have never heard of a place called Worksop. How very lucky you are!!

It is the largest town in a place called Bassetlaw. Which is in Nottinghamshire. Bordering the South of Yorkshire.

It has a population of approximately 40,000. Give or take a few Polish immigrant workers that come and go. And the want to be snobs . Who are snobby enough to want a posh house. They just can’t afford to live anywhere posh. So they built their little “posh want to be” houses on what use to be a beautiful green belt of land on the towns verges.

The town has evidence of being around way before the Norman conquest as it was in the dooms day book. It eventually became a market town.

Some say Robin hood was born here. I can say he probably was. Worksop seems to breed thieves.

Some time around 1777, the Chesterfield canal brought better employment and connections to Manchester, Sheffield and other areas improved the area.

In the 1840’s the coal was found and prosperity in the Town was all around.

That prosperity collapsed a long time ago leaving a gaping chasm of unemployment. Don’t we all love the aftershock of Margaret Thatcher’s reign as Prime Minister hey?

Most of the North is the same now. Thousands of Mining families, with no mines to mine. But they left them with a memory, family members dying every where of emphysema.

Worksop has seen new growth in the sense that it has become bigger. But it really hasn’t had any “ new” growth. It is turning into a ghost town. Big businesses move out and Meadow hall killed the retail when it opened in Sheffield in the 1990’s.

Any one with any money work out of the town and commute to where ever they work. Worksop is that downtrodden , it keeps the house prices low. Still too expensive for the average Worksopian ( A nickname for a person born in Worksop). But these people do not want much to do with Worksop. They ship their children out to University. Shop in Sheffield and out of town and celebrate when their children “ get out this dump”. Well, maybe if people shopped local then Worksop would not be full of charity shops and Pound stores.

The poverty , lack of investment and dire need for an injection of hope, has left Worksop with a generation that just does not know what to do with themselves. Because of this, like many ex mining communities. There is a great big problem with Heroin misuse. Amongst other drug use. The drug addicts and home less just sit around town drinking and annoying people. They do not care about getting sorted, there is nothing to get sorted out for.

The modern Worksop now has also a pattern of Travelers and Polish immigrants who come out drinking in the town every night. This seems to bring a great amount of fighting of late. But that being specialized to this area I doubt highly. It is just magnified here.

Unfortunately all this hides the real beauty of the Town. Worksop is surrounded by a large green belt and National trust Country Park. Clumber park is magnificent. Covering 3,800 acres of land. Previously being owned by a Monastery in the middle ages . It was left to the people of Worksop originally by the late Duke of Newcastle. But the National trust bought it in the 1940’s. At the moment it would cost you approximately £5 to enter.

As a tourist there is very little to do in Worksop. Although it has a few reasonably priced hotels that are a great place to go and visit around the area.

Lets hope this town cleans its act up soon for every ones sake. Including the future generation.