Market traders in Dudley are taking as little as £60 a day as the town, once celebrated as a sparkling jewel of the 1970s, is now described as a "desolate slum" plagued by troublemakers, with even local councillors acknowledging it is "falling apart and ruined."
People living in Dudley claim their home has turned into a ghost town containing more than 40 vacant retail units despite benefiting from multi-million-pound regeneration schemes. Disheartening photographs reveal how the town has filled with shuttered and abandoned premises, while locals report a rise in antisocial behaviour rendering it dangerous to venture out after nightfall.
Council investment questioned
Dudley Council has ploughed £24 million into a new bus-and-tram station set to launch within weeks, yet residents have dismissed the project as futile since "there's no shops to even visit." Others claim they wouldn't dare enter the town centre owing to balaclava-wearing troublemakers on e-bikes and young people consuming drugs and alcohol on the high street.
This week, seating installed as part of a £150,000 market transformation was removed after 16 months following problems with pigeon infestations at the stalls and groups congregating to consume alcohol. Market stallholders have also disclosed taking as little as £60 daily as customers abandon the once-thriving high street for out-of-town retail parks and internet shopping.
Councillor and trader concerns
Councillor David Stanley, ex-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." Councillor Stanley noted that residents had been discussing regeneration in the town for years, yet progress appeared minimal.
Numerous locals have since echoed these sentiments, including Harriet Manly, 40, a mum-of-one, who declared: "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. When you've got your own politicians telling you it's falling apart, that says everything you need to know."
Historic market decline
For over 800 years, the marketplace served as the town's vibrant core, and during the 1980s it housed Marks & Spencer, BHS, Littlewoods, Dorothy Perkins, Woolworths, Burtons and H Samuel. Those household names have all disappeared and present-day market traders describe the situation as dire.
Chris Bradwick, 62, from Tipton, has operated a stall at the town's historic open-air market for the past five years. He remarked: "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." Even Dudley Council's own walk-in shop closed last year, while a former Debenhams is now partly occupied by a Wetherspoons pub.
Famous residents include Sir Lenny Henry, Sue Lawley, Sam Allardyce and Duncan Edwards, but locals say they have little more to be proud of. Pub regular Stephen Bradley, 33, commented: "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 you. 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, stated: "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."
