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.

@bipbopdo I don’t think you can say that around £12 an hour though isn’t a fair wage - my son is in a skilled job in IT and it still works out at £16 to £18 an hour as do many professional jobs - the problem in the UK isn’t so much wages, it’s lack of affordable housing in many areas, council tax, affordable childcare with young kids, utilities- when we lived in Denmark their minimum wasn’t really much higher, but tax is much higher so no council tax, cheaper utilities, very cheap ( and good ) childcare , lots of good quality social housing. People brought home about the same as UK across all income brackets- but so much more had already been covered off or was reasonable . ( childcare bills etc)

No idea! We just wanted the cash. Probably the same way as the people we now import do. It's just a shame kids now don't have that opportunity to make money for themselves in their free time (remember, it wasn't a "job" as we were still at school so we could work as much as we felt like).

Meopham area in the early/mid 80s. Amd obviously in the school hols and weekends 😆🤣

I live in Colchester and, yes, I would describe it as a shithole. I hate the place. I have lived here over 40 years and it is much worse than it was in the 1990s. It seems dirtier and more run down. The beautiful three story Debenhams has been closed, and so have many of the best shops. But the worst thing is the overcrowding. Back in the ‘90s it was a relatively quiet, almost sleepy market town. Today, it is a small town with the population of a city crammed into it. You can’t breathe.

I’m supposed to be starting a course in the centre of the town next week, but I’m going to cancel. I just can’t face the drive. I can’t face the traffic, and I can’t face the way the town makes me feel. I come home stressed, irritable and depressed. In fact, I very rarely go into town anymore, and I’m not the only one. Several of my neighbours now drive 20 miles out of their way to do their shopping. Anything to avoid the town itself. How sad is that?! Of course, it isn’t just the town that is overcrowded. I live in a village on the outskirts, but it is slowly being swallowed up. My local woods have been hacked down to make way for two giant housing estates. Then they built a massive estate at the other end of the village. Now the fields in the centre of the village are going to be built on as well. It just never ends. If I was young, I would 100% leave this country. And I would advise any young person to get out as soon as possible - go somewhere where you can move and breathe, where you have space and light and can be alone with nature.

There's a lot going on in Penzance. Give it a couple of years - if we don't enter World War III - I think the amount of investment going on will have made a big difference. People LOVE to slag the place off, including depressingly loads of the people who live there, who appear to want "The Council" to hand them life and and jobs and riches on a plate. It is far, far nicer than loads of the shitholes mentioned on this thread.

That’s a real shame

I remember going to Colchester circa 2016 and it was lovely.

thye keep banging on about the environment yet the constant building on beautiful countryside is criminal

Locals can’t work for farmers because it is temporary and seasonal work. People used to be able to live on seasonal work in the 50s /60s /70s when they had council houses and no-questions-asked benefits systems. Even in the 90s you were able to do a temporary job and go back on benefits easily. That’s gone now. All security has gone.

My sons twenty odd years ago along with friends would help out with hay making. Loading the bales onto wagons and delivering them. They'd arrive home at 2am filthy but well paid. I don't know if that would be legal now or if sixth formers would be interested.

Oh give over! I spent several years doing the same thing (in NZ). It was good pocket money for kids, and although hard work it was great being out in the fresh air with your friends and learning a work ethic.

Hardly comparable to sending kids up chimneys.

@suburburban So where you you suggest people live? I agree there’s too much building on farms but where else? If planning authorizes allowed redevelopment of town centres for living and recreation zones it would help. We also need to accept more flats and communal parks if we want to keep farms. Labours 1.4m homes will mostly go on green fields, despite their new grey belt ideas. They got a huge majority so they will develop into the countryside - it’s inevitable.

I have come to loathe the area I live in, it is totally filthy, I hate leaving my house even just to go to the shops as the endless mess, fly tipping, street drinkers, drug users, lime bikes and escooters being ridden on the pavement just do my head in. I am currently getting my nerve up to put my bin up which will mean going past my nieghour's shit hole of a house and yard (its an unoffial HMO with at least 10 people living there). There will be rubbiish, weeds and fag ends all over the communal back entry, litter all over the street and I know that there is a new massive fly tip over the raod as I saw it this morning when I opened my curtains. I have actally sat and cried today, there is no end to it no solution and as a single person in a Band A house living in this squalid hell hole I pay £135 a month council tax. All that money for streets that are never swept and to live somewhere that is unsafe not only after dark but pretty dodgy in the day time

In the last four or five years there seems to have been a massive influx of immigrants. Obviously there has always been immigration – my GP is a lovely Indian lady, and my next door neighbour is Polish. I have no problem with immigration itself. But something doesn't feel right. I often walk around the outskirts of the town during a weekday and everywhere I go there are young men in groups, or on their own, drifting aimlessly around. They are clearly foreign (they're never speaking English), and obviously not working. I don't know for sure, but I have a suspicion it is something to do with the local university. Someone I know works in the education department and he often says the system is being exploited. He says people apply for courses, move to the UK, and then don't turn up. But they have no record of them leaving the country either.

I'm so sick of people throwing the 'nimby' label around. The left seem to think everyone who lives in the countryside and opposes new developments is a rich fox-hunting Tory. In reality, they are ordinary people who have scrimped and saved to buy a little terraced house and just want fields and trees rather than housing estates and noise. My sister has worked like a slave for the NHS. She cares deeply about her patients and goes beyond the limits of her job to help them. All she asks in return is a bit of peace and quiet. She bought a small semi-detached house in a village, but the village is slowly being ruined by developers. So that's the thanks she gets.

Friend who works in the local council said there's going to be a huge influx of immigrants. They've been told that locals in the queue for housing are to be dumped in favour of the immigration folk. The other councils have been instructed similarly. Ditto housing association staff. There's going to be issues. Reform UK will get a lot of votes going forward.

Yes what on earth are they doing here.

I don’t understand it

so frustrating

That’s what is is wrong with the UK

aren’t there enough people here already

where else would this happen

Why are they doing this?! This is just so wrong. I want to understand as it doesn't make any sense.

I visited a supermarket in another town today and it always was a bit run down, but it's even worse now. I didn't think it could get any worse. Every other shop is a vape shop and the people in the area look even poorer and more degraded than they used to. There is terrible poverty. It's heartbreaking. Didn't feel safe and won't venture back.

We're not allowed to talk about 'replacement', yet this is what's happening. The gaslighting and cognitive dissonance is really unsettling. I think labour must be doing it because the demographics in my local area have really changed in the last six months.

It could be linked to the hotel pledge. Labour get fixated on that but need other accommodation.

Very mixed where I am and in general it used to be ok with immigrants working, opening shops and businesses. Many Polish people went back after Brexit including my lovely dentist. We then had a lot of Roma people and they are very different and live very separate lives. People can shoot me down in flames and call me racist but they cause issues and the men are really misogynistic. One of my friends is a community worker and part of her role was to give out imformation about local stuff like bin days and the men refused to enage with her because she is a woman. Another friend asked a crowd of them to let her pass so she could get into the local shop and had her way blocked and was called "ugly bitch cunt". They often take female children out of education at age 11 and keep them at home to cook and clean.

Are recent migrants prioritised for council housing? – Full Fact https://share.google/Haa1shS8OkIRIUMBu

Again I don’t understand why they are allowed to be here. They are not adding any value

They can't stay in hotels forever we can't afford it. We can't process applications quickly , they reported ages ago it was taking 18 months it's got to be worse now. If they're not entitled to stay the government will know where they are living.

Sorry you’re in this predicament.

I don’t think we can afford them full stop. Why should we have to

wish we had the Rwanda option, at least it may have been a deterrent

How much extra are you willing to pay for food to have the workers being paid a decent wage???