Inside 'one of UK's worst cities' where strip club is 'among last businesses standing'
Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire, was once a bustling city with a thriving nightlife scene - but now it's a ghost town with shuttered businesses and fly-tipping everywhere
Years of economic neglect, shifts in shopping habits, and the seismic impact of Covid have left many British city centres, including Peterborough, desolate.
The Cambridgeshire city, once known for its bustling nightlife, is now a ghost town of closed businesses. "The only thing that has survived in this bleak economy is Angels, the local strip CLUB," stated YouTuber Tim Moore, who documented Peterborough's unfortunate decline on his 4KWalkz channel.
"Who would have thought that? But it's beaten the recession many times," he continued. "The only thing that's left standing out of all this area in Peterborough. The clubs and everything all taken away, the only thing left standing is the strip club."
But it's not just the city's clubs and restaurants that have disappeared. Tim walked past an abandoned hospital, which once served war veterans but is now merely a dry refuge for drug addicts.
He added: "Such a grand old building, that's been here 130 or 140 years. It's ruins like this that get left and abandoned... that people just abuse."
Despite being just 300 yards from the city centre, it's littered with foul-smelling bin-bags, empty cans and drug paraphernalia.
Fly-tipping is a significant issue in Peterborough's city centre, with discarded furniture, luggage and even fridges lying uncollected alongside the usual stained mattresses and overflowing bin-liners.
"Where's the council when you need them? There's even a bra there," Tim said. He pointed out a pile of rubbish that had been left to rot for months, saying: "This pile must have been here for months ...it's disgusting. There's an old carpet, and rats trying to get in there for food."
Tim, whose family has lived in Peterborough for over a century, noted that his hometown often ranks second only to Luton on lists of Britain's worst places to live, according to the website I Live Here.
Despite developers converting former commercial sites into apartment buildings, Tim expressed uncertainty about what the new residents would do once they moved in.
He mournfully listed several popular Peterborough pubs and clubs that have closed in recent years, claiming it has ripped the heart out of the city.
The council recently approved plans for a new Lidl store and car park on the outskirts of Peterborough, leaving the city centre still eerily quiet. The only recent addition to the city centre is another betting shop, similar to those seen on high streets across the country.
Local lad Tim concluded: "I feel like a foreigner on my own streets... it's a very odd feeling."