The once-thriving UK city that is filled with deserted outlets – ‘it is like everybody’s given up’ | UK | News | EUROtoday

Nearly a decade after being named Kent’s saddest place and essentially the most unfriendly place within the UK, Gillingham seems to be caught in the identical place – and for a lot of residents, issues really feel worse somewhat than higher.

In 2016, Kent Online labelled the Medway city essentially the most depressed space within the county. Three years later, guests took to TripAdvisor to name it “the unfriendliest town” within the nation. Walking by means of the excessive avenue, it’s simple to see why the previous label has caught. Furniture has been dumped on pavements, shopfronts sit boarded up or deserted, and several other indicators grasp with letters lacking. Many of the outlets that stay are closed, and people nonetheless buying and selling are scattered between empty items.

As I walked by means of the city centre, folks averted eye contact, preserving their heads down and shifting rapidly previous each other. The sense of neighborhood feels fractured.

Anna, who has lived in Gillingham for 3 many years, says the city now not appears like a spot the place folks put down roots.

“I’ve lived here for 30 years and I don’t even know my neighbours,” she stated. “It’s people in multiple occupancies or students going in and out. You see the streets, people are throwing their furniture out on the streets. It’s like everyone has given up.”

For long-term residents, the decline is especially arduous to simply accept. Will Charles has lived in Gillingham because the Seventies and remembers a really completely different city.

“I’ve lived here since the 1970s and it was once a thriving town,” he stated. “However, more people are shopping on Amazon or choosing to go to Bluewater, so shops have shut and it now looks the way it does.”

Pointing alongside the excessive avenue, he added: “With no businesses, people aren’t going to come in and it turns to this. People are stuck on their phones and no one is looking up.”

Carol Austin, 69, moved to Gillingham in 1990 and says the lack of main retailers has modified how residents dwell their day-to-day lives.

“There used to be loads of shops here back in the day – Wilko, Debenhams,” she stated. “I liked going to the high street to shop around and pick something out. Now I have to go elsewhere to shop.”

Despite investing closely in her residence, Carol admits she would depart if she might. “If I could pick up my house and put it somewhere out of Gillingham, I’d do it instantly. It’s a shame what has happened, really.”

Others level to rising homelessness and poverty as indicators of a city beneath strain. Charmaine moved to Gillingham from London to be nearer to her brother, drawn by cheaper housing.

“It is much cheaper here, but at what cost?” she stated. “Usually there are many homeless people here on the high street and it is sad to watch. It is difficult for them to get help.”

She added that her personal son had been with out lodging for a very long time earlier than not too long ago discovering someplace to dwell. “Sometimes on the streets someone asks you to buy them some bread or a sandwich so they can eat, and I do that for them. But I’m one of the minorities – you don’t see that happening much.”

Police say they’re conscious of residents’ considerations and want them to be their “eyes and ears” within the city.

District Commander for Medway, Chief Inspector Paul Diddams, stated: “Gillingham’s town centre policing team patrol the area every day, focused on tackling the small minority of thieves who target local businesses and those who persist in behaving in a disorderly manner.