Foreigners like to think that Britain is a nice and safe place to live what with all the tennis, croquet, and Devon Cream Tea. But we all know there are some seriously dodgy places in Britain, places that you would be mad to walk through alone. Below we take a look at some of Britain’s dodgiest neighbourhoods that you should avoid at all costs!
Blackpool
Blackpool is often thought of as all glitz and glamour. With it’s hundreds of pubs, hotels and arcades, it can be a great place for a lads weekend where you can have a few beers and make a bit of a tit of yourself. But behind the flashing lights and music, Blackpool hides a seriously dark underbelly.
As well as being recently classed as the UK’s most depressing place to live, it also boasts the UK’s highest rates of deaths due to alcoholism and heroin, and with drugs comes crime. Add to this the fact that all summer you have blokes from Scotland, Manchester, London, Liverpool and every other major town and city in the UK descending upon the resort intent on getting smashed, means that you are never more than about 5 minutes from things kicking off big time.
The Town centre is obviously the focus point for all this trouble, but Blackpool also boasts one of Britain’s toughest council estates, Grange Park. Avoid that too.
Toxteth, Liverpool
You might be old enough to remember the riots 20 years ago in Toxteth. You’d think it might have recovered wouldn’t you after all this time, but the fact is that Toxteth still finds itself in the grip of gang related crime and violence.
With drugs being rife and shootings a regular occurrence, it’s not a place to be walking around. Cranby street is probably the epicentre of Toxteth’s dodginess, but walk anywhere in Toxteth and you’ll find graffiti laden empty buildings, boarded up shops and gangs of youths hanging about with menacing grins. It’s safe to say that when Liverpool was the Capital of Culture, Toxteth didn’t feature in its promotional material. Other places to avoid include Kensington and Anfield.
Hackney
With part of Hackney being dubbed ‘Murder Mile’, you know you are in some serious dodgy territory. With gun crime statistics worse than South Africa’s Soweto, it deserves its place in our list of Britains dodgiest neighbourhoods. It also has burglary figures that are three times the national average, and robbery levels that are eight times higher. It’s a wonder anyone dares leave their house in Hackney.
It’s testament to London’s mad property market, however, that sees the average semi detached house in Hackney selling for just under £1m. There are numerous other areas best avoided, including Peckham, Brixton and Tower Hamlets.
Easton, Bristol
Easton in Bristol, or more specifically Stapleton Road is known by locals as both Crackhead Alley and Junkie Street. What can only be described as a hellhole that is basically lawless – rape, murder, prostitution, robberies and knifings are all commonplace occurrences. Dozens of hookers ply their trade along the street, whilst drug dealers openly deal in coke, heroin and crack.
If you were to start at one end of Stapleton Road and walk through to the other end, you’d be genuinely lucky to make it through unscathed. Other places to avoid in Bristol include Southmead and Knowle.
Moss Side Manchester
Manchester’s gun crime capital, Moss Side, may not be quite as bad as when the Gooch Close gang was at war with the Doddington crew, but it is still a seriously dodgy place. Notorious for the amount of guns on the streets, it’s not a place to be walking through alone. With the area being controlled by up to 500 gang members in total, you really don’t want to be caught up in one of the regular street shootings resulting from their turf wars.
Like we said it’s not as bad as it once was, but that just says more about just how lawless it used to be. It is still a very, very dangerous place to be if you’re a stranger. Other places to avoid in Manchester include Wythenshawe, Longsight and Harpurhey.