We live in the ‘roughest area in the UK’ but we love it – people are fun
RESIDENTS of the “roughest area in the UK” have told how they love living in their town.
Latest census data showed Ayresome, in Middlesbrough, is one of the most deprived areas in Britain – but locals say “everyone keeps an eye on each other.”
Residents complain of the high crime rate and the litter-covered streets – but they all stay because of the comradery between their neighbours.
Annmarie Fowler has lived on the road for four years – and just last week her son had his phone stolen.
She told Teeside Live: “It’s rough as old boots here. I stick up for my own – when it comes to my kids I’d go to the moon and back.”
Annmarie said another lady a few doors down had her “car smashed in” and had to put tape across her window.
She claimed the woman’s son is “frightened to go in the car” now because of the ordeal.
Despite this, she said everyone on Athol Street “keeps an eye out for each other.”
On the other side of the street to her lives her step-dad, Paul Thomas Bellis.
He said: “I get on well with everyone here! But the community [of Ayresome] is a bit drug-related – but our street is fine.”
Meanwhile, Emma Sedgewick, who has been working as a lollipop lady on Parliament Road for nearly a year but has lived in Middlesbrough for 13 years, said: “People are “polite and never nasty” when she’s out on the streets doing her job.
She did note however that it can be “lethal”, explaining: “I don’t know why half of them drive – they don’t stop!”
Despite the politeness she encounters, and speaking of Ayresome as an area, the 44-year-old said: “Don’t get me wrong, I think it is a bad area and I lived here.
“But it is bad. Most of the houses are boarded up and I’m actually looking to move this week.”
Emma, who also has a second job in school catering, said she enjoys what she does because she “gets to see the fun side” of people on the school runs.
She added: “I think they could do more for kids in Ayresome. When I was younger we had youth clubs – now when they do go out they have gangs. We need a safe space for kids so then the parents are not worried.”
Ayresome remains one of the areas that play host to student housing, with a number of student letting signs outside properties along the street.
Bola, 28, who is a university student, has lived in Ayresome for just five months.
She said: “There’s no work and no jobs here.
DEPRIVED AREAS
The Office for National Statistics data states that a household is classified as deprived if it meets at least one of the four dimensions:
- Employment: where any member of a household, who is not a full-time student, is either unemployed or economically inactive due to long-term sickness or disability.
- Education: where no person in the household has at least a level 2 education and no one aged 16 to 18 years is a full-time student.
- Health: any person in the household has general health that is “bad” or “very bad” or is identified as disabled. People who have assessed their day-to-day activities as limited by long-term physical or mental health conditions or illnesses are considered disabled
- Housing: this is classified as deprived if the household’s accommodation is either overcrowded, in a shared dwelling, or has no central heating.
“Most of the time you have to leave to get them. It’s an average place to live and there is nothing special about it – I’ve heard there are better places to live.”
Another Middlesbrough woman, 41, who did not wish to be named said she has lived in the area all her life but is moving away, saying: “I sold my house under value because I can’t stand to live here anymore.
“I don’t think it’s deprived – but I do think it has been brought down.” The other lady, 37, moved away to Acklam but works in a nearby supermarket, saying the store often encounters shoplifters.
She said: “There are groups of people fighting all the time. Beggars are knocking on doors.”
The 41-year-old added: “We just walk past things now because we are used to them. I have lived here a long time and it used to be a sought-after area!”