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.

My town (it is technically a city but doesn’t feel like it!) is not so bad.

Tourism has BOOMED where I live in the last 5/6 years so a lot of tartan tat shops and restaurants have popped up. But the actual centre has declined in that time, still several boarded up shops and restaurants and lots of empty units in the shopping centre.

I think we need more police to deal with antisocial behaviour. Drunk and disorderly people, people
drunk and sleeping on the paths etc should all be sent to do community service to build working skills and keep them off the street. It feels like we need to bring back shame or something as nobody cares about their reputation or standing in the community.

Well spotted.

Our town is an absolute shithole too. I think it’s across the UK unless you’re in a very rich well-to-do place and even then it’s probably going on behind the scenes. When I go to Europe or further it’s depressing to return to filthy streets, drunk and ill people shouting etc. IMO the country is at a low point

Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot the final bit...
Yes, sounds like you live in a shithole and no, not everywhere is like this (and we've got loads of foreign men round here...and women and children). We don't have drunk people around, despite a much lower legal drinking age.

Well it seems that apart from wigan and slough it doesn't exist!

I must be hallucinating

Happened here too

Yep!

Name change for this yes my town is exactly like this if you know, you know. Been going on for years eu men sitting in town setting drinking all day, crime has shot up we was named most murderous place to live at one point.

I lived in Folkestone in the mid to late 2000s.

i can say without fear of contradiction it was an absolute shithole

Sounds like Ipswich

Yes. Groups of men clustered drinking from tins. It’s absolutely intimidating and horrible. I’ve only seen it over the last year when there’s just been way more people here. It’s horrible. I hate it! I think we might as a nation have to make drinking alcohol in the street illegal. It’s being abused. These people are so anti social. It’s absolutely horrible.

They have and I assume it's a mixture of many being generally down at heel and as a result a good, ie cheap place to move benefits claimants to en masses which then compounds the problem.

I live in a naice leafy London suburb and it’s not quite as bad, but recently there has been a marked increase in public drinking and men gathering around public benches. My theory on this is that our local Wetherspoons and the next closest one both closed down last year. Say what you like about Wetherspoons (and I like them generally) but there aren’t many places left where men with not a lot of money and not many other places to be can congregate with friends and have a pint for £2. Except from a can, on the street.

Other stuff I just can’t reason about. Our canal and nature reserve, which have a dedicated team of volunteers who take care of them, are constantly strewn with trash and drowned shopping trolleys and Lime bikes. There’s nothing about being poor or not having much which innately means you actively destroy nice places and public property, particularly things like Lime bikes which are an affordable way of getting around if you don’t own a car or your own bicycle.

Boston ?

By your aggressive tone, maybe you’re part of the problem and the reason it’s gone downhill.

What bothers me the most is how suddenly it appears to have occurred. And how few women are frequenting the parks with kids now.
We are planning to move back to DH's hometown within the next 2 yrs, although I may struggle to find similar work (lecturer / teaching and research). A lot to consider either way.

How are they getting to these areas, I wonder? Where we live, it would be quite difficult to get to e.g. nature parks without your own car, which I’m assuming these people wouldn’t have. In answer to your original question, we’re in a town which is part of a city. In our town itself you wouldn’t really come across this, but it is apparent in the city. I’d be very put off by people like this being in quieter, more secluded areas like you’re describing.

The insulting comments are interesting!

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

Who mentioned it?

You knew what you were doing when you wrote it.

My son lives in Mumbles which should be the jewel of Swansea especially as the city centre is a shit hole.

The first thing you see as you drive in is a Greggs. 😕

Don't fall for the goading.

This isn’t a town problem. It’s a people problem. So many people now don’t care about anyone or anything apart from themselves.

I hadn't considered that, although there are a lot of walkways, connecting paths surrounding the town. These were very much quiet areas prior to 2020.
After covid, people just seemed to pile in, more speeding cars around the quiet areas now too.
A lot of fires along the river paths now, too.
It just seems as if a huge chunk of the male population have gone nuts here.

I have no idea where they live, to be honest.

Completely different to what I see... drinking is massively on the decrease and where it does happen its more common behind closed doors. Most people are choose to stay home that go out drinking (we are becoming quite a sheltered introverted nation). Its causing havoc to the alcohol industry.

Teen and pre-teen kids (not drunk) riding bikes in menacing group, stealing, smashing/burning things and causing anti-socal issues is an issue though. It always has been in the rougher part of town its just they have crept more into the center here especially since things like Mcdonalds opened up in the middle of the high street (and seems to be like a beacon to them).