Countless years of economic neglect, changes in the way people shop, and the massive culture shock of Covid have hollowed out many of Britain’s city centres. And Peterborough is no exception.
The Cambridgeshire city, which not so long ago boasted a thriving nightlife scene, is now a graveyard for shuttered businesses. “The only thing that has survived in this bleak economy is Angels, the local strip CLUB,” claimed YouTuber Tim Moore, who chronicled Peterborough’s sad decline on his 4KWalkz channel.
“Who would have thought that? But it’s beaten the recession many times,” he added. “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.”
It’s not just Peterborough’s clubs and restaurants that have been wiped out. Tim passes by an abandoned hospital, which once treated war veterans but is now just a dry place for drug addicts to shelter.
He continued: “Such a 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.” It’s just 300 yards from the city centre, he said, but is littered with foul-smelling bin-bags, empty cans and drug paraphernalia.
Fly-tipping is a significant problem around Peterborough’s city centre, with unwanted furniture, luggage and even fridges lying uncollected alongside the usual stained mattresses and bulging bin-liners.
“Where’s the council when you need them? Tim asked. “There’s even a bra there.”
Pointing out one festering mound of rubbish, he added: “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 history in Peterborough goes back well over a century, points out that his hometown consistently ranks highly in lists of Britain’s worst places to live. It often comes second only to Luton on a chart compiled for website I Live Here.
While developers are active in the city, repurposing former commercial sites as apartment buildings, it’s by no means clear what the residents of those flats will actually do, once they move in.
Tim sadly lists a roll-call of once popular Peterborough pubs and clubs that have closed in recent years, tearing the soul out of the city.
The council has recently greenlit proposals for a new Lidl store, along with a car park, but they’ll be on the edge of Peterborough, leaving its centre still eerily quiet. The only recent repeal for a city centre area is yet another gambling storefront, of the kind that has taken over high streets up and down the country.
Local boy Tim concludes: “I feel like a foreigner on my own streets… it’s very odd feeling.”
