The once-thriving UK town where locals too scared to go out after 6pm – ‘a horror movie’

The famous English port town of Ipswich lies on the River Orwell in Suffolk, its longtime rival, Norwich, staring antagonistically across the county border in Norfolk. Like many places in the UK, locals feel like its best days are behind it, as they describe problems with anti-social behaviour, shoplifting, homelessness and drugs. Residents also complain about groups of intimidating men standing around the streets. A Reddit user described on the site a year ago what they dubbed “crackhead alley” near the White Horse Hotel in the town centre.

“I stayed at that hotel and let me tell you it’s like you stepped into a horror film,” they typed. They added: “Men will follow you, they will ask for money, sex, drugs, everything. They have no filter. It’s so dangerous.”

The Express visited Ipswich to talk to locals about the issues facing their town. A woman who has worked in the town centre for 40 years and wished to remain anonymous was succinct in her damning verdict, saying things were “tough.”

She said: “The town used to be fabulous. It was thriving. Now it’s totally different. You’ve got bikes speeding through town, threatening the public. They’re scared. Drunks linger on the bench up the road and they come through town shouting. There are multiple thefts — people running out the shops. I just haven’t got the words.”

People are not coming into town like they used to, she added, meaning her takings have halved in four years. The woman also said it is “scary” to bring your kids into town.

“You’ve got your elderly regulars and they feel vulnerable. You speak to young people and they don’t want to come into town. There’s fights. At least once a week,” she said.

Sufiyah Ali, 23, only comes into town in the morning or at lunch time as later in the day she does not feel safe. The support worker said: “Whatever you think, yeah […] There’s lots of anti-social behaviour and so much crime. They don’t hide it anymore. They just grab it and go.”

The resident added: “It’s just greed and laziness. The shops have security but they just let people shoplift.”

Ms Ali has been racially abused in the high street. She said: “I was with my daughter and there were people walking along here. There was a football game on […] They were laughing and joking and said racial slurs, and I just went off on my day.”

She lived in Machester for three years.

“Manchester is way safer than here,” Ms Ali said.

“It’s so nice up there.”

She added that people up there are more tolerant, as they have been “more exposed” to different cultures.

“Here’s more predominantly white,” she added.

A 72-year-old woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “We don’t feel safe in this town anymore like we used to.”

She is concerned about individuals who she believes are migrants.

“We were going to go to the bank there and up until a few weeks ago there used to be Iranian men who used to sit there and when you go in there to draw money they would be watching your movements. It does make you feel a bit nervy,” said the woman.

She added: “You definitely used to be able to walk around here and not keep watch all the time. Now you are aware.”

Her 80-year-old husband, a former sergeant major and police officer, added: “None of the women feel safe anymore. You don’t come here unless you have to.”

Chris Green, 80, said: “It’s bad. You only come up if you go to the banks. Usually it’s just awful. It’s just awful. Every day on my phone something happens in town.”

She added: “It’s everything shoplifting; I think is the worst.”

The business owner recalled last summer being “tipped off” her chair outside Costa by someone who wanted the seat for a friend.

“People don’t come up any more,” Ms Green said. “I don’t want to walk around.”

A 51-year-old man, who wished to remain anonymous, worked in Ipswich for 12 years and now visits a couple of times a month. “I wouldn’t come round Ipswich after dark,” he said.

“Don’t venture out out here after the sun goes down. It’s just groups of men who aren’t necessarily the culture of our country. A bit intimidating. You’re walking down here with your family and it’s not a pleasant experience. They may be harmless — it’s just the visual impact it has.”

He added: “Put it this way if my wife’s coming in from a different part of the county, I’m meeting her at the multi-storey [car park]. I won’t let her walk through [the town centre]. There are people all over the place, homeless. It’s not what it was 25 years ago. It’s a great town.”

Laura Moss, 43, a retail worker, said: “There seems to be more and more happening — not just in the town centre but outside of town as well. It has become more noticeable.

“Sometimes I come to the local cinema, the one in the shopping centre, and I try and come during the day. If I go to a later one and I’m having to walk through, I just don’t feel comfortable.”

She said this is due to groups of men hanging around, which seems to have increased over the last couple of years. Ms Moss added that the town’s commercial offering as a whole seems to have gone downhill. “I grew up here,” she said.

Ms Moss added:”It has changed so much. It’s quite sad that there’s a lot of places that don’t exist anymore here.”

John Clough, 81, claimed to have heard of people trying to gain access to the back of the local Iceland store in order to take items. He added that people have sold illegal tobacco in the street.

The retired electrician added: “I’ve been in Ipswich since 1987 and there’s been quite a lot of changes. Shops closing. It’s got worse. People on these e-scooters — twice I’ve nearly been knocked over. I don’t think people are quite as friendly as they were when I first came here.”

Sausage stand worker Chase Burgess, 21, said: “A lot of it is just below the surface. If you look for it, you’re going to see it. But a lot goes unseen. The people kicking off are probably not sober, let’s say. They have open containers alcohol. It feels like a hotspot compared to other areas of the town.”

“There’s too much going on,” said David, 56, who served for 10 years in the Royal Artilleries in Bosnia and Iraq.

He added: “It’s been getting worse for a long time. I see it as I go around, but I don’t feel it’s my place to stick my nose into.”

David Grothier, 60, is homeless. He talked to the Express while asking passers by for change next to his tent.

He said: “I’ve got to say one thing: anti-social behaviour is not just the homeless people. Everyone tries to pin it on us. It’s parents, they let their children out — gangs on bikes. They just absolutely rip the place to pieces.”

He has seen a big increase in people getting arrested.

“The homeless community in this area, we’re a family,” said Mr Grothier.

Mr Grothier, who was recently in prison for arson after setting fire to two houses in Colchester during a “dispute” between himself and another family, added. “We’re all in the same boat.”

Mr Grothier praised the Chapman Centre for their support.

He said: “I did my crime. I’ve done my time. Now I’ve got to face next hurdle of getting myself into accommodation again. It was freezing last night. Friday night was freezing. Saturday night was freezing. I’ve got a couple of sleeping bags in there, and I found a couple of settee cushions. I’m sitting here all day long earning my food.”

The retail space he has set up outside the front of the building is going to be turned into a Lloyds bank, Mr Grothier, who is originally from London, said.

He added: “All I’m hoping before I get moved on is I get rehoused. All I want is a roof and a door, that’s me.”

People shoplift to survive, he made sure to say.

“There are quite a lot of people rough sleeping,” Mr Grothier said.

He continues: “There’s a lot of us on the streets and that. I never thought in a million years I’d be homeless — but it’s just another chapter of my life.”

He previously worked in transport with his father, and in fruit and veg and reclaimed timber.

“I don’t choose to sit here begging,” Mr Grothier added. “It’s part and parcel of what I have to do to survive.”