quote:

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I went to buy a new internet dongle for Pete this morning and noticed that on their smellies shelf they had a bottle of a new [to me] fragrance from Imperial Leather™ called Liverpool - the mind veritably boggles!

I imagine just a hint of The Albert Dock at low tide and a soupcon of the smell of the paddock after the Grand National.

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quote:

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Originally posted by L'organist:
Newport (Gwent)
Hot chips with salt and vinegar, oily salt water and mud.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Firenze:
Or, alternatively - Waater o' Embra

Base Notes: old stone, blood, piss

Heart Notes: tweed, whisky, chip fat, antiseptic

Top Notes: money, greasepaint, curry.

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Alternatively, you could call it 'Gardyloo'. Or 'Garde à l'eau', if you wanted to be posh.

Edinburgh: a city so smelly its nickname is 'Old Stinky'.

[ 03. February 2014, 14:27: Message edited by: Cottontail ]
 

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Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :
 
When I lived in Salford, the back alley smelt of cat piss and burnt plastic wheely bins. The Irwell smelt of bleach, but now smells of mud. Now I live in Manchester, which generally smells of not much except for the occasional stench of a passing Camberwell carrot.
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
Northampton - shoe leather, beer (Carlsberg brewery), the smell of urine from the bus station, old wood and damp stone from medieval churches. The shopping centre often smells of pickled onion monster munch and I don't know why.

Brighton smells of sea air, candyfloss, seagull poo and money.

Eastbourne smells of chips, the sea, faded hotel furniture, soil from the billion floral displays, and kebab shops.

Coventry - cars and exhaust fumes, student nights out, medieval bricks, beer at the Godiva Festival, and the empty paddling pool in the War Memorial park.
 

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Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
And what does an empty paddling pool smell like?
 

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Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :
 
Cambridge - good port and musty books with a hint of having just fallen into the river.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
And what does an empty paddling pool smell like?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Cottontail:
... the traditional Edinburgh Eau de Parfum is a blend of brewer's malt ...

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I can smell that right now in my mind's nose.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Manteca, California.

With just a faint whiff you check your shoes to see what you stepped in, but as it develops further (about 5 miles out from town) it acquires more of a sense of urgency and intensity, the dynamic interplay between the desire to hurl and the need to escape to a safe distance before stopping to do so. Running through this are the subtle undercurrents of death, rot, and, of course the city's namesake ingredient: lard.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Oxonia Summer Nights, that evocative, exquisite blend of a wide variety of traffic fumes, mingled with tantalizing hints of musty books and airless rooms, the ripe odours of stale wine and spilt cocktails, well-used pavements, and the rich, ripe redolence of dustbins heated to a simmering perfection by the afternoon sun and allowed to ferment overnight.
 

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Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by ken:
London .........

(Actually it smells of car exhaust most of the time)

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Surely that's Delhi?


 

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Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
As a frequent visitor to Liverpool, I think it smells mostly like the sea, but with occasional sweaty, boozy overtones of the Cavern Club.
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Plymouth used to smell of Farley's Rusks (remember them?) but now it smells of divers things (including Tom Daley's success).
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Belfast used to be literally perfumed. Gallagher's was a major employer, and the factory girls would sometimes appropriate some of the concentrated oils used for scented cigarettes - giving rise to the traditional dialogue, as they left the gates of -

'Ach, Aggie, yer stinkin' with perfume'

'Ach sure yer stinkin' without it'.
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
Aberdeen - a base note of sea-salt and fish, a whiff of radon from the granite buildings, and a top note of roses from attempts to secure another Britain in Bloom prize.

The scouring wind that whistles through the streets stops unpleasant smells from building up, and the bitter cold means that bins never warm up enough to get that "over-ripe" smell.
 

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Posted by jbohn (# 8753) on :
 
Minneapolis' "Eau de Hipster":

A base of chain lube (from the fixie, natch) and flannel shirt, blended with moustache wax and craft beers. The bottle also plays music by a band you've never heard of...
 

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Posted by The Phantom Flan Flinger (# 8891) on :
 
Leicester - curry & crisps
 

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Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
I group up in a town with an Oxo factory (now long since gone). That's a particular pong...
 

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Posted by Zach82 (# 3208) on :
 
My home town in Indiana smells of burned sugar from a massive corn syrup plant. Not the pleasantest of smells.
 

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Posted by The Rogue (# 2275) on :
 
Burton-on-Trent. Home of Marmite. Mmmmmm.
 

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Posted by Diomedes (# 13482) on :
 
Chichester (in the 70s) had the overwhelming 'scent' from the Shippam's (meat and fish paste) Factory, combined with chlorine from the adjacent swimming baths. I guess things are different now the aforesaid factory is upmarket apartments and the pool is no more.
 

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Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Zach82:
My home town in Indiana smells of burned sugar ...

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Now you mention it, the town of Stromness in Orkney used to smell of sugar from the Orkney Fudge factory.
 

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Posted by Cottontail (# 12234) on :
 
Kidderminster, where I used to live, ponged of burned sugar beet. It smelled like burned roast beef. Not nice.
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Christchurch used to smell of coal fires, the dank smell of the Avon, and Canterbury Breweries.

Since 22/2/11 it isn't so much a mixture of smells as the overwhelming presence of dust as buildings are demolished, earth is laid bare and rebuilding begins, along with a few grace notes of flowers planted where once there were buildings and the scent of pine as the wooden framing for new buildings is cut.

In my suburb it's the occasional whiff of sewerage as the infrastructure is fixed.

Huia
 

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Posted by comet (# 10353) on :
 
Essence of Deishu* comes in summer and winter varieties.

Summer - sea spray, rotting fish, sawdust, mildew, backcountry bodies, evergreens, bear shit, and espresso.

Winter - freezing sea spray, wood smoke, smoked fish, snowplow exhaust, backcountry bodies, evergreens, 2-cycle oil, and espresso.

I suspect Carex and Irish Lord recognize the notes. are probably even nostalgic about them.

*Deishu is the traditional name for Haines, where I currently live. our cologne would apply to probably any community in the Pacific Boreal Rainforest.

Interior Alaska would be similar, only no mildew, dust instead, and instead of sea spray it would be ski wax.
 

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Posted by Signaller (# 17495) on :
 
Fleetwood - fish meal from Isaac Spencer's, and something unidentifiable but nasty from the ICI.

Both gone now, replaced by damp walkers and lozenges.
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Any town in the Welsh Valleys: 'You can smell the coooooooal' (as my grandmother used to say). Of course, you can't smell much physical coal these days, but it's psychological coal ('Hiraeth') providing a welcome in the hillsides and calling back all those who have left the fold to seek their fortune in other places.

Meanwhile, thank God that Peterborough and Bridgwater have got rid of their respective most foul pongs.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by comet:

I suspect Carex and Irish Lord recognize the notes. are probably even nostalgic about them.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Arabella Purity Winterbottom:
Not sure if Galilit is talking about the same Wellington as I am, but:

Rain on the air, coming fast and horizontal (and I agree about the undertone of seagull).

Alternatively: coffee and laptops.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Earwig:
... a burnt smell that really puts you off the idea of chocolate...

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It would take more than a burnt smell to put me off chocolate ...
 

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Posted by leo (# 1458) on :
 
Doncaster used to smell of burning horses and coagulated goo - that made glue.

They closed the glue factory down for a royal visit one month beforehand to clear the smell.
 

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Posted by Pancho (# 13533) on :
 
Los Angeles:
a blend of asphalt, oak, and orange blossoms with hints of pico de gallo, Korean barbeque, wine and salt air.

....and sushi.

[ 05. February 2014, 19:19: Message edited by: Pancho ]
 

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Posted by comet (# 10353) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Carex:
There is also a particular smell, taste and color of drinking water filtered through the muskeg, even before reaching your tap via a few thousand rotting salmon.

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ambrosia.
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Carex:
Manteca, California.

With just a faint whiff you check your shoes to see what you stepped in, but as it develops further (about 5 miles out from town) it acquires more of a sense of urgency and intensity, the dynamic interplay between the desire to hurl and the need to escape to a safe distance before stopping to do so. Running through this are the subtle undercurrents of death, rot, and, of course the city's namesake ingredient: lard.

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Until you set foot inside the waterslide complex-- after which is it all that with a thick frosting of far too much chlorine and Coppertone. And bad hot dogs.
 

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Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Chorister:
Meanwhile, thank God that Peterborough and Bridgwater have got rid of their respective most foul pongs.

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We used to live fairly near Bridgwater, when Mr. S and I actually worked on the British Cellophane site. That was the way to avoid the smell, which drifted off to pollute the town not that it needed much polluting...

Mrs. S, living somewhere more fragrant now
 

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Posted by OddJob (# 17591) on :
 
Air of Emmerdale, as in the TV soap. (Is it still going?) No hint of Yorkshire Dales purity, interrupted by an occasional farmyard nasal cocktail, but a stench from nearby Bradford sewage works.

A pleasant contrast is the air surrounding the set used for the BBC's 'Doctors' soap. No explanation needed for the lovely Bournville aroma wafting that way if the wind's blowing in the right direction.
 

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Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :
 
Detroit's is actually an essential oil. Motor oil plus oil from a deep fryer at the end of the day.

ETA: used motor oil, that is.

[ 06. February 2014, 01:28: Message edited by: churchgeek ]
 

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Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :
 
And at risk of offending locals, San Francisco's low-end brand, Eau de Frisco, smells of piss and compost bins. Available all around Union Square, or anywhere tourists are found.
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
I subbed in the Tenderloin for a few months. The smell over there was a piquant mixture of piss, feces, alcohol, and puke (perhaps I should say, used alcohol.)It lay on the sidewalk like a layer of green ganache. It was carried through the air on a mixture of tobacco and marijuana smoke. You could feel the crud seeping into your pores as you walked up the street.

In my immediate vicinity the smell us usually-- lawn. Dry lawn, wet lawn, cut lawn. But every once in a while something magic happens-- the fog settles down over the town, zero visibility, humidity so thick your had gets wet it passes through the air, Then a wind comes from the west and infuses the mist with salt and slight fishiness, the smell of a million seashells being washed in and out of the tide. Lovely.

[ 06. February 2014, 02:02: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Galilit:

quote:

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Originally posted by Arabella Purity Winterbottom:
Not sure if Galilit is talking about the same Wellington as I am, but:

Rain on the air, coming fast and horizontal (and I agree about the undertone of seagull).

Alternatively: coffee and laptops.

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With top notes of snow on the Rimutaka's and butter melting on a wholemeal muffin

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Oh, the snow on the Rimutaka's - I'm homesick.

Wellington Railway Station used to have a particular smell when I was a child, but it doesn't now - it's just ordinary
 

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Posted by Arabella Purity Winterbottom (# 3434) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Huia:
Oh, the snow on the Rimutaka's - I'm homesick.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Arabella Purity Winterbottom:

quote:

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Originally posted by Huia:
Oh, the snow on the Rimutaka's - I'm homesick.

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I shall think of you as I drive over them tomorrow - I'm hoping for no snow, though.

The other essence of Wellington is the smell of native bush - kind of peppery and damp, and very fresh.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Cottontail:
Kidderminster, where I used to live, ponged of burned sugar beet. It smelled like burned roast beef. Not nice.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mamacita:
When I was a kid growing up in the far southern suburbs, we were 30 miles due east of Gary, IN and if the wind was out of the east you could smell the steel mills. Between environmental protections (good) and the overall decline of the steel industry (not so good), that has gone away.

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