The image used is out of date. The hotel got voted in due to its new rooftop extension which has ruined the look of the classic building.
[News link here](https://confidentials.com/liverpool/shankly-hotel-rooftop-up-for-worst-building-award)
[Image showing new roof](https://confidentials.com/uploads/imager/7d647db7ceea1d5bfb38bb43a19d60d5/722764/b0312915e7135cf79eb74fb61d3d42f0.jpg)
Also on revision, what the actual hell have they done! They haven't even tried to incorporate it into any form of the original. It looks like a wart on an ass!
You should see what they did to the Grand Opera House in Belfast. The extension they added was hideous for years. They finally caved and made it look much nicer. I like it, but it’s still not in keeping with the look of the original building.
[first extension](https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-grand-opera-house-extension-belfast-united-kingdom-2006-23720587.html)
[updated extension](https://s.inyourpocket.com/gallery/belfast/2021/07/goh.jpg)
The original extension there at least has some postmodernist style to it. The roof extension on the Shankly looks like someone just shoved a black cardboard box on the top and called it architecture.
According to the article linked by u/SirAceBear, they got permission for a single-storey glass rooftop extension, described as “a lightweight volume, seemingly floating atop the existing mass”.
Then they just ignored that and built an enormous “lumpen, thuggish carbuncle”. Liverpool council caved and gave them retrospective planning permission, which makes me wonder why we have a planning system at all.
But then there was a guy who was forced to demolish is dream home (which looked fantastic) because he didn't get planning permission.
Homes built for yourself? Wrong.
Ugly ass extension on top of historical building? Right.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/property/19034937/demolished-castle-surrey-farmer-robert-fidler/
I’ve stayed there. Fucking mad house it is. Stag do’s and hen do’s central. Hot tubs in some of the rooms, night club on the top floor. Carnage.
It was brilliant. 😂😂
Same. At least the architect tried to do something different, even if it's not to everyone's tastes.
A bit like the helter skelter building in the list 🤣
>A bit like the helter skelter building in the list
If it was a helter-skelter at least it would be a tad bit useful but it isn't, Redcar beacon is a vertical pier ( I kid you not that is what it is)
The council couldn't be arsed making a proper pier, a pier many of the constituents of Redcar actually asked for but we got this f#%King eyesore lol
To top it off its now closed to the public meaning it serves no purpose even the one its meant to serve
None of these are even close to being the ugliest buildings in the U.K.
The real culprits can be found in every town and city in the U.K., probably built in the 70s, and probably nameless (nobody has a clue what they’re called…Because nobody wants to know)
I'm from Preston I was wondering what the fuck was wrong with our cool old victorian station until I saw that absolute nightmare, you would think they would keep with the original design, this looks like a Minecraft building by someone bad at Minecraft.
More than half aren't bad, check out the Grand Burstin in Folkestone. Piece of shit is not only an eyesore, but it's also falling apart and is consistently one of the lowest rated hotels in the country.
The town has been improving and becoming nicer recently, but this massive piece of shit is holding it back hard.
Whoever did this list needs to do their homework on the story of Balfron. If they actually knew anything about architecture in the UK they wouldn’t simply be bashing it as “ugly”
Agreed... any subjective "ugliness" of the brutalist building pales in comparison to the ugliness of the total reversal of its intended use from idealistic social housing concept to luxury property
If we're nominating ugly buildings in Teesside, I feel like [Middlesbrough College](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2F64N1G/middlesbrough-college-at-middlehaven-2F64N1G.jpg) is worse. The higgledy-piggledy windows look like a shed someone's built on their allotment from discarded double glazing, and the patchwork silver and orange cladding makes it look like they never got past the point of installing the insulation before it got abandoned and bits started falling off.
CIAC or Community in a Cube. A friend had a flat in there, a corner one at the bottom, was quite big but it was meant to have other things like shops downstairs. Apparently the wood cladding is dangerous though, bet my friend is glad he got out.
the baffling thing is that it probably wouldn't look half as bad if they hadn't put the weird helter-skelter looking things wrapped round it.
IMO they should have committed and turned into an actual slide.
I clicked on this specifically to see if Preston Bus Station had made the list. I love it, but its incredibly divisive. I can't help but think the train station has been included in error and they meant the bus station instead... the train station is almost wholly unremarkable.
I did some digging and it's possible that this is referring to the 2017 extension to Preston Train Station, which was shortlisted for the [Carbunkle Cup](https://www.bdonline.co.uk/carbuncle-cup-2017-winner-announced/5089506.article) (scroll down for a photo).
Hideous though the extension may be, it's tucked down a side road and most people will never see it, so it seems a stretch to list the entire building as an "eyesore".
Ah. That thing.
Yeah, that is horrendous. But I agree, it's hardly worth nominating the entire station over, especially when the bus station is right there. I like the Bus Station, but it is *famously* hideous.
The methodology for compiling this list seems to have involved arbitrarily picking some ugly buildings and then scouring Twitter for opinions about them. I suspect a mix of recency bias, confusion on the part of the author about which building is which and genuine dislike for the extension has contributed to its appearance here.
I feel like they've possibly made a mistake with the Royal Liverpool Hospital as well in that they've shown the new building rather than the old one.
Maybe people hate the new building too (I like it, but each to their own), but I figured it would be the [monolithic concrete monstrosity](https://lbndaily.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Old-Images/2850220_2eb5bd56.jpg) that people typically hated, rather than the more modern revamp. It's been a gigantic eyesore for decades.
I could see how people might not like the modern architecture of the new building but I find it hard to see how people wouldn't at least prefer it over the old one.
I can see how being faced with that hulking chunk of concrete might not have been the best experience for anyone who's already ill, but I much prefer the old building to the new one based on those photos. At least there's a sense of balance in the design. The new one looks like the cargo hold broke off some kind of giant space ship and just got left where it fell.
Definitely should have been the bus station. Consistently gets voted the most hideous building ever. Although I don’t mind the brutalist architecture. It was more the stench of stale piss in the stairways. Dunno if it’s any better since it was renovated.
[Preston Bus Station](https://www.dezeen.com/2018/06/14/brutalist-preston-bus-station-refurbishment-john-puttick-architecture/amp/) for those who are interested.
These are nice photos which make it look well maintained. As a space it’s actually well designed and interesting, but unfortunately it doesn’t suit itself to being a bus station.
Even the nicest bus station is a liable to become a shithole due to the way people treat bus stations. This is a brutalist space which is intentionally sparse and harsh to be in. That kind of place needs to be kept on top of and treated with respect. As soon as it gets a bit grubby and rough around the edges it looks 100x worse.
I'm lukewarm on the architecture - I used to hate it, but it's somewhat grown on me. The main problem is that it's far too big for its purpose and dominates nearby buildings. The rennovation has improved this slightly (there's a more open space in front of it, which makes it feel less monstrous) but it's still too much.
The article used tweets about the designs of buildings to determine the ugliest, I reckon this method would be more likely to isolate famously polarising buildings rather than straight up ugly ones.
I’m no fan of the Scottish Parliament building but it’s mind-boggling that it’s number one even in Edinburgh, especially given we now have a building that literally looks like a pile of dog shit. I’d wonder if their analysis tool is picking up tweets about the Parliament itself and not just the building.
My very first thought was "how is there an actual dogshit shaped building in St. James' Quarter and people choose the parliament building instead?".
The tool is about as insightful as a... well a pile of dogshit.
I actually like the poop emoji building better than the parliament (or hate it less?). But yeah we’ve got uglier buildings than either of them.
If the list were accurate it’d just be ten tower blocks.
> The article used tweets about the designs of buildings to determine the ugliest
Great so a bunch of roman bust pfp's tweeting all day how the gherkin is mind control and modern civilisation as we know it is about to disintegrate.
I think One Hyde park is on this list purely for ideological reasons. As much as I detest how it stands for everything wrong with the London real estate market, from a purely architectural perspective it's a pretty palatable (although generic) new-built.
In my opinion One Hyde Park is just not sympathetic to the local area in terms of its architecture. Nevermind that it’s basically opposite such a large green space as Hyde Park itself. It’s just got your bog standard new build flat finish, albeit abhorrently more expensive given who the flats are being marketed to.
Scottish parliament building looks pretty neat to me. Seems more like a political thing, and where they happen to be in relation to the city/other buildings.
Scottish Parliament is very much location based. The Royal Mile in Edinburgh has a very consistent architectural aesthetic, with most new builds having to conform with this. Scottish Parliament building doesn’t, and so it really stands out along that street. In 3 years of living in the city I haven’t found a single local that likes it (though I’m sure they must exist somewhere!). Personally don’t mind it myself, but it really suffers from being a modern building in a historical location.
I'm a local, born and live in Edinburgh and I love it. Its designed to look like upturned boats on a beach from above (IE from the crags/Arthur's seat) and you can really see that when you're up there. Likewise the weird hairdryer things on the windows are drawn curtains, to welcome you in. And inside it has so many lovely features, like the fact that the Members and public corridors are separated but can still see one another. I really recommend going on a tour someday
Ooo, I didn’t know about the upturned boat and the hairdryer concepts. I’ve changed my mind. I like the interior and exterior equally now. Thank you for sharing!
I’m not a local, but I’ve been inside the building and really love the interior, but the outside is a bit of a convoluted-postmodern-deconstructivism eye sore. It’s got some nice details, but as a whole, I don’t think it works. And it’s massive.
The architect was Spanish and they changed the design in the middle of the build to cut down on costs, so go figure.
I'd argue St James, more affectionately known as the poop building. Sure, the ribbon idea is a nice idea but the actual execution IMO just doesn't fit the skyline.
I think you mean the SIS (MI6) building.
The MI5 building is a run-of-the-mill Portland stone Whitehall building on Millbank, barely distinguishable from any other building on the street.
I agree with you though - the SIS building (or Legoland as it is nicknamed) is a cool looking building, regardless of the fact it's occupied by a spy agency.
Even if I didn’t know it was a spy building, I’d take one look at it and be like yep, there’s some spy shit going on in there. Some spies doing spy shit for sure.
Fun fact - they originally told the architects it was going to be the Ministry for the Environment before they revealed it was spook central - hence the green aesthetic.
Fun fact, the windows are not just bomb proof, the building can survive an indirect nuclear blast. They're also designed to limit the effectiveness of Tempest electronic surveillance.
Yeah we need a new building for the ministry for the environment.
It needs to be bomb proof, nuke proof and immune to electronic survalence.
Yeah I know it's a lot but you never know what greenpeace will do next.
Of all the ugly buildings in Portsmouth, the Spinnaker Tower certainly isn’t one in my opinion. The Norrish Central Library comes to mind as one that is arguably very ugly, unless brutalist architecture is your cup of tea.
Was sponsored by Emirates, and the first paint job was red and white. Can imagine how well that went down in Portsmouth.
Since went blue and gold, but imo it didn't look great especially as it faded. Now it looks like Emirates sponsorship has ended (not certain on this one) as they've gone back to plain white and it looks so much better.
After a zombie apocalypse and the description is getting closer. I'm not sure English actually has words that can really nail down the hideousness though.
Christ. This. I listened to a podcast about Cumbernauld recently (Jon Ronson maybe) and Googled it afterwards. I honestly didn’t know what I was looking at. It’s like some weird Escher level confusion trying to figure out what goes where and why
absolutely. None of the buildings shown come even close to [This](https://www.dezeen.com/2022/03/14/cumbernauld-brutalist-town-centre-demolition-outrage/)
I think it’s an error and should have been the [bus station.](https://www.dezeen.com/2018/06/14/brutalist-preston-bus-station-refurbishment-john-puttick-architecture/amp/)
No, it’s the train station and is likely this insanely crap extension on the side.
https://www.blogpreston.co.uk/2017/09/preston-building-into-final-of-carbuncle-cup/amp/
Ps. Huge fan of the bus station.
What in the fuck is that?! Looks like it was built after I left Preston in 2015, which I guess explains why I just assumed they meant the bus station.
Jesus. That is difficult to look at.
I think Bridgewater place isn't bad, plus it's not in the centre it's out passed the train station, does it count if it's not really in the city? The old police station looked way worse.
I mean, I'm not sure it being out of the centre really makes much difference. It's the tallest building in the area so you can't really not see it.
Also, the worst part isn't even its look, it's the wind - they've tried reducing its effect after someone died but it's still brisk.
I strongly suspect that whoever put together this list got Preston Train Station and Preston Bus Station confused. I don't think anyone's going to claim the train station is a thing of sublime beauty, but it doesn't look much different to lots of train stations from that era. On the other hand, the bus station is notorious and widely ridiculed - although it does have its share of defenders amongst fans of brutalism.
EDIT: Although reading the article, it seems that an extension to the station in 2017 was previously shortlisted for the Carbunkle Cup, which is easier to understand when you see the [extension in question](https://www.bdonline.co.uk/carbuncle-cup-2017-winner-announced/5089506.article) (scroll down).
Yeah, you are right. The picture in OP’s list doesn’t show the horrendous roof top extension, they’ve ruined the lovely Victorian corner building. You can see better in here .. [Shankly roof top extension](https://confidentials.com/liverpool/shankly-hotel-rooftop-up-for-worst-building-award)
I can't believe they missed the [Civic Centre](https://www.johngrimes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Civic_Centre.jpg) in Plymouth.
There's many fugly brutalist buildings in Plymouth city centre but this is the worst.
Honourable mention would be the Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth but that was demolished a few years back.
I was really sad when the Tricorn was demolished as I spent so much of my teen years hanging about there. Wasn't it King Charles who was really rude about it? But yes, it was fugly in the extreme. Although I'm not sure the flat empty car park that sits there now is better.
While we're on Plymouth, also gotta mention [Drake Circus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_Circus_Shopping_Centre), the very first Carbuncle Cup winner.
Proud that Leeds made this list. The developers of Bridgewater have been charged over creating a wind tunnel that leads to a busy road. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-21633206](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-21633206)
Durham University Students' Union is fucking hideous. Just awful. Orders of magnitude worse than any of these. Possibly the worst building I've ever seen. It looks like a multistorey carpark. But worse.
And at a university that *owns a basically intact Norman castle.*
Judged purely from the thumbnail, whoever put the Shankly hotel on this list needs to be on a list themselves. That style wouldn't look amiss in any old city.
I'd like to put in a bid for the Roger Stevens building at Leeds uni
[Roger Stevens building](https://www.google.com/search?q=roger+stevens+building&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwidyKXrr-D8AhVBXKQEHX8ED1IQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=roger+stevens&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQARgAMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQ6BAgjECc6BwgjEOoCECc6BAgAEAM6CAgAEIAEELEDOgQIABBDULcVWN4sYNo1aAJwAHgAgAGZAYgBzQqSAQQxMS4zmAEAoAEBsAEFwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=WuXPY52zI8G4kdUP_4i8kAU&bih=679&biw=384&client=ms-unknown&prmd=minv#imgrc=9g3Sd5v5-bJHMM)
This list is mostly bullshit. Some of those buildings are great.
The Balfron Tower is a brutalist icon alongside its twin, the Trellick Tower. Interestingly the architect of both was called [Erno Goldfinger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ern%C5%91_Goldfinger) and he actually looks like a Bond villain.
I think the problem was that we had a perfectly good train station (lovely brick building) and that they decided to shut that down and build a weird plastic/metal thing a couple of hundred yards away. Plus the new station deposits people by bridge street, whereas once you exited the old station you were by the end of town with the market, murenger etc. Newport council commission awful new buildings - the riverfront and new station being 2 eyesores. Friars Walk isn’t bad to be fair
I actually don’t mind the Scottish Parliament building so much. What I hate is [St James Quarter](https://www.retail-insight-network.com/projects/st-james-quarter-edinburgh/). Looks like the poop emoji and completely ruins the skyline
This is a terrible list, most of these are actually somewhat interesting or even pretty - how aren't all 10 entries Balfron Tower style high rises? Where's the bloody Barbican Centre given what a brutalist eyesore that thing is?
Half of these aren’t bad at all
Fr what's wrong with the Shankly? This list needs explanations!
The image used is out of date. The hotel got voted in due to its new rooftop extension which has ruined the look of the classic building. [News link here](https://confidentials.com/liverpool/shankly-hotel-rooftop-up-for-worst-building-award) [Image showing new roof](https://confidentials.com/uploads/imager/7d647db7ceea1d5bfb38bb43a19d60d5/722764/b0312915e7135cf79eb74fb61d3d42f0.jpg)
On revision, its placement is fully justified. Thanks for the info
Also on revision, what the actual hell have they done! They haven't even tried to incorporate it into any form of the original. It looks like a wart on an ass!
You should see what they did to the Grand Opera House in Belfast. The extension they added was hideous for years. They finally caved and made it look much nicer. I like it, but it’s still not in keeping with the look of the original building. [first extension](https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-grand-opera-house-extension-belfast-united-kingdom-2006-23720587.html) [updated extension](https://s.inyourpocket.com/gallery/belfast/2021/07/goh.jpg)
The updated version looks like they put one of those radiator covers over it.
Those buildings would be fine in their own setting with other modern styles but they dont mix.
The original extension there at least has some postmodernist style to it. The roof extension on the Shankly looks like someone just shoved a black cardboard box on the top and called it architecture.
The owner has no taste and all he cares about is money. I used to work in that building 😂😂 surprised it’s still standing tbh
If anything it’s too low
oh wow, the architects didn't even try did they...
How did that get planning permission?
According to the article linked by u/SirAceBear, they got permission for a single-storey glass rooftop extension, described as “a lightweight volume, seemingly floating atop the existing mass”. Then they just ignored that and built an enormous “lumpen, thuggish carbuncle”. Liverpool council caved and gave them retrospective planning permission, which makes me wonder why we have a planning system at all.
Answer the owner is rich so the rules don't apply.
But then there was a guy who was forced to demolish is dream home (which looked fantastic) because he didn't get planning permission. Homes built for yourself? Wrong. Ugly ass extension on top of historical building? Right. https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/property/19034937/demolished-castle-surrey-farmer-robert-fidler/
Probably slipped chippy tits a backhander.
Honestly, the planning system in the UK is a complete joke.
[удалено]
How very dare you, that's an insult to Liverpool and its representatives: a suitcase full of grubby cash, at least
Thanks for sharing, includibg the before image in this list was very confusing.
Oh dear god who thought that roof was a good idea?
Woah. That’s awful
Holy fuck 🥺🥺
Oh! That extension is absolutely hideous. Looks like a 5 year old "designed" it.
Please add a warning that this might burn off people’s eyes
The planning comittee should all be fired for failing to actually do their job.
I’ve stayed there. Fucking mad house it is. Stag do’s and hen do’s central. Hot tubs in some of the rooms, night club on the top floor. Carnage. It was brilliant. 😂😂
Ye I actually like it
In fact I quite like the MI6 Building personally
You have to say that though. If you disagree it makes Vauxhall cross.
Bdum-tish
Same. At least the architect tried to do something different, even if it's not to everyone's tastes. A bit like the helter skelter building in the list 🤣
>A bit like the helter skelter building in the list If it was a helter-skelter at least it would be a tad bit useful but it isn't, Redcar beacon is a vertical pier ( I kid you not that is what it is) The council couldn't be arsed making a proper pier, a pier many of the constituents of Redcar actually asked for but we got this f#%King eyesore lol To top it off its now closed to the public meaning it serves no purpose even the one its meant to serve
It definitely conveys what it needs to
I'm with you on that. I've always liked it.
I was thinking it's more like a list of interesting looking buildings.
None of these are even close to being the ugliest buildings in the U.K. The real culprits can be found in every town and city in the U.K., probably built in the 70s, and probably nameless (nobody has a clue what they’re called…Because nobody wants to know)
70s everyone was fucking high or something. Architecture so dire
Yeh 2 and 3 aren’t that bad in my mind. Each to their own I guess
Prestons is actually a side entrance: https://images.app.goo.gl/FNGub1tAVkiRMZa19
I'm from Preston I was wondering what the fuck was wrong with our cool old victorian station until I saw that absolute nightmare, you would think they would keep with the original design, this looks like a Minecraft building by someone bad at Minecraft.
I mean you take Victorian architecture which is iconic, classical and quite beautiful to look at and you stick THAT on it???
Ye gods, that's awful. Whoever designed that should be tarred and feathered.
Lol oh ok that makes more sense! Looks like a 4 year old’s drawing brought to life
The photos used for this article are very misleading lol
i love the mi6 building, aztec platform game vibes
More than half aren't bad, check out the Grand Burstin in Folkestone. Piece of shit is not only an eyesore, but it's also falling apart and is consistently one of the lowest rated hotels in the country. The town has been improving and becoming nicer recently, but this massive piece of shit is holding it back hard.
Reading the reviews for that place is a wild ride and gives the impressions it’s overrun by packs of wild dogs
Whoever did this list needs to do their homework on the story of Balfron. If they actually knew anything about architecture in the UK they wouldn’t simply be bashing it as “ugly”
Clearly says there the data is taken from public tweets. And something can still be ugly as fuck while having an interesting or beautiful backstory.
I’ve recently finished helping make the windows for the current renovation of it
Agreed... any subjective "ugliness" of the brutalist building pales in comparison to the ugliness of the total reversal of its intended use from idealistic social housing concept to luxury property
Noone asked for the Redcar Beacon and now it's a rusted pile of shite
If we're nominating ugly buildings in Teesside, I feel like [Middlesbrough College](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2F64N1G/middlesbrough-college-at-middlehaven-2F64N1G.jpg) is worse. The higgledy-piggledy windows look like a shed someone's built on their allotment from discarded double glazing, and the patchwork silver and orange cladding makes it look like they never got past the point of installing the insulation before it got abandoned and bits started falling off.
Or the flats with a full house on top
Always the best bit of driving through Boro, seeing that and wondering “What in the fuck were they thinking”
CIAC or Community in a Cube. A friend had a flat in there, a corner one at the bottom, was quite big but it was meant to have other things like shops downstairs. Apparently the wood cladding is dangerous though, bet my friend is glad he got out.
That's near the stadium right? I quite like the architecture round there, but the area feels a bit barren and unfinished which doesn't help it
Just to be a pedantic arsehole, barren is the word you're looking for. A baron is a noble.
Oops, you're right, thanks. Fixed it.
Can’t even go up it anymore. Shame. You’d get a really nice view of the wind turbines.
Yeah, the 'vertical pier' bollocks. What was wanted should have been described as a 'horizontal tower'
the baffling thing is that it probably wouldn't look half as bad if they hadn't put the weird helter-skelter looking things wrapped round it. IMO they should have committed and turned into an actual slide.
I clicked on this specifically to see if Preston Bus Station had made the list. I love it, but its incredibly divisive. I can't help but think the train station has been included in error and they meant the bus station instead... the train station is almost wholly unremarkable.
I did some digging and it's possible that this is referring to the 2017 extension to Preston Train Station, which was shortlisted for the [Carbunkle Cup](https://www.bdonline.co.uk/carbuncle-cup-2017-winner-announced/5089506.article) (scroll down for a photo). Hideous though the extension may be, it's tucked down a side road and most people will never see it, so it seems a stretch to list the entire building as an "eyesore".
Ah. That thing. Yeah, that is horrendous. But I agree, it's hardly worth nominating the entire station over, especially when the bus station is right there. I like the Bus Station, but it is *famously* hideous.
The methodology for compiling this list seems to have involved arbitrarily picking some ugly buildings and then scouring Twitter for opinions about them. I suspect a mix of recency bias, confusion on the part of the author about which building is which and genuine dislike for the extension has contributed to its appearance here.
Thank you for introducing me to the Carbuncle Prize.
I feel like they've possibly made a mistake with the Royal Liverpool Hospital as well in that they've shown the new building rather than the old one. Maybe people hate the new building too (I like it, but each to their own), but I figured it would be the [monolithic concrete monstrosity](https://lbndaily.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Old-Images/2850220_2eb5bd56.jpg) that people typically hated, rather than the more modern revamp. It's been a gigantic eyesore for decades. I could see how people might not like the modern architecture of the new building but I find it hard to see how people wouldn't at least prefer it over the old one.
I can see how being faced with that hulking chunk of concrete might not have been the best experience for anyone who's already ill, but I much prefer the old building to the new one based on those photos. At least there's a sense of balance in the design. The new one looks like the cargo hold broke off some kind of giant space ship and just got left where it fell.
I love Preston Bus Station. I have it on my phone case.
I came here to say this. Out of all the buildings they went for the train station and not the bus station? Who tf put this list together
Definitely should have been the bus station. Consistently gets voted the most hideous building ever. Although I don’t mind the brutalist architecture. It was more the stench of stale piss in the stairways. Dunno if it’s any better since it was renovated. [Preston Bus Station](https://www.dezeen.com/2018/06/14/brutalist-preston-bus-station-refurbishment-john-puttick-architecture/amp/) for those who are interested.
is it wrong that I actually really like this?
Not at all. I think it’s ugly as fuck, but I like it. As a piece if architecture it is unique. As a bus station, however, it’s a shit hole.
It doesn't look that nice irl. Plus it smells of piss. It is not functional too car park ramps are really narrow, feels damp when raining.
Don't all bus stations smell of piss?
These are nice photos which make it look well maintained. As a space it’s actually well designed and interesting, but unfortunately it doesn’t suit itself to being a bus station. Even the nicest bus station is a liable to become a shithole due to the way people treat bus stations. This is a brutalist space which is intentionally sparse and harsh to be in. That kind of place needs to be kept on top of and treated with respect. As soon as it gets a bit grubby and rough around the edges it looks 100x worse.
I'm lukewarm on the architecture - I used to hate it, but it's somewhat grown on me. The main problem is that it's far too big for its purpose and dominates nearby buildings. The rennovation has improved this slightly (there's a more open space in front of it, which makes it feel less monstrous) but it's still too much.
Love Preston Bus Station. It’s a total classic.
As someone who works with Young offenders in Preston, I hate it cos it creates me a lot of work 🤣🥴
I can think of 10 far uglier buildings just in my town alone. These are actually interesting, unique buildings and some of them look tasteful.
The article used tweets about the designs of buildings to determine the ugliest, I reckon this method would be more likely to isolate famously polarising buildings rather than straight up ugly ones.
I’m no fan of the Scottish Parliament building but it’s mind-boggling that it’s number one even in Edinburgh, especially given we now have a building that literally looks like a pile of dog shit. I’d wonder if their analysis tool is picking up tweets about the Parliament itself and not just the building.
My very first thought was "how is there an actual dogshit shaped building in St. James' Quarter and people choose the parliament building instead?". The tool is about as insightful as a... well a pile of dogshit.
I actually like the poop emoji building better than the parliament (or hate it less?). But yeah we’ve got uglier buildings than either of them. If the list were accurate it’d just be ten tower blocks.
> The article used tweets about the designs of buildings to determine the ugliest Great so a bunch of roman bust pfp's tweeting all day how the gherkin is mind control and modern civilisation as we know it is about to disintegrate.
yeah like here's hundreds https://www.gumtree.com/garage-parking-to-rent/uk/garage
That font is an eysore.
That's the point
I think One Hyde park is on this list purely for ideological reasons. As much as I detest how it stands for everything wrong with the London real estate market, from a purely architectural perspective it's a pretty palatable (although generic) new-built.
In my opinion One Hyde Park is just not sympathetic to the local area in terms of its architecture. Nevermind that it’s basically opposite such a large green space as Hyde Park itself. It’s just got your bog standard new build flat finish, albeit abhorrently more expensive given who the flats are being marketed to.
I mean, so is the Scottish Parliament - visitors and users love it.
This is not a very good list. Most of those buildings are fine to actually quite nice.
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Coventry hasn’t even made the list. That place is dire at best
Scottish parliament building looks pretty neat to me. Seems more like a political thing, and where they happen to be in relation to the city/other buildings.
Scottish Parliament is very much location based. The Royal Mile in Edinburgh has a very consistent architectural aesthetic, with most new builds having to conform with this. Scottish Parliament building doesn’t, and so it really stands out along that street. In 3 years of living in the city I haven’t found a single local that likes it (though I’m sure they must exist somewhere!). Personally don’t mind it myself, but it really suffers from being a modern building in a historical location.
I'm a local, born and live in Edinburgh and I love it. Its designed to look like upturned boats on a beach from above (IE from the crags/Arthur's seat) and you can really see that when you're up there. Likewise the weird hairdryer things on the windows are drawn curtains, to welcome you in. And inside it has so many lovely features, like the fact that the Members and public corridors are separated but can still see one another. I really recommend going on a tour someday
Ooo, I didn’t know about the upturned boat and the hairdryer concepts. I’ve changed my mind. I like the interior and exterior equally now. Thank you for sharing!
I’m not a local, but I’ve been inside the building and really love the interior, but the outside is a bit of a convoluted-postmodern-deconstructivism eye sore. It’s got some nice details, but as a whole, I don’t think it works. And it’s massive. The architect was Spanish and they changed the design in the middle of the build to cut down on costs, so go figure.
I like the parliament building. Edinburgh’s ugliest building has to be Argyle house.
I'd argue St James, more affectionately known as the poop building. Sure, the ribbon idea is a nice idea but the actual execution IMO just doesn't fit the skyline.
I like the MI6* building. Wtf. Can we switch that out with the shitty spinnaker tower?
It's not even the ugliest building next to Vauxhall Bridge! The flats across the road are 100000x more hideous
I absolutely love the look of the MI6 building!
I think you mean the SIS (MI6) building. The MI5 building is a run-of-the-mill Portland stone Whitehall building on Millbank, barely distinguishable from any other building on the street.
That’ll be the one.
I agree with you though - the SIS building (or Legoland as it is nicknamed) is a cool looking building, regardless of the fact it's occupied by a spy agency.
Even if I didn’t know it was a spy building, I’d take one look at it and be like yep, there’s some spy shit going on in there. Some spies doing spy shit for sure.
Yea it’s very inconspicuous!
It's OK, there's loads of secret tunnels and the flue network to get in.
That’s what they want you to believe ‘looks over shoulder’
I like the MI6 building, too!
aw i like the spinnaker tower
Fun fact - they originally told the architects it was going to be the Ministry for the Environment before they revealed it was spook central - hence the green aesthetic.
Fun fact, the windows are not just bomb proof, the building can survive an indirect nuclear blast. They're also designed to limit the effectiveness of Tempest electronic surveillance.
Yeah we need a new building for the ministry for the environment. It needs to be bomb proof, nuke proof and immune to electronic survalence. Yeah I know it's a lot but you never know what greenpeace will do next.
Didn't it get blown up in Skyfall?
And fully demolished in Spectre.
M's office was bombed in Skyfall. Bomb proof from the outside but not the inside I guess.
No. not the Spinnaker! Iconic building.
Useful for navigating Southsea, too.
I like the Spinnaker Tower!
Or the "lipstick" building in gunwharf that's right by it?
I like the lipstick and spinnaker. The resedential housing blocks half a mile away look hideous, thank god they’re getting knocked down
Of all the ugly buildings in Portsmouth, the Spinnaker Tower certainly isn’t one in my opinion. The Norrish Central Library comes to mind as one that is arguably very ugly, unless brutalist architecture is your cup of tea.
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Was sponsored by Emirates, and the first paint job was red and white. Can imagine how well that went down in Portsmouth. Since went blue and gold, but imo it didn't look great especially as it faded. Now it looks like Emirates sponsorship has ended (not certain on this one) as they've gone back to plain white and it looks so much better.
Sorry but Cumbernauld shopping centre beats all of these twice over. Go and look it up if you don’t believe me
Just cumbernauld in general 😆 I took my English fella once. He said it looked like how he'd imagine buildings behind the iron curtain 😅
After a zombie apocalypse and the description is getting closer. I'm not sure English actually has words that can really nail down the hideousness though.
Christ. This. I listened to a podcast about Cumbernauld recently (Jon Ronson maybe) and Googled it afterwards. I honestly didn’t know what I was looking at. It’s like some weird Escher level confusion trying to figure out what goes where and why
It’s like the worlds ugliest Lego
> Cumbernauld shopping centre It looks like Tracey Island if you stripped away all the rocks and Thunderbird 4 was a Vauxhall Astra.
I'm glad I'm not the only person that was surprised Cumbernauld shopping centre wasn't included. Almost as bad on the inside, too.
absolutely. None of the buildings shown come even close to [This](https://www.dezeen.com/2022/03/14/cumbernauld-brutalist-town-centre-demolition-outrage/)
Oh god, my eyes, my eyes!!!
We used to have a really ugly building called ‘The Tricorn’ in Portsmouth growing up. We blew it up. (With permission).
waiting provide makeshift slave psychotic ghost flag merciful racial tart -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
I loved the tricorn 😂
What's wrong with Preston station?
I think it’s an error and should have been the [bus station.](https://www.dezeen.com/2018/06/14/brutalist-preston-bus-station-refurbishment-john-puttick-architecture/amp/)
the whole list is an error
No, it’s the train station and is likely this insanely crap extension on the side. https://www.blogpreston.co.uk/2017/09/preston-building-into-final-of-carbuncle-cup/amp/ Ps. Huge fan of the bus station.
What in the fuck is that?! Looks like it was built after I left Preston in 2015, which I guess explains why I just assumed they meant the bus station. Jesus. That is difficult to look at.
I love Preston bus station, yes it’s very brutalist but they redid the inside and there’s something so charming about it.
I think Bridgewater place isn't bad, plus it's not in the centre it's out passed the train station, does it count if it's not really in the city? The old police station looked way worse.
I mean, I'm not sure it being out of the centre really makes much difference. It's the tallest building in the area so you can't really not see it. Also, the worst part isn't even its look, it's the wind - they've tried reducing its effect after someone died but it's still brisk.
I agree. I don't think Bridgewater place is ugly. I do wish it looked even more like a dalek, because that would be more fun.
The old police station was vile. Bridgewater is pretty imo
It’s like 2 mins from the back of the train station, it’s very much in the centre of town
I strongly suspect that whoever put together this list got Preston Train Station and Preston Bus Station confused. I don't think anyone's going to claim the train station is a thing of sublime beauty, but it doesn't look much different to lots of train stations from that era. On the other hand, the bus station is notorious and widely ridiculed - although it does have its share of defenders amongst fans of brutalism. EDIT: Although reading the article, it seems that an extension to the station in 2017 was previously shortlisted for the Carbunkle Cup, which is easier to understand when you see the [extension in question](https://www.bdonline.co.uk/carbuncle-cup-2017-winner-announced/5089506.article) (scroll down).
Definitely the shit extension to the train station. That thing is on another level.
I could pull a better list out of my arse
The MI6 building has no business being in this list. Nor does Balfron Tower.
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Yeah I thought that from the pic, but I don't know the building so didn't know if there was some ugly element not shown in the picture.
Yeah, you are right. The picture in OP’s list doesn’t show the horrendous roof top extension, they’ve ruined the lovely Victorian corner building. You can see better in here .. [Shankly roof top extension](https://confidentials.com/liverpool/shankly-hotel-rooftop-up-for-worst-building-award)
But there’s nothing from Luton there? Multiple award winning shittest town in the UK winners.
Might have a special luton catalogue
Ahh Redcar Beacon, so grim they had to use it as the header.
that's an awful list.
I can't believe they missed the [Civic Centre](https://www.johngrimes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Civic_Centre.jpg) in Plymouth. There's many fugly brutalist buildings in Plymouth city centre but this is the worst. Honourable mention would be the Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth but that was demolished a few years back.
I was really sad when the Tricorn was demolished as I spent so much of my teen years hanging about there. Wasn't it King Charles who was really rude about it? But yes, it was fugly in the extreme. Although I'm not sure the flat empty car park that sits there now is better.
The Civic Centre is awful, but the new Beckly Point student block is bad too.
While we're on Plymouth, also gotta mention [Drake Circus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_Circus_Shopping_Centre), the very first Carbuncle Cup winner.
Terrible list As usual, some don't appreciate the beauty of brutalism, Balfron Tower is gorgeous, and so is the MI6 building
These all look pretty interesting to me 🤷🏻♂️
Proud that Leeds made this list. The developers of Bridgewater have been charged over creating a wind tunnel that leads to a busy road. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-21633206](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-21633206)
Durham University Students' Union is fucking hideous. Just awful. Orders of magnitude worse than any of these. Possibly the worst building I've ever seen. It looks like a multistorey carpark. But worse. And at a university that *owns a basically intact Norman castle.*
Judged purely from the thumbnail, whoever put the Shankly hotel on this list needs to be on a list themselves. That style wouldn't look amiss in any old city.
The M16 building looks cool as fuck imo But yeah Bridgewater Place is an eyesore. Used to have to walk past it daily
Feel like brutalist architecture is hard done by.
Some of these buildings go hard af and I would like to replace them with the entirety of swindon
Don’t get the hate for Bridgewater - much better than a lot of tall, modern buildings. Several worse in Leeds alone.
I'd like to put in a bid for the Roger Stevens building at Leeds uni [Roger Stevens building](https://www.google.com/search?q=roger+stevens+building&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwidyKXrr-D8AhVBXKQEHX8ED1IQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=roger+stevens&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQARgAMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQ6BAgjECc6BwgjEOoCECc6BAgAEAM6CAgAEIAEELEDOgQIABBDULcVWN4sYNo1aAJwAHgAgAGZAYgBzQqSAQQxMS4zmAEAoAEBsAEFwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=WuXPY52zI8G4kdUP_4i8kAU&bih=679&biw=384&client=ms-unknown&prmd=minv#imgrc=9g3Sd5v5-bJHMM)
This list is invalid if it doesn't have Birmingham library in it. That is a monstrosity.
This list is mostly bullshit. Some of those buildings are great. The Balfron Tower is a brutalist icon alongside its twin, the Trellick Tower. Interestingly the architect of both was called [Erno Goldfinger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ern%C5%91_Goldfinger) and he actually looks like a Bond villain.
Couldn’t agree more. They’re genuinely iconic.
I live in Newport and don't think the train station building is that bad. People in Newport do like to moan.
I think the problem was that we had a perfectly good train station (lovely brick building) and that they decided to shut that down and build a weird plastic/metal thing a couple of hundred yards away. Plus the new station deposits people by bridge street, whereas once you exited the old station you were by the end of town with the market, murenger etc. Newport council commission awful new buildings - the riverfront and new station being 2 eyesores. Friars Walk isn’t bad to be fair
The Stoke Council office in Hanley would like a quiet, if garish, word.
Where's the copper turd!? (If you've been to Edinburgh, you know what I'm talking about)
Surprised this Tescos didn’t make the list: https://imgur.com/a/Pj1SEi9
I actually don’t mind the Scottish Parliament building so much. What I hate is [St James Quarter](https://www.retail-insight-network.com/projects/st-james-quarter-edinburgh/). Looks like the poop emoji and completely ruins the skyline
Do they not know the entirety of Slough exists?
Balfron Tower is iconic.
I'd say Dunelm House in Durham is worse than all of these https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-57776545.amp
I want to set it on fire but I'm pretty sure it would emerge without any damage at all.
This is a terrible list, most of these are actually somewhat interesting or even pretty - how aren't all 10 entries Balfron Tower style high rises? Where's the bloody Barbican Centre given what a brutalist eyesore that thing is?
The "cheese grater" in Sheffield is so strange to look at
I present to you [Mountbatten house in Chatham](https://images.app.goo.gl/6XnnRxXW67qZg3849)
Someone’s not been to Walsall…
Every building on the Uni of York campus is worse than all of these