DESPAIRING residents of a world-famous seaside town are so fed up of its drugs problem they are taking antidepressants.
Bridlington, in East Yorkshire – once an upmarket and bustling resort – is still renowned for its excellent shellfish and is referred to as the Lobster Capital of Europe.
Tourists continue to flock to the area, which was used as a filming location for the 2016 remake of Dad’s Army, to take advantage of its sandy beaches and funfair.
But a short distance from the promenade, on Tennyson Avenue, also known as “death row”, drug deals are taking place in broad daylight.
The scruffy terraced street was once the pride of the town and home to upmarket B&Bs, but in recent years has suffered a sharp decline.
The Victorian buildings, which retain little of their former grandeur, have been converted into HMOs and flats or else lie empty and boarded up.
Shortly before 8.30am on a grey, cloudy morning, a scrawny woman walks along the street, which is littered with empty cider cans, clutching a bottle of vodka.
Residents speak of being forced to defend themselves against “crack heads” and nightmare neighbours, who set fire to their flats.
One pensioner says she used to be proud to call Tennyson Avenue home, but now barely recognises it.
The woman, who was too scared to give us her name, said: “The best thing about Bridlington now is the road out of it.
“Ex prisoners used to live next door, and they were drug taking and setting fire to the place.
“It was 24/7. It was the first time in my life I had to get anti-depressants.
“There is drug dealing going on all the time. There’s a particular car I recognise and it’s dropping things off all the time.
“They deal everything, but it will definitely be crack cocaine. You see them outside houses waiting for drugs, doing their rain dance.
“You can’t go out now without your door locked. Houses around here are full of drugs.
“When I moved here it was excellent. It was really quite wonderful.
“I used to be proud to say, I live on Tennyson Avenue, but I’m not now. There’s not much I can do, I have to live through it.”
Simon Elvidge worked as a commercial diver before he was diagnosed with cancer and moved to the street.
The 59-year-old has been forced to fend off drug takers determined to start fights while high on cocaine.
He said: “This road used to be posh. But now it is full of druggies and drugs.
“It has gradually become worse but I think this is happening to every seaside town.
“They deal all sorts of drugs around here. At one point we had a place on the corner which used to house people coming out of jail.
“That was a mini crime wave. They would shoplift to pay for their drugs.
“The police are up and down all of the time. I worry about it but I can handle myself. I’ve had to do it a few times.
“I’ve had to knock a few crack heads out. One time I had a guy who came up to me and wanted to start a fight.
“But they don’t even know what they’re doing most of the time, they’re so high.
“I’ve been here six years but I came from a village to move here.
“That was a huge eye opener for me.”
Left to rot
Sat between Tennyson Avenue and the beach is a former HMO which is now boarded up and in a state of neglect.
A sign stuck to the outside simply reads: “CLOSED. To protect your community from anti-social behaviour.”
Around the corner, CCTV cameras operate in the back alleyways and there are signs warning people not to fly-tip. One camera has been painted over, rendering it useless.
Tennyson Avenue was recently home to Michael Severn, until he was sent to prison for six-and-a-half years for drug dealing.
Severn, 31, was found with an ASDA carrier bag between his legs containing £15,000 worth of cocaine.
A local who didn’t want to be named tells us he used to be part of the area’s criminal activity before turning his life around.
The young man said: “I grew up around here. It has gone really downhill.
“It used to be a thriving town and it was a main seaside attraction but now lots of places have closed down.
“Drug deals happen all down this road. They deal all kinds of drugs but definitely crack cocaine.
“I’ve had my own demons in the past but came out the other side.
“I was homeless for months but I used my will power and stopped being around the wrong people.
“All of the people who told me to hang around and stay are the ones still living in tents now.
“There is one back alley just off this road where all of the druggies go to.
“They are all over this area. You see them waiting around in plain sight.”
Desperate deprivation
The most up-to-date figures released by the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) ranked Bridlington South as the 45th most deprived area in England out of almost 33,000.
In 2021 there were 30 drugs death in East Riding, up from 22 in 2020.
And last year, Bridlington suffered the humiliation of being named the worst coastal resort in Yorkshire.
In March, three criminals were sent down for a combined 17 years after flooding the town with £3million worth of crack cocaine.
Lee Jenkinson, 32, Luke Gibson, 35, and Liam Langton, 27, were snared after a lengthy police probe into rising violence and drug activity between gangs in the town.
Georgina Marie is originally from Hull but moved to Bridlington to live with her partner.
The tutor fears for the future of her one-year-old daughter.
The 28-year-old said: “We live five minutes from the centre and people will openly drug deal in the middle of the afternoon in the street.
“But they will admit to doing it. They don’t hide it.
“It’s a lot of weed in the town centre but there’s other drugs elsewhere.
I worry for my little one. If I had my own way I’d live in the middle of nowhere and send her to a private school.
Georgina
“They are trying to make it a better area for the tourists rather than the people who live here.
“We don’t need a new car park, we need community centres for the kids.
“A new car park will be great for the tourists but the locals won’t use it. But instead kids are on the streets here because they have nowhere else to go.
“I would go to the park as a kid but now they’re not safe enough.”
“Now we see drug dealing in Bridlington and I worry it will escalate to people carrying knives etc. by the time my daughter is older.”
A spokesperson for East Riding of Yorkshire Council pointed to their Clear Hold Build scheme, which is a “concerted effort to improve quality of life in Bridlington, including by tackling organised crime and antisocial behaviour”.
They added: “The aim is to disrupt and dismantle Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) by clearing the area of OCGs, then building community resilience to prevent their return.
“The council has also supported the police by using closure orders against council properties which have been the site of antisocial behaviour, to bring immediate relief to residents.”
Ian Foster, the Neighbourhood Policing Inspector for Humberside Police, said: “Over the past year our Neighbourhood Policing Team have been working relentlessly in Bridlington to tackle anyone who has been causing harm in the area.
“We continue to take part in the multi-agency Home Office Clear Hold Build Initiative, which has involved large scale disruption of those involved in organised crime through warrants, arrests and charges.
“As a result of our ongoing work through this initiative, since April 2024, the courts have issued a total of 99 years and five months in prison sentences in relation to organised crime in Bridlington.
“With continued operations to tackle organised crime gangs and drugs dealing, such as Operation Shield, we continually gather intelligence, conduct Misuse of Drugs Act warrants and arrest and bring to justice those who commit drugs offences in our communities.
“Throughout the summer months we have also been running Operation Coastline, our proactive approach to tackling crime in our coastal region as the number of visitors increases.
“Bridlington is a fantastic place to live, work and visit and we are proud to be part of the community here.
“I urge anyone with any concerns or information about crime to please get in touch via our non-emergency 101 line or speak to an officer on patrol.”
