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 live abroad and when I come back it is mostly shitty and rundown. I love coming back to the uk. But it has taken a battering in the last decade or two.

Although there are nice spots that are clean with independent shops and cafes. But that is where the money is.

Ha, yes, see also my town, hugely expanding University sea side town with pockets of affluent resudential areas. Student accommodation everywhere, AirBnBs, etc etc.

Most dystopian experience was a couple of years ago. Had to pass through the town centre which is now devoid of proper department stores, M&S etc, and Smiths has just gone. Down the pedestrianised thoroughfare and in the square were loads of little market stalls outside the many boarded up shops, and it really gave me the vibe if that Jessica Alba series in the 90s? The one where society is trying to rebuild itself after a global EMP event.

Recently we got a branch of the Ivy, much to the hysterical delight of the local rag. It is a couple of hundred feet from a well patronised Wetherspoons. The pedestrianised square is populated by skaters and assorted God Squads most of the time. The Evangelicals and the JWs seem to have an uneasy truce but swerving the leafletting can be problematic.

It is in equal parts surreal and depressing. Online people wail when independent shops fold (I had one and speak from bitter experience) but would rather shop online. In fact, I personally had visitors to my shop photograph my stock and find similar cheaper online in front of my face. It was suggested I also buy my stock from big platforms like the one that rhymes with Emu. They couldn't grasp I had to make a living and cover overheads plus buy stock etc, so couldn'tsell it as cheaply as they could buy it direct online. I gave up, nearly ten grand in debt because no amount of manifestation or toxic positivity over-rides cold hard, economic reality.

No idea where things are going, but I'm glad I'm out of the selling of widgets game.

As to the rest of it, the general air of decay, weekly rapes and stabbings etc - I'm too old for this shot, and I'm only 56. Meh.

YANBU.

In my younger days, things seemed so promising - we'd have shorter working weeks, better housing, better healthcare... What on earth happened?

We haven't really had any growth for years

Totally agree but it's more than 5 years
I'm late 30s (knock knock 40) and I remember once every couple of months me and my mum would get "dressed up", not fancy but just nice clothes, make an effort. We'd hit the city, do some shopping, have a lovely lunch somewhere and a coffee, bit more wandering/shopping and head home having had a lovely day.
Since those times. I've lived in/near; Leicester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Wakefield, Hull, Leeds. They're all shit holes now, Sheffield maybe the lesser but then it's smaller so maybe less to see. It's sad. If I go into "town" now it's normally because I hit the wrong click and collect location 🤣🤣
Shops gone, shops run down, homeless everywhere, rubbish everywhere, buses don't run efficiently, people are rude. On and on. It's a sorry state really.

We'll see more young people emigrate. Nothing here for you if you're not born into wealth.

You forgot nail bars.

Ah, yes. It is all the fault of the foreigners.

The late 70s/early 80s were pretty bad, and it feels a bit like that time did to me. I think black people might have been held to blame for the state of the UK back then. And single mothers. Oh, and Kurdish refugees.

There is always some sort of scapegoat held up for the thickies to blame. It works, sadly.

@Newgirls there are plenty of run down areas in Folkestone!

14 years of the Tories. It was the same after Thatcher. I don't know why anyone kept voting for them.

I think there is a big difference in terms of cities/towns - rural life. The country seem to have held on to a more traditional life as it was. We don’t see decay just rolling fields. Poverty still exists but is somehow softened with plentiful resources and a calming environment.

If you are fed up with urban life, then move out, it’s not all awful everywhere. There is another life beyond the endurance you are living with. It’s idyllic here. Sorry,

Yep. This is where austerity leads. It is a shame Labour are repeating Tory mistakes.

You don’t want the townies all moving to the countryside. Because they don’t want the countryside they will change it too 🥲

Blame online shopping and WFH, it's these underlying factors that contribute to a lack of community, less people going out, engaged in their surroundings, interactions with other people etc

Exactly. I think some people have led sheltered lives.

Could be worse. You could be in Birmingham.

So much down to people. Litter? Put it in bins or take it home. Same with take away wrappers, cups. People just throw this stuff on the floor or it comes out of overflowing bins. Theft is rife hence the security and it's not villains just doing it but any chancers who thinks/knows they won't get caught. Council funding for clean streets has been cut and people wanted to shop online so your shops closed. Vape shops are clearly popular and barber shops and dessert places poss money laundering. People don't care and it shows. My neighbour works as a steward at events. It was boxing the other night. People are carried out, ejected for fighting, doors eg toilets smashed and cocaine is liberally dusted in the toilets/sinks. Somehow that is seen as a good night out

Low taxation. Right to buy. Unions crippled.
Boom time for many people, utter devastation for others.

I have seen supermarket workers with body cameras a few times recently. Which is a sign of the times.

My local Tesco has riot bars around the spirits and cigarettes, the staff behind a plastic sheet and they push the items though a slot.

I live in quite an affluent area, it makes everything feel a lot more dodgy. Presumably there’s a need for it.

That really resonates with me “an air of menace” it’s completely correct, no one dares say anything to others bad behaviour as you’ll likely unleash really aggressive behaviour
such a sad situation as a country.
where I work there’s a small express supermarket opposite and I can watch all day long people just blatantly shoplifting young and old alike and staff and told not to intervene it must make morale very low

I don't think it is scapegoating immigrants to point out that there are large numbers of unskilled single young men entering the Uk illegally, month after month, who are then housed at great expense in local authority accommodation and hotels. LAs are struggling with social care as it is.
That isn't immigration
Immigrants who come here to integrate into our culture and make a positive contribution are great assets to the UK.
Unfortunately there are those who detest everything about the West and want things like their own legal system and systems, instead of conforming to British laws and customs, which isn't appropriate.

It's not the fault of the individuals it's the fault of policy which supports the industry of funnelling taxes into private landlords' pockets and simultaneously driving up property prices far beyond the reach of most of the country's workers. All we pretty much do is work and pay basic bills now, that's why business isn't growing because very few people are able to spend on anything other than a roof and food. There are other factors too but housing/rent is the one all-encompassing issue.

As pp have said, it's online shopping and wfh.
People used to have to go out of the house. I used to love going into town and looking round the shops.

Sometimes that’s because they have been accused of inappropriate behaviour. There was a local security chap accused of touching a 13 year old girl so now he has to wear one to keep his job.

Windrush generation then Asians then miners, dockers, single mothers. Always another scapegoat.

The problem is Thathcherism could only work once..there's only so much council housing to sell off. Only so many public services to sell off (including water and gas). Only so much north sea oil to profit from. Low taxes destroy public services which then require high taxes to try and fix. Unions crippled helped undercut wages and now everyone is skintnor needs tax credits to pay the rent.

We're paying for it all now.