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.

Our town is nothing like this though there’s an issue with people riding low powered motorcycles across the nature reserve to go on the rob - they don’t live in this town, they live across the bridge 5 miles away, everyone knows where they live roughly and the police do nothing except appeal for ring doorbell footage, anpr picks them up on the bridge but fake plates/stolen bikes.

oh and the teens go boozing on the beach and don’t recycle their empties!

There are no consequences. Plus many people's innate sense of decency appears to have been completely eroded.

And those who live in Littlehampton.

Check out YouTube videos of Kensington, Philadelphia and the drug problem there. A new drug called tranq makes people appear zombified. How do these drugs come to be, are big pharmacies experimenting on how to completely fuck up human beings?

edit, I appreciate I’m a little off topic.

Sadly, you could be describing just about any town in England………nail bars, barbers, charity shops, cafes and pound shops abound in most localities. Very few high street name stores now…….no Debenhams, no Woolworths, no BHS!

Ours is exactly the same. Going downhill every minute.

There was a thread like this a few weeks ago about my home town Wigan and id have to agree that it's really gone downhill. When I go back to visit relatives it does feel that there is a "hard" undercurrent. It was always poor but "salt of the earth" working class.
Such a shame as the wetlands are extensive and could be a real tourist boost if managed properly. There was talk that the RSPB might buy them but I'm not sure if that plan was shelved.

Bemused Re Chester: I have never felt unsafe or threatened there. It gets full of drinks on race days but then so does Ascot!

I live in a seaside town on the South coast and we have some of these sorts of social problems, though nowhere near as bad as the OP describes. We have some rough sleepers and crackheads who hang around in the town centre drinking all day and shouting at each other. One one memorable occasion, one of these men was fellating another man in the middle of the day on a bench in the town centre 🤢 (I didn’t see it but the gossip was all over the local FB pages).

Most of the ones here look and sound white British though, can’t say I’ve witnessed many Eastern Europeans behaving like that.

They are always in the town centre but don’t stray anywhere else so I just avoid the town centre. 🤷🏼‍♀️ We have great beaches here and they always feel safe.

However the more I'm reading of this thread the more I'm thanking goodness I live where I do. It has its elements, but to be honest, my main gripes are the oiks who use the bypass as a racetrack at night when the wind is blowing from that direction. I still can and do walk home alone after a night out, there are still lots of independent shops, there's still investment, there are still lots of volunteers who devote massive amounts of time into making the town a nice place to live. And this is by no means a naice prosperous well connected town. It can be done.

We don't have that problem with men in my local parks.

We do have a problem with fewer families, mums dads, granndparents etc though. In my opinion, this is because they closed the toilets. It means you can't take a picnic, or spend the time there that you would like because humans need to pee. This means you are more likely to go elsewhere or just not bother.

Whn people stop using places, they become a magnet for those who want to avoid busy places.

I live on a seaside town and it's all poundshops, vape shops and charity shops. We had 3 Greggs on one street but they moved it into the big Tesco. We also have random fires happen in graded buildings and shops that the council took control of they found big amounts of a certain plant after the council had had control for say a year. We had a massive hotel connected to the train station and the man who owned it just left it to go to ruin. The council took control and twice it's been on fire 2nd time it got out of control and they had to pull most of it down and you couldn't get a train you had to go to the next station but I think you can use it now.

In the last 5 or 6 months our local town has changed drastically. Since Covid the amount of shop closures is heartbreaking but the increase in skanky drug users is infuriating and really does stop people using the town centre. Why should decent people be accosted by these lowlifes begging for money for their next fix, trying to rob OAPs, lying on the pavement comatose, no wonder tourists don't visit anymore. In the last few months it is large groups of men leering at young girls and women, asking them for sex and getting mad when they are turned down. I am surprised we are not in the same position as Ballymena.

This is very much how I feel about the increase in population. I love our countryside and everywhere now feels so full.

Nonsense. If parties were going around saying stuff like that then they of course wouldn’t be voted in. Reform are saying nothing of the sort. I find it risky to stay with the status quo. I’m also concerned about what our country will look like in 4 years.

This is such a massive no brainer.

Yet councils across the country are continuing to close public toilets, saying that they are "not a statutory requirement".

I am literally writing a dissertation about this as we speak.
(Well I should be doing that anyway and not being on Mumsnet)
I could go on for ages about this. There are so many towns like this now. Low footfall, low value shops, vacancies. I just looked at a few.

I am finding the causes of decline to be varied, a lack of resilience and not adapting to change is the the main thing. Obviously COVID, online shopping, out of town shopping centres and a lack of investment have an effect, but in some places there is 'negative branding'. People just love to hate their town. That's a big factor.

We have to accept now that town centres will have to change to survive, retail can't be the big draw any more. The towns that do well are the ones with a unique selling point, where those in charge care about the look and feel of a place ....

I've not read the comments before mine. Sorry if I have repeated things. I got excited you were talking about my topic!

It’s chicken and egg tho …. Amazon has more choice and is generally cheaper and more convenient so local shops stopped being able to compete and started to close - You’re witnessing the results of online shopping in terms of the deterioration of town centres. we haven’t yet found something to replace the shops to create bustle. Possibly if we weren’t feeling poorer there would be more demand for other forms of entertainment/ places for people to meet.

Yes - great points

I am surprised we are not in the same position as Ballymena

Are you in Northern Ireland?

You get rivers near the sea you know 😂

No. I live in the south east and out local town has become more gentrified, if anything.

I am finding the causes of decline to be varied, a lack of resilience and not adapting to change is the the main thing.

Really good point. We need more flexible planning rules about changes of use. Too many people just moan on social media that towns aren't like they were in the 80s, without acknowledging that if they are part of the vast majority who use out of town retail and internet shopping, they have been part of the decline. People need a change of mindset. Our high street is starting to tackle this quite well.

Some towns are thriving though with great high streets; ours has improved amazingly over the last ten years. What seems to be the reason is plenty of people living an an area with money to spend and a good active local council. Unfortunately the council has now just changed so it will be a good experiment to watch how the new lot do.

How do you know the men are Middle Eastern? Majority of the Middle East are Muslim, so not sure they would be getting half cut

I hadn’t heard of it so googled NYT article. Geez some terrible effects there.