‘STREET SLOWLY BROUGHT DOWN’
MEET THE NEWLAND AVENUE FOLK FIGHTING BACK AGAINST STREET’S PETTY CRIMINALS
NEWLAND Avenue enjoys a reputation as one of Hull’s leading leisure and nightlife hotspots.
With its pubs, bars, cafés, restaurants and a nightclub, it is known as a leading haunt for Hull residents looking to enjoy an afternoon or evening out.
But since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, which shuttered those businesses, the road and streets running off it have drawn a different crowd.
That is according to Humberside Police, who wrote in a recent account of the Newland Ward beat that the area had become a “playground” for petty criminals.
PC Wayne Mellors, of North Hull Neighbouring Policing Team, said drug dealing, street drinking, begging and graffiti were now among the issues he was getting the most reports of.
A total of 16 drug-related arrests were made in the area in the past two months, with 200 cannabis plants also discovered in local properties recently.
Two arrests were made in the Newland area over criminal damage in connection with graffiti and officers have also seized alcohol from street drinkers.
A recent Humberside Police objection submitted to Hull City Council over a shop licence application in the area stated 1,158 offences were committed within 500 metres in the past year.
The area is also subject to a Public Space Protection Order, which gives officers powers to go after street drinkers and those committing antisocial behaviour.
But residents and traders on Newland Avenue are split on the extent of problems, their cause and how far lockdown can be blamed.
One anonymous resident said that since restrictions had eased there were already signs of improvement.
The resident said: “Newland Avenue got a lot worse in the mornings during lockdown.
“There were more drug takers out, coming and going from wherever they’d been. The rubbish left on the streets got a lot worse, too.
“Graffiti did get worse, too, but now I think people are just happy that things are getting back to normal.”
Shaun Macee, of Newland Pet and Garden Supplies, said while he had not witnessed street crime, he had been the victim of theft.
The shop owner said: “I don’t live around here but my shop’s been open right the way through the lockdowns. But I’ve had some problems with shoplifting, I caught two who came in on my cameras.
“One woman filled a pram up with lighters, when I went round to look they’d all gone.
“I haven’t seen them since, but next time they come in I’ll be giving them their marching orders.”
Oscar, who works in Newland Avenue, said: “I think it was mainly coronavirus causing the issues, only the takeaways were open during the lockdowns.
“It’s improving, but it’s not completely back to normal, I think once the students come back that will help the businesses at least.”
The owner of a decades-old DIY and hardware store in Newland Avenue said he believed the causes of current problems were years in the making.
The trader said: “I used to live on one of the streets off Newland Avenue, but I live on Inglemire Lane now.
“It was very different about ten years ago, but in the past three or four I’ve started to see more people out dealing drugs and drinking in the streets.
“I’ve seen people out walking along with cans in their hands, you get beggars and down and outs sitting outside the supermarkets.
“Going back ten or 15 years ago you’d walk down the street and you’d see the same families, you’d be walking along saying: ‘morning, morning.’
“Slowly the families have vanished, a lot of them sold their houses to investors and landlords, they got good money for them.
“Those houses were rented out to students mostly at first because they paid good money and were studying, they might be a bit disruptive but they weren’t destructive.
“But then the students started getting more for their money in new purpose-built apartments and that left the landlords with a lot of houses.
“So now they’ve been turned into houses of multiple occupation and they just get anyone in as long as they’re paying rent and covering council tax.
“And some of those that have moved into them have brought drugs in and slowly, not overnight, it’s brought the area down.
“And now I hear about the police getting called out and they’re going down those streets for all sorts.
“Before lockdown we had the late-night drinking, too. I know someone who lives on Newland Avenue and they said it was going on until one or two in the morning, it sounded awful.
“I know another elderly gentleman who lived on Torrington Street with his wife for 60 years, he loved it around here.
“Eventually a drug dealer moved in on one side of him and a former prisoner on the other, but he couldn’t afford to move out.
“Next to Newland Avenue is Newland Grove, they were homes built in the 1970s for the over-65s.
“I saw a young man go into one one day and shortly after I saw more go in. I found out later the police had been round and it was a drug dealer, all the electrics had been jumped, there were fans on all the ceilings, there are people in there who shouldn’t be.
“I wasn’t here during the lockdown because I had to close my shop, but from what I’ve heard from people who were, it sounds like the same pattern of behaviour to me.”
One resident, a former magistrate
Slowly the families have vanished ... and some of those that have moved into them have brought drugs in and slowly, not overnight, it’s brought the area down Owner of a DIY and hardware store in Newland Avenue
in Alexandra Road, said Newland Avenue’s street drinking problem was not new, but had been inherited from elsewhere.
He added he had witnessed drinkers and their behaviour as they came past his house on the way to Newland Avenue.
“It’s been more or less quiet on a night in the last couple of weeks but it’s obvious that the students are starting to come back now.
“I have seen some people during lockdown walking drunk down the middle of the road, you still get the odd empty beer bottle lying around.
“I watched one chap who was struggling, I thought to myself any moment now he’s going to fall flat on his face.
“I had another who I found sat on my bench by the back door, I asked him what he was doing and he said he’d been told to sit down for a bit.
“I’ve got a camera on my house for looking at the birds but I’ve seen some things on there.
“I saw two men fighting in the street and one hit the other and knocked him down but picked him up, I thought that at least he helped him up.
“The police say they’ve gotten rid of the Beverley Road street drinkers, but now they’re here.”
Rizwaan Ashfaq, manager of Level Bar in Newland Avenue, said the only graffiti he had seen recently was that being painted in his venue as part of a redecoration.
He added that while there was talk of petty crime, it did not seem any worse than other areas.
The manager said: “If you look out there’s a lot more footfall on here now, it seems like the place is getting back to normal.
“There was talk of a little bit of street crime during lockdown, but to be honest every area gets some of that.
“I think a lot more of the drug users were out on the streets, but on the whole it was fairly calm and quiet.
“As for late-night drinking it’s a tough one, all the hospitality businesses have worked hard to get ready for their reopenings.
“In bars like ours it’s a controlled environment, we can control who we let in and we can speak to customers to ask them to respect the neighbours if we think they’re getting out of hand.
“But the trouble is once they’re off our premises there’s nothing we can do, I think the answer to that is more police presence.”