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

[blahhhhg]

I don't know if I'm just feeling a bit down and bitter lately but I just feel like lately our country seems to have gotten very run down. I went out into town today and couldn't help but notice how grotty and rundown everything looks. Litter everywhere, security guards everywhere - in nearly every clothing shop there is security on the door now, security wandering up and down the high street. It makes you feel really unsafe but they must be there for a reason now? Shops are dirty; filthy floors and used Starbucks cups just left off the shelf for some poor worker to clean up. Clothes for sale that are covered in makeup stains. I just found it really depressing. It's just not one town either, I've noticed it nearly everywhere I've been. I'm in my late 20s so it's not like I've had decades of life experience to draw from and I have a rose-tinted view of yesteryear, but it seems that in the last 5ish years things have really declined.

I agree. I’m a bit older mid thirties but things have declined significantly in every single aspect since I was young, it’s really sad.

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".

But you're right on many accounts, for dozens of towns and places where people live in the UK.

Some of the reasons I attribute are:

• Security guards are now needed on shop doors because social media videos have shown how people get away with it without consequence. More awareness leads to more activity.
• Litter is not a priority for a lot of councils - their budgets are having to go so much further than before , which is why also
• Disrespect The "broken windows" theory in New York years ago is now here - people will smear makeup on clothes, return soiled clothes to shops, urinate in streets, act angry and aggressive, because there are no consequences and it is everywhere.

Councils just don't have the money they used to, it is all going on housing people and social care, and the elderly.

Yep, a sad reality for a lot of us.
The cost of living, council budgets etc means we have gone completely backwards as a country.
The boom times of 20 or so years ago are over and this is the new reality for a lot of people (except most mnetters!)

We're in the West Midlands and it's exactly the same. Our town is now comprised of barbershops, eating places, charity shops and that's about it. Northampton is the same. All very run down and grotty.

Even people who live in Tring, Thame and Twyford have to venture into Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury or Reading every now and then, so we see it too.

I’m in Harpenden, and on my trips to Luton (we’re doing house renovations at the moment so have become frequent patrons of the Luton B&Q) it can feel like I’m driving through an urban slum in a third world country.

I’m absolutely not talking about immigration here - it’s the litter piled up everywhere, dilapidated homes with rotting windows and homeless people clearly experiencing acute mental health crises staggering around rather than getting the help they so desperately need.

So many shops closed down or converted into charity shops, and so much litter. British high streets have always been a bit uninspiring, but their current state reminds me of the late 80s/early 90s.

The hardware shop closed down last year in our village and now it's a vape shop! Vape! It's only down the street from a very naice primary school, it's awful.

@4pmwinetimebebeh I am much older again, close to 59. When. I was a girl there was an old chap in our town who would tip his hat to women in the street. It was deemed exceptionally bad manners to even eat in the street. I mean it wasn’t perfect but people worried about appearances more. Plus kids would be actually punished for bad behaviour, again no one wants beating kids to be ok but maybe no fear at all is a reason?

I'm always struck by the contrast between towns in this country and those in Europe. I've spent a bit of time in Buxton, and they have the amazing Opera House, Pavilion Gardens complex and a beautiful Joseph Paxton park, for starters; but it all just feels a bit sad and run-down. I always think that if it was a comparable town in Italy, say, everything would look well looked after and it would be bustling.

Went into Southport recently. Oh heck, what has happened to poor old Lord Street? It looked so sad and run down.

I'm staying with my sister in a naice are of Berkshire. It's the first time I've visited her and we were saying how nice everything is, the parks, the streets and she remarked how its not exceptionally posh or anything- its just how everywhere used to look when we were kids (late 90s, early 00s). And it's true: things used to be maintained everywhere, even in the deprived area we grew up. I live there still and it isn't any more except in those rich pockets like this.

It's been declining a lot longer than 5 years, but I guess if you were a child you wouldn't necessarily notice.

Yep. As someone said above - council budgets were slashed under the Tory gov. We also have to spend more on social care.

internet shopping and out of town centres further drained money.

we need philanthropists like in Folkestone to rejuvenate places.

luton should improve due to the new airport expansion but we will see if that money all goes to investors pockets or not

Current levels of immigration don't help though. GDP per capita is lower than it was 20 years ago. We are poorer.

A million additional people per year squeezing into existing housing stock and generally being net beneficiaries of public services. Also doesn't help that public sector productivity is shit.

The high street used to be world leading, it's shit now.

Landlords not maintaining their buildings and the council seemingly taking no steps to force them to. At least if you look up you can still see the original beautiful architecture, which is more than a lot of towns have I imagine.

When we visit Norfolk ( loooove it there!!!), everything is clean and natural. No rubbish on roads or country lanes. Down to the South Coast from London through Surrey and Sussex - very very dirty. So it is not the country, towns and cities always end up with growing population and more hard to clean up rubbish.

It's been declining for some time though as pp said - no investment

I’m from one of the most deprived towns in the northwest and it just gets worse every year. It doesn’t help that they keep building new estates on the outskirts but don’t add any new doctors surgeries, schools and such. It’s just a hell hole.

Austerity (some council budgets halved since 2010) and lack of community are driving the downfall of society.

Communities are far more transient than they used to be so people dont feel invested to keep the place looking nice or improving it.

Most people are out for themselves and dont care about anyone else.

You're not wrong op.

I agree with previous posters that a lot is down to lack of council funding, I don't think there's any council that isn't struggling.

Also increasing wealth inequality means unaffordable housing and the worst homelessness I've seen in my life (I'm late 40s), even in 'leafy suburbia'. And I don't mean that in an 'Oh my house price !' pearl clutching way, I mean it shows just how many street sleepers there are now.

I’m in Harpenden, and on my trips to Luton (we’re doing house renovations at the moment so have become frequent patrons of the Luton B&Q) it can feel like I’m driving through an urban slum in a third world country.

Have you actually ever visited a real urban slum in a third world country?

I live in a shithole in the NE. I’d move tomorrow if I could. Everywhere you go, the places are all the same. It’s so depressing

It’s also worth me sharing the obvious which is that Amazon and friends have been allowed to set up shop and pay 0% tax due to their clever corporate structure..

Meanwhile the effect this has on medium income to low income areas becomes staggering

Hardware stores, clothing stores, electronic shops, department stores, all closing. this has a knock on effect for other shops which fed off this ecosystem.

For towns and villages which have people with discretionary income who want to buy hand made clothing and expensive food, they will still thrive because people will use it or lose it.

But overall, the lack of government policy on Amazon and its contemporaries is staggering.

imagine if Amazon was taxed properly and the money reinvested in high streets

And the vape shop is probably dodgy and money laundering. We have one that was a magical no customers barbers, then a magical no customer sandwich shop and is now a vape shop (no where near other shops) with the dodgiest cars outside.

I spend so much time reporting litter abs fly tipping. The council are actually really good. County Council are shit and housing association will be the death of me. I litter pick too but can't get the big stuff.