Comments on: Harlow, Essex

By: Rufus

Rufus — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:55:04 +0000

‘Highly intelligent’ – well, as to that, it’s hard to know from your comment: you come across as badly educated at least. Please learn to punctuate, and please don’t come back with a silly comment about “oh, it’s only an online post”. That’s just lazy.
Having a vocabulary only two years above your age isn’t all that noteworthy, honey; sorry to burst your bubble.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:42:11 +0000

HOW f**king DARE YOU!!!!

Yes i admit harlow is one of the most chav infested places to live but come off of it!!!
Not everybody in harlow are the stereo-typical chavs that you are portraying them. i have lived in harlow for 23 years and im not a chav…… infact 99.9% of all my friends who LIVE in harlow arent chavs…. and beleive it or not there is just the same amount of metal heads in harlow then there are chavs… i admit the town has gone down hill over the past few years but dosent most places?? you cant just critisize a town because it dosent conform to your “Perfect snoby” Way’s. you wouldnt like if someone started slating your town.

p.s the mc donalds part is actually quite true

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:15:18 +0000

The fact that the original poster is anonymous speaks volumes. I’ve lived here for about 11 years now and yes parts of it are run down, but I have seen some regeneration – widening of the A414, new leisure centre and shopping centre and plans to rebuild the rest of the town centre. I hear there are lots of drug dealers travelling up from London at weekends which would be bad for any area.

It is time to move on though…I can’t see me spending the rest of my life here, but as places go I’ve seen far worse.

By: douglas

douglas — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:08:27 +0000

what a load of shit how the f**k are we all inbreeds you silly twat look at places like new hall and church langley you surely can not say there chavi

By: Sterling68

Sterling68 — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:46:54 +0000

I was born in Harlow and lived there for 33 years. Admittedly I left because I wanted a better life for my daughter and now live in Cambridge. One thing I have learnt by leaving Harlow – is everywhere has its problems. I used to think Harlow was the pits and couldnt wait to leave and Im glad on hindsight that I did, but now on reflection, it wasnt as bad as I thought. I go back regularly as most of my family still live there and I often go shopping in Harlow. Yes there are chavs, but tell me a place where there arent chavs. Yes there are some undesirables, drop outs, pikies etc., but Ive known worse places. I have fond memories of growing up there and ALL my family who still live there are decent, hardworking people. Unfortunately, a lot of the unsavoury people have come from outside Harlow and have changed Harlow – the majority of people who have grown up in Harlow are the ones trying to keep it as a nice home town and can’t be held responsible for the types of people who move in from elsewhere. But then again, that happens anywhere.

By: Got out

Got out — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:19:11 +0000

Before any judgement is cast upon me for living off the Tax Payer between the ages of 16 and 19, while in full-time education, trying to make something of myself; my parents and their parents have never sponged off the state.

And you’ll be happy to know I am now a Tax Payer myself; working to help improve the lives of young people and now I own my own home instead of council accommodation; I gave it up in the hope that someone else now has it, who deserves it; but I very much doubt it, as the Labour government around this time was paying thousands of pounds to immigrants to move into towns like Harlow from London.

By: Got out

Got out — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:09:36 +0000

This article should be changed completely.

I am aware this post is very “Me, me, me”, but I’m just doing the best I can to explain what a shit-hole Harlow is – I’m glad I got out.

SOCIAL
The biggest Social problem Harlow has, is everybody knows everybody.

I hate to generalise, but I’m not accusing everyone that lives in that town a attention seeking, self-pitying, lying, advantage taking, uneducated moron – but I am talking about an extremely high percentage of around about 99% who are; and you at least know someone I’m describing.

A lot of people who live there, never amount to anything more and they never leave; only for a holiday to the same place every year, which is usually Spain.

SECONDARY SCHOOL’S (1999-2004)
I will say that Mark Hall School is the best secondary school there; although I’ve never been to any of the other secondary school’s in the area – I know this is a fact from friends; other people in the same year group (1999-2004) at different school’s that we (Mark Hall) received better information on life experience issues such as Sex Education, STI’s, CV’s and Employment etc. than any other school.

Despite one scummy girl who had no interest in her education in our year group getting pregnant; there was always ONE girl in every year group in Year 10 or Year 11 pregnant – an achievement seeing as Mark Hall is the biggest school in Harlow land and pupil wise (30 people in each forum – 8 forums in 1 year group = 240 people in each year – at least at the start of each September, as people would drop out).

HARLOW FOYER (2004-2007)
When I moved in, in 2004 there was only ONE of about 150 people living there who was either pregnant or had a child; by the time I was asked to leave the Foyer, 2 years later, because I occupied a ground floor flat; they wanted that flat because there were now 30 girls out of 150 pregnant or had one or more children.

I helped build that place up community wise, no idea what it’s like now. I imagine still overrun by young druggies and alcoholics with a single-digit IQ, who are popping out unwanted human beings left, right and centre to rinse and repeat the vicious cycle again.

But hey, after I put up a good fight of how much I’ve put into the community and it’s projects; which was only destroyed and into my own education by keeping my head down and my nose clean from any trouble – I finally got nominated for a brand new council flat in First Avenue instead of being thrown out on the streets because of a dozen irresponsible f**k-wits; I believe that’s 1 – nil to the decent people of society who deserve council accommodation.

HARLOW COLLEGE (2004)
Harlow College was a really big disappointment, incredibly lazy and doesn’t give a toss about it’s students; so I transferred to Hertford Regional in Broxbourne in the very first weeks of the very first term.

First of all, they put me on the completely wrong course for my level; I should of been put on a BTEC instead of a GNVQ. Apparently there was space to be transferred to the BTEC, but I guess they couldn’t be bothered with the paperwork and told me to waste 3 years instead of 2 years at college with them. I then tried A Level’s instead, again the Media Department refused; couldn’t be bothered.

Secondly, I asked to be transferred to another college and they said it couldn’t be possible. Although Hertford Regional did all the transferring process within a week.

Hertford Regional paid for my bus and train fares, my breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as informing me of EMA and Income Support because of my situation of living alone at 16. Harlow College didn’t inform me what I was entitled to or wanted to help my situation.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 09:47:32 +0000

I would just like to point out although people are saying Harlow is a shit hole, I was born in Harlow lived here for 8 years and then moved to Kettering, Northampton, County Durham, Bradford and now I am living in Harlow again with my fantastic wife and lovely little boy. I have never touched illegal drugs and neither has my wife, I work hard to support my family and i would rather bring up my kids in Harlow than Bradford I’ve lived in Bradford and would have to say that living there for me was a nightmare i got assaulted in my own back garden at the age of 15 i didn’t leave my house for 2 years, I had lost 2 years of my life that i believe that i wouldn’t have lost if I stayed in Harlow, This is just what i think, i agree with some comments and disagree with others.

By: Chaz everest

Chaz everest — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:15:36 +0000

I lived in Harlow from when I was 8 years old until I was 29, with a 2 year break in Moenchengladbach as a kid and 5 years in Northamptonshire between the age of 23 and 28. I enjoyed growing up in Harlow, it was a great place to live. When I was 29 I moved to Goettingen in Germany and stayed for several years and then moved to New York and then on to North Carolina. Harlow has gone a bit downhill in the past few years, actually since Church Langley was built strangely enough, but I can still see the Harlow New Town that I used to live in and love. I think with a little regeneration and not allowing vast sprawling shopping centres on the edge of town the High can stay vital and alive. For pity’s sake Harlow (and the U.K. in general) don’t fall into the trap that America fell into. Many towns are huge Church Langley like subdivions (American for housing estates) endless suburbia and the down towns areas are dead, often no go areas. Towns and cities built like donuts, with no live centre. Anyway, Harlow is not nearly as bad as people would like to make out. There are just as many chavs and hooligans in Sawbridgworth, Bishops Stortford, Stanstead and other surrounding older towns and villages. And for those of you who still live there, be responsible, stop slagging Harlow off and start being part of the solution to the things you don’t like. Harlow was a first, it was a classless utopia, lets bring that back. Invest in your town, be proud of it and do everything you can to make it a better place to live, don’t neglect it and then complain because it looks neglected.

By: Geoff D

Geoff D — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:01:10 +0000

Sully- you really are a moron-camparing chewing gum to drug addiction? You fuckwit.
The argument here is that most drug addicts (particularly in Harlow), are state sponsored dole scroungers, SO YES they are being paid for by the tax payer. Also stupid students like yourself, end up so stoned they do mickey mouse sociology degrees!!! Try getting a job with that worthless piece of paper, you stupid essex scum.