Is our town a shithole..

[FroggletTowers]

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

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.

It is completely different to all of the towns I am associated with but I hear that these stories are getting more common

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.

How does naming your town affect your privacy? There must be so many people up and down the country having such discussions!

I have friends and family on MN, I mean.
You often refer to it as 'outing'?

Difficult to comment without knowing the town. However, there are places like this up and down the Uk and they are very depressing. Complex reasons for it.

There must be so many people up and down the country having such discussions!

Would love to hear more if it's that common.

Seaside towns have always been prone to these types of things, ime.

Well, OP mentions river walks so this isn’t a seaside town she’s talking about…

I went back to my home town in the midlands last October and found it exactly like this - was quite a shock as hadn’t been back for many years. My friend there told me it started going very downhill15 years ago and spectacularly downhill in last 4 years - anyone with any standards just avoided the centre at all and just stuck to their own area and external retail parks - all very depressing - we live in Bath and yes we get some of this kind of crap too contrary to what many might think -the big difference is we have really nice stuff still to kind of balance it off - my home town had nothing remotely nice to balance the crap at all - I couldn’t live there- very depressing - thing is it’s a very Reform type area and I guess people look at it simplistically and think that’s an easy solution and the problems are all caused by the kind of things Reform bangs on about - it really isn’t - the town is predominantly white working class and a ton of the anti social stuff is caused by people drinking far too much, drugs, generally not giving a shit about not dropping litter or pissing up the sides of buildings , not bothering with gardens etc. it also has a lack of well paid higher end jobs or investment ( previously did get a fair bit from EU) - Reform isn’t suddenly going to be able to change those factors.

I was just saying to dh that I saw two/ three groups and a couple of lone men out of it when I went to town centre recently. It’s a smaller town. I don’t often go to town centre - just home, work, dc school- and I guess that’s true for many other decent people, especially if working from home/shopping online.. So it seems they are taking over- yes.
More disturbingly there’s also many young parents with children that I find rude/rough. Our school is full of them and I feel bad for not moving town for my child, but are they just everywhere?

Ah, someone noticed I mentioned Middle Eastern men.
How predictable.
Makes a change from being called woke, I suppose. Enough of that rubbish please.

I am interested in why so many men alone, never with women, seemingly unemployed or at least in a desperate mess are filling up public space with boozing here. No one seems to be either dealing with it or assisting them.
I have no idea why it has grown so suddenly since covid.

@Westfacing and that’s by the way why I mentioned Reform in my post just now - the issues are nothing to do with anything Reform would change- everything to do with other issues over a very long period

It isn't at all like where we live. Our town seems quite safe, lots of building work going on, though. We've just had a new cafe open in the park, our tiny shopping centre is getting a revamp and we frequently have people about walking dogs and cycling. There's one man dressed from head to toe in bright orange (bless him) who seems to use our road as part of his daily speed walking route. I have no issue getting out and about with the pushchair. You don't see any drunk people in the street during the day, and it would be very rare to see any homeless people around. Not the area for it and our local police force would move anyone on rather quickly.
Our town is quite small, though, and not in the UK.
There are more homeless people in the closest bigger town...and in the large city about 30 minutes away.

I work in York and haven't noticed much change other than if anything it gets busier, there are a handful of homeless people, there always has been, they generally keep in their group and don't bother passers by etc (could be different at night, i don't know, though i didn't see them Saturday night when i was out)
Where i grew on the other hand isn't great.

Yes, the reform stuff is growing here, too, but probably not due to these drinkers.
On a walk last week we saw a few windows sporing some ugly political messages.
People are outspoken about their bigotry now, where they used to seem like pretty broad minded folk.

Our town is quite small, though, and not in the UK.

So why post?

I mean, yeah. Sounds like a shit hole. Deprived area I take it?

It has seemingly spread from the deprived parts, it is pretty much all over now, at least in parks and walks. Nature reserves and wetlands are ruined.

Ah, someone noticed I mentioned Middle Eastern men
How predictable

No one has mentioned Middle Eastern men? Apart from you.

Sounds grim. Urban poverty often is

I live in a seaside town with a river.

I live near an affluent south east town and we do not have any of this

You have only used this username on this thread.
How on earth can it be outing to say which town?

Anyway, all I'll say is if you are talking about Wigan or Slough, then I think your assessment of being a bit of a shit hole may well be correct (but those two are for a whole plethora of reasons)
Otherwise I've no idea - give us a clue.

Yes, you keep mentioning poverty.
I am presuming it fascinates you.

The areas it has spread to are parks, recreational areas and public spaces, even in the higher income areas. This is concerning for everyone, really, not just people struggling.