Traders say homeless people camping in the city centre are bad for business as more and more tents pitch up.
At least six have been set up on the pavement in Castle Square at the bottom of North Street – yards from the one of the busiest shopping streets.
And the growing encampment is causing concern for businesses, who say antisocial behaviour is on the rise.
Naturally, this being Brighton, the tent-dwellers think this is a problem throwing money at them will solve. Hey, the taxpayer's good for it, surely?
One of the occupants, Suzie Miles, said: “It’s out of order the council are going to move us on again.
“Where else can we go? They don’t like us in doorways.
“About a week ago there were a load of tents round the back of Poundland.
“The council’s thrown them away. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We need to house people. We need help.”
Hmmm, but that 'antisocial behaviour', Suzie?
Indre Dovydaityte, who works at nearby Pret A Manger, said: “The problem is not the tents, it’s the behaviour.
“Every day, people swearing, stealing food from us, begging from our customers.
“One time they urinated on our fire escape.
“For a while we tried to be nice to them, gave them free sandwiches. We have contacted the council multiple times and the police.”
The manager of The White Company, also nearby, said: “It’s not very nice for our customers and people walking by.
“Last week there was a person passed out outside the shop with his trousers down.”
Yes, giving these people free houses will solve that. Won't it?
2 comments:
If they cultivated an Irish accent and clubbed together to buy a couple of caravans off eBay, they could stay where they wished, behave in any manner, no matter how insulting it is to others, could defecate and urinate anywhere, and steal as much as they wanted and, becoming one of the official protected species, it would be those complaining who would be termed anti-social and have early morning visits from the authorities.
Penseivat
Sadly true!
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