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.

Have you written to the council about this?

I'm in the "nice" part of Halesowen but I'm well acquainted with Dudley/Lye etc. I do find people to be quite friendly though in spite of being rough. I say that as somebody who works in the civil construction sector so is around labourers/concrete gangs/brickies/etc all day.

'Would have said'

Sorry. 😂

Well observed

And forcing everyone to listen to folk music!

Although, dragging myself back to the OP's question, weren't there studies showing that playing classical music in bus shelters, individual toilets where druggies shot up, etc. actually discouraged anti-social behaviour? Or possibly just moved it elsewhere. Folk/classical music broadcast 24 hrs a day under bridges?

Tbf it must be almost 20 years since I read about 'mosquito tones' being used in strategic places to discourage young people congregating and drinking (people can't hear said tones after a certain age).

On here? Not likely!

I live in a somewhat affluent SE market town in a beautiful place but even here there are clear signs of deterioration - more litter everywhere, quite a lot of dirty and unkempt people walking around, often the same characters drinking as they walk or hanging around. My Mum lives in small city not far any which is known for its culture and being a lovely place - that too has really downhill with a lot of groups of high/drunk people (older people) hanging around being a general nuisance on the street.
I think there's a lot more antisocial and aggressive behaviour than there was a few years ago..
I really dont understand why some posters are giving you a hard time by the way..

To halt the decline we need prison places for drug addled criminals etc. Zero tolerance approach.

Then once the cities have been cleaned up, businesses will be more willing to invest there again (at least without the fear of daily vandalism, violence and theft).

Do you feel safe going out alone?

Do you believe they used them? I’d like to get something similar to stop the feral little bastards from crawling all over a block of flats where a relative lives. An old woman lives there too and she’s scared witless. The police do NOTHING. The councillors do NOTHING. My relative has to be up for work at 4 am, they’re up there setting fires and screaming until 11.00. If they fall, they’ll be seriously hurt, no one gives a shit and certainly not the parents.

I live in Medway in the south east and it’s a total shithole. The high street is like a third world country and it’s full of people from different countries and British nationals getting drunk and disorderly in public parks, the stench of weed is all around. Honestly this country has gone to shit.

But it’s fine if they sleep on the ground?

Count your blessings.

Oh piss off. If you’re needing somewhere to make a bed find a better place than an underpass. What’s going to happen, is the person going to claim it as their own bedroom eventually? A public underpass. Don’t come the bleeding heart with me, you don’t know me.

And I’m pretty sure sleeping on the floor of an underpass IS sleeping on the ground, no?

Yes it is awful and I think most people didn’t want this

I can see where we're heading if that shower of shite Reform gets in!

I will never vote for a party that contains Farage - his voting record speaks for itself.

He routinely votes against workers rights.
He routinely votes against further funding for schools.
He routinely votes against further funding for the NHS.
He routinely votes for tax breaks for the rich.

NO THANKS!!

It's interesting that you say things 'couldn't be worse' when Labour have been in for all of five minutes and the Tories spent years fucking us over.

But sure, everything is Starmer's fault.

You asked if your town is a shithole (sounds like it is) and was it happening anywhere else. You didn't specify that you wanted to know about only UK towns.

For what it's worth, my town - NOT IN THE UK - is nothing like yours.

You ask where all these men have come from. Pubs. Pub culture is going. These men would have been in dingy cheap pubs but now they're roaming free.

The newer special barbers, the American sweet shops, the many nail bars etc are very often money laundering places, set up quickly, not abiding by regulations, etc. Strictly cash only. Illegal HMOs, no fire protection etc.
Not all!
One really naice, small town has 8 barbers. One cash only place with a certain vibe has in the basement a nail bar or something with a scared looking young woman.

No there isn't something about being poor which makes you want to destroy things but in the case of poor, socially excluded people, who feel they are not part of a piety and it doesn't care about them, they do want to destroy nice things. It's a reaction to being unwanted and alienated. I grow up poor in a poor part of London and it was all around me - litter everywhere because why should I care about them when they don't about me. It's the only way people can express their anger in the everyday. It's around me too in NE London, but I think there's truth in what someone says about there is more people who care more so sort out litter picks, canal picks, weeding the streets. Our high street is a zombie zone of homeless drunks dancing in the street (outside Wetherspoons actually which they don't go to) and it's a no go zone for women and girls. And I live in a really "desirable" place now.

Ive read similar before but it doesn't happen in my town, South West Scotland - Seaside town.

If you go up town youl see a fair amount of addicts walking around like zombies though and lots of dilapidated buildings and closed shops.

It’s happening a bit in my town too - not to the extent of where you are, it’s mainly a few gangs of men hanging around on the main streets drinking or smoking weed. I’ve heard racist comments made by them directed at other people, which never used to happen in my town. And really horrible sleazy comments towards passing women. They seem to have appeared from no where, but they all have British accents.

No there isn't something about being poor which makes you want to destroy things but in the case of poor, socially excluded people, who feel they are not part of a piety and it doesn't care about them, they do want to destroy nice things.

So why do they generally do it to their own, poor neighbours then, or people close by?
They don't tend to go into affluent areas, so your comment doesn't add up.

@JustSawJohnny I think that poster was referring to labour being in charge in many aspects of devolved wales , rather than the gvt - but what that poster isn’t allowing for is the Tory’s were in charge for 15 years and devolved areas are only as good as the money they have coming in or how they are being funded - and the Tory’s simply were not funding areas like wales to the level they needed and were unable to do purely by themselves - these kinds of areas take more cash too due to less money coming in locally and often more social issues , more people needing funding for care homes and social care due to lower property values etc - it’s a viscious circle - and of course we have the situation whereby the current gvt have been left with a right old turkey financially and whilst the will is there don’t have the resources to just say - here have 10 billion - we know wales ( or Scotland) have higher needs for central funding