Inside Britain's worst high street: Why shoppers are terrified to visit city centre in Wales

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

It has it all. Crime, drugs, homelessness, and now more empty shopfronts than any high street in the UK.
It is unlikely Newport was ever in the running to be hailed as the UK's 'best high street', but a recent report has placed the city centre right at the bottom of the list... and it comes as no surprise to locals.
The Welsh city is home to some of the highest crime rates in the country, and earlier this year was voted the worst staycation spot in the UK.
Now, it has been dubbed the 'worst high street' after think tank Centre for Cities found it has the highest proportion of empty units, with nearly one in five shops - 19 per cent - left boarded up.
On Friday officers were called to Commercial Road after a group of men were seen fighting in the street yesterday afternoon, with two wielding huge sword-like blades.
It comes as a BBC investigation this week also found that mini-marts and vape shops in the city are routinely being shut down by trading standards over the sale of illegal tobacco and vapes.
When the Daily Mail visited the deprived city centre on Thursday, locals and businesses told of how the elderly were 'too frightened' to visit the high street anymore and all that remains are 'vape shops, betting shops and charity shops'.
The empty stores have become targets for crime gangs, with Gwent Police uncovering a series of high street buildings being used as cannabis farms last year, of which the largest was a former Wildings store which shut down in 2019.
A closed Wildings store in the city centre. Last year, Gwent Police discovered a large cannabis farm being grown by a criminal gang inside the store
A short stroll down Commercial Street, the main high street which runs down to Commercial Road in the notorious crime-ridden Pill (Pillgwenlly), and it is hard to miss the rows of boarded up storefronts.
A large Debenhams just off the high street remains empty since its closure in 2021 and the abandoned Cineworld has the words 'Ghost' graffitied at the top of the building.
Local man Carl, 40, said crime was killing off the high street.
He told the Daily Mail: 'There is more crime around here than things that bring happiness to people.
'It used to be a great thriving happy place in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
'Now it's empty and there's nothing to come here for.
'People are too scared to come here, it used to be nice area but now people are too frightened to come here.
'It's the elderly that come to the shops here but they are too frightened.
'There are youngsters just going round causing trouble and trashing things. There's nothing to do for the youngsters so they're out causing trouble.
'You can't go into a shop without someone begging outside now. It's sad.
'People need to come together to make Newport better. We want to see it improve, not deteriorate.
'Everyone here is struggling to survive. People are on the poverty line and even the foodbanks aren't running.
'It's a vulnerable place here, there's a lot of poverty. So it's a target for crime and dodgy shops.'
Further down the high street, refuse worker Alun Jones looked around as he told the Daily Mail: 'It's depressing, yeah. It's gone downhill.
'They're all vapes shops, tiny grocery stores, and they get closed down every few months because they're selling illegal vapes and tobacco.
'They get closed down regularly, they get closed down there then they go over the road and open up there. So there's no deterrent.
'A couple of years ago there were four or five cannabis farms found by police in the centre of town. They were just very obviously in the high street, they weren't even trying to hide it.
'The drugs have gotten to the point where you don't notice the people that smell of cannabis anymore. Because it's normal, it's always around.
'There is also a lot of vagrancy around that doesn't help.
'Ever since Covid people who used to come to the centre now don't. I think it's had a big influence on it. They just shop online.
'Just before Covid started getting quieter but now its gone down noticeably. It's killed it off.'
He said that while work was ongoing to revamp the Kingsway shopping centre and reopen closed stores, 'it'll probably just be another charity shop or another vape shop'.
'They're not stores of stores that are going to bring people in', he added.
'The worst thing to be done to Newport was building Friars Walk shopping centre.
'People come straight into the car park, go to Friars, and go back. They never come to Commercial Street.
'If that money was invested into Commercial Street maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
'I think before soon the high street will just become predominantly into residential areas.'
Recent statistics from the Home Office revealed earlier this year that despite having a population of just 159,600 residents, Newport has the highest crime rate in the country.
There are a staggering 121 offences committed for every 1,000 people, and analysis by MailOnline showed that crimes including possession of weapons, sexual offences and violence have all markedly increased since Covid.
Newport Council says that while it acknowledges the need to reduce the number of vacant retail units, the figures are 'distorted' because Newport has the highest amount of retail space per head than any of the other 62 high streets featured in the Centre for Cities report.
They also say that apart from Newport and Leicester, no other council provided vacancy data, and so the vacancy figures are based on 'modelling'.
Kevin Ward, of Newport City Centre Business Improvement District, has also hit out at the report's findings, saying the report only focused on 63 of the country's largest cities and towns.
He also argued that the situation has improved, from some 33 per cent of store units being vacant in 2021 to 19 per cent in the most recent figures.
Antonio Campo and Rosy Ferrara, who have been running the popular Bar Piazza cafe near the centre's Friar Walk for 11 years, however say customers tell them they are scared to go to Commercial Street despite being around the corner.
They said: 'People don't feel safe in Newport anymore. Our customers don't feel safe so they don't go near the main street.
'They don't feel safe.
The crimes, the drugs and alcohol in this area is not good. The alcohol should be kept to the pub but it is not.
'I came here 11 years ago and back then I feel Newport was amazing. It's in the last 4 or 5 years it feels like no one cares about Newport anymore.
'I think the council is working well now to help the empty shops but it's still not good.
'You can organise as much things as you want, but if people don't feel safe then people will not come.
'I never felt unsafe in Newport, but I remember probably a year ago and my kids were playing outside my cafe.
'The girl from Specsavers said to me "keep your kids close because there are people here grabbing kids and going."
'I don't know if true but not very nice to hear. It's not something you want to worry about.'
Close to the city centre are also some of the city's most deprived and crime-ridden areas including Pill, another factor which is thought to drive both customers and businesses away.
Heidi Mehta, 50, said: 'I was a student here about 20 years ago.
'It was a thriving place to be, it felt safe, it had lots of cafes, it was a good place to go out. All of that is gone.
'I remember there being lot of shops that I could buy my art materials and things to do with my course, and now it feels like it's all pound shops or charity shops or betting shops or completely empty. Or vape shops, which wasn't around then.
'I don't feel the need to come into the high street anymore, there isn't the draw to come in.
'The only time I come into the city centre is for the bank and when I come in in the mornings there are a lot of homeless people outside the shopfronts.
'The feeling isn't I'll come to the bank and stay for a coffee.
'There is an issue with homeless people and drug use here, which is sad.
'It's definitely deprived, far more evident now than it used to be. People haven't got the income to spend that money, and you haven't got the shops that will bring in people with money.
'Surrounding areas here are very deprived as well so it won't do much for the centre of Newport.'
Louise Reece, 37, told of how she tends to avoid coming into the centre and had spent the last hour trying to find her baby daughter a red t-shirt but struggled to find any clothes shops.
She said: 'I don't tend to come into Newport for shopping anymore.
'It feels abandoned, it's forgotten.
'If you go 20 minutes up the road to Cwmbran, it's thriving. So is Cardiff.
'But there's nothing here. I've seen towns with bigger high streets. I suspect its the lack of investment.
The woman told the Daily Mail of how she had found herself walking up and down the high street trying to find a single clothes shop for her to buy her daughter a t-shirt
'They've done an impressive job on the riverfront, but Newport has just been left to fall apart.
'My son used to love going to Geek Retreat but that shut a few weeks ago. It's a board game shop, a great space for kids to come down.
'I'm walking up and down and there's nowhere to go get some baby clothes.
There's loads of charity shops and vape shops but no clothes shops.
I just need a red t-shirt for her. It shouldn't be so difficult.
'It's got a bad reputation across the board, it's probably the worst city across Wales.
'It is struggling. It's a cycle. People don't have jobs, can't afford to shop in the high street.'
Cherie Adams, 64 has lived in Newport all her life and looked back at what it once was.
She said: 'It has gone down. When I was in school it was really thriving.
'It was a good shopping centre. Now people want to go to Cwmbran or Cardiff.
'I suppose every high street is suffering but this one especially.
'It's gotten a lot worse with homeless people, beggars, it's more noticeable now.
'I try to avoid them. I feel sorry for them but don't want to be on the tail end of them.
'You can hear them shouting up the street and you can tell they have mental health issues and drug issues.
'There was a bloke in the centre the other day who was on Spice and they are obviously getting it from somewhere.
'It's sad because I have seen it decline.
'It's changed a lot and I was born and bred here.
'Covid hit it harder but before that it was still in the background if you get what I mean. It was still happening.
'Covid was sort of the death knell. It's not really ever recovered.'
While Newport was listed by the thinktank as the city with the highest proportion of empty store units, London, Cambridge and Oxford had the lowest vacancy rates, with under 10 per cent of shops lying empty.
Tesni Howells, 18, felt it was a lack of local investment and independent businesses that was killing Newport's high street.
He said: 'The major changes I've seen in the city centre was probably the leisure centre being closed.
'We haven't had anything like that since that was closed about a decade ago.
'Nothing in Friars Walk ever stays there.
'It's the same thing with the markets.
'It's gone in favour of big businesses coming in and they're not staying because it's actually not very profitable.
'What I'd really like to see is less of the big business and have more local businesses.'
Council leader Councillor Dimitri Batrouni said: 'We absolutely agree that the number of retail units in the city centre needs to be reduced as the centre is too big for present day demand.
'The challenge is that city centre properties are mainly privately owned, sometimes by absent and neglectful landlords and it will require significant investment to achieve a reduction.
'However, we are determined to transform our city centre to be fit for the 21st century. The placemaking plan set outs proposals to start that process. In due course, we will be setting out further ambitious plans for our centre.'