The UK seaside town plagued with graffiti and drunks | UK | News

A once great UK seaside town is now plagued with graffiti and drunks. Former heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury has dubbed the town “Alcatraz island” while visitors said the area has gone “down hill since the glory days”.

Morecambe, in Lancashire, is known for its promenade, sandy coastline and sweeping views of the Irish Sea. It was once a popular holiday destination for Brits, but is now full of boarded up shops, run-down buildings and vandalised arcades. While the planned Eden Project Morecambe, which will cost around £100 million, is hoped to rejuvenate the town by bringing back an influx of tourists, it is still three years from completion and problems are only getting worse.

Morecambe is the home town of Tyson Fury, who lives in the area with his wife Paris and their seven children. He recently sold a property in the town for a knockdown price of £700,000.

He previously told TNT that living in Morecambe has kept him “grounded” as there’s “not much stuff to do”. The former boxing champ explained: “17 years, it’s become my home. A new home, away from home. I actually cast myself now as from Morecambe, I don’t say I’m from Manchester anymore.

“It’s been keeping me grounded – I have always likened Morecambe to Alcatraz island… because if you go 200m that way you hit the sea, and if you go a couple of miles that way you hit the M6 motorway, and you’ve got to drive an hour to get to any city.

“It’s a big island, there’s not much distractions, there’s not much stuff to do, you can’t spend your money here because there’s nothing to spend it on, apart from Asda… That’s it, really, it’s a good place for a fighter…”

As reported by The Sun, some visitors have recently spoken out about Morecambe. Kay Robinson, 73, remembers the good old days of the seaside town, which included popular attractions such as the Super Swimming Stadium lilo, the pleasure park Frontierland and sea life centre Marineland.

She said: “It’s gone down hill since the 1970s. There used to be fairgrounds, illuminations, an amazing swimming pool, there used to be everything. We liked coming here better than Blackpool.

“Even the outdoor market has gone now. Everything has gone or is going now. You can’t go round the pubs like you used to, it used to be a great night out around Morecambe, but not now.”

The town centre is currently lined with empty shops and closed down pubs. There are also a number of rough sleepers and drunks swigging cans of beer.

John, 80, hopes Eden Project Morecambe – a sister to the popular Eden bio-spheres in Cornwall – will help give the town a much-needed boost. It is set to be built on the promenade and will open in three years.

John said: “This is where they are going to build the Eden centre, if it ever gets off the ground. It can’t come soon enough. It’ll hopefully save the town.”

His wife Lynda, also 80, added: “We used to bring our lads here to swim in the pool, but it is such a shame what it is like now. Hopefully things will change when the Eden Project comes, but I wish they’d hurry up, I’d like to see it.

“The place has very much gone down hill, as many seaside towns have since people started to go abroad.”

Meanwhile, David Buswell, from Leicestershire, recently visited Morecambe for the first time. He described it as an “average, typical English seaside town”.

“It looks like an average, typical English seaside town, nothing special. Okay for the kids, but not us,” the 64-year-old said. “We will be parking up the motorhome for one night – not for two though. I think we will be moving on.”

His wife, Lynn, 69, added: “We have just come down from the Lake District, which was beautiful. This is a stark contrast.”

Karen Brown, who has been running her stall The Beauty Box at the Festival Market for 50 years, has seen the decline of Morecambe. The 66-year-old said: “The place has gone really down hill since the glory days. The job is tougher now.

“I don’t do too bad in summer with the tourists. They come to buy things. But, in winter, the locals don’t tend to to use the market. They should do, they’ll whinge if it goes. The visitors come round saying what a lovely market it is and they appreciate it, but the locals, not so much.”

Julie Norris, 58, runs Sweet Treats at the market. She added: “I’m finding trading in Morecambe alright because all the other sweet shops are shutting down.

“The kids are coming here for their holiday treats. And we also do well from people coming here to buy snacks and sweets before going to the cinema next door.

“They don’t want to pay rip-off cinema prices so stock up here before going to see a film. I love working here and if the Eden Project comes it will be fantastic. It’ll be very family orientated.”