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.

Time will tell. You doubt the politicians are that strategic? Well they're certainly not being strategic about doing something about it. It's so striking now that nobody can deny it's happening. We're going to end up like Albania at this rate. Mogadishu if we're not so lucky. The UK is a shithole. Even the 70s weren't like this.

Perhaps it is tolerated decline.

But I don't think these men are online shopping, they likely can't afford their bills.
In this place, I believe the regular people left the town centre BECAUSE of the aggression, drinking and benches filled with bags of alcohol.

Everyone here says they would love to frequent the market, the cafe's ...
They miss walking around town, etc.
They don't go to town because it is so unpleasant and filled with unpredictable men.

To be honest, I have seen glimpses of this in a much smaller volume when on holiday in the UK, even in sleepy little tourist areas.
Not to mention the screeching, exploding cars.

Sounds like a dump. I take it this is a poor area? I’m surprised you feel safe there walking around. Do you work?

I lecture at a university, DH works from home and runs his own business.
It was not previously a poor area, the outskirts where we live were lovely.
I think this is why we are so shocked by the changes, they seem so sudden.

My town centre is still miles and miles better than it was in the 70s.

I haven’t seen this in my town or others I’ve visited, so no, not every town and probably not most.

"The politicians have deliberately created this situation". So that people will look around them at their shitty towns and get annoyed and vote for someone else. Righty-ho.

Not at all like that here, but this is a very wealthy, very attractive small Home Counties commuter town. Very clean, very safe, and the only groups we see are yummy mummies visiting one of our many cafes, or grammar school kids clutching their enormous piles of books. However, the larger (poorer) towns nearby are terrifying now. They've been getting worse and worse for about 20 years though, so it's not a covid thing. I used to go to school in one, and lived there for a while in my 20s. I haven't felt comfortable visiting for about a decade.

I think the issue is the gaping, and growing, inequality we have in our society, and I would argue that really started around the early 00s. Possibly slightly earlier. It's just getting harder and harder to ignore. Unless of course you live somewhere like I do and just assume all towns are the same, and anyone who says they're not must be a lying bigot...

It’s common. The MC don’t eat such things.

Don't know why it's outing unless you are the only person living in this town....

I agree, senseless destruction. We have a beautiful reserve locally. It was maintained well but lovely wooden benches and pretty bridges have been destroyed. I guess the volunteers just feel frustrated by it all and can’t keep caring.

Exactly. I suspect this is going to be just another post about asylum seekers though.

OP it’s happening everywhere. I was recently visiting a very affluent, leafy, town. There was a large congregation of boozers gathered around a bench (yards from a Le Creuset showroom)

Yard from a Le Creuset showroom? 😱 Well that's it - I'm throwing in the towel!

I was never fond of the one we were on the outskirts of and recently left. I liked the house and the neighbours, but the town encroached more and more in terms of theft, anti social behaviour and general discourtesy.

By the time we left it was horrible. Yes, it’s a seaside town.

Don't have it in my town but it is in another one a few miles away

Yep, step too far right there.

I grew up near Peterborough and had need to go to the town centre for the first time in years recently. While there are more restaurants and some swishy bars, the general atmosphere was terrible. I felt really on edge. It seemed really rough and grotty (apart from the Cathedral precinct which is exquisite). A lot of the people seemed angry.
It was never a posh town but I don't remember it ever being so crap and depressing.

Oh please 🙄

Well this town was quite diverse, with areas encompassing all social backgrounds, albeit with some nicer parts than others!
The poorer areas always existed but were not too bad. Investment used to be decent, people seemed much, much happier all round.

It wasn't a struggling town by any stretch of the imagination. I suppose it is now.

My family live in a rural enclave, and of course they don't witness urban sprawl. That should be obvious. A single social group dominating an area would be highly unlikely to see this kind of change.

I see most of us who can will be moving away, and eventually the place will be growing worse

i suppose the point of my OP is that the town wasn't bad, but is now. That's the problem.

This.

Anywhere touristy leads to a lot of low paid and seasonal work and that means the locals don't have much money (unless they work a profession or on the next big town) and so a lot of people with higher earning potential move out.

There was always a lot of what I would now call low key grooming- older men with younger girls- drink and drugs because many seaside towns lack anything for teens to do (and many parents on low paid seasonal work can't afford them anyway)

what subject do you teach? Would you be able to get a job easily if you moved?

@FroggletTowers Most of what you describe is a police issue. Moving men on who are threatening is not up to the council. Use of parks is but misuse is a police issue. Dealing drugs in our park is a police issue but of course it’s ignored. It’s really about how we want resources spent and who will challenge such poor behaviour.

I think the underbelly of society is now bigger and people like this simply don’t care what they do because they have no standards and get away with it. It’s always a minority who spoil it for everyone else.

Fair enough. I tend not to think of it as being a thing.

I teach arts/photo/video production. Not sure about that if relocating!
We are considering our options and I may have to make some changes.
We will likely be heading back to Shropshire where DS and DH's mum still live. We do love it there.

Op in originally from the midlands. (Name changed as may be outing) Derby is now like this. One of the reasons is because the council is paid to take overspill of drug addicts, alcoholics, homeless with severe mental health issues etc and put them in their temporary accomodation. They come from various other boroughs of the UK, they don't know anybody. They meet other junkies and alcoholics and start drama and politics. They take over local services because councils make them first in like priority for things like gp appointments. The worst part is they don't want to get better. They are accessing the services because they are made to, not because they want to be clean. I've seen some total shit shows lol, saw a woman so drunk she was unconscious at 2pm and then I thought a man was going to help her but he was mugging her, another man went over and I thought he might intervene but he started demanding some as well. I saw a bunch of smack heads shaking down a disabled woman (who also accesses some of the same services they do at one of the centres) and taking all her money in the doorway to an andoned shop. Saw police walk past two junkies shooting up as they can't be arsed with it. Constant fights in the town and they are everywhere.

I moved away and I grew up on a council estate and am as rough as old boots lol it was too much even for me when my neighbour was almost stabbed and the poor 20 something year old single girl who lived next door had her house broken into by 3 ski mask wearing men at 3am, and the police when we called couldn't even tell us if they would send somebody out!