Visiting Barnsley Town Centre

It's very rare that I visit the town centre on a week day but I had a couple of errands to run last week so I called in. All I can say is that any redevelopment is a waste of time if they don't do something about the deadbeats infesting the place. I saw a six of the scummers in a brawl outside that chicken shop in Peel Square and two other losers monged off their faces and slumped outside Yorkshire Bank. It does not make for a pleasant experience. Not ideal for families. We need to increase footfall into the town but people just won't want to come and I wouldn't blame them.

 

I'll be walking across peel square sq in a few mins, it's the highlight of my day.

 

Let us know what's happening.

 

I work in the town centre. I love Barnsley but at the moment it's a right sh1thole. I've never seen such a hive of scum and villainy. It's affecting small businesses tremendously. Every town and city has gone it's fare share of scum but because tarn is so small you see it in every part of it.
I've said from the start the new development is going to be a white elephant. I'd love it to be a success but I just can't see folk using it at all. The covered part of the shopping precinct will be awash with the unwashed unless it's gated off when closed.

 

Ha, I like you.

 

Lack of opportunities for people create scummers as you put it.

The fact that most provincial towns in the UK are exactly the same with the same issues tell me it’s a society problem.

Yes, people should be accountable for their own personal actions but we are creating the issue by destroying society.

I feel sorry for these people rather than alienate them and make them out to be vermin and scum.

People don’t decide to self destruct like some are, they are pushed towards drugs and crime because they are poorly educated and have very little opportunities to earn.

 

It's got to the point where I'm reluctant to have a walk into Town with my Mrs and kids on a weekend, which is a shame as there's one or two nice little coffee shops and places to get lunch springing up.

Unless the Council chooses to acknowledge and address the problem then people like me, who are wanting to spend more money in Barnsley and see it prosper, are likely to go elsewhere.

I'll never forget turning up at St Mary's church for my daughter's christening and having to apologise to our guests for the used hypodermic needles left in the porch that they had to step over to gain access to the church, for what should have been a memorable day.

 

6 miscreants sat on the step near the bogs. Nothing new to report.

 

Plenty of town centres are struggling. This was our big morning paper story today.....

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news...fall-huddersfields-saturday-shoppers-16557595

 

Barnsley no different from any other town or city. I was in Barnsley City centre a couple of weeks ago and did think it had taken a bit of a nosedive but I put it down to the regeneration going on. TBH there was no sign of the low life you talk of so maybe I was lucky to have a walk around on a good day.
Yesterday I was in Aberdeen and on the bus home there was a couple of snack heads. No problems but they did talk rather loudly letting everyone know their business. And they got off in Dundee so obviously we have them as well.
The solution is further up the pecking order not solely Barnsley or Dundee Council. Police and councils can only do so much with their limited funding.

 

I'm a regular visitor to the new meat and fish market which is excellent, and in the evenings there's a few decent restaurants to try. It's fine by me.

 

Those snack heads, loitering with their scampi fries and mars bars.

It’s horrendous seeing all the empty chocolate rappers around Aberdeen.

 

Chocolate wrappers is the least of Aberdeen's problems.

 

Hardly anyone from my school went to college then university (charter) but i know lots who years later did so and achieved. In the interim none chose to be anti-social, rob and treat the rest of society with contempt. I know lots of these folk who are being spoken of in disgusted tones. Many had parents who chose to live on the margins of society and this consequently became their norm. I know many have been offered opportunity after opportunity and there is actually a whole load of support services out there re: addiction etc. I have been closely involved with some over the years and have seen them fall despite the best intentions of all involved. I find it pretty demoralising. I'm certain that none of them would ever have chose this path, who would?
The fundamental issue is environment. You can get people clean but they have nowhere to go but from whence they came.

 

Its becoming a problem not just in our town but across the country. When you walk through the town centre especially near peel square there are regularly people laid out on the floor just off their faces on spice or whatever their drug of choice is.

If i was a young kid walking through seeing these people i'd be unnerved to say the least. What image does this portray to people visiting the town centre?

They need dealing with, and not in a vigilante way in which we saw on Facebook a few month ago where a lad starting throwing one of them about and assaulting them. They need help obviously but first and foremost they need getting off the streets and into a rehabilitation centre or safe accommodation.

 

Son went to Parkway cinema on Friday, and me and the Mrs went to pick him up just before 10. There was 1 spice head bedding down between the cinema and takeaway who then got up and started walking all over cos his mates turned up asking anyone for brass and picking tab ends up. Mrs felt uncomfortable even sat in car with doors locked, had a drive round and outside what used to be castles clothes shop was another one doubled over. He was completely out of it, not what it used to be like when I went round town on a weekend. Like others have said, they need to weed these people off the streets so people do want to come and feel safe

 

Wot like de Ali G man - top rapper ah fink.

 

Obviously there is, but I’m pretty certain the ones frequenting the town centre are from the lowest most depraved areas in the area, and have **** education and no life opportunities. These people are getting more and more prevalent as education, housing, job opportunities hit crisis point. That along with poor public services etc means it’s only going to get worse.

I’d rather look at them as victims of the system rather than scum.

It’s the same as racism in America. Black people are lazy, poorly educated scummers in inner cities, according to some white middle class people in the US.

It’s the system that creates their plight. It’s not because they are black, it’s because of the society which has been created, with poor education, no job or career opportunities and poverty.

 

Walking back from town on Thursday night after a visit to the pub, very quiet night, no homeless or beggars around at all