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.

We're in a tourist area there are times and places we know to avoid in the tourist season because so many people like to visit, enjoy the events. Have a holiday, spend days on the beaches, forests, mountains. But a side effect of this is that retail, hospitality, survives year round. We get very little trouble, bored kids mostly.

We all moan about the litter the selfish ones leave behind, loathe the disposable BBQ which is a fire risk..

Our council are broke, they don't clear away tourists litter promptly , they've shut public toilets, the parking meters and double lines have increased to raise extra money.

We do have a county line drug problem from the cities in England to the ferry port. They're after our kids. The police carry out raids, arrest, prosecute and imprison. But like whack a mole another gang pop up.

I don't think anywhere is without its problems.

@justasking111 nope I agree- we have a similar situation in Bath - it is lovely and not dead and bustling - but we have visitor numbers it struggles with, particularly in summer and whilst tourists bring money into retail and hospitality etc, they aren’t necessarily contributing directly to all the extra costing pressures this brings -

And yes I think we need to bring in a tourist tax in certain places with hotels and airbnbs — and given the amount of Welsh coaches we get too non stop in summer and the hassle they cause with parking and clogging certain areas , I would tax coach loads too

And educate them all round the table. Must be a bloody big table.

I was just going to say is it dudley? I visited recently and was really shocked. I've never seen so much rubbish on the street. All next to empty bins as well. It was shocking how deprived it is.

The biggest problem with law breakers In my local vicinity, not in the city centre, is it's a rat run to the motorway and we often go for a walk in the evening rush hour and have counted 8 out of 10 drivers rushing along exceeding the speed limitas they are still in motorway mode, while using their phones cos you can see how their heads are tilted in certain parts of the road where they feel safe to have a quick glance. All driving very nice expensive cars but knowingly breaking the law as they go along in their little bubble.

This instantly made me think of this thread:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5222930-my-town-has-really-changed

We visited Scarborough during the pandemic and we're shocked at some visions of child poverty. Bare foot kids playing in a car park in what was once a beautiful Victorian Square. There was washing being dried out of third story windows and just an air of shocking neglect. The pandemic lost tourist areas huge amounts of revenue.
But the council have really invested in some projects to restore certain areas which really make you want to go back.

@Ontobetterthings I lived in Wolverhampton for a couple of years ( met a guy who lived there) early 90 s and even then thought Dudley was truly awful - in all honesty I thought most of the West Midlands was bloody grim with a few exceptions and that was saying something as I came from the East Midlands

I have noticed my local council are putting a lot of cameras on litter bins!

Thanks Pinkimbrella, I’ll enjoy reading that later.

Why??

Has the East Midlands got that bad a reputation?! What is it about it?

Covid had a pretty devastating impact on so many things/people.

Seaside towns have been devastated by cheap holidays to Spain. Once package holidays arrived the British seaside was doomed. Poor weather and cold seas plus very dated accommodation (with no lovely pool) isn’t what families wanted. People don’t want the British seaside at its worst. It’s hard now in areas that offer lovely holidays due to wages and overheads. Florida is more appealing so seaside towns really struggle.

@Slatterndisgrace not all the East Midlands , some bits are fine to be honest, but the bit I came from , big mining town, wasn’t very nice

@Bickybicsi think you are spot on with this. It’s exactly what happened to Penzance and exactly why totnes thrives.

I assume business rates also have something to do with it and that charities must get some business relief.

@Bickybics

Nail on the head. Most High Streets started to decline in the 80s with the "identikit" High Streets taken over by chains (with the properties owned by hedge funds and pension schemes), then the huge supermarkets (Tesco Extra etc), out of town retail parks, etc. Amazon is just the final nail in the coffin, not the cause, which goes back 30-40 years. Our town's demise started in the late 80s with a huge Asda which caused a couple of big High St supermarkets to close, closely followed by the town's M&S closing, and that started the downward spiral.

Made worse by the old boarding houses being converted into HMOs for unemployed, newly released prisoners, and now asylum seekers, all dragged into the already run down seaside resorts making them even worse. Of course, the politicians who over-saw the movement of such people didn't put any plans in place to give them something to do, such as create employment, so societal problems of drugs/alcohol, crime, etc was inevitable.

I witnessed the decline in the seaside resorts in the 80s and the hotels becoming HMOs and temporary accomodation in the 90s stayed in one myself for 10 months. I worked in The Richmond while coaches were still coming and filling it then only a couple of years later a little girl was killed in a fire there when it was a b n b for the homeless.
But seaside towns had a bit of a reprieve with weekend staycations becoming popular visiting Scarborough now it can be packed on a weekend. Totally different to the 80s decline. And attractions like The Open Air Theatre.

You saw people with 5 kids with autism and five ponies every day? That sounds odd not to mention why would they all tell you about their ponies?

No idea are they trying to catch people putting their own waste/bags of rubbish in which is fly tipping! Or is it drugs or are people peeing in them I have no idea but they are spreading!

Is it sad that I knew exactly where you were from before I even saw your name?

@taxguru The “boarding houses” (guest houses!) were not getting guests! What were owners supposed to do? Have no business? Ok so many sold up and dc didn’t take them on but there was no business in traditional holidays so the guest houses were put to alternative use. What else could have happened? Holidays moved abroad and people from abroad moved in.

They had strict curfews as well had to be in by 10pm not allowed in the room during the day only back for meals! Couldn't just book for 1 night like you can now. People broke out of that regimented control. Those who were only released for two weeks from a factory in the summer could cope with the rules but when that working style ended so did the control.