Has Morecambe Changed?

[coachman]

As you all know (ok, most of you) I live and drive a bus in Accrington and aspire to retiring in either France or Morecambe. As it stands at the moment, France is unattainable due to finances so Morecambe is a more likely bet!

Willow and I have been unable to visit Morecambe in the last couple of years now but I fondly remember 10 or so years back when I travelled from Southern England (well, it was just North of London,) four years concurrently as a coach driver, bringing a Luton School up for a week to tour the Lake District and various other venues with our base always Morecambe. There were always 2 coaches, therefore 2 drivers and after the coach keys were "hung up" at around 6pm, we visited the various pubs to enjoy the Northern hospitality.

At 11:15, we would walk along the front to the B&B and be amazed at the lack of drunks. Anywhere else in the U.K. there would be hoodies or stag/hen parties, shouting their head off..................

SO!! anyway, an inspector got on my bus the other Saturday and said that he would be with me for the duration of my shift (which was 9 hours) His name was Paddy and because of the duration of time, we had various long chats. He lives in Morecambe but when I told him that I would like to live there after retiring, he painted a completely different story!

According to him, the last 3 or 4 years has seen a huge increase in crime and violence. The picture that he painted was that Morecambe was no longer a safe place to walk at night........................

Is this right? or maybe, because he hasn't witnessed what is happening in the rest of the country, he is ignorant of the fact that most towns/cities are a "no go" area for sober or elderly people.

What are your experiences of Morecambe late at night?

[WillowTheWhisp]

I would just like to add that at one time we were considering the possibility of moving somewhere much warmer because I DO NOT like winter and especially do not like snow. After having visited Tunisia we quite took a liking to it there and what with all the signs etc being in French and the people speaking French on a equal basis with Tunisian Arabic it seemed like we'd cope quite well.

Having seen what's going on there recently though following the revolution I'm not quite sure how safe it is there anymore.

As for the UK - well I certainly wouldn't be keen on walking through the centre of Accy alone late at night but like Coachman I had also always had the fond notion that it was not that way in Morecambe. Whenever we've been up there and stayed overnight it has always seemed a lot safer and calmer than other places.

[mpprh]

I remember someone telling me 30 years ago that Morecambe had the highest crime rate in the world caused by drugtakers in the West End who were on the dole . He had rarely left Lancaster and I ignored it as having been picked up from the chattering classes in some local pub..

Is it worse than it was when I lived there ? There was always a consistent backlog of offences covered in the Visitor (then always rather sensational and provocative), mostly of a minor nature.

So, what are the headlines in the Visitor today ?

www.thevisitor.co.uk/news/morecambe-and-district-news

In the grand scheme of things not a lot has happened over the last couple of weeks - some drug related cases, child abuse from 20 yrs ago, a couple of burglaries, a sexual assault in Lancaster. A rape in Heysham seems to be the most serious offence.

There are some stats here - www.ukcrimestats.com/Neighbourhood/Lancashire_Constabulary/Poulton_in_Morecambe - that you can use to make a valid comparison.

What is noticeable is that some of the worst areas in the country are in the North, but Morecambe does not feature here : www.ukcrimestats.com/Neighbourhoods


I don't think we are looking at downtown Detroit, here !

Peter

[trevnhil]

Probably agreeing with what Peter has said, I still would be wary of walking around some Morecambe areas at night.

Waking along the promenade on a nice Summer evening would seem fine to me.

But there are areas that I would not choose to be strolling when it was dark and it was after 10-00 pm

I am not going to mention any areas just as I refrained from mentioning bad (to me) areas when someone was asking where to move to in Morecambe.

It's just my opinion, but I don't think anywhere is as safe as it used to be.

Out here in Cyprus it is not as safe as it used to be. The reason??? Many more people are out of work and need money. Over here there is not the safety net that you have in the UK. But even with your benefits, people want more. Loners on dark nights are easy targets.

Margaret, how is it in Accrington?? Are you safe in town after 10pm or is it best to be careful?

Trev..

[mpprh]

On the same subject ...... does Morecambe still have Glasgow weekend ?

Peter

[brian]

There's always been areas I wouldn't walk through alone in Morecambe but the areas have changed over the years. Many years ago Seabourne Rd had a bad reputation, I live round the corner now and it's fine. Poulton wasn't the nicest of places but look at it now. Even Ryelands in Lancaster has changed for the better, who'd have expected that 10 years ago?

I'm not sure about Glasgow weekend but there's still a fortnight when you'll hear more Scottish accents than usual. Landladies and Dockers weekend still features but not on the scale I remember, long gone are the days when Queen St was closed for drinking only.

[WillowTheWhisp]

In Accrington town centre I'd say it's best probably just to be a bit wary of the drunks at night and steer clear of crowds outside nightclubs and bars because sometimes people can be a bit funny when they've had a few too many. Then there are the ones falling over and throwing up in the gutter but I don't see much because I tend not to be there.

Some of the estates are scarier places at night than the town centre, but there are also some decent nice ordinary people living there and it's a shame for them that the place gets a bad reputation because of the few.

[accykeef]

It is hard to judge how dangerous walking round any town after dark is. Muggings etc. are quite rare even in the most deprived areas although the feeling of intimidation when passing groups of yobs is very real.

It is really a case of better safe than sorry and the only night time strolling round Morecambe we have done recently is to Sainsburys or the chippie. I do like a walk along the sea front after it has been snowing but I avoid walking through the town centre as much as possible.

As for the pubs in the dark, they are in no danger from us as just don't do pubs at night. We somethimes visit on a sunny afternoon or evening but I think our next visit could be quite a while yet.

[andyo]

Dec 5, 2011 17:34:49 GMT mpprh said:

On the same subject ...... does Morecambe still have Glasgow weekend ?

Peter

Peter, I take it you are implying that crime and violence in Morecambe increased during the Glasgow weekend and no doubt it did ;D Don't forget though that holidaymakers from Glasgow contributed much to Morecambe's economy during its heyday as a (very fine) holiday resort.

[mpprh]

I think it is fair to say that pub landlords welcomed Glasgow weekend !

I worked summers in the Broadway during the 70's and our record takings were that weekend.


Peter

[accykeef]

They wouldn't serve us in the Broadway a few years back cus we were non residents.

Never been back since, as there are several others nearby, glad of the custom.

[WillowTheWhisp]

How very odd turning away customers. For all they knew you could have been potential residents or sussing the place out on someone else's behalf. You'd think they would be glad of the custom wouldn't you?