Worksop traders concerned drug use in town centre is driving business away

Drug use in the town centre has become a prominent visible issue for Worksop residents. The town is littered with drug paraphernalia, and there has been a noticeable rise in anti-social behaviour which traders say is down to a group of around 15 people.

In a public ‘Have Your Say’ meeting earlier this month with Police Crime and Commissioner Caroline Henry and Worksop’s Neighbourhood Inspector Neil Bellamy, Bellamy stated that crime rates had now returned to pre-Covid levels, but records show they have in fact exceeded.

According to statistics from Police.uk, April-June 2021 saw the highest number of crimes in Worksop South in the last three years, with a total of 385 reported crimes in June alone.

Bridge Street traders have revealed that this rise in crime has begun to affect business as visitors in Worksop feel threatened by drug-users and the homeless.

“Customers tell me they don’t like to come into the town because they don’t feel safe”, one Bridge Street business owner, who would prefer to remain anonymous, revealed.

“It's just awful. There’s fights all the time and drugs everywhere. We need some police that actually have a backbone.

“We’ve got 15 people this end wrecking it for 41,000 people that live here and don’t come into the town, and that cannot be right. When we’re having customers that have lived here all their lives and daren’t come into this town, there’s something wrong.”

John Poxon, owner of JP Meats butcher said to reduce the drug use, the police need to stop them from congregating outside Barclays. “They congregate from six o'clock in the morning outside Barclays and there's a reason for that because they're waiting for the happy stuff to come,” John said.

“Let's have a better police presence, keep them moving. And secondly, why don't we target their accessibility to the drugs. I can see it happening and I'm a butcher.”

In the Have Your Say meeting, insp Bellamy confirmed that more staff are joining the town’s police force in September as a result of more new police officers moving through apprenticeships and trainee schemes.

Scott Barker, the owner of a Tasty Grill burger van in front of the Trader Clock also agreed that there needed to be a better power presence. “It's not good, the drug taking and the drinking really is a bad issue that seems to be happening more and more now.

“It affects our business. The general public don't like it - we don't want to see it. A lot of older customers are very intimidated by the drugs.

“It's happening in broad daylight in front of us, but when there's a police presence everything's fine, it's alright.”

Mrs Henry recently located the Trader Clock as one of the crime hotspots (see page 7), and hopes new CCTV from a fund she’s bidding for will help deter crime and catch criminals without as much reliance on police presence.

Despite this, there is already a camera right next to the burger van and Scott frequently sees drug users standing immobile in telephone boxes and beside buildings.

Scott said: “They don't care about the camera, so what you need is more bodies on the streets.

“Obviously I can understand why the police aren't down here all the time, there's a lot of crime going on, but we need somebody even if it's just security like a private firm that's got the power to remove people.”

David Swain, manager at Cockney Rebel Fashions said: “We need customers to come into the town but we need to understand that customers do feel quite vulnerable.

“If people have got no homes, then where did they go?”

One Worksop resident said the issues may be lack of places for the homeless people to go during the day.

“In a lot of ways it's not their fault. The homeless guys, they all sleep at Hope at night, but they're kicked out at eight o'clock in the morning, so they've got nowhere to go, so they all loiter about at the clock.

“But, I walked past with my two children who are nine and 13, and my little boy, who is nine was like, mum, look at them, and there were these two that were arguing, and my little boy was petrified.

“Old people are also absolutely terrified. They don't even go to the bank because they're all sat outside the clock. I'm not saying any of them might hurt you, I don't know that, nobody knows that, but for a child of nine and an old person it is terrifying.”

In an earlier statement from Bassetlaw District Council, they said the authority was ‘very sorry’ to hear that people feel uneasy about visiting the town centre, and reassured that the area is a ‘safe place’ to visitors.

The Council works with places like Hope Services, YMCA, Framework and CGL to support people get off the streets and address issues such as addiction.

As part of PCC Henry’s tenure, she says she is committed to reinstating the vibrancy Worksop once had, and will improve the safety in the town through increased visibility and flexibility of police officers, and by putting victims and residents at the heart of Nottinhamshire’s policing.