A YouTuber on a mission to find the worst town in Powys was forced to admit that every place he visited was actually pretty nice. Hawk, famed for his Turdtowns channel which has close to 100,000 subscribers, confessed: "This mission destroyed me as I had to drive around 20 towns in two days in my mission to find out if there was actually a single bad place within this incredible county."
Llandrindod Wells: Too Grand for Its Population
In fact the biggest problem that he encountered was that, in Llandrindod Wells, the architecture seemed a bit too nice: "It's rated as the happiest place to live in Wales, three years running, and there's truly no place like it," he said. Adding that it looked like the kind of place that more people ought to be visiting for a holiday, he added: "It's strange. The population here is only 5,821, but the buildings are so grand that they're fitting of a city. It's a place that doesn't make sense."
Powys Defies Criticism
Wales had previously been a happy hunting ground for the Turdtowns channel, with Briton Ferry, near Port Talbot, coming in for a particularly scathing review, but Powys defied any criticism. After two days of scouring every town in Powys, looking for a location to join the likes of Tilbury, Penzance and Irvine in his catalogue of the UK's worst places, Hawk was left "beaten and defeated."
Brecon's Only Flaw: Slightly Scruffy
About the most savage criticism of any place in Powys he could muster is that Brecon could probably do with a bit of a tidy-up: "Brecon is ever so slightly scruffy," he said. "It could be better, but there is work clearly going on." At the same time, he added, "it didn't have homeless crackheads on every corner or people throwing chips at you outside McDonald's. Instead, it's very touristy due to its location within the national park, not being too far from civilisation and its reputation as a book town. It also has a cathedral, but it isn't a city. I would like to see some improvement on my return visit, but right now it's just about a clean flush."
Red Kites Attack Drone
The greatest challenge he encountered was trying to get a scenic shot of the area with his drone, because the local Red Kites kept attacking it: "I hate them," he said, "They love my drone. They want to eat it." As an Englishman, Hawk added, pronouncing some local place-names wasn't easy. Builth Wells, in particular, was particularly hard to get his tongue around: "I keep seeing different things online. I'm trying really hard with this. I'd better go ask a local," he said.
Tourism: A Mixed Blessing
The greatest problem that Powys has, Hawk says, is that not enough tourists visit the area, although one commenter on his video replied that the locals preferred it that way, saying: "We like it empty."
