NOTORIOUS STREET WHERE ‘PIMP GANGS FIGHT OVER BEST SPOT FOR SEX WORKERS’
SEX workers “battered by pimps”, people openly selling drugs, and several acts of violence and anti-social behaviour. These are just a few of the things David Richards has witnessed near the place he calls home.
Others living in the upper High Street area of Swansea, north of Swansea railway station, say they frequently see women standing on street corners “offering business” as early as 6am, and they have to be careful where they walk their dogs in order to avoid condoms and needles strewn across pavements, parks and grassland.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that life is a nightmare for local people that have to live with these activities on their doorsteps, with noise and disturbance – not to mention the threat of violence – an ever-present feature of living round here,” said resident Mr Richards.
“And don’t forget this takes place within a couple of hundred yards of a school.”
The area around High Street in Swansea has had a notorious reputation for illegal sex work for more than a century and in a special report in 2017, we discovered some women working in the area at night-time were charging men just £10 for sex with a condom or £15 for unprotected sex, as they were so desperate to make an income.
Now, seven years later, residents have claimed nothing has changed and living in the area is still the “nightmare” it’s been for decades.
Police, however, say they are not seeing the same level of community concerns as seen previously but they have urged people to report any concerns and say tackling criminal exploitation remains a priority.
During a recent visit to the area, we saw countless discarded beer cans, dozens of tiny clear plastic bags, balls of foil, condom wrappers, three needles and a used condom strewn across pavements near local businesses and a primary school, and in a residential car park.
While much of the drug dealing and sex work takes place on side streets, people working at local businesses said they had seen drunk people and anti-social behaviour on parts of High Street itself throughout the day and night.
At a particular bus stop outside the railway station, for example, shop workers say they often see a small group of people huddled together, staggering around and holding cans of beer, while further up the road they said they saw a handful of women “asking if anyone wants any business”.
It’s not quite the first impression residents and business-owners would want for people visiting Swansea, but, unfortunately, while there have been vast improvements to the area outside the station in the past few years, with new developments and shops, it’s what some people see within seconds of leaving the station.
Staff at Nisa Local, a convenience shop opposite the railway station, said it was hard to ignore what was happening close by.
“The situation never changes,” store manager Phil Thomas said. “Outside the bus stop is the drunks’ favourite spot, it’s worse now than it ever was.”
Mr Thomas has worked at the store for 18 years and has been manager for four months and said he, his colleagues and customers see trouble “all through the day”.
“There’s no security presence, no PCSOs or officers patrolling, sometimes when I’m walking into work in the morning, I walk past a pet food store that used to be a bridal shop – that’s where all the women used to stand outside – and there will be two or three women on the corner,” he said.
“They’ll say ‘Good morning, do you want any business?’ They’re not trying to hide what they’re doing.”
Mr Thomas fears the women plying their trade and the drunken, antisocial behaviour in the area puts people off walking along the road and visiting the businesses.
“There’s anti-social behaviour all day, they’re not moved on by police,” he claimed. “I use our in-store net radio [to report incidents to other local businesses] and we have CCTV cameras, but we’re told unless it’s a ‘real emergency’ the police won’t come.
“I think it [the anti-social behaviour and sex work] puts people off coming to the street altogether; they cross the road to avoid it.”
These ideas were echoed by Roxanne Szymanska, who owns and manages Raw Feeding Wales, a pet food store in High Street.
Ms Szymanska said she receives great support from the people who visit her shop but worries that potential customers are put off by the people hanging around on street corners and in back alleys.
“I’ve had the pet food shop for four and a half years; I took over the shop from someone else,” she said.
“The community here is really bad: there’s loads of people using drugs and loads of prostitutes, especially in the evenings when you close the shop, but they can be around at any time.
“There’s loads of police up by the Dyfatty flats, but there will never be enough as they don’t do anything.”
She added: “I think some people don’t come to my shop as they’re worried about parking their car and coming inside, especially if they have kids.
“There’s always needles by the bin in the lane [behind the shop], and yesterday at around 11am-12pm, there were people selling [drugs] behind the shop.
“We want to move out of this area and move our shop more central, but the rent is too expensive there.”
Mr Richards labelled daily life around High Street as “a nightmare” with “an ever-present threat of violence”.
Noting that many of the sex workers in the area are vulnerable and often living in poverty, he called for more to be done to support them.
Mr Richards said: “I live in the area – upper High Street – and I’m afraid to say things are definitely getting worse around here in terms of sex workers and drug dealers openly operating and also in terms of the anti-social behaviour that comes with these activities.”
He added: “The police couldn’t care less about the misery all this causes for people who live in the area...
“The women you’ll see hanging about around here are desperately vulnerable, poverty-stricken people selling themselves for a few pounds in order to pay a drug debt or to get money for drugs or to pay a pimp.”
Mr Richards claimed he had seen some women get “battered” by alleged pimps and he had reported the incidents to police but did not believe anything had been done.
“The reality of life around here for people who live here – and for those brutally exploited sex workers too – is unremittingly grim,” he added.
More recently, Mr Richards said he had to call 999 after seeing a “noisy mob” gathered outside Raw Feeding Wales for about three hours on Easter Monday “threatening passers-by and lighting a fire on the street”.
Another resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, believed the number of sex workers and incidents of anti-social behaviour had increased in the past few years.
The resident, who has lived in the High Street area for 12 years, said: “It’s got worse over time, but it’s always been a struggle [living in the area].
“It was there before the pandemic, then it died down during the pandemic – but it didn’t go away.
“During Covid, some drug-dealers moved into flats on the street so some of the drug dealing moved indoors rather than on the street, but the sex workers remained outside.”
The resident also claimed he had seen different groups of people,
which he referred to as “gangs,” apparently fighting over street corners where they wanted their women to stand and offer their services.
He said: “In late 2022, there were gangs fighting for the best spots and again now, there’s a higher male presence in the area – I think they’re the pimps.
“There’s one group on one side of the street and they’re trying to fight the others for a corner. It still goes on a bit right now.”
“I recently received a poster through my letterbox which draws attention to some of the issues that are being ignored,” he added.
The poster reads: “Save Our Kids Swansea. The authorities in Swansea are ignoring the abuse of young girls in the city. This scandal is taking place in the city centre opposite the old Palace Theatre on High Street.
“The sex workers who gather there are luring young girls into nearby flats with promises of alcohol and cigarettes.
“Once inside the flats, the girls are plied with drink before being abused by older local men.”
It claimed blind eyes were being turned to the ‘sickening goings-on”, adding: “Local people are unable to speak out openly about this because they fear reprisals from the local drugs gangs who infest the area and who ‘pimp’ the sex workers out.
“People in Swansea need to know what is happening in their city every day, so we are distributing this notice widely.
“We are sure that once the ordinary decent people of Swansea are aware of these sickening activities they will demand the authorities put a stop to it and all the disgusting people involved in this vile trade will be put behind bars where they belong.”
The top of High Street’s negative reputation is nothing new.
Historically, there were dozens of brothels operating in the area and almost 200 women offering services to crews coming to Swansea on ships and boats docking in the then-industrial town’s bustling port.
Sex work was particularly prevalent in the area in the 1850s and 1860s and, according to historian Elizabeth F Belcham, in 1866 there were 199 known prostitutes and 85 “houses of ill repute” (brothels) in Swansea, with the number of sex workers rising to 286 by 1876, with some vulnerable workers as young as 13.
Our website WalesOnline investigated the issue in 2017 after significant reports of incidents around High Street.
In 2019, in response to concerns, South Wales Police upped its presence in and around High Street and brought in new enforcement action against both men and women engaging in sex work in the area and actions against those visiting the area to exploit those selling sex.
As part of Operation Jaegar, more police were on the streets – and sex workers who refused offers of support from police or women’s charities could be prosecuted, with those found engaging in sexual activity facing prosecution for soliciting or outraging public decency.
Within six months of the operation’s launch, 55 section-35 dispersal notices were issued, instructing people to leave the area where they had been operating for a set period of time. Six kerb crawlers were also stopped and issued with warnings.
Officers also worked with specialists and local agencies including Women’s Aid to set-up a sex worker outreach project called the Swan Project to offer support to vulnerable women.
While the project supported countless women – and is still running today – Women’s Aid criticised Operation Jaegar at the time for “criminalising” vulnerable women.
The Swan Project is now based at the Swansea Domestic Abuse One Stop Shop at 35-36 Singleton Street.
The project offers “flexible and non-judgemental” one-to-one appointments, outreach provisions and crisis support for women who have been sexually exploited and are in need of support.
Chief Inspector Lindsey Sweeney said: “Although Operation Jaegar is no longer an active operation, tackling criminal exploitation is a priority for South Wales Police and we will continue to work with partners to protect the most vulnerable in our communities.
“As a partner within Safer Swansea, police lead on a multi-agency Sex Work Operational Team meeting monthly to ensure we are working collaboratively with agencies in doing all we can to support and divert vulnerable women and men away from sex work and encourage them to accept support that is available from other agencies.
“This can be a combination of housing support, tackling substance use and personal safety, but this will only be possible if the individual is willing to engage with the support services being offered.
“Safer Swansea comprises a partnership between the police, council, fire service, health and probation services and a number of organisations and charities, with the aim of reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.
“Any reports received by South Wales Police in relation to sex work are acted upon, but this does not always result in enforcement and may include referrals to other agencies for support.
“We have not received reports of sex working in the area in the last week and we are not currently seeing the level of community concerns that we saw previously.
“We would encourage residents and members of the public to report any concerns they may have by calling 101.”
There is plenty to be positive about in High Street. There are a number of great independent shops and businesses, vibrant murals, and inviting coffee shops, cafes and restaurants.
One business owner recently said he was proud to have his record shop and cafe in High Street.
“I first became interested in opening a business on High Street back in 2018 because I could see how things were changing, but I’d say it’s changed again for the better in the last two years,” he said.
“There’s a lively arts and music scene on High Street, with lots of community interaction and businesses working together to organise events like the High Street Rising festival.”
Plus, later this year, the former dilapidated Palace Theatre on High Street will re-open as a six-storey modern and attractive base for tech businesses, start-up companies and creative businesses after a mammoth investment.
Asked what he thought of the new development and if he believed it would help lift the area economically and socially, Mr Thomas of CK Nisa said: “I think it’s an attempt, it’s a step forward [to improve the area], but whether it would work remains to be seen.
“I’d like to see a lot more police presence, it’s the same people every day – because they get away with it, they keep coming.
“You say to the drunks that you’ll call the police. ‘Do it’ they say because they know the police aren’t coming.”
Swansea council recently confirmed the latest on a massive £100m makeover for part of High Street, with new shops and the revival of empty buildings to complement the transformation of the old Palace Theatre.
Council chiefs said the investment aimed to make High Street better for businesses, residents and visitors to the city.
Leader of Swansea council, Rob Stewart, said: “High Street is a key gateway in and out of the city centre, which is why the council and our partners are doing all we can to improve its look and feel.
“A lot more work is also planned in future to continue to improve the area for the benefit of local people, local businesses and visitors to the city as part of a £1bn overall city centre regeneration programme.
“High Street and its arcades have a fantastic mix of independent businesses from coffee, vinyl and clothes shops to restaurants, bars and specialist stores.
“All the work that’s planned will boost these businesses, while also helping attract even more investment in future.”