To think our towns and cities are just so run down lately, and our standard of living has decreased significantly?

Why are there so many Turkish barbers everywhere? We have three in our town, plus three more Turkish restaurants. No offence to Turkey, but for a relatively small population, we are definitely overserved on Turkish culture. It's a front for money laundering, isn't it?

We don't go out to any town or city centres now because it's so depressing and I return home feeling gloomy and sad. Litter everywhere and some odd and unpredictable people around makes it feel even worse. We visit the Lidl at the retail park and the pet outlet place then back home again. One selected coffee shop in a nice area that we drive to, as everywhere else has gone rubbish. Everywhere feels crowded, dirty and claustrophobic. People are either miserable or a bit low key aggressive. The area is too depressing to even go for a walk now. From reading George Orwell, I gather that British people have always been dirty, poorly behaved and not taking a pride in their environment (I'm British myself), so I'm not surprised at the litter and bad attitudes. Too much poverty and it's increasing. It'll get worse as more people need social care.

A couple of months ago I went to Exeter for the first time in years. Had childhood memories of it being a really nice city. Fucking hell, what a dump. And lots of the people shuffling around the place seemed...not well? I think that along with our towns, mental health generally is on a massive decline too.

I think one example of this is councils being forced to pay huge sums for private sector rents, because they have no housing anymore. Some of those landlords make millions from local authorities.

think of how much tax gets funnelled into landlords hands, it's ridiculous. Making housing an asset has fucked the economy

If you can go to an out of town shopping centre and not have to pay to park, as well as seeing a variety of shops in the same place, that’s what you’ll do. Cheaper for the customer and cheaper rent and rates for the shops.

Our nearest town is full of coffee shops, charity shops, Turkish barbers and not much else. There’s no department store, no clothing shops, no banks, nothing that would draw people into the town.

Councils need more money. In the past 20 years, wealth inequality in this country has exploded. I think one example of this is councils being forced to pay huge sums for private sector rents, because they have no housing anymore. Some of those landlords make millions from local authorities. If we want to fund our services properly, we need a wealth tax (by which I mean a tax on those with more than £10 million worth of assets). Workers are already heavily taxed, and wages are stagnant. For things to improve, I think we need to tax wealth, not work, and use that tax revenue to start to reverse the decline.

Leicester evidently had a perfectly adequate M&S demographic for 80 years, then that changed for the worse over the next 20. It’s now more of a Poundland sort of place…

The thing is, rich people are boring. They hoard their money and take freebies for wearing something or convenient product placement.
They do not move their money around in order to inspire or push forward the needle in culture.
Pure dullards.

So to expect the type of philanthropy that would not result in some type of gain for the "philanthropist" .. ..would be like chucking an icecube into a flame and expecting to see it come out the other side as it was solid.
Even worse in the UK which has long lost the notion of having a common culture of standards/expectations/aspirations and has always been over chuffed not to be as " aesthetically conformist" like say the Italians are often accused of being.
I, for one have always thought that notion is something for Brits to hide an inherent love of scruffiness/uncleanliness ( mixed with a superiority complex ) behind.

When left to our own devices, too many of us in this country are really shit at sharing space.

The City that I live near has been going downhill steadily for the last 30 years. I rarely go there these days, it's so depressing.

Glasgow is a beautiful city, but on my now infrequent trips to the city centre it seems like another part of the city’s soul has been stripped away. It’s not what it was 10 or 20 years ago. it’s been vandalised and attacked from all sides.
“Theres something the matter with Glasgow” indeed.

@SpottedDonkey Northampton M&S closed. Leicester doesn’t have a M&S demographic does it?

Much of what we blame our councils for isn't up to them

Upkeep of buildings are the remit of the owners and leaseholders

ETA: Plants growing out of brickwork, broken windows, poor tenants and loose slates are all down to the landlords or freeholders

Most landlords don't care about their tenants, most tenants know it and don't care about upkeep and cleanliness

There have been deaths due to parts of buildings falling down on passers by

I agree. I noticed this a few years ago when I was in central London. Before, it was one of tidiest part but now it looks really grubby and dirty. There seems to be dog mess everywhere.

Oxford was looking lovely today, made me feel glad to live near there and not a scummy dive.

You'll get flamed for this post @blahhhhg by people who live in Tring, Thame and Twyford, who just want to have a dig and claim "I can't see this anywhere where I live".

It's not 'flaming' to point out that not everywhere is like that. I live in fairly rural NW England, not the leafy, affluent south, and it's not like that in my local towns.

It depends. The city centre is still a grubby in parts and a big homeless problem but it’s a million times better than it was growing up, when it was a dirty soot-covered post industrial shit hole. A lot of regeneration has gone on and money has been spent since, on development that’s mostly been really positive. And big cities are always going to be a bit shitty in parts.

Mass immigration, often unskilled, to fuel growth when it just makes us all poorer per capita, squeezes people out the job matket and public services can't cope.

We're governed by idiots.

Well I refuse to support vape shops and Turkish barbers! For some small towns there isn’t much left. I see your point but you are o er simplifying things

Sounds very familiar too!

I finally succumbed to getting the bulk of my grocery shopping delivered as I just cannot bear going to my dirty, full of too many dusty looking people locales (Peckham, Camberwell, Walworth) to shop anymore.
For my ethnic shop, I do a monthly shop in Brixton and Lewisham market for bulk veg shopping.

But Southwark is mostly a veritable shithole or at best fur coat and no knickers. From the Thames to the borders with Lambeth and Lewisham boroughs.

I think M&S went from Bradford city last year ( I could be wrong).

Or the nearest ones to you.

We do still have them. Support what’s left?

You can only buy from local shops if they are there though

I'm wondering if you live in the same town as me! Sounds very familiar 🤔