What is the least British looking city in the UK?

37 comments

1. Milton Keynes. It is (thankfully) one of a kind.

2. [Portmeirion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmeirion) in Wales.

3. As a brummy, liverpool is its own fuckin country

4. St David’s, it looks nothing like any other British city because of its size.

5. I would’ve thought Belfast was the least British city in the UK.

6. I would say the mish mash of London is pretty unique. To have areas of brutalist architecture like the Barbican, the city/canary wharf with the glass skyscrapers, art deco of Battersea power station, st Paul’s I think is baroque? Turns out having the city burn down then half of it being bombed into dust makes for some interesting buildings (sure Coventry would disagree).

7. Glasgow “looks” remarkably American and is often used as a filming location due to it being architecturally similar to Eastern US cities but massively cheaper to film there.

8. St David’s in Pembrokeshire. Hey, no one’s going to drive all the way out there to check (beautiful part of the country if you do though!)

9. Not a city, but Portmeirion in North Wales without a doubt.

10. Doncaster

11. For snippets I think Liverpool ,Brighton and also maybe Blackpool have some really cool art deco architecture along with Londons Hoover Building also for example , additionally some London suburbia too is like you’ve gone back in time potentially to the United States , I follow an Instagram page called londonsuburbia . Halifax Piece Hall is also a very unique ‘plaza ‘ . Generally speaking though I find it hard to answer the question unless you want to influenced by new populations and the architecture has kind of shaped up around that like Leicester or Wembley High Road with their number of ‘emporium ‘ and ‘ bazaar’ style shopping malls was quite out of the ordinary for me when first visited ( also an absolutely stunning Hindu temple in Wembley ). I drove through the middle of Stoke on Trent once that was a unique experience especially with all of old potteries structures and industrial structures if you’re into industrial heritage particularly those that’s an interesting one and fairly unique looking as well would have been amazing to see at its peak . Some of the settlements like Saltaire , Bradford are obviously British but very unique and a real spectacle to go and see these days .

12. Canary wharf while not its own city, looks and feels remarkably like downtown Toronto.

13. portmeirion wales. Although it isn’t a city but it looks like Italy!!

14. Edinburgh, the place looks very European

15. A lot of Manchester City centre is used for filming scenes for NY.

16. Thurso last time I visited in the 1980’s.

17. London. The vibe is very different to anywhere else in the UK

18. I guess the area around Stevenson Square in Manchester counts as it’s often used to sub in for New York in films & TV as the buildings are early 20th century and in the same style as NY at the time.

19. Liverpool to some degree- it has European vibes

20. The skyscraper-y bit of London certainly looks like nowhere else in the UK. Gibraltar is really stretching the limits of ‘in the UK’, but obviously very different to other British cities, while ultimately falling under British nationality.

21. The new housing estate in Reading by the Football stadium is all American lake house style housing.

    It’s weird as fuck.

22. Poole. Looks Mediterranean

23. Glasgow – has been used in films and TV to represent American cities due to the uncommon “block” road layout and multi-storey buildings.

    Edinburgh – particularly along the Royal Mile, feels very old European like Vienna, and unique amongst UK cities to have a massive hill right in the city (Arthur’s Seat)

24. What about Leeds , there are huge high rise apartments everywhere

25. Bath maybe. For the Roman vibe.

26. Derry

27. Parts of Glasgow city centre look a lot like ‘old’ American cities (New York, Chicago, etc).

28. Luton, looks like the Middle East

29. Not a city, but Port Merion. Designed to look like Italy.

30. ITT: People naming every city in the UK

31. middlesbrough

32. Belfast? – murals and painted kerbstones are pretty unique.

    Aberdeen – grey granite stonework seen in few other places

33. Portsmouth.

    An island city, unusually high density. Not sure what other country it’s like, but it’s quite an atypical U.K. city

34. I guess you have to start with what does a “British city” look like? To me it’s a city that reflects the Georgian/Victorian heyday of industry/empire. I’d say that the cities that largely developed during that period are probably the most architecturally British – Glasgow, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool etc. you’ve then got your cities that are a bit more “Harry Potter” British, York, Chester, Winchester, Edinburgh etc. they’re more Medieval piecemeal layouts with winding cobbled streets etc.

    Because London has continued to grow and build over a lot of its architecture I’d actually say that large parts of the city aren’t particularly British looking anymore. You could take pretty much any skyscraper around Bank or Canary Wharf and plop it down in any big city and I’m sure it wouldn’t look out of place. Take St George’s hall Liverpool, or a Tudor framed building from York and put it in Bangkok though and you’d raise a few eyebrows!

    On that basis, I’d go against the grain and say that the least British looking city is probably London…

35. Wasn’t Glasgow doing stand in work for Gotham City recently?

36. Bradford

37. I would think Belfast literally so, given it isn’t in Great Britain and so isn’t British, but is in the UK.

    It also looks different due to the… specific artwork painted about. Also, the unusual fact that it does not seem to gradually turn to suburbs then the countryside. It simply ends so if you stand at the edge you have one foot clearly in the city and one in open countryside. I’ve not seen that in British cities.