UPDATE: |Life in the Yorkshire town where all the pubs have closed News

“We haven’t got nowt. Every shop is a takeaway. It’s horrible around here now but I love it”

The streets of Ravensthorpe, in West Yorkshire, on a sunny April afternoon are busy with people heading to the shops, takeaways, the mosque and the park.

On the end of Foundry Street, where it meets the busy Huddersfield Road, are a small group of people who are not heading anywhere but are happy to chat.

The friends can be found outside the off-licence most days, but it is a life that comes with its perils, says Toni, 37. Property owners don’t like the street drinkers and often urge them to move, and police officers sometimes confiscate their drinks, she says.

But Toni enjoys drinking and chatting in the street and says that, since the local pubs closed, there are no alternative places to meet.

She was happy to chat to Yorkshire Live and explain how life has changed in Ravensthorpe, which is near Dewsbury and is part of Kirklees.

“I have lived here nearly 40 years and I love it,” she said. “I have moved away and always ended up back here. This is my town.

“There are no pubs now so we have to drink in the street and we do get b*******d (told off) and police take it (alcohol) off us. We used to go to the park and sit on the benches but they don’t want p***heads in the park shouting and screaming.

“We do try to have respect for people…there isn’t a drinking establishment, so we come here. We hang around the off-licence. Everybody knows us and stops to talk.

However, not everyone is tolerant of the street drinkers. “I have lived here all my life….(but) people are looking at us like s***.”

Toni listed the pubs that had closed, including The Royal which now has metal fences around it. “The Bulls Head has gone. The Ravey Hotel has shut. The Shepherds Boy is shut. We used to do a pub crawl. There’s no establishment to meet up and have a drink.

“They banned us from the park and took the shelter down we used to sit in. We are told to move on by property owners.

Toni has something of a love-hate relationship with Ravensthorpe, saying: “It’s horrible around here now but I love it. We haven’t got nowt. Every shop is a takeaway. You see people with knives and (nitrous oxide) balloons.”

Neal, 34, also likes to drink outside the off-licence. He said: “Seeing everyone is better than sitting at home. I come here and have a few beers. I’m not working; I am on Universal Credit.”

Toni says the group is tightly-knit and wary of newcomers. “We are our own group and stick to ourselves. We meet here every day.”

Asked about complaints of misbehaviour, Toni said: “We have done. I’m not saying we are angels.”

Not everyone in the group is drinking alcohol. One man, who asked not to be named, suffers from a disability and says he gets picked on by local teenagers.

He says he was ‘battered’ last Sunday by six teenagers but didn’t report it to police. He says he was punched around six times and warned not to tell the police.

“I normally stay at home,” he said. “I’m that scared – I always get battered. I have been attacked 20 times since 2004.”

Toni believes that the area has become more violent in recent years. “People are carrying knives. I know people that have knives pulled on them.”

Away from the street drinkers, normal life goes on. There are clearly problems with fly-tipping with dumped fridges and sofas left on pavements, as well as many discarded cans and bottles.

One man, 42, originally from Accra in Ghana, West Africa, said he had found a new and better life in Ravensthorpe. He works in the care sector and has started a family. He was getting on well with his Pakistani-heritage neighbours.

He didn’t want to be named but said: “I do have a good life here. It is better over here than in my home country. For now, I feel at home. If I want African food I go to Huddersfield or Leeds for African markets.”

A young dad, who was out with his toddler son, said Ravensthorpe had problems with drug dealing, anger and street violence. “It needs improving, with more police and more stuff for kids to do. Kids are growing up and seeing drugs on the street corner. That isn’t good is it?”

He added: “It’s full of drug dealers. It’s common to see them in cars. There’s nothing to do but be gangsters. There’s also too much hate and violence over petty things. People’s cars are getting burnt out”