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Shitty Breaks

A Celebration of Unsung Cities

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Shitty Breaks

By: Ben Aitken
Narrated by: Ben Aitken
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Not everything that glitters is gold - which is why Ben Aitken went to Wolverhampton for the weekend.

Over the next year, the bestselling author of A Chip Shop in Poznan and The Gran Tour visited twelve of the least popular spots in the UK and Ireland for a city break, as ranked by national tourism boards. The motivation wasn't to take the biscuit or stick the boot in, but to seek out the good stuff, to uncover the gems, to have a nice time. By doing so, he hoped to demonstrate that anywhere - like anyone - can be interesting and nourishing and enjoyable if approached in the right fashion.

Ben went skiing in Sunderland, to the football in Wrexham, and fell in love with Dunfermline. He kissed an alpaca in Bradford, suffered jellied eels in Chelmsford, and had more craic in Limerick than was wise. The upshot is a celebration of the underdog; a hymn to the wrong direction; and evidence that there's no such thing as a shitty break. What's more, by spreading its affection beyond the usual suspects (which are often overdone and overpriced), Shitty Breaks promotes a less expensive and more sustainable brand of travel.

By going against the grain, the book champions the unsung in an algorithmic, over-signposted world dominated by celebs and hotspots. Cheeky weekend in Milton Keynes anyone?©2025 Ben Aitken (P)2025 W. F. Howes Ltd. Europe Travel Writing & Commentary Sports
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Nice one my friend. You banged it out the park again especially with Bradford. Very much enjoyed it. It was an absolute pleasure from start to finish. I’ll raise one to you.

Poetic, beautiful, empathetic, hilarious.

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Reasonably interesting chapters ruined by an utterly boring and unenthusiasic reading of them. Would be much better as a regular book rather than an audio book.

Awful narration

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Speaking the truth, getting into the nitty and indeed gritty of shitty towns 😆
I will listen again.

Put a big smile on my face

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I'm afraid the narrator's voice spoiled it. It was a constant dreary drone. Could only bear to listen to the first few chapters.

Dreary

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The book surprised me in a few ways- his interactions with lots of different people really add authenticity and uniqueness to the experience. At times it felt under researched and some of the city attractions lacked time and detail compared to time spent devoted to more essay like sections philosophising about vaguely-relevant stuff. He's quite witty and had me laughing a few times. It's good he read it himself, it means there's a rythm to the text and it adds to the experience and really boosts some of the funny asides. (few of the accents are a bit far off though!). I really like the concept overall; it's mostly well done and does paint the places in a positive light. It achieves what it was set out to, I think, but I was maybe expecting a bit more detailed history and information about the actual places.

not exactly what I expected but enjoyable and at times quite funny.

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