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Is our town a shithole..

860 replies

FroggletTowers · 12/06/2025 13:53

Or is this happening anywhere else?

I have been discussing this with friends, family and colleagues recently so won't name our town for privacy reasons, but it is a regular, large town in England, UK.
Nothing particularly special or awful about it, previously.

Since the pandemic, the entire vibe has changed. Almost unrecognisable.
Yes, we have some heavy shop closures like many towns, but the council kept it looking decent as much as it could. Some nice buildings and nature areas, etc.

What stands out most, apart from the general vandalism and dog shit is the weird accumulation of male groups hanging around boozing in public.

So far they have taken over the local park, river walks and nature reserves. They often cluster beneath bridges or across paths where people like to run, cycle walk dogs or take children, making it less safe and filling these areas with waste. Off road bikes have ruined the nature reserves, so less people visit Sad

Sadly the authorities don't seem to be doing much about it, it is as if these people don't have to abide by laws that the rest of us have to. Some buildings adjacent to these areas have windows put through on a regular basis, even in what you'd call 'nice' areas.
Many of them cluster at river bridges and block the path for others, most are very drunk or out of generally.
It isn't unusual to see a large man passed out across the pathway, blocking anyone getting past. If you had a pram or bike it would be really uncomfortable to have to rouse a large drunk at 2pm in the afternoon. Most are local men, with a growing amount of middle eastern men. The vast majority of them are unstable.

We see less women out cycling, walking or exercising now, and this encompasses both MC and WC areas. These people seem to have just multiplied and spread across the entire borough and have taken over all public space.
We live in a decent area that is now seeming to go downhill.
It isn't unusual to see day drinkers sat alone, surrounded by cans on a quiet residential street. And they won't move to let you past.

It's really depressing.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
TheignT · 17/06/2025 08:29

Slatterndisgrace · 17/06/2025 07:46

Why is the funnel always to our tiny island when there are vast areas elsewhere?

Do you seriously think we are the only country that has refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants. We aren't even near the top of the list.

alikelylass · 17/06/2025 08:11

Slatterndisgrace · 17/06/2025 07:46

Why is the funnel always to our tiny island when there are vast areas elsewhere?

Because we are the mugs that put them in hotels with full board, give them free healthcare and "spend" and allow them to wander about unchecked.

They even get free TV and driving lessons

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/why-30k-has-been-spent-in-kent-on-driving-lessons-for-asylu-321435/

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/35433288/illegal-migrants-free-tv-licences/

Slatterndisgrace · 17/06/2025 07:46

alikelylass · 17/06/2025 07:38

So how can they be deported when they (conveniently) lose their identification documents in the English Channel , or when their country of origin won't take them back?

Why is the funnel always to our tiny island when there are vast areas elsewhere?

Quirkswork · 17/06/2025 07:44

alikelylass · 17/06/2025 07:38

So how can they be deported when they (conveniently) lose their identification documents in the English Channel , or when their country of origin won't take them back?

The government will just let them in anyway, I suspect.

Quirkswork · 17/06/2025 07:43

justasking111 · 16/06/2025 19:03

They can't stay in hotels forever we can't afford it. We can't process applications quickly , they reported ages ago it was taking 18 months it's got to be worse now. If they're not entitled to stay the government will know where they are living.

What I suspect the government will do to reduce the number of asylum seekers in the hotels waiting for processing is to speed up the processing by letting them all in no matter the merit of their claim. Much faster and easier than deporting them and they will just disperse round the country. It will be interesting to see the figures "going down" in the next 6 months.

alikelylass · 17/06/2025 07:38

justasking111 · 16/06/2025 19:03

They can't stay in hotels forever we can't afford it. We can't process applications quickly , they reported ages ago it was taking 18 months it's got to be worse now. If they're not entitled to stay the government will know where they are living.

So how can they be deported when they (conveniently) lose their identification documents in the English Channel , or when their country of origin won't take them back?

lifeonmars100 · 16/06/2025 22:58

suburburban · 16/06/2025 20:59

Must be absolutely awful for you.

do they actually pay any tax or council tax.

cash economy so I very much doubt it, the ones next door to me do a bit of drug dealing as well as scrap dealing, I have seen people turn up and small packages are exchanged at the front door and the back yard is full of scrap that then vanishes and a new lot arrives, they seem to have a thing about rusty old bbqs and manky baby buggies All very odd.

NattyTurtle59 · 16/06/2025 21:53

lifeonmars100 · 16/06/2025 17:07

I have come to loathe the area I live in, it is totally filthy, I hate leaving my house even just to go to the shops as the endless mess, fly tipping, street drinkers, drug users, lime bikes and escooters being ridden on the pavement just do my head in. I am currently getting my nerve up to put my bin up which will mean going past my nieghour's shit hole of a house and yard (its an unoffial HMO with at least 10 people living there). There will be rubbiish, weeds and fag ends all over the communal back entry, litter all over the street and I know that there is a new massive fly tip over the raod as I saw it this morning when I opened my curtains. I have actally sat and cried today, there is no end to it no solution and as a single person in a Band A house living in this squalid hell hole I pay £135 a month council tax. All that money for streets that are never swept and to live somewhere that is unsafe not only after dark but pretty dodgy in the day time

That sounds awful, you shouldn't have to put up with living like that.

suburburban · 16/06/2025 20:59

lifeonmars100 · 16/06/2025 20:56

Agree, if I went to another country and behaved like that, I would rightly expect there to be consequences. I have Roma gypsies living next door to me and they make my life a misery. I appreciate that bad neighbours can be from any culture but the commonallity here is the filling of the back yard with scrap, the ceasless noise and the misogyny. When I politely asked the men who gather to drink and shout on the pavement outside their home and were so loud I could hardly hear my TV I was called a "mother fucking cunt" and then they threw a fag end down and said "you woman sweep the pavement". Of course anyone from anywhere can be just as vile but this culture does see womn as second class citizens and I think that if you want to settle here you need to take on board that this veiw is generally considered reactionary and wrong

Must be absolutely awful for you.

do they actually pay any tax or council tax.

lifeonmars100 · 16/06/2025 20:56

suburburban · 16/06/2025 18:55

Again I don’t understand why they are allowed to be here. They are not adding any value

Agree, if I went to another country and behaved like that, I would rightly expect there to be consequences. I have Roma gypsies living next door to me and they make my life a misery. I appreciate that bad neighbours can be from any culture but the commonallity here is the filling of the back yard with scrap, the ceasless noise and the misogyny. When I politely asked the men who gather to drink and shout on the pavement outside their home and were so loud I could hardly hear my TV I was called a "mother fucking cunt" and then they threw a fag end down and said "you woman sweep the pavement". Of course anyone from anywhere can be just as vile but this culture does see womn as second class citizens and I think that if you want to settle here you need to take on board that this veiw is generally considered reactionary and wrong

taxguru · 16/06/2025 20:32

bipbopdo · 15/06/2025 12:17

So, instead of cheap labour from abroad, farmers used to underpay children to do the same work?

How much extra are you willing to pay for food to have the workers being paid a decent wage???

suburburban · 16/06/2025 20:07

justasking111 · 16/06/2025 19:03

They can't stay in hotels forever we can't afford it. We can't process applications quickly , they reported ages ago it was taking 18 months it's got to be worse now. If they're not entitled to stay the government will know where they are living.

I don’t think we can afford them full stop. Why should we have to

wish we had the Rwanda option, at least it may have been a deterrent

Slatterndisgrace · 16/06/2025 19:57

lifeonmars100 · 16/06/2025 17:07

I have come to loathe the area I live in, it is totally filthy, I hate leaving my house even just to go to the shops as the endless mess, fly tipping, street drinkers, drug users, lime bikes and escooters being ridden on the pavement just do my head in. I am currently getting my nerve up to put my bin up which will mean going past my nieghour's shit hole of a house and yard (its an unoffial HMO with at least 10 people living there). There will be rubbiish, weeds and fag ends all over the communal back entry, litter all over the street and I know that there is a new massive fly tip over the raod as I saw it this morning when I opened my curtains. I have actally sat and cried today, there is no end to it no solution and as a single person in a Band A house living in this squalid hell hole I pay £135 a month council tax. All that money for streets that are never swept and to live somewhere that is unsafe not only after dark but pretty dodgy in the day time

Sorry you’re in this predicament.

justasking111 · 16/06/2025 19:03

suburburban · 16/06/2025 18:55

Again I don’t understand why they are allowed to be here. They are not adding any value

They can't stay in hotels forever we can't afford it. We can't process applications quickly , they reported ages ago it was taking 18 months it's got to be worse now. If they're not entitled to stay the government will know where they are living.

suburburban · 16/06/2025 18:55

lifeonmars100 · 16/06/2025 18:47

Very mixed where I am and in general it used to be ok with immigrants working, opening shops and businesses. Many Polish people went back after Brexit including my lovely dentist. We then had a lot of Roma people and they are very different and live very separate lives. People can shoot me down in flames and call me racist but they cause issues and the men are really misogynistic. One of my friends is a community worker and part of her role was to give out imformation about local stuff like bin days and the men refused to enage with her because she is a woman. Another friend asked a crowd of them to let her pass so she could get into the local shop and had her way blocked and was called "ugly bitch cunt". They often take female children out of education at age 11 and keep them at home to cook and clean.

Again I don’t understand why they are allowed to be here. They are not adding any value

lifeonmars100 · 16/06/2025 18:47

Very mixed where I am and in general it used to be ok with immigrants working, opening shops and businesses. Many Polish people went back after Brexit including my lovely dentist. We then had a lot of Roma people and they are very different and live very separate lives. People can shoot me down in flames and call me racist but they cause issues and the men are really misogynistic. One of my friends is a community worker and part of her role was to give out imformation about local stuff like bin days and the men refused to enage with her because she is a woman. Another friend asked a crowd of them to let her pass so she could get into the local shop and had her way blocked and was called "ugly bitch cunt". They often take female children out of education at age 11 and keep them at home to cook and clean.

EasternStandard · 16/06/2025 18:46

justasking111 · 16/06/2025 18:32

Friend who works in the local council said there's going to be a huge influx of immigrants. They've been told that locals in the queue for housing are to be dumped in favour of the immigration folk. The other councils have been instructed similarly. Ditto housing association staff. There's going to be issues. Reform UK will get a lot of votes going forward.

It could be linked to the hotel pledge. Labour get fixated on that but need other accommodation.

smallglassbottle · 16/06/2025 18:43

suburburban · 16/06/2025 18:33

Yes what on earth are they doing here.

I don’t understand it

so frustrating

We're not allowed to talk about 'replacement', yet this is what's happening. The gaslighting and cognitive dissonance is really unsettling. I think labour must be doing it because the demographics in my local area have really changed in the last six months.

smallglassbottle · 16/06/2025 18:40

justasking111 · 16/06/2025 18:32

Friend who works in the local council said there's going to be a huge influx of immigrants. They've been told that locals in the queue for housing are to be dumped in favour of the immigration folk. The other councils have been instructed similarly. Ditto housing association staff. There's going to be issues. Reform UK will get a lot of votes going forward.

Why are they doing this?! This is just so wrong. I want to understand as it doesn't make any sense.

I visited a supermarket in another town today and it always was a bit run down, but it's even worse now. I didn't think it could get any worse. Every other shop is a vape shop and the people in the area look even poorer and more degraded than they used to. There is terrible poverty. It's heartbreaking. Didn't feel safe and won't venture back.

suburburban · 16/06/2025 18:35

justasking111 · 16/06/2025 18:32

Friend who works in the local council said there's going to be a huge influx of immigrants. They've been told that locals in the queue for housing are to be dumped in favour of the immigration folk. The other councils have been instructed similarly. Ditto housing association staff. There's going to be issues. Reform UK will get a lot of votes going forward.

That’s what is is wrong with the UK

aren’t there enough people here already

where else would this happen

suburburban · 16/06/2025 18:33

Dappy777 · 16/06/2025 18:24

In the last four or five years there seems to have been a massive influx of immigrants. Obviously there has always been immigration – my GP is a lovely Indian lady, and my next door neighbour is Polish. I have no problem with immigration itself. But something doesn't feel right. I often walk around the outskirts of the town during a weekday and everywhere I go there are young men in groups, or on their own, drifting aimlessly around. They are clearly foreign (they're never speaking English), and obviously not working. I don't know for sure, but I have a suspicion it is something to do with the local university. Someone I know works in the education department and he often says the system is being exploited. He says people apply for courses, move to the UK, and then don't turn up. But they have no record of them leaving the country either.

I'm so sick of people throwing the 'nimby' label around. The left seem to think everyone who lives in the countryside and opposes new developments is a rich fox-hunting Tory. In reality, they are ordinary people who have scrimped and saved to buy a little terraced house and just want fields and trees rather than housing estates and noise. My sister has worked like a slave for the NHS. She cares deeply about her patients and goes beyond the limits of her job to help them. All she asks in return is a bit of peace and quiet. She bought a small semi-detached house in a village, but the village is slowly being ruined by developers. So that's the thanks she gets.

Yes what on earth are they doing here.

I don’t understand it

so frustrating

justasking111 · 16/06/2025 18:32

Friend who works in the local council said there's going to be a huge influx of immigrants. They've been told that locals in the queue for housing are to be dumped in favour of the immigration folk. The other councils have been instructed similarly. Ditto housing association staff. There's going to be issues. Reform UK will get a lot of votes going forward.

Dappy777 · 16/06/2025 18:24

suburburban · 15/06/2025 19:45

That’s a real shame

I remember going to Colchester circa 2016 and it was lovely.

thye keep banging on about the environment yet the constant building on beautiful countryside is criminal

In the last four or five years there seems to have been a massive influx of immigrants. Obviously there has always been immigration – my GP is a lovely Indian lady, and my next door neighbour is Polish. I have no problem with immigration itself. But something doesn't feel right. I often walk around the outskirts of the town during a weekday and everywhere I go there are young men in groups, or on their own, drifting aimlessly around. They are clearly foreign (they're never speaking English), and obviously not working. I don't know for sure, but I have a suspicion it is something to do with the local university. Someone I know works in the education department and he often says the system is being exploited. He says people apply for courses, move to the UK, and then don't turn up. But they have no record of them leaving the country either.

I'm so sick of people throwing the 'nimby' label around. The left seem to think everyone who lives in the countryside and opposes new developments is a rich fox-hunting Tory. In reality, they are ordinary people who have scrimped and saved to buy a little terraced house and just want fields and trees rather than housing estates and noise. My sister has worked like a slave for the NHS. She cares deeply about her patients and goes beyond the limits of her job to help them. All she asks in return is a bit of peace and quiet. She bought a small semi-detached house in a village, but the village is slowly being ruined by developers. So that's the thanks she gets.

lifeonmars100 · 16/06/2025 17:07

I have come to loathe the area I live in, it is totally filthy, I hate leaving my house even just to go to the shops as the endless mess, fly tipping, street drinkers, drug users, lime bikes and escooters being ridden on the pavement just do my head in. I am currently getting my nerve up to put my bin up which will mean going past my nieghour's shit hole of a house and yard (its an unoffial HMO with at least 10 people living there). There will be rubbiish, weeds and fag ends all over the communal back entry, litter all over the street and I know that there is a new massive fly tip over the raod as I saw it this morning when I opened my curtains. I have actally sat and cried today, there is no end to it no solution and as a single person in a Band A house living in this squalid hell hole I pay £135 a month council tax. All that money for streets that are never swept and to live somewhere that is unsafe not only after dark but pretty dodgy in the day time

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