The 'intimidating' town with masked bikers and drug deals

Katie Luke has managed nightclubs but now, at her Bridgwater cafe, said the atmosphere in the town was "intimidating"

"I’ve managed nightclubs. I've been up against some nasty people in my time... but this is very intimidating."

Katie Luke now runs a bakery and cafe in the town centre of Bridgwater in Somerset.

Like other local businesses, she said issues with anti-social behaviour have reached a peak in recent months.

In the shopping centre where her cafe is located, she says young people ride their bikes through with masks covering their faces, and, she says, often carrying knives.

Meanwhile, on nearby town centre streets, traders said adults are drinking and taking drugs in broad daylight.

Police have been carrying out a series of days of action and working with Bridgwater Town Council, which has taken over a number of services and responsibilities from Somerset Council recently.

Candida Leaver, who runs the Old Vicarage Hotel in the centre of Bridgwater, said the town is dying

In the shadow of the picturesque St Mary's Church, at the heart of the town centre, Candida Leaver and her husband run the Old Vicarage Hotel, which this week hosted a meeting of local businesspeople to discuss the problem.

"The centre of Bridgwater is dying, which is a great pity because its biggest asset is its people," she said.

"We have fantastic people and we need to do something to get rid of the antisocial behaviour.

"We have a lot of guests stay and say ‘My goodness, the hotel is an oasis in the centre of Bridgwater. But outside at night, there are a lot of drugs.’

"We want those people [using drugs] to feel uncomfortable and so that they don't want to be here, so we can have our town centre back," said Mrs Leaver.

'Money is falling out'

Katie said the "last four months have been the worst" and that "trade has definitely fallen".

"The safety people feel around here is definitely having a massive decline and the town centre as a whole, it's not got a lot that's inviting people into it.

"It makes people feel very vulnerable and it makes me feel vulnerable for my own business and my own safety and the safety of my staff

"Money is just falling out because we can't afford to keep trading when the footfall has halved."

Katie added the problems in the town were not just down to younger people.

"A lot of it is surrounding the young. And a lot of thieving. And that’s not just the young. That is adults as well," she added.

"They ride their bikes through the centre, unruly absolutely, with no respect for any authority.

"Unfortunately, you do get a mouthful [if you challenge them].

"It’s very intimidating when they've got their full faces covered - not just face masks like were known in Covid - they are full-on, full face masks."

Local businessman Matthew Ruddle wants to see the town centre benefit from economic investment in the wider local area

Matthew Ruddle runs a marketing company in the town and is part of the local chamber of trade.

He said Bridgwater is "the epicentre of business in Somerset these days" with thousands of construction workers moving to the town for the new nuclear power station, Hinkley Point C.

He also points to a £4bn gigafactory planned for near the town.

"So there's so much positivity in the area, but we need to make sure that the high street rides that wave as well.

"We want all these people that have now come to the area on these projects going to the high street, spending money locally and driving the local economy on, before that bubble bursts once Hinkley is up and running."

Nathan Slate said it was a gamble to open his new concept store in Bridgwater

"I can't lie. The resounding question I get all the time is why did you open in Bridgwater?"

Nathan Slate opened his fashion, food and art concept store five weeks ago, just off the main high street.

"Bridgwater does come with a reputation," he said, "but it’s got a great future."

He added: "There's a lot of investment in the town and we are literally just off the M5 – we are half an hour from everywhere."

"There's a lot of drinking on the streets. There's a lot of kids with nothing to do and bad attitudes."

And he says he struggles to suggest other attractions in the town to people visiting his store.

Hinkley Point C - near Bridgwater - has meant many more people coming to and living in the town

"The answer I give is just 'look up'. Because the town is beautiful. There's so much history here.

"But unfortunately, if you look down, you'll see a lot of litter or potentially alcohol or people sitting around.

"I love the town. I think it can be brilliant. And it will be brilliant," he said, resolutely.

His partner, Diogo Rodrigues, is a local Conservative councillor.

He was having coffee in the new store when "right in front of our eyes we saw drug dealing taking place."

"I reported the registration number of the car to the police and the fact that there were two young girls in the back - they looked about six, seven years of age, that’s really concerning," he said.

"We sat with mouths wide open, thinking: 'How can this be happening in broad daylight in the middle of the day in Bridgwater?"

"I reported four weeks ago on the police online system and nothing's happening. No one's come back about it," he said.

Police are due to speak later on the issue.

Rob Semple from Bridgwater Town Council said the problem goes in cycles

Rob Semple, the newly-appointed director of community services at Bridgwater Town Council, said the problem goes in "cycles".

"Anti-social behaviour picks up for a while, agencies step in and try and deal with it.

"The cycle starts to die off again. But then it does seem to keep coming back round. So not necessarily the same people. But the same kind of issues in the same kind of areas.

"The police had been in during a day of action in terms of looking at and social behaviour and trying to move people on, but we've also got the town wardens in Bridgwater, funded by the Town Deal Fund.

"They have, over the last year, been doing a lot of work around engagement and education. So, talking to people try and understand why people were gathering where they are.

"Do they need support linking them into housing, services linking them into drugs and alcohol?"

He said they will look at suggestions from local traders, such as removing benches where people congregate and cause anti-social behaviour.

"Doing things in isolation is not necessarily going to work. If we just start ripping benches out and there's two other places that people are going to gather, then it might not have the same effect.

"So it is trying to work out a coordinated approach.

"Taking things out is always a last resort for me, personally, because I think it's not actually solving an issue as such. It is potentially going to move things around."

Fore Street is one of the areas where anti-social behaviour has been reported by businesses

Sam Smith, a local insurance broker based on the High Street, has lived in Bridgwater his whole life.

He said the town is a reflection of life across the UK.

"It’s what the country's like as a whole to be honest. There's a lot of struggles: people are struggling, children are struggling, adults are struggling. The provisions, aren't necessarily there for everyone. But people don't help themselves

"It is daily I see things out of my office window, crime happening, you can see what’s going on, day in, day out.

"We have to do something ourselves to help.

"We’re running a local football club for children. We could've had upwards of 60 children but we just didn't have the coaches

"So we've got about 40 children playing football regularly on a Saturday morning. Some have already been involved in the ’system’, as it were, some have got minor criminal records, but we are hoping to turn that around and change things for them."

Police action

Neighbourhood inspector Sarah Knight said the local policing team "works closely with partners to proactively tackle crime and anti-social behaviour".

She said: “Information of reported incidents is used to target our resources and as evidence for intervention and enforcement so we would encourage people to report incidents to us.

“We aim to divert people away from anti-social behaviour and we do this through initiatives including funding weekly youth activity sessions in the town and the use of anti-social behaviour warning letters.

“However, we will also make use of the full range of powers available to us where people refuse to engage. This has included issuing Community Protection Warnings, Criminal Behaviour Orders and civil injunctions and we will respond where these are not followed."

The newly-elected local Conservative MP has said his top priority is tackling anti-social behaviour in local town centres, particularly Bridgwater.

Ashley Fox said that during his canvassing in the election campaign "on the doorstep, crime and antisocial behaviour came up many times".

Anti-social behaviour in Bridgwater town centre has been seen as an issue for some local people in recent months.

It was also an early focus for the new Labour police and crime commissioner, elected in May, who visited Bridgwater town centre on her third day in the job.

Later the same month a man was taken to hospital after being stabbed in an early evening "fracas" between a group of people in the town centre, one weekend.