Which category, the "not actually in britain at all" category?

Hey Fraggle stay loose, stay flexible. They won! Surely that's the important thing?

Derry is a lovely little city. Friendly girls and really nice people. I found it much cleaner than Belfast, no offence. They know a lot about "futbol' in the pubs, but no one speaks Spanish. ;) Well earned recognition. I recomend it to any traveler to the North of Ulster.

My only complaint: Everything closes early.

I think it has potential but still feels very 'provincial'.

Derry is a hole.

Derry is in Ireland.

Even if you accept that Derry is in 'Northern Ireland' (sic) that still doesn't mean that it is in Britain - it is (for those who consider it part of 'Northern Ireland' (sic)) in the U.K.

It's still a hole though.

I presume you mean the City of Londonderry. No linguistic Lundyism, please.

Bad bad Benny, I do hope you are on a wind-up (as I suspect Fraggle was - I hope so).

If what you took the effort to write there is how you truly feel, what a pity for you.

Briatin, in this context, is short-hand for goodness sake.

Would people ever get over themselves!

Well done to the Maiden City.

I'm sure Pete will be interested to read that some of those who live in/and visit the Maiden City agree with the..ahem..chief naysayer. But what a great BRITISH city it is!

I'm sure Pete will be interested to read that some of those who live in/and visit the Maiden City agree with the..ahem..chief naysayer. But what a great BRITISH city it is!

Please...enough with the negativity. Surely there is no downside to this award. The organisers appear to have bent over backwards (maybe a little too naively but anyway...)to accomodate both traditions on their website. Well done to everyone in the Maiden City who brought this about.

"I presume you mean the City of Londonderry. No linguistic Lundyism, please."

Derry with a capital D :).

Perhaps the nomination came from Judge Sean McBride

Can't we all just get along ... just this once? Some folks call it Derry, some folks call it Londonderry.

Regardless of its nomenclature, it's a beautiful little city.

Well done to everyone involved.

OK. Thanks. It's not part of Britain but if the prize was nice who can complain?

Though if Derry is the the best British city they should really host the Olympics.

If it wernt for Derry ones, where would use be.

Lovely Derry on the banks of the foyle.

Great people.

Great crack.

If your passing call in for a pint.

I thought the American travel writer Paul Theroux summed up Derry brilliantly in his book 'Kingdom By The Sea'. He described what he saw as the train pulled in and how Derry appeared, like a sleepy Massachusetts mill town tumbling down to the river, but then he pulled no punches; "Up close, Derry is frightful".

I'm afraid not much has changed in two decades, oh sure those beastly London planters had an eye for location and no matter from which direction you approach it it looks lovely but when you get in there you are in for a disappointment. Sure the girls are stunners, well a good lot of them are when they're not wearing their Kappa gear, and Derrymen do have an engaging sense of humour, but it's still a shithole at the end of the day.

Derry City Council. The North West Development Office, City Centre Initiative, Derry Healthy Cities, the Roads Service and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive are the organisations that came together to win this award and as a Derry man i say well done but i would hope that they would put the same effort into the many run down housing estates across the city.

Derry is far from a shit hole it is a wonderful place to live and for those who don't know it come and see it. Halloween is probably the best weekends craic you will ever have if you spend it in Derry.

Harry Flashman, Paul Theroux revealed himself to be a world class grumpy bastard in "Kingdom by the Sea". As far as I can remember he hated everywhere he went and everyone he met, apart from a few Highlanders. If that's the company you want to keep you're welcome.

Oak Leaf wrote: "Derry is far from a shit hole it is a wonderful place to live and for those who don't know it come and see it. Halloween is probably the best weekends craic you will ever have if you spend it in Derry."

You are taking the proverbial Oakleaf!

I’ll not be setting foot past the Glenshane Pass come Halloween time as I’d rather have a night out without being attacked by underage street drinkers dressed up as RUC men. Have you actually ventured into the City centre on Halloween night on the past three occasions? Granted – the Council put on a bit of a show, but the good atmosphere always sours when the dregs get largered up and attack innocent people.

There are parts of Derry City that I love (Sandinos Bar, cheap unmet red Taxi’s) but ultimately the City is now at the mercy of an unruly amount of Spides who have no respect for authority, other people, or the town.

Had a little tour of Ireland with two London Irish friends who have roots in Galway and Westmeath. We'd spent most of our time in Galway and Clare before i took them on a tour of the north-west. They had wanted to go to Derry as its used in a lot of irish music and for its history. We were late in arriving and so couldn't walk around the walls and have a pub crawl. We met one of their cavan-based sisters in a nightclub where we spent the night. They felt a little intimidated by the locals and have since taken to calling the town they loved so well as 'Wankertown'. They loved Kirk's in Clady though ;)

Some of these posts say more about the people writing them than the subject they are commenting on.

Derry like anywhere has it's problems.
Maybe we could make a start solving these problems, say by discussing it's endemic unemployment rate.
Lack of inward investment.
Low self esteem amongst the young.
Might not solve all the problems.
But would make a start.

Did I go to the same place? I found Derry to be wonderful and the locals extremely friendly. I was not intimidated at all, and found my Argentina Jersey to be a great conversation starter, people were very friendly, specially the girls ;) There is nothing threatening about the city, and the only fear was of being forced into mass by a hungover friend, which, as a recovering Catholic, I respectfully refused. Seems like people in this thread are very harsh towards this lovely little city. Perhaps they should travel more.