A stunning village located just a stone's throw away from Merseyside has had its dark side exposed with it being plagued by binge drinkers and chaos when the sun goes down.
Whalley, hidden away in the Ribble Valley in Lancashire, is the home of incredible green landscapes, an ancient abbey and a frothing river running through it. Despite the picturesque landscape and a plethora of independent traders and restaurants, the "Jekyll and Hyde" village has a dark side that shows its face when night falls.
The exclusive village, where a semi-detached home fetches more than half a million pounds on average, is home to binge drinkers and antisocial behaviour which plagues residents during the night, people living in the village have claimed. Alongside heavy drinking, people have seen vomiting and urinating throughout Whalley every weekend, Lancs Live reports.
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Residents also feared renewed rowdiness this Bank Holiday weekend. Dave, a local resident who lives on Queen Street, claimed he has been forced to leave his home at weekends and stay with his partner in nearby Leyland to avoid the incoming louts running rampage.
He said teens and youngsters weren’t the culprits but it was mostly middle-aged drinkers causing their nightmares. Dave said: “It’s noisy - I don’t tend to stay here at weekends, and I stay with my partner in Leyland. You get damage to cars, you get people urinating.
“The nightclubs used to kick out at 4am, and it used to be bad, but it’s actually been better after Covid because people have less disposable income. The properties at the end of Queen Street are always up for sale; it’s anti-social behaviour, domestics, couples that have been drinking and thinking that everybody that’s asleep wants to hear them arguing.
“It’s when the clubs kick them out and it’s people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and it is alcohol based - and it's the outsiders that come into the area, as they don’t have any respect. I actually look at the weather and I hope that it’s going to be cold, then it puts people off coming.”
Another Queen Street resident claimed she had often seen large gangs of “youths” and problems often escalated when drugs were involved. The woman, who didn’t want to be named, said: “There’s a lot of youths coming in from outside, and there've been fights; there have been people having their hanging baskets kicked around, and if you shout at them they will attack your car.
“At weekends, it’s full of piles of sick and drug bags, and the girls who live on the corner are fed up with all the people peeing on the gate. Something needs to be done; you see the gangs, about 50 or 60 of them, on Queen Street, all marching between bars."
She continued: “They have been drinking in bars and clubs and taking drugs. One neighbour at the end had people having sex in her backyard towards the end of last year. People went ballistic when they were allowed out again after the lockdowns - there should be more police and drugs checks at a proper time of day.”
The Cumulative Impact Assessment 2022-2025 included a host of comments from residents complaining about “noise, disturbance and anti-social behaviour” which included “shouting and screaming, aggressive behaviour and drunken behaviour”.
One comment stated: "Why should Whalley residents suffer? We must have ten or twelve licensed premises, the village is saturated, no more please."
Despite recent assurances from the council that these issues were being dealt with, not all residents were satisfied.
Michael Wedgeworth, chair of the Queen Street residents’ association, said: “It’s the usual mixture of shouting, arguing, being sick in the road, urinating in people's gardens, even climbing over people's garden walls, and also, of course, there's this problem about the music going on till about four o'clock in the morning. It’s just continued, for the people living nearby.
“We've been in touch with the council, we've been to council meetings, we've written to the council.”
A spokesperson for Lancashire Police said: "We are aware of isolated incidents of anti-social behaviour in the area. We continue to have regular patrols in the area and work with partners to ensure Whalley remains a safe place to live work and visit. If anybody has any concerns we would encourage them to report them to the police via 101."
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