"Brantford-Where I live" Brantford by Aphrodite21

Brantford Travel Guide: 66 reviews and 48 photos

Well this is my town. Brantford Ontario. Population 82001. LOL, you can't forget that one. Located off hwy 403, 25 minutes from Hamilton, 1 hour from Toronto and London. Home of Alexander Graham Bell, Phil Hartman, and the great Wayne Gretzky. I've lived here since 1995 moving from an even smaller town with a population of 50.
I don't know how to describe this town without sounding too negative. Living here really isn't all that bad. But most people from Brantford will tell you that the problem is that there's just nothing to do here. It shouldn't be this boring here for a town this size. And then there's the big problem concerning our downtown or lack thereof. In every single city you go to, the downtown is the centre of activity. This is where you go if you want a night out. Everything revolves around the downtown. But not in Brantford. In Brantford the downtown consists of 2 one way streets and most of the shops are boarded up. It really is a depressing sight. Everyone has their own ideas on how to revitalize it but I don't know if anything will ever be successful. The only point of interest there is the casino.

That's the negative but it's not all like that. The northern part of Brantford has actually grown and gotten more exciting in recent years. I myself like to refer to that as the new downtown. They've got the highway to thank for that partly. A few years ago they lengthened the 403 further East towards Ancaster (and it goes straight through Brantford now) and tons of businesses have popped up near the entrance and exit ramps. That whole section of the city looks completely different now. However, most people I know still want to get the hell out of here. It's not bad living here but I like the vibrant life of bigger cities.

The logo you see above is the official Brantford logo. There was a contest a while back, if I recall correctly, to design the new city logo and this is the end result. I got it (and some of the photos I'm using) from http://www.city.brantford.on.ca/index.htm.

Intro Updated Jun 4, 2003
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Reviews (14)

The Charity Casino Things to Do (5)

This opened a while ago and I went there for the first time a few weeks ago. I was there for 5 minutes and I won $25!!!... more travel advice

The Grand River Things to Do (5)

The Grand River...... is 298 km (186 mi.) long. rises at it's source north of Dundalk and empties into Port Erie at... more travel advice

Earl Haig Family Fun Park Things to Do (5)

I have never been here but it has swimming and water slides, go karts, mini golf, a picnic area, and more. more travel advice

Brantford's walk of fame Things to Do (5)

This was started in 1998 and the inductees include : Wayne Gretzky, Walter Gretzky, Phil Hartman, and Alexander Graham... more travel advice

Travelogues (2)

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Comments (19)

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chic19866 Feb 18, 2010 at 8:58 AM

Amazing food. Amazing service. You won't find Fine Dining this wonderful anywhere else. The lamb is incomparable to anywhere else.
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Hana-j Oct 3, 2009 at 10:04 AM

hi i just register to the fourm, i need information about travilling every day to Brantford collage from Hamilton, for one semester, any suggestion or alternative plan for my semester
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Mailo Sep 26, 2006 at 9:44 PM

Hola Jess, you have your Paris and we have our Miami here in my central american country, like to read your pages, invite you to read mine. mailo
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mturkkan Apr 22, 2006 at 7:56 AM

happy birthday from Antalya
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DreamHolidayTravels Apr 22, 2005 at 4:20 AM

Beautiful and helpful page
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Arial_27 Aug 28, 2004 at 10:27 PM

Hey Jessica! Thanks for your tips on Brantford - I'm moving there in one week for university (I'm at Laurier) and I've heard a lot of good/bad things about the city. Your well-written descriptions gave me a better idea of what living there is like. Thanks
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quartinb Aug 5, 2004 at 8:14 PM

nice glance at yur htown...!and paris,ontario seems wonderfull!
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ronny_m21 Aug 5, 2004 at 3:11 PM

Paris in Ontario... and this Brantford page is indeed tempting... maybe this Dutchy will visit the region more closely ;-)
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genispp Aug 5, 2004 at 2:49 PM

Beautiful page. I like your photos
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pieter_jan_v May 20, 2004 at 11:06 PM

Home of Wayne Gretzky. Wow, I saw him 2 years ago in Ottawa at the end of a Senators game and bought a documentary CD last year. Funny. PJ