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A UK town has become so rough that people are nabbing wheelie bins to earn a few pounds, locals claim.
Grimsby, in North East Lincolnshire, has seen its fortunes declinein line with blows to the fishing industry which has stripped the people who call it home of jobs. Reports claim that many who are in work in the area are left with little to feed their families after they’ve paid the bills.
Shuttered shops are not uncommon, with YouTuber Wendall recently estimating “60 to 70%” of would-be businesses are closed. "It’s just the norm round here,” a local postie told him.
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The Sunreports that some people are even living in darkness to save on bills and stave off the cost of living crisis. Meanwhile, crime in the area has been on the rise in the last three years.
The town's downfall was once summed up neatly, albeit brutally, by a former MP who labelled it: "A tough, taciturn, and unemotional town, inured to suffering because of the death of fishing and the inadequate level of support and spending it gets from government".
That situation has only got worse since. According to the most recently available data from CrimeRate, the number of crimes per 1,000 people has risen since 2020. That year there were 133, but by 2022 that number had risen to 146.
A mum of two Cheryl Smith, 44, told the outlet: “Things are so bad around here that they come and pinch the bins outside your house at night.” She explained that she landed in the area because of low house prices, something she has since described as “the only positive”. Things got worse, she said, when she was without gas or a boiler for six months.
Some in the town have been forced to turn to food banks to get sustenance. Meanwhile, families like Cheryl’s with children unable to go to school because of medical conditions are unable to get the free school meals they would otherwise receive.
Some parts of town are rife with drug dealing, with the East Marsh estate singled out as a particular hive of illicit activity. A report fromGrimsbyLivelast year found that houses in the area can go up for as little as £10,000.
On Rightmove, smart-looking properties with three bedrooms and spacious gardens are on sale for comfortably below £100,000.
Business owner Malcolm Smith, 63, told The Sun, “The houses are all boarded up. The drug dealers have taken over. They should firebomb the whole place.”
Some residents reported having fallen foul of bailiffs recently, even people who have medical conditions that leave them unable to work. Reports claim broken bottles are a common sight on the streets.
A recent video produced by YouTuber Wendall, observed that the youth of the town meanwhile, seemed numb to the challenges faced in the area. “People in their forties and below seem to be institutionalised by the state of things here… they don't really know any different,” he said.
In February of this year, Grimsby was ranked as one of the 30 worst places to live in England in the iLiveHere poll. This was, however a 12 place improvement on the previous year.
Defence has been made of the area with some praising a strong sense of community and a number of festivals and events like battle reenactments and Grim Falfest, which looks at the town's lineage going back to the Vikings.
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