The rat-infested UK ghetto where ‘even pimps refuse to work’

A STREET known for being one of the UK's most notorious red light districts has now become so run-down that even pimps refuse to work there.

Sex workers who used to regularly offer their services on the street corners of Manchester Road, a half-mile, arrow-straight thoroughfare running from the edge of Swindon’s town centre, have either quit or moved indoors for their own safety.

Knife crime, street robberies and other forms of violence have left most of the women too scared to work the busy street and the dozen or so roads and alleyways running off it.

Today, the network of lanes and alleys in and around Manchester Road are piled high with rubbish, animal faeces and discarded mattresses and electrical goods.

Apart from the plethora of Middle-Eastern and Polish mini-markets, barber shops and bookies, drug deals, violence and fly-tipping are the only activities that appear to be thriving.

The collapse of a once-smart area of the Wiltshire town has left locals in despair.

Retired Royal Mail worker Les lived in a terraced house off Manchester Road for many years before moving into a flat in a “better area” recently to escape the social problems besetting this part of the town.

He said he knew it was time to move away when the pimps and prostitutes that poured into Manchester Road “in their dozens” every evening left the area.

“There’d be 30 or more sex workers here every night, and even a few in the day,” said father-of-four Les, 71.

“It was teeming with them, up and down Manchester Road and the side streets.

“They’d get the money off the punters up front, then take them into one of the alleyways nearby. Five minutes later, they’d be back in their spot looking for more business.

“Some of them used to make £1,000 a night, I was told.

“But lately it has got so rough and dangerous here, especially at night, it’s just not safe for them any longer.

“They’ve got no protection - you rarely see the police here - and they were carrying fairly significant amounts of money on them by the end of the night, so it just wasn’t sensible.

“Most of them moved out. The pandemic and lockdown had kept many of them off the streets anyway and I think after that, maybe because of the additional poverty it caused, this area became totally unsafe.

“You see drug deals going on all the time nowadays and crime - knife crime in particular - has become an increasing part of the problem.”

So too, Les believes, has the “filth” left to rot at the side of the streets in and around Manchester Road.

“It used to be very smart and today around here, even though the locals were never particularly affluent.

“People round here had high standards and that meant everyone did their best to keep the place looking neat and tidy. In those days, no one would have dreamed of dropping their litter in the street, leaving ripped bin bags piled up everywhere.

“It’s a crying shame.”

Read more: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24833472/uk-ghetto-drugs-crime-sex-work-swindon/

The Sun newspaper brings you the latest breaking news videos and explainers from the UK and around the world

Become a Sun Subscriber and hit the bell to be the first to know

Read The Sun: http://www.thesun.co.uk
Like The Sun on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesun/
Follow The Sun on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSun
Subscribe to The Sun on Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/The_Sun/1633225139

Видео The rat-infested UK ghetto where ‘even pimps refuse to work’ канала The Sun