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 think that many people are oblivious to their surroundings and don't care if it looks awful. Some peoples houses are like this. People also think it's someone else's job to clean up, or they're not even bothered if it's never cleaned. I think they'd be happy to live in a landfill site to be honest. People's environment must impact their mental health at some level, even the thick, feral ones must subconsciously react in some way. Beauty is important to the human soul. I get so miserable even just driving through craphole areas or seeing them online. It's old fashioned to have high personal standards now. People go shopping in their dressing gowns and pajamas. I saw a girl in her knickers and a small tee shirt on the street one day. She wasn't a young child either. I think it's sad how far we've fallen.

I don't think it's fair to drag everyone else down with them though. In Germany there are by laws that require people to keep their areas clean and they come under strong pressure from others if they misbehave. Nobody is ashamed of anything in this country.

Years of grinding people down. Lack of hope. Insecurity of jobs and housing. That sort of thing.

It was a multicultural area before.

More families though rather than just a proliferation of young, single, jobless men overwhelming the area, who don't speak English.

YANBU. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

Britain has become really poor - many of our regions have lower GDP than regions in Eastern Europe.

Modern fashion doesn’t help, but people, streets, shops, clothes all look a mess.

We look like we live in a developing country - because that’s basically what we’ve regressed to being. We’re no longer a rich country- we’re a poor country with lots of rich people in it.

Really?

That's your excuse for fly tipping and littering, queue jumping and spitting on the street?

I did not say it was an excuse.

What a sad thread. The tories have a lot to answer for.

What is it?

A reason?

Really? And how do you blame the Tories for people spitting the street or throwing rubbish on the streets instead of taking it home. Or should people never be accountable for their own actions and behaviours?

@OblahdeeoblahdoeLife is not just affected by national politics. Local politicians have a big role here and many have been Labour councils presiding over the fortunes of towns. The biggest issue is shopping on line and town centres being too large because planners see them as employment zones. They now need to be residential zones with leisure facilities. Far too many towns haven’t grasped this and preside over empty shops. We need to redesign town centres for leisure and living and reduce retail. That’s not the fault of the Conservatives. It’s the fault of local councils with dogmatic policies and no imagination.

I get fed up of how many people can't be bothered to keep their front gardens and drives weed free or free of rubbish. I work long hours but manage to keep things clean and decent looking. There is litter and dog mess all over the place when I walk down the street and I live in a fairly posh area in Surrey. It just drags everything down. The state of the roads is just shocking but it's like we are all just resigned to it now.

I live near London and love spending time there but the homeless issue is getting worse after being better for many years. The amount of mentally ill people wandering the streets acting aggressively is intimidating and upsetting. In one day I witnessed several occurrences of young people just pushing their way through tube and train barriers with the staff powerless to do anything (one even very politely offered to hold one open for me - I declined!).

It is so depressing. Makes me want to move away but who knows where to!

Yes, that's what brought us here.

No one is accountable for their actions, someone always makes excuses for them.

People have agency. They choose to behave the way they do. They don't have to spit on the street or put their feet on the seat on the Tube. They choose to do it.

That's what 15 years of Tories gets you.

and people not using their local shops.
We can’t always throw all the blame on others……

A very accurate description of your town, which is also my town. We have or had one of the most corrupt councils in the country, which didn't help. The out of town shopping centre built a couple of decades ago contributed to the decline. Why pay to park to go to a small M&S, when you can park for free more or less at the door of a nice, large modern one? Ditto, Smiths, Superdrug, TK Maxx and so on. Then, add the 'rehab' centres, and huge numbers of HMO's housing vulnerable people from other areas. A transient population is no good for a cohesive community, even without their addiction issues.
Sorry you had a shop that you had to give up. I also have a shop, although not in our town, thank goodness. I know what a slog it is.

@IAmNotASheep Yes - use it or lose it. However streets of chain shops stop being fun. Councils are a problem though. My local larger town has a canal basin. It’s flanked by a theatre with no seating or restaurant overlooking the canal and Waitrose - ditto. A college outpost - ditto. Then a multi story car park! The only stretch of water is completely undervalued and underused. There’s not a single cafe or shop facing it.

It’s entitled twats who don’t give a toss about others.
Leaving rubbish all over the place, not using bins, vandalism and generally treating others like they are beneath them.
( it wouldn’t hurt to look where they are walking too, phones aren't great at doing that ….look up ! )
The number of thefts has exploded and now many of our local shops are like miny prisons with bars and barriers at the tills. Security guards everywhere also makes towns feel very intimidating.

In Norwich a few years back there were drug addicts or possibly drunks ( I didn’t ask ) passed out in phone boxes and lying on the streets.

At a guess Manchester or Birmingham
I was a student at Birmingham in the early 90s. It was all warehouses in those days but has changed a lot since then with many being converted. No idea if that’s to public seating / bar etc areas though.
Remember though Tizer someone owns the buildings and land surrounding the basin. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean the council can chose to do anything.

Agree
Planners need to wise up when they can.
As an architect we were involved in re invigorating Maidstone and Gravesend. It went little further than a request to put in fake shop fronts 🤢🤢…..pathetic !

( ps. A friend of mine lives in Manchester and we went to a bar on the canal, can’t remember the name and no idea if it’s new. Agree the Palace has no bar to it . Although tbh I just love walking the canals ……which I know isn’t the point 🤷‍♀️)

I bet that PP does not think they’re racist.

This Labour government is no better than the Tories!

I love when people tell me I come from a third world country. At least I wasn't raised in a sithole like this.

Shithole , might as well be a sithole though.

And why is there a need to clean up rubbish I ask myself. Of course the bins and recycling need to be collected (and we know from Birmingham what happens when they aren't), but litter everywhere is the absolute scourge of our country.

i live in a rural village and the grass verges on the outskirts of our village are absolutely appalling, just littered with crisp packets, plastic bottles, cans, old takeaway bags full of detritus. People who do that are the absolute scum and there are zero consequences. I wish we were like Singapore and punish people who so much as drop a sweet wrapper on the floor.

don't get me started on the fly tipping. It's too difficult for businesses to get rid of their waste (booking council tip slot, pay fee queue etc), the barriers to responsible disposal are so great they just dump it on the roadside.

this is the lie that we were sold as a country, that capitalism would bring us all prosperity, a wonderful functioning country, fair distribution of wealth. All one big lie.

Do you even live in the U.K? You are being very rude. Where I live in England is beautiful, idyllic even.

If you, or anyone else on this thread are not feeling happy here, then please feel free to leave. We can do without the negative energy.

There's a difference between being racist and recognising that huge levels of immigration is having negative effects on society. It's not the only factor that's caused problems but it's a bloody big one.
On top of the economic decline this country has faced in the past 2 decades, the mismanagement of immigration has caused a big breakdown in social cohesion, exacerbated the housing crisis to an absurd level, made social care even more exoensive and crimes we never sae before in the UK are now common in many places.

Not to mention the fact many of the people that have moved here seem to be full of contempt rather than contributing positively. How dare they come here - costing a fortune to tax payer and contribute absolutely nothing but negativity and expect to be ‘happy’ here’??

Obviously many millions do contribute positively. It is not a broad brush.

Immigration now needs to stop, for the next five years ( apart from medics and nurses) quite apart from the logistical issues of an acute housing and social care crisis, people have had enough, we need time to absorb the millions newly arrived, and get the country back on an even keel.