Dudley, a market town once celebrated as a vibrant 1970s shopping destination, has been described as a "desolate slum" plagued by antisocial behaviour, with even local politicians admitting it is "falling apart and ruined". Residents report more than 40 empty shopping units despite multi-million pound regeneration efforts.
Boarded-up stores and safety fears
Photographs reveal a town centre filled with boarded-up and derelict shops. Locals say a surge in antisocial behaviour has made it unsafe to go out after dark, with balaclava-clad youths on e-bikes and people taking drugs and drinking on the high street.
Dudley Council has invested £24 million in a new bus-and-tram station scheduled to open within weeks, but residents have called the move pointless as "there's no shops to even visit".
Market revamp seating removed
This week, a seating area installed as part of a £150,000 market revamp was removed after 16 months. The stalls had become infested with pigeons and attracted people gathering to drink alcohol. Market traders report taking as little as £60 a day as shoppers turn to out-of-town and online options.
Councillor David Stanley, former mayor of Dudley, told a council meeting last month: "We have a derelict pub right in front of it which we have done nothing about. When you get off the tram or the bus that's the first thing you see, the place is falling apart, when you walk up the town it is ruined." He added that regeneration had been discussed for years with little progress.
Residents and traders speak out
Harriet Manly, 40, a mother of one, said: "Dudley is dead. They have spent millions on new transport connections but nobody wants to come here anyway as all the shops are closed. I won't come into town after dark, it's proper rough. There's idiots in balaclavas riding e-bikes and e-scooters. There's loads of shoplifting, general antisocial behaviour and fighting - it's just grim. It looks almost dystopian."
Chris Bradwick, 62, of Tipton, has run a stall at the town's historic open-air market for five years. He said: "I have watched as Dudley has slowly gone to nothing day-by-day. It hasn't been helped by constant broken promises by the council."
The town's market place was its beating heart for over 800 years, and in the 1980s it housed Marks & Spencer, BHS, Littlewoods, Dorothy Perkins, Woolworths, Burtons and H Samuel. All have since closed. Even Dudley Council's own walk-in shop shut last year, and a former Debenhams is now partly occupied by a Wetherspoons pub.
Pub-goer Stephen Bradley, 33, added: "My dad used to tell me how vibrant it was in the 70s and 80s but now there's nothing worth coming into town for apart from a pint. And even then you have to have your wits about it. It's a shame as I'm Black Country born and bred but there's little hope for the next generation if you stick around these parts."
Anne Boyd, director of growth and place at Dudley Council, said: "Dudley Council is working closely with Dudley town centre traders and community groups as our programme of regeneration continues to bring investment to the town. Market traders in Dudley town centre recently raised concerns that marketplace seating, which was installed last year with funding from the Government's Shared Prosperity Fund, was sometimes creating issues around antisocial behaviour. We have now removed the seating from the marketplace with it now benefitting visitors to Himley Hall and Park."
