The UK Decline — What I Learnt on my UK Tour 2024
THIS ARTICLE ISN’T FINISHED YET. WAIT AND COME BACK LATER.
I recently finished a nearly month-long tour of the UK. Here is what I learnt.
This is going to be educational for those of you who don’t leave your socioeconomic class bubble much, and also for my international connections who are unlikely to get this sharp ground-level view from most mainstream controlled media, who we already know can’t be trusted.
There are many photos further down — have patience to get read through to understand what you’re seeing with your own eyes.
Seeing It With My Own Two Eyes
As Gary Stevenson’s mentor taught him — if you want to know the true state of the economy, go outside and see for yourself, and ask the ordinary people.
If you’re unlike our nearly billionaire globalist elite prime minister Rishi Sunak and actually have some working-class friends, you can ask them. But it’s still best to step outside of your social circles, class and geography regardless to get a broader view.
So I decided to put this to the test with an extensive UK tour, and by striking up conversations with people up and down the country.
I wanted to see for myself what all the other major UK areas look like, and what their locals’ perspectives are on the state of the UK locally and socio-politically.
What is their economic condition?
What do they think about the current state and future of the UK?
But more importantly, are there more English blondes up north (one of my types).
If I was to ever return to England, this would be key geo-demographic knowledge!
Joking, not joking. Definitely not joking.
And even more definitely not apologising for being a normal man either.
I had no idea what to expect, except that I’d probably see a mix of areas to give me a good cross section of the country because I was just picking all the major places I could pin on Google Maps and driving to them.
I was actually very excited to see as much of the UK as I could in a period where I was not chained to a desk with golden handcuffs and followed a challenging schedule for weeks. There is a lot to like about the UK — the buildings, the history and good English people themselves (hence why two of my kids are half-English). Not the weather, of course, unless it’s the 3 months a year of Summer, which it wasn’t. And it’s our British right to complain about the weather.
The UK Tour 2024 — Details
So I gave up my flat lease in Chelmsford, Essex, (more on that later) in earnest to Airbnb around the UK for nearly a month from March to April so I could see for myself. I also had extended conversations with many local Airbnb hosts and common people on the streets and coffee shops. This was one of my motivations to Airbnb rather than hotel — aside from keeping my costs down — it gave me opportunity for many more extended private conversations to hear what their view was.
I drove approximately 75–150 miles per day and walked many hours each day in each area, averaging 15,000 steps per day for weeks, with the maximum being just over 25,000 steps in a single day. Yes, my knees got battered and I now need even more Glucosamine & Chondroitin.
I visited a different place every day and stayed in a different town or city every night. It wasn’t easy and I barely stayed ahead of finding new accommodations for tomorrow night and repacking each morning. Some days I didn’t know where I’d be sleeping that night due to fall throughs in Airbnb confirmations from the night before and would only arrange accommodation at the last minute sitting on coffee shop wifi.
For the large amount of driving it took to criss-cross the country, luckily I love driving my drug-dealer- all-blacked-out Merc, so that bit I didn’t mind, plus I have an excellent Spotify profile of playlists for driving - which is of course automated with API scripts and Git revision-controlled on GitHub like a true nerd. 😎
I’d already been to many of the more affluent destinations of choice in the South East with my then English girlfriend as we both loved a road trip to explore the UK, as well as day trips with my children.
On this tour, I’ve been top to bottom in England and east to west from England to Wales.
Since several people have been asking me to list where I’ve been, here are most of the places I’ve been — don’t complain this is a sizeable list, you asked for it. If you didn’t ask for it, then I permit you to skip the next couple lists if you want to prevent your eyes from glazing over…
- North — Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool, Newcastle, York, Leeds, Middlesborough, South Port, County Durham, St Helens
- Midlands — Birmingham, Sheffield, Wolverhampton
- West — Bristol, Gloucester, Cheltenham
- Wales — Cardiff, Swansea
- South — Guildford, Reigate, Maidstone, Canterbury, Chipstead, Banbury, Ash
- South Coast — Brighton, Plymouth, Exeter, Poole, Bournemouth, Boscombe, Southampton, Portsmouth, Dorset, Weymouth, Worthing
- London — Croydon, Bromley, Ealing, Middle Park and Fulham
A couple of these areas feature in my Airbnb Trainspotting post and article.
I’ve also additionally been to in recent years:
- South East — Oxford, Cambridge, Reading, Milton Keynes, Windsor, Winchester, Bishop Stortford, Royal Tunbridge Wells, St Albans, Bury St Edmunds, Gravesend, Rochester, Canterbury, Margate, Crawley, Horley, Slough
- Midlands — Nottingham, Northampton, Coventry, Leicester, Royal Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, Derby, Saffron Waldon, Warwick
- West — Bath
- East Anglia — Essex, Chelmsford, Colchester, Brentwood, Billericay, Maldon, Wickford, Rayleigh, Witham, Braintree, Frinton, Walton-on-the Naze, Southend-on-Sea, Clacton-on-Sea, Norwich, Ipswitch
- South Coast — Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings
- London — Central London, Richmond, Kingston, Hounslow, Ealing, Brentford, Southall, Illford, Enfield, Stratford, Upminster, South Woodford, Harlow, Hemel Hempstead, Walthamstow, Middle Park and various other suburban areas / ghettos of London
I’ve probably forgotten a few. Don’t provoke me to list more. Let’s get on with the results.
I skipped Scotland as I calculated I didn’t have time, although I’ve been to Edinburgh before, but more than a decade ago now.
Needless to say, I’ve had an extensive view of most of the developed parts of the UK both on tour and prior.
Photos
I’ve taken over 3,000 pictures during my UK Tour month.
Roughly a third of these are of historic buildings, monuments to the glories of past monarchs and sacrifices of the great heroes of men in the world wars, which are rightly widespread in many towns and city centres, lest we never forget. More on that later.
Roughly another third of the pics are of closed-down shops and derelict buildings. Yes, there are that many across the UK.
The remaining third are a random mix of attractions, accommodations, food and other random things to remind me what I’ve gotten up to on my travels, because excessive technical knowledge has used up all my memory.
If you want to see my entire collection of photos from this tour including the nicer bits like historic castles, then recommend to me the best place to create a free public gallery and I’ll upload them there for you to get a fuller sense of what I saw.
The Lessons Learnt
Every British Citizen I spoke to already knew that the UK is in Decline
Not one British citizen I spoke to in person across the UK hadn’t already recognized that the UK was in decline, even if a few had only a surface-level understanding of why everything seems to be getting worse and why most of them are personally getting poorer, without the wider context of why. More on that later.
Most of their views are noticeably different to the luxury belief class, the political classes and wealthy liberals who are least affected, who they know are betraying them.
They’ve been here long enough to see the changes with their own two eyes. This part probably isn’t news. You’d have to be living under a rock to not know it. My international connections may not realize how bad it is though.
I’ve had US connections reach out in private messages citing having the same problems over there.
The difference is that the US has 10x our resources and can survive the left-wing decline longer than the UK can. In case you hadn’t noticed, all parties are left-wing today — high tax, big state, mass immigration — with even the Tories — the so-called “conservatives” — increasing both taxes and immigration. There are no conservative parties left.
Previous Misconceptions — “Just a London Problem”
A common misconception that comes up from those who don’t read much or leave their socioeconomic bubble and area is that “it’s just a London problem”.
I already knew this was not the case as I moved to Essex 4 years ago and hardly looked back at London since, but have seen Chelmsford change in even that short time.
In recent years most of my friends and colleagues had expressed their concern with the high cost of living and tax rates, as well as other areas of UK dysfunction, like the NHS. I’ve reminded many of them that they’re invariably top 2% earners with good jobs, and that if they feel this way, then just imagine how 98% of the rest of the country who are worse off than them must feel.
The Decline is Universal
One key takeaway that you may have guessed which a few people have said to me is that “it’s the same everywhere” — major aspects of UK decline are fairly consistent across the country.
Mass Immigration is Everywhere
It’s not just a London or South East thing — this was one of the most striking things as I ventured up north in England and west into Wales — areas I wouldn’t have guessed as there is little going on there in terms of jobs or economy to be a migration draw.
More on the pros and cons of this later.
People Come in All Shapes and Sizes
Some of those sizes are considerably wider than the recommended default factory settings. Naming no genders or far westerly locations. From observation this seems to be correlated with lack of socioeconomic status, perhaps as a result of a poorer diet.
It’s also possible that poorer genetics is causal to both physical appearance and socioeconomic status. I have not researched this but feel free to comment sources as I’m always curious on sociology.
I do know that IQ is 80% heritable, so Idiocracy of birth rate imbalances is a serious problem, as is the misguided blank slate fallacy of arbitrary human interchangeability.
The “Death of the British High Street” is no exaggeration
Everywhere I went there were a substantial number of closed down shops.
Some areas were worse than others, but all areas were affected to some degree. What surprised me coming back to the South East, which is visibly the best, is that even in rich areas like Guildford and Fulham there were closed-down shops. These are supposed to be the areas where there are enough gentrified people with high disposable incomes to support local businesses, and even in those areas there are quite a few vacant shops, although not as many as some other areas.
Chain Stores vs Area Differentiation
All areas are overrun with large numbers of the same chain shops you find in every area, reducing the novelty of any given area quite considerably.
This part probably isn’t news to you if you’ve seen a handful of areas you’ll recognize the same brands, Costa, Gregs, McDonalds, Next, WHSmith, Clarks, SuperDry etc.
This means that really only areas with major historical buildings, landmarks and castles have much differentiation and drawing power.
Those areas tend to become more expensive and desirable places to live as the tourism results in their high streets being better funded and not so dilapidated, making them nicer places visually to both visit and to live.
York is a good example of this up north. My friend from Leeds had me meet him in York instead of Leeds, and now I realize why.
A Tale of Two Retail Economies
One strikingly consistent finding was that across the entire UK, there was a bifurcation between the types of retail economy.
The areas that seemed to still be doing ok, or at least were still surviving and open, are those which contain big chain stores as per the above section, or US-style malls filled with big chain brands — either way with market power and economies of scale. They probably also offshore their profits to not pay taxes to the UK, which is of course a huge advantage over local shops.
Other parts of the same town centres containing local shops on high street parades are often in severe decline with many more closed down shops, boarded up and broken windows. This is a surprisingly consistent pattern across different towns and cities up and down the country.
People ask why the government doesn’t abolish “Business Rates” — a substantial tax on shops based on the rental value of their unit that adds another roughly 50% on top. The reason, it turns out, is that the local council gets this money and councils are already going bankrupt.
The Budget Retail Economy
Even areas which are in the most dire state like Blackpool, there are still McDonalds, Costa and Gregs. There is often more than one Costa and Gregs in each city centre. These chains cater to low cost of living, being among the cheapest things one can eat out, and indicate that people are seriously budgeting on their food, causing those businesses to boom with sufficient demand to double up their presence even in the same area, while some restaurants close down.
Closed-Down Shops and Smashed Glass Windows Are Nearly Universal Across the UK
Every area seemed to have one or more ends of the town where there was an uptick of closed-down shops surrounded by run-down remaining shops, usually both small independent mom-and-pop shops — the types who have to pay taxes while competing with the larger players who offshore their profits to jurisdictions with lower tax rates.
The History of a Once Great Country
Throughout the UK there are many historic buildings, town halls, churches and cathedrals, as well as monuments to the great heroes of men that built and defended this country. They stand in stark contrast among the decline you will see further down. Banks now often occupy the better maintained historic buildings on high streets throughout the country.
Fuel and Food are Expensive All Over the UK
Petrol and diesel prices are similar all over the country, which means that lower earners in the far flung parts of the country are spending a greater proportion of their incomes on basics like transport and food.
The stores are not factoring in that the people in those areas can afford less.
But then the stores setting the prices are usually chains which can use their market position to coordinate prices regardless of the socioeconomic status of the area and people have little choice but to pay it, especially once they’ve driven smaller competition out of business and cornered the market.
The same applies to food in supermarkets and mini-supermarkets like Tesco Express or Sainsbury’s Local.
All areas seemed to maintain some stock of restaurants, indicating that at least some British people have the disposable income for meals out, which are typically considered more expensive than cooking at home. There is also a large preponderance of run-down takeaways for similar reason. Tasty food can be a treat and many people spend whatever extra money they have on such a weekly treat. I certainly have in the past, it’s sort of a British cultural thing for a Friday or Saturday night.
Aside from the fast food chains like McDonalds and Gregs, it’s difficult to sit and eat anywhere for less than £10, regardless of how run down the surrounding area is. This really surprised me. I expected to find more well-priced cheap eats, but I suspect it’s because their costs are set as above by larger consolidated food players, and if they didn’t pass those costs on to customers then they’d go bankrupt too.
I spent £20 on a couple of chinese dishes for just myself in Swansea, which shocked me as I don’t understand how the locals can afford that. There was only one other local there at the same time as me, an old English guy who I had a much more frank conversation about what it would take to save the UK than what I can write here. He understood the root cause of the decline and voting demographics. Many ordinary people are not as stupid as the elites perceive them to be, this knowledge is spreading.
The Chinese takeaway only accepted cash of course… I’m not saying that they’re dodging or under-declaring tax to survive. Perhaps they’re just trying to avoid the pennies of card transaction fees… “Every little helps” as the big giant Tesco supermarket says… oh, wait, another example of big-chain-winner-takes-all UK.
There are Potholes in UK roads across the country, even in rich areas
This was something I realized when driving in Guildford, one of the more affluent English areas. It didn’t seem to matter if the area was affluent or poor.
A Visual Tour of Towns & Cities
We’ll start with some of the bigger better ones but make sure you make it down to the rest of the country as it gets more interesting as we go further down.
London
I’m from London so didn’t cover it much on this tour, but most of my connections here will already know that it is the richest most expensive part of the country with the highest paying jobs and heavily mass immigrated (67% foreign), which doesn’t help with housing affordability. As an ex-Londoner, I now feel London is better to visit than live in.
For those who think that London has problems, you will really need to see the tour below of the rest of the country.
John Cleese got flack for mentioning that London was no longer an English city. Beware of people who object to facts, they are contributors to the Western decline, part of the problem rather than the solution, because if you cannot speak freely, you cannot think freely or exchange knowledge freely. John Cleese was factually correct according to the government’s own census data:
From Wikipedia (and this is outdated - millions more immigrants entered the UK at accelerated rate since the last 2021 Census):
Pay attention to the image captions from this point down.
Newcastle
Newcastle centre was one of the best in the country, but even there, this was the 2 minute walk between the car park and the shopping district:
Would you feel safe to walk through here late at night as a woman?
I had my first ever Thai massage on a whim as I walked past one with a sore shoulder blade from carrying my laptop everywhere (with the price of a Macbook Pro M3 Max I dare not be parted from it given UK crime rates!).
Yes, it’s true they offer you a “Happy Ending”. No, I did not partake, as convincing and fit as she was.
I later discovered ChaiiWalla which became my new favourite replacement to Costa which I’d only humoured in the past due to relationships with women who seem addicted to it. It turns out Karak Chai is much more my thing than coffee or chai lattes. I later found out it was a chain (typical), and yes I did frequent it across the country, along with the Coffee #1 chain which seems to be popular in the South West. It turns out ChaiiWalla has also made it to Dubai as I also had it in Dubai Hill Mall.
As an avid reader I got talking to a man in the first ChaiiWalla I discovered in Newcastel about the book he was reading (Voltaire). It turns out he was divorced and had sworn off relationships after his ex-wife cheated on him and ran off with another man. He said his older colleague had also sworn off relationships with his elder citing escorts as being better than girlfriends. I have heard this from several guys before but I did not expect this turn of conversation! Apparently “the world’s oldest profession” is still a functioning part of the UK economy, unlike many others as you’ll see further down.
Birmingham
Birmingham was one of the biggest, most immigrated, busiest and best cities so did not have the degree of shop closures found in many other towns and cities, although like everywhere, it had some.
The conversion to Islam stand outside a closed down shop on the main high street was getting a lot of activity. I stopped to talk to the nice man who had heard of The Rational Male but didn’t realize that volume 4 Religion had already made his case for him — the church has fallen, read the book for why. People are converting to Islam as “The Last Religion” as I have discussed with muslim friends, and it is the first choice for serious religious converts today, especially those seeking traditional sustainable family-values, which the church no longer enforces. Many people came to the stand and left with pamphlets in the few minutes I talked with the below gentleman.
Indoor market, the poor end of the UK shopping spectrum compared to the US-style malls:
I stopped to talk to the owner of a clothes shop on the street opposite this indoor market, a black gentleman approximately 45–50 years old with his son assisting him. While discussing the state of the country, he mentioned he intended to emigrate to Africa. This became an emerging theme across the country. People saw the UK decline in motion and were making plans to escape it. Many Airbnb hosts mentioned Dubai to me from conversations they’d already had with other people on this topic.
A young English lad and his muslim friend came in to the shop and while his friend was trying on a hoodie, the English lad was clearly listening in to the conversation and eager to join in. When I gave him an opening, he cited the widely known meme “Hoeflation”, having also recently broken up with his girlfriend. “Sometimes it’s more important to have your self-respect as a man” — all present agreed.
From Wikipedia:
It turns out I didn’t do a very thorough job of Birmingham as it was my first stop on my tour and I hadn’t actually intended to write an article called “The UK Decline” as I didn’t yet realize the universality of British decline. It turns out that I only visited the best central district while the “Bald and Bankrupt” guy went to another area of the city and had a more damning indictment of Birmingham than I did:
Manchester
Manchester was similar to Birmingham, busy, mass-immigrated and cosmopolitan.
What surprised me the most was that it looked just like London in demographics with a mostly foreign population. I had to look this up to confirm I was not getting a biased visual sample.
From Wikipedia:
I stopped for lunch at a Nandos, but forgot my best Fulton umbrella on the seat opposite. When I went back for it 10 minutes later somebody had stolen it rather than hand it in to the staff — big city problems.
Liverpool
Liverpool was like most other big cities but not as heavily immigrated as London, Birmingham or Manchester. It had all the usual chain shops and some historic buildings.
There is a strip of shops dedicated to the Beatles as the city’s claim to fame. There is only one problem, that was 60 years ago. What has Liverpool done recently?
York
York was one of the best maintained town centres and clearly had a high degree of tourism due to its intact historical architecture. Houses here are expensive relative for the location, and the large number of coffee shops demonstrates how gentrified the area is. You can spend nearly £10 on just a tea and scone. I think my friend and I spent nearer £20 each. Inflation sucks.
Just Outside Town Centres
A common sight outside some town centres, significant buildings falling into disuse. I saw similar just outside several town centres but couldn’t photograph them as I was driving past them.
Large boarded-up property just outside of York town centre, despite York being easily one of the best areas I saw:
Leeds
Another typical UK city, full of chains and nothing special to report, only around 25% replaced — matching the UK country-wide average and far less than other big cities like London, Manchester and Birmingham.
Sheffield
Sheffield had the usual array of closed shops.
What struck me more was this experience:
As I stood outside browsing the menu of a single £ rated Japanese bento restaurant, around £10 to eat (you can hardly sit in to eat anywhere that’s not junk food for less than £10 across the country I found out), a woman of similar age came alongside me to also browse the menu. After a couple minutes, she turned to me and said “I can’t afford anything on this menu”, and then walked off. Super awkward, I was left speechless, which with my big mouth is rare! I had for a fleeting moment considered offering to buy her lunch, as the cost would make no difference to me, and would be a good act of charity. But as they say, no good act goes unpunished. Ten years ago I probably would have bought her lunch as a trivial expense to myself, but then I remembered what era I live in. In the era of #MeToo, toxic feminism, presumed malintent on the part of men and retrospective rewriting of history, it is sometimes a bad idea to get involved. Also, Passport Bros is a thing for good reason.
I got a feeling across the country, that I felt so out of place in much of the UK as a “well-to-do” person who didn’t have to worry so much about my basic living expenses.
The obligatory closed down shops, a common sight across the country:
Historic building just outside the shopping area, boarded up, graffitied — some people who saw me writing this article commented on this picture that it looks like a Trainspotting drug house:
A closed-down parade of local shops at one end of the town centre — spot the irony:
and opposite, one closed down shop in between 2 kebab shops and a poorly maintained building:
Cardiff
The capital of Wales followed the same pattern as the rest of the country with chains shops, mixed with local shop closures. They also really have native Welsh language on signs everywhere alongside English, which I cannot even come close to reading.
Notice chains survive on either side of closed down shop:
Another closed example, next to Starbucks, with Deliveroo and mass immigration:
A long-term closed unit on the high street — the Dorothy Perkins chain went bankrupt 3 years ago and still hasn’t been replaced:
A series of vacant units in an otherwise well-maintained walk-through parade:
Several vacant units like this in the Queens Arcade mall, but…
The entire lower level of the Queens Arcade mall was derelict and boarded off at the escalators — this very much surprised me to see this:
It was weird to see a permanent wall built to block off the stairs and escalators to a derelict mall level — this indicated that there was little hope of the floor being economically viable again in the near future:
The unit just outside the Queens Arcade mall on the high street was also vacant:
Imagine how different a country Britain was when this building had life:
Swansea
Swansea in Wales was worse than Cardiff…
An entire parade of closed down shop units at one end of the city centre going all the way around. The parking was cheap, now I know why.
For a town centre to have units like this is a sign of decay:
It’s not just shops, but pubs too:
The Welsh flag above two closed shops.
Closed shops with a large smashed window on the far left (no pun intended):
and across the road, a large vacant Topman shop that closed down 3 years ago and is yet to be replaced:
One thing that struck me was how old and unhealthy the population of Swansea looked:
Swansea indoor market was a sad sight to see:
This is what I’d imagine a “3rd World” market would look like if you removed the youth and vitality of birth rates. Thanks feminism.
Leaving Swansea, just outside the centre, a derelict petrol station boarded up:
and whatever this block used to be:
Cheltenham
One of the better areas in the UK…
Yet still shop closures and an ageing population:
Closed shops in between chains as usual:
Long-term closure, department stores have been hit especially hard in the UK:
Gloucester
In Gloucester, a parade of surviving shops all had their windows smashed in a row.
The first was an orange Peri chicken takeaway:
The second along was a red fried chicken shop:
Another smashed window in the 3rd shop along, a massage parlour:
The nails salon next to the massage parlor was the 4th shop with a smashed window:
Another food shop was the 5th in the row to have its window smashed:
At the end of this parade of smashed shop windows was a ghetto looking store. Is that window broken in the picture too with a large diagonal crack?
The stolen shopping cart is a pretty stereotypical ghetto sign too.
At the other end of the parade by the start, I saw more shut down shops with metal boarding, which I realized was to prevent their windows getting smashed like the rest of the street:
Another vacant shop — no idea how this one’s windows were intact:
Not sure what this boarded up building used to be:
“The Police Don’t Understand” graffitied on the boarded-up door:
I bet being on the front lines the Police do understand better than our ivory tower political classes, but unfortunately they’re agents of the matrix and do not have the power to fix the system — probably only the military could at this point. In fact, the police are probably just trying to get through the day with their dignity intact.
Two vacant shops in a row:
Yet another vacant shop unit — far too many in this city:
Even “Elite Security” cannot prevent their own shop unit from having its window smashed, or even replacing the glass in a timely fashion, perhaps not bothering because it would just be smashed again?
The decline is ongoing with shops closing down still in progress:
Closed down shops in a row:
Closed down shops in a row and building for sale, with a gambling slots shop that sadly appeals to the lower classes searching for hope. Perhaps Islam was right to disallow gambling:
Open coffee shop with smashed window:
When pubs, the great British pastime, are boarded up, you know it’s bad:
This was actually a common sight in areas like Hounslow when I was younger as heavily immigrant areas did not have the same culture to support the pubs and they would often close as English people moved out as part of “white flight”.
I’m going to skip the rest of the closed shops and smashed windows in this area as there are too many to list, but you get the idea…
Bristol
I liked Bristol as one of the better places due to a large student population and therefore more young British people and international students.
Closed down shop units:
Row of closed down shop units tastefully disguised with picture boards. if you’re going down, go down in style:
Two closed down shop units in between 2 chain shops:
Two more closed down shop units in a row:
Two closed down shop units and Christian preachers with pamphlets:
Opposite, more of the same, closed down unit tastefully disguised with a nice picture and more Christian preachers with pamphlets:
Another end of the town centre — 3 closed shops in foreground, and bankrupt closed down Debenhams department store in the distant background, which also closed down 3 years and is yet to be replaced by anything:
More closed down shops in a row:
A few of several closed down shops in The Galleries mall:
Two more:
And another:
Homeless tents in the main central park:
Even expensive chain stores like Hugo Boss are not immune to smashed door windows:
Yet more closed down shops:
Two more closed down shops:
Exeter
I had expected Exeter to be nicer, something more akin to York, as it’s where one of my best friends from school went to a fairly well regarded university, and is a town with a historic name dating back to Roman times. And everybody knows how much us guys love to think about the Roman Empire all the time. It was, as usual a mix of a few historic buildings mixed in with the usual decline.
Two closed down shops in a row with old people walking in front:
Smashed out bus stop window with missing pane of glass and graffiti:
Two more closed down shops in a row:
Community centre, a person collapsed, mobility scooter in background, and very strong smell of marijuana as I walked by:
Closed down shop units followed by a chain restaurant:
Closed down shop with smashed window:
Large vacant shop unit in Guildhall shopping centre:
Another 2 closed down shop units:
Historic building with closed down shop, disabled passer by, homeless sleeping bag in shop doorway and graffiti:
Plymouth
Andy’s fought valiantly against the cost of living crisis but did not make it:
Another one:
Four out of five shop units closed:
Opposite the several closed units, two more shops closed down:
Plymouth — another indoor market, another sad sight to behold of aged Britain:
Vacant stalls going begging for only £8 per day:
Cafe on upper level of the indoor market, notice the demographics:
The cafe next to it was similar:
A highly rated vietnamese restaurant on Google Maps next to the cafes on the upper level of the indoor market that I had trekked to for the high rating, yet not a single patron at lunchtime:
I decided to eat somewhere else that wasn’t a ghost town…
This shop below must be doing gangbusters business looking at the local demographics — with a large “Mobility Scooter class”:
The demographics in Plymouth, like much of the coastal UK, were so bad that when I walked past a group of young lads sitting next to a coffee stand on the main high street, I actually doubled back 10 feet as I felt compelled to stop and talk to them. They were the most valuable people there, and I had to let them know it. I asked them what they were doing here — they were still in school and too young to leave. I asked them what they thought of the local area. “Sh*thole” was the unanimous response. The same response I had gotten from English people across the country, including a few recruiters I know on LinkedIn, several of whom have since emigrated. The same went for a few estate agents I was dealing with in recent years who emigrated, back when I was still trying to find a property to buy in the UK before I too realized it was over under democracy.
This was the mood of the young men in Plymouth too, resigned to the fact they are democratically powerless to stop the decline (and they’re not wrong, men are minority voters due to higher male mortality rates):
I had to remind them that it is men like them that built the world, and the current state of the country is not their fault. Contrary to the controlled media narrative, it is not their “toxic masculinity” that has undone the West, but rather the impacts of feminist-socialism that has destroyed the birth rates, state economics, borders, family laws and sustainability of the country.
Although, ironically, it is probably the large numbers of disenfranchised and under-utilized young men that have graffitied and smashed windows up and down the country in unproductive frustration at the state of the system.
Two closed down shops and a coffee shop:
The coffee shop had a smashed door window of course (bottom left door):
Closed down shop:
Two closed down shops and old people having coffee:
Large vacant shop unit:
Another large vacant shop unit:
Vacant mall food court — I imagine this would have been a large coffee shop or restaurant at some point:
This was clearly named before the modern era and rise of this urban term “hoe” — back when men built civilization and women sustained the society as mothers:
Homeless sleeping bag under the shelter of a historic building:
Vacant boarded up building:
Large boarded up derelict building at the top end of Plymouth high street:
It appears I’m not the only one who noticed Plymouth. See this article by the Daily Express titled The UK city ‘left to rot’ where ‘£10k parking spots’ lie near abandoned buildings which I think is more damning than my brief stumble across this above.
Bald and Bankrupt also started off in Plymouth in that same video linked above about Birmingham if you want to see a bit more of Plymouth, and he also went to Weston Super Mare and Sunderland which I missed:
Weymouth
Bars and cafes permanently closed down:
The Mobility Scooter class were well catered to here as well, like in Plymouth:
It wouldn’t be England without another smashed window now, would it:
Even the cheap poverty shop Pound Stretcher didn’t make it:
Eviction notice by a foreign landlord in the window — I’ve seen quite a few of these:
It makes one wonder about the system of rentiers, and land reforms.
There wasn’t much “Life” in this town, or in this same named charity shop which was also closed down:
Iirc charity shops are essentially tax-free businesses in the UK on the grounds that they donate a portion of their profits, but that can be after their director has taken a personal income which could be along the lines of £60k, placing them roughly in the top 10% of income earners in the UK (UK salaries are relatively low compared to cost of living on an overpopulated island with mass immigration — England is the 8th most densely populated country in the world). I briefly worked for a charity that had accountants, IT guys (including me), and a posh financially comfortable Director, so I had a little exposure to this personally back in the mid 2000s. There are hundreds of thousands of registered charities in the UK for good reason.
This pub closed down, and next to it a kebab shop. I’m not sure why people call London “Londonistan” when kebab shops are throughout the UK, it’s far from concentrated in London:
You can see the building is boarded up all the way round:
Opposite the pub, another boarded up building:
At this point I realized I had been seeing Turkish barbers everywhere throughout the UK, here are two I walked past just in this small town. More on this later:
It wouldn’t be a UK town without a few smashed windows at this point…
Closed shop and a solicitors next door:
Opposite the solicitors this vacant unit is becoming an estate agent — I stopped to talk to the English workmen, all agreed the UK is becoming a country only for the rich classes:
For Sale or Rent — any takers of any kind want to buy into a dying British seaside town?
Poole
Check the grey demographics at this level-crossing on the high street:
Another eviction notice:
Closed and smashed window below, as standard — are you used to this pattern across the UK yet?
Another Turkish barbers next to a run down shop:
Bricked up and boarded up buildings just outside the town centre:
Bournemouth
Bournemouth had a huge number of shop closures such that most single units aren’t even worth listing here.
Opposite, Wiggle made me giggle, “Gentlemen’s Club”… intriguing, but I didn’t have time, I was on a whirlwind tour with barely enough time to eat, sleep, pack and drive to the next place every day.
Another related venue along the road I think… must be some native cultural dancing I’m not familiar with…
It had a kebab shop on one side, and a closed down shop on the other. It also caught the eye of the woman passing by, perhaps she knew more about this traditional cultural dance?
Boarded up block:
Two closed down units next to each other, even the Yo Sushi didn’t make it:
The sign is contradicted by the large vacant unit it’s on filling the picture:
This one didn’t even last a year given this was taken in early 2024:
The next time some British yob insults your country, remind them where they come from:
Closed down and yet more closing down:
This mall’s upper level has been closed off since Blockbuster Video closed 10 years ago!
Ground floor wasn’t much better, mostly closed down as you can see two pictures above, and further along:
Two closures:
Gregs is in every town mixed in between the shop closures — budget food is still selling:
I’m always surprised when tasty looking places close down:
Three went under in just this small passage parade:
Back on the high street it didn’t look much better:
Two more closed down next to each other:
A junkie-looking guy with face piercings and neck tattoos just off-camera rolling something to the left of this closed down Gelato place started shouting at me here thinking he was in the picture. He made Trainspotting characters look upper-middle class.
He must be keeping the piercing place open next to this closed down shop:
Another closed down unit next to the famous Goadsby that is plastered across half the town:
How do people afford all these “Gentlemen’s Clubs” in this town…
They must clearly be cutting back on their spending on the rest of the local economy… is this related to the lowest marriage rates in history as a result of feminist law? Or are these supported by 25% of married millenials in sexless relationships?
Boarded up shop… when even the kids can’t twist your arm into spending money:
“She Love’s Only Gold” — grammatical apostrophe mistake aside, she clearly didn’t love gold enough to support this business to stay open:
Smashed windows up and down this building:
Units closed all the way along:
Needless to say, I won’t be investing in Bournemouth any time soon…
Southamption
One of the better cities, with a small densely packed cylindrical US-style mall full of chains that reminded me of those fish shoals that form into tight vertical cylinders when circled by sharks / dolphins (not saying that these landlords and corporations are sharks… I, for one, welcome our new overlords):
and a busy high street of more of the usual chains seen across the country:
Down the road from the small mall, a string of vacant shops with 2 homeless men in the middle one’s doorway:
Broken window below, as standard:
This must be why the other place above and this other place below were boarded up:
Two more closures:
Both sides of this road were closed down — and this was peak time midday on a Friday:
Strange to see an expensive Range Rover mixed in between the decline…
Even Bob Marley’s coolness couldn’t save this one… and notice the next two are Subway and Gregs chains following by a poverty 99p store… yes Gregs really is everywhere in the UK:
I think even this recruitment agency was closed down…
Closed down restaurant, smashed window:
A couple doors down a Bella Italia restaurant that closed in 2020 and still hasn’t been replaced… and yes that is another Gregs in the background at the opposite end of the high street… they really are everywhere in the UK:
The second mall in the area was dead:
Another place that couldn’t even find jobs for themselves:
Portsmouth
Even the mall in Portsmouth was in disrepair, and the mall of a town is usually the most expensive best maintained part.
Dorothy Perkins closed down 3 years ago and hasn’t been replaced since:
The whole upper floor was vacant and sectioned off:
Back downstairs, the Body Shop filed for bankruptcy earlier this year:
Another three units in a row closed down:
At this point security asked me to stop taking pictures of the shopping centre, to my surprise, as I’d been all over the country at this point taking pictures and nobody had told me this.
Outside it got even worse.
But first, as look back, and yes, those are shoes up on the roof — usually a ghetto bullying sign of some mean kids throwing some other poor kid’s shoes up to where they can’t retrieve them. I’ve seen this sort of thing before, I grew up in London, remember.
This small Jamaican meal I had for lunch cost me £16 — surprisingly expensive for an area like this.
As mentioned earlier, I stood out by a class mile on tour. So I got chatting to my 19 year old waitress about my exit tour of the UK. She said she had little hope of ever affording anything, that she was trying not to think about it and just living for today. This is the reality for young British people, little in the way of economic prospects for their own property, family, or even stable lifelong relationships given that 93% of Gen Z have been involved in cheating relationships. She had only even left her home town once in her life.
Worthing
Brighton
Canterbury
South Port
South Port was deserted at 11am on a Sunday morning, despite having the second longest pier in the UK.
Update: it turns out this town I didn’t think much of just a few months later has had a horrific knife attack killing 3 little girls and injuring several other children and 2 adults, sparking protests and clashes with the police as frustration with the state of the country boils over.
The Last 10%
And now, just like the 30 year old down to her last 10% of eggs who suddenly wants to become traditional and get married to a gullible nice guy with a stable job after 15 odd years of giving her best everything to bad boys for free, I’ve been “saving the best for last”…
“Mate, skip Blackpool it’s a sh*thole”
This was a text message from a northern friend I later met in York a few days later.
“How bad can it be?”, I thought.
Sometimes you have to see it with your own eyes to believe it.
It’s not just retail, here you see derelict Edwardian houses that used to be small hotels:
I noticed consistently that even in the decaying ghettos, there are still landlord-class people with their expensive Range Rovers. It didn’t understand this until I moved to Essex and got some first-hand exposure, that Range Rovers are a status symbol. I grew up too poor to know such circles…
Blackpool — closed down and boarded up hotel — one of many:
Blackpool — even the pubs on the sea front, a great british pastime, are not safe — derelict, fenced off with broken windows seen in the top centre of this building:
Yet another derelict building:
The same building, around the next corner:
And opposite the above, a row of shut-down shops, and run-down buildings:
After passing dozens of such derelict buildings and closed-down shops, it was so bad I felt compelled to start stopping people to ask:
“Mate, what happened to this town?!!”
A guy outside the pub told me this area was known as “Smackhead Central”, meaning high incidence of drug use, in local slang.
Even when the buildings weren’t derelict, they were poorly maintained, the decay of the UK is real
There are things you shouldn’t stick in other things — your card in this ATM machine is one of those — this is the sort of area where your card is likely to get cloned / defrauded.
Even the charity shop had it’s front door windows smashed and boarded up. What an ironic metaphor for the UK being on heart life support
The Joke shop was closed because the joke’s on us, the British people:
It was so bad I had to stop and ask people what happened to the town.
“Politicians” was the answer I got. “Covid” was another answer, but Covid is long gone for years and the town still looks like this. How do they think it will regenerate? Where will the money come from? And even if the money was gifted (from the broke government, more on that later), who would come to keep the regeneration going?
It occurred to me that the northerners think that “rich” southerners are going to bail them out. They don’t know we’re leaving yet.
They don’t know we’re getting killed by mass immigration driving up housing costs and that the economy no longer supports enough high-paying jobs to outrun it. For the last 10+ years the guys I know have been working harder to try to earn more to outrun the growing cost of living crisis. We can’t save ourselves and our children, never mind the north. Most of the 50% rate taxpayers I know are emigrating — have already or planning to within coming months.
Colloquially, even the girl at the rental car company in Dubai said she’s seen lots of people emigrating from the UK, and it’s a frequent topic of conversation among people I talked to across the country. British people were leaving by hundreds of thousands.
Conclusion
I may not be Cassius Dio, but hopefully I’ve given you some insights into the UK Decline.
There is a lot of analysis that I could expand on here about the root cause of Western decline (democracy & voting demographics), but this article is already too long, and I would offend half the western population. I’ll save that for another day.
Seeing the state of much of the UK, it reinforced my decision to emigrate, the mood of which was captured in my Orphan by Country article on LinkedIn.
I wrote that in the Heathrow airport terminal lounge, as I was waiting for my departure flight.
This caught my eye at the time too:
Except it’s not so glorious any more, unfortunately.
My advice to the people I meet on my travels now is to visit the UK for 2 weeks, enjoy the tourist parts of central London. But don’t live there, don’t pay high UK taxes and suffer high rent or house prices caused by mass immigration, don’t suffer ghetto areas, crime and reduced quality of life etc. It’s better to be a tourist only.
And I’m not even bringing up the weather. Remember when the weather was the standard British people’s biggest complaint? That seems like a lifetime ago now that it’s the least of the UK’s problems.
If you liked this article, work in tech or are interested in the root cause of Western decline, you’re welcome to follow me on LinkedIn where I often annoy woke people with the truth.
