Harehills in Leeds was recently described as a “holiday resort” for street drinkers by West Yorkshire Police, as an officer spoke to city councillors about street drinking that mars the area.
This claim came amid widespread opposition to the prospect of a new off-licence in Harehills Lane. Heightened powers have also been granted to the police to crack down on the anti-social behaviour.
Reports suggested that drinkers travel as far as Morley to knock back alcohol in the bustling East Leeds surburb. But residents have say while it is a major issue, they disagreed the drinkers come from different parts of the city.
Read more: Leeds greengrocer sick of street drinkers snatching his fruit and running away
Norman Suleman, 33, believes Harehills has unfairly got a bad reputation. The estate agent said: “Anybody from our area wouldn’t feel intimidated but because I’ve lived here all my life, I think it’s nice having lots of different communities and different varieties.
“Certain areas here, you do get some people who are drinking or selling drugs. Since they brought the alcohol ban in, we haven’t really seen that many people drinking alcohol or causing fights here.
“It’s all familiar faces, I don’t know where they got that report from. They’re just trying to degrade the area even more because they’ve been here for years.”
Although Cassy Zahiri, 35, who’s also from the areas disagrees. The builder and gymnastics teacher said: “Run and never come back. I’ve lived here all my life and moved to Manchester four years ago. When I was younger, you could walk around these streets and never even think about anything bad happening, like even 2am, 3am or 4am and not be scared that anything bad would happen.
“Now you don’t even go out past 10pm, you’d be on edge.
“Everywhere you go round here you see street-drinkers, by the bookies, the street corners, everywhere. It’s frustrating because I’ve lived here all my life and even now I feel that I don’t want to be here because I wouldn’t want my kids to grow up like that, drinking on the streets – I don’t want that for my kids.
Leeds City Council worker Zara Martin-Francis, who works in letting allocations and lives in Harehills, said: “We’re based in the offices with the PCSOs and they’re actively out sort of moving them on and trying to battle the issues that street-drinkers have. There are obviously street drinkers but I wouldn’t say it’s like a holiday resort.
“The people that we see are locals in the area. I think it’s sad, really. The people doing it aren’t necessarily homeless or begging, they’re just choosing to drink on the streets."
Read next:
- First look inside stunning new £18million restaurant in Leeds city centre
- 'Dirty' Leeds chippy ordered to clean up after damning one-star food hygiene rating
- Leeds' oldest chippy in millionaire village where Leeds United footballers are regulars
- Struggling Leeds car boot sellers say 'times are tough' as customers demand 50p bargains
BBC viewers hail Leeds 'queen' who didn't know Boris Johnson had resigned
