Safety is the burning issue for all generations and is the crucial difference between the past and present. We hear from the older generation how ‘the street doors were always open’ (William), that you knew everyone in the road, could borrow anything from anyone and, as a child, could head off alone to the park, where the park keeper would ensure your safety (Susan). Our middle generation (born around 1970) also enjoyed an atmosphere of safety and friendliness in the area as they were growing up. Melissa recounts her recent shock as she misjudged the sewer steps and was mugged. Past memories are all history to the younger generation of millennials who regretfully say that there is no longer any feeling of ‘community’ or ‘togetherness’. All are worried about going out after dark. They ascribe the change to drugs, divisions in the area and the fact that no-one knows anyone else anymore. Sadly, all except William (who feels trapped) and Mary would like to move away from the area if they could. Susan, born in 1950, is blunt: ‘English people have got no future here. I mean, really and truly. I’d like to say to my son, at the moment, he’s at the beginning of his career, he’s working in TV, but I’d like him eventually to do what he’s got to do, move.’, whilst her son, Jason, born in 1990, philosophically sees the process of alienation as inevitable, ‘…it’s always been like a lower income area and I think it will stay so and then you have that clash of the middle-class gentrification side of it which will only make the poverty seem far worse with it being so close by comparison. And so, from being a ‘lovely street’ in what was considered a ‘posh area’, Long Street is now viewed by these families as an unsafe, drug-infested area. Short Street too has suffered a similar demise.
Click on the Older, Middle and Younger generational objects to
activate audio and transcripts of each family member.
Eve: What was life like when you were growing up?
William: Very harsh. Very harsh. There was rationing of all sorts. Loads of bomb damage. Houses with tarpaulin sheets over them from bomb damage. Winters. The hard winters. Very little fuel. People made coal bricks out of coal dust and cement dust made up into wooden blocks in the garden in moulds and they burnt that. Everything that I can remember was rationed. Rationing was continued after the war and people were queuing outside the baker’s to get bread. Cakes were unheard of. You had to be very lucky to get cakes. Sweets were rationed. As I was only a child I didn't smoke but for adults tobacco was in short supply and that made life very difficult for them to get tobacco.
There was one thing that stands out from today as a difference from the 21st century and then and that was that you was safe in the streets. The street doors in the summertime were always open and there was no violence as there is now. You could walk the streets in the early hours of the morning and you wouldn't be attacked. I used to go out when I was 11 years old... I used to go out at 4:30 in the morning to the paper shop to deliver the papers. I used to finish at 8 o'clock and then go to school. No one even on a dark winter morning would harm you and so you felt very safe. There was no physical violence on the streets and drugs like there are now.
Eve: For all the faults that the area has, that you outlined earlier, would you ever consider moving?
William: No, not now.
Debbie: All I can remember is that you used to play out all night… you don’t see that now, you don’t see the kids playing out in the street, you know cos it’s not safe to play out any more. That’s the big issue that it’s not safe for the children to play out … we never used to let ours play out at the end did we because you never just knew who was about. Yeah…we used to leave our front door wide open. You couldn’t do that now… someone would walk in… the front door was always open so you’d just come and go as you like. You knew as soon as it was getting dark and the street lights come on it was time to go home. That’s was what it was all about. You knew everybody down your bit of road as well, so you’d say, ‘Oh I seen Mrs Johnson today and her baby was left out,’ – oh your prams was always left out front but you don’t do that now.
Eve: Were there some other big changes?
Debbie: Yeah. I mean you knew everybody. Everybody was in and out of houses for cups of tea, borrowing things …. It was all things being in that same part … Now it’s like Asian people, we got Africans, we got Eastern Europeans … nobody talks … you don’t know them because the houses are rented out now or you just get so many people in one place... or they’re not there long enough to get any conversation going with them or they just don’t speak your language
Eve: Do you still feel very rooted or you have been very rooted to the area, you’ve lived here for huge amount of time. Do you think you’ll live here for ever?
Debbie: No. You’ve wanted to move for ages now haven’t you. There’s always been something stopping us from moving… one thing or another… my mum was still alive and we wouldn’t move and leave her on her own… and she wouldn’t move out would she. That was one thing we stayed here for… then my mum passed and then it was like, ‘What do we do? Do we move now or not move?’ and then it was the children.
Susan: Children then had to make up their own ideas and that’s what you did but…. you could go to the park. I mean the park wasn’t far from where I lived so you’d walk to the park and you’d spend all day there. We had a park keeper. All parks had park keepers all the time, plus you had the toilets there. Anybody picked on you, you’d go and find the park keeper and he’d come over and he’d Oi! You know, behave or ‘Out!’ And you stayed there all day and then you used to go home about 4 o’clock, dinner, …. Simple life, simple and you’d go shopping with your mum twice a week because they used to have one small I mean …. We never had a fridge at the beginning, we used to have a larder and everything used to be kept on a marble slab … my nan used to have an outside larder and she used to keep her milk out there, her butter… it used to be closed off but you never thought of it being outside, because it was in the larder, it was cold and you never thought of all these kitchen germs or your milk going off. If it went off you just poured it away and went and got another bottle of milk. But things never did go off. My mum always used to say unless the tin has blown, eat it because there’s nothing wrong with it. If it’s blown it means the inside’s gone off. If it hasn’ t there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s fine. You just used to eat and we never or very rarely had chicken, because my granddad used to keep chickens, so if we had chicken it would have been one of his, but he used to have an allotment near where we lived and we’d go there and we’d pull the carrots and we’d wipe the dirt off and eat it and we’d pick the raspberries off the bushes and eat them …we wouldn’t think , ‘Oh I’ve got to wash this.’ Eventually years later we got peaches and we used to look for the maggots, but we never had peaches when I was a youngster. I think I was about 7 when I first had a banana.
Susan: Then once a year we used to go to Canvey Island for a week in a caravan and that was our holiday, but we still used to have fun there, sitting in a caravan, sitting outside doing things, doing things in the rain, but that’s what we enjoyed because everything was so simple and your friends were your friends and your neighbours were your neighbours… I know people used to lock up of a night-time but no one locked up during the day and we’d play out in the streets, skipping because there wasn’t the cars on the road, and if you played skipping, everybody boys and girls used to play skipping. You used to play with two balls… you’d play with a ball in a stocking, all silly simple games but it used to amuse us …… Knock down Ginger, but we only used to knock on people who played Knock down Ginger
Eve: What do you think the future might hold for an area like this?
Susan: English people have got no future here. I mean really and truly, I’d like to say to my son, at the moment he’s at the beginning of his career, he’s working in TV but I’d like him eventually to do what he’s got to do, move.
Eve: So the first thing I wanted to ask you was what life was like when you were growing up, cos you grew up round here both of you didn’t you…… so what was life like? What sort of things can you remember about it and what was different?
Mary: It was harder.
James: It was harder. When I started work the money was… it was seven days a week… I worked seven days a week…over what used to be the stadium…… I worked for a bloke called Homsley doing greyhounds. I used to walk the greyhounds round of a racing night and things like that and it was …how to say.... this area… if you couldn’t hold your hand up you was in trouble….
Mary: What do you mean?
James: Well you had to look after yourself cos it was hard round here cos there was a lot of …how do you say?... it was tough.
Mary: You had to stick up for yourself.
James: It was a tough area to live in. When the war started, we got evacuated to Blackpool. We lived in Blackpool till I was eight. Then I come here to live. All the family come back to their old house where they used to be.
James: Yes but you was here when the bombs was here. Oh yes when the bombing was all on and we used to go on …. and when the doodlebugs hit, we used to go round the doodle bugs to find all what was there and all the rest of it.
James: Then you could walk in the houses was all open.
Mary: They had keys on a chain.
James: Keys on a chain and just pull them through and open the door. We never used to have burglars and things like that because we had a bloke down our turning … and er we lived on the end … the Websters… if they caught anybody stealing he would deal with them himself, he wouldn’t go to the law, he’d deal with it himself and they knew that and they kept.
Eve: So did you know most people in the area?
Mary: Oh yeah, most people we knew… we knew like you wouldn’t nick off of anybody.
James: You ain’t got that lower class (now).
Mary: Well there wasn’t no social. He worked in the dock and I was pregnant with Lisa and he didn’t get nothing but … well he got £1. 50 for me. If they’d known I was in hospital we wouldn’t have got that. No social, so if you didn’t work you didn’t get no money, don’t get me wrong, and the thing is, it’s too easy today. I mean the wrong people get it. I don’t care, I mean I don’t care what everyone else’s got but I just feel it’s very unfair, you work hard all your life, you don’t claim nothing and when you’ve got to a certain age, because you’ve got a pension, you goes over only maybe a pound, you don’t get nothing whatsoever. You know what I mean? And that’s what I feel sorry for my grandchildren.
Eve: That’s another thing I wanted to ask you. Do you see yourselves staying here now, staying put?
James: Oh yeah. She won’t move. We had a bloke here, couple of months ago, come outside and she was at work and he said, “Can I look inside” and I said “Yeah’ and I brought him in and showed him in here. He started saying ‘I’ll give you four seven now?’ She didn’t want to move.
Mary: I don’t want to move. I don’t want to start all over again. People I don’t know.
Eve: And did you like the area when you were growing up here?
Melissa: I did. I had a lot of friends around here in the street and they went to the same school for primary school and secondary school, but obviously as time has moved on… it was different at first, I used to come home from school for dinner but now the school’s all got fenced off and I don't think people can even come home for dinner. Generally, there is a lot more culture change in the area which seems to have an impact on the services around the area like getting appointments with the doctor and being seen at the hospital which can take quite some time now.
Eve: So do you think it's not as nice now as it used to be when you were growing up around here?
Melissa: Definitely. You haven't really got much around the area but what you did have then in the area was that everyone used to be very friendly but people have moved out. Unfortunately for Dad it’s too late for him to move out like he could have done in the early years when Mum was still alive. I thought they would get a nice bungalow, you know a bungalow would be better with just one storey, much easier for Dad to maintain. But by that saying that, you know, by still being at this property he knows his local doctor and he's got the hospital nearby. So I suppose it’s swings and roundabouts really.
Eve: Did it seem like a safe area when you were growing up here? Did you think, well I feel quite safe going up the road and playing?
Melissa: Definitely. So much so that as I got older, when I actually went out with my friends and stayed here I actually got on the bus and came home here, coming over the steps, because it was always the thing to do ‘cos I used to go to work with Mum and to go over the steps but now I’ve been attacked. I didn't used to think anything of it. I would walk back to my house and I'd forgotten recently how unsafe it's become and that you can't do that anymore, because it's no longer the case... because me and Mum used to go to work together we used to go over the sewer steps to get to Stratford and then we used to go and get our lunch in Sainsbury's and then walk to the workplace and Stratford for which we used to go through the tunnel and past the turning off the tunnel where Dad used to work near the farm that was quite close really.
Eve: And you didn't have any feeling of danger then?
Melissa: No not back then. You used to go, look left look right for the bus, and then depending on which bus was coming, it was quick, let's run, let's run and back then you used to go up to the top of the bus and stand at the top and smoke. And Mum used to have a cigarette on the top of the bus. Well, you’re not going to do that now, and nine times out of ten mum would always find someone at the bus stop that she knows, and if she didn't know them she'd always talk to them.
Eve: And you think it's different now really?
Melissa: Well yes. The buses are obviously not as frequent and obviously you can't smoke on the bus which doesn't bother me but I would never dare go at the top of the bus, never go up the stairs on the bus, I'd stay downstairs on the bus but it's very rare now that I'd get a bus.
Eve: Just one last question I think. That is, can you see yourselves ever moving back to live in this part of London where you grew up? What would stop you? Is it prices or anything else?
Melissa: For me, I wouldn't say that I wouldn't move back because I wouldn’t be able to afford it but I do stay here with Dad, so I sort of like to stay here, but no, I don't think I would like to live back here all the time in this area. Because the area has changed. It's not as it was and it's just not a nice area to be in.
Eve: And does that go back to things like safety and friendliness?
Melissa: Yes, and also people have got no respect so if you go to sleep there could be a lot of noise at the front or from your neighbours. You wouldn't do that years ago you know. I would only ring Dad up to 9 o'clock at night. If it was after 9 o'clock it would be because it was an emergency, you know, there was a cut off time.
Eve: What was the area like when you were growing up here?
Karen: Well, we never had computers or… mobiles... I’d be out in the street, playing... you know … a lot of my friends… I mean we never had… The Green, which is up, you know the Green round there… and we used to have the sweet shop on the corner… so a lot of and er we, me and my mum used to live in Roman Road, further up there … and a lot of my friends sort of lived near enough opposite but just up the road, so, we lived down the same, we sort of played in each other’s front gardens. So a lot of the time, I mean what I remember is when we used to play mums and dads. So you’d have the prams, and funny enough, one of my friends, she had one of the old Silver Cross prams and everyone wanted to be with her because she had the massive big pram and it was like, I got to have that pram whereas we just had sort of silly little buggy, so yeah, we’d play in each other’s front gardens, and you’d go to the sweet shops, and we used to have another sweet shop just up here as well. And we used to sit on the BT thing. I mean I never played, not that I can remember, ‘knock down ginger’ or sort of things like that…. not that I was a good girl, but I can’t remember playing those sort of things … yeah, but to me it was like out in the street. I don’t think I was sort of … I ever went to the park over there… growing up I think it was just literally in the street. We wouldn’t be hanging about as they do now, it would be in a garden and then you might stay over at a friend’s… but it would always be close, but then I say as I got older and drink was introduced… I was out, but there was never a way of me getting in touch with my mum to say I was staying out…. I just would turn up the next day, you know, as and when it might happen. It’s not now until I’m a mum, that you think, ‘God what did I put her through?’
Eve: What about staying here or going? Do you think you might leave here some time?
Karen: We are going, yeah, no we will be going. I mean like ..... just said I mean I wouldn’t go until my mum was ready to go …leave here. I mean we’ve always had an intention to move anyway because we’ve got a three-bedroom house. Once she leaves home there’s me and my husband… so my husband works around here for my work I can go anywhere, but do I want to live in London with the speed of it? That’s what a lot of it is, the speed. I mean I go down into Cornwall, Cornwall wasn’t ever on our agenda to move to…
Lisa: Oh I was always out. It was completely different… completely different…
Eve: In what way?
Lisa: Er, we didn’t have no mobile phones...we didn’t have no… when I was younger, no computers, no Nintendos… We used to go over…before the houses were built, Beckton... it was like… it was just a waste land… it was… with horses on it... and we used to go… wild horses… we used to go over there and jump on the horses… it was completely different… It was Beckton where Asda’s is, before then it was the dumps. So we used to go over there
Eve: And now it’s all houses.
Lisa: Buy a packet of fags… we shouldn’t, and go over there and smoke… And we had the lido… that was … It was completely different… it was… I can’t explain it… I didn’t let my kids out because of the way that it was when I had her… but before we used to, we used to go out, walk the streets... not think nothing of it.
Lisa: You see I’d like to move out … well I say I would. The only way I would move out is if I won the lottery and I could take my mum and dad with me. I wouldn’t actually move out and leave them here…. But it would be nice to move out to like Brentwood or somewhere with a bit of greenery… instead of big flats going up… cos it’s very congested round here…
Brian: In terms of the makeup of the area and stories, I can't recall any specific stories but in terms of the make-up of the area, I get the impression that East Ham, where my Dad grew up, it was very Jewish. From what I understand, the atmosphere was very English and very Jewish and that's it. From what I understand from Mum, it was black and white mostly where she stayed. And for me, growing up, it's become more diverse and I have noticed, I'm almost turning 30 soon, and growing up, it was there from when I grew up, there were South Asians. Black people seem to be less there, in East Ham. When you look at the statistics for Newham it's almost the same sort of percentage now. I think generally I notice there are trends in Newham where certain ethnic groups are more concentrated, so it always seemed to me that a lot of English people seem to be based in Beckton than in other parts. Likewise, it seems that Green Street is more south Asian. Noticing that there were more South Asians might have just been a product that we lived on the periphery of East Ham. Upton Park station is actually closer in terms of travelling time. That might just have been a product of where we lived in Newham and then if you go to Canning Town there's a lot more black people there. When I've been there more recently there seems to be a lot more Bangladeshis. I don't know whether it's because of that, that the area around Canning Town station, perhaps branching out from Tower Hamlets. Maybe that's something to do with it, and branching out from Tower Hamlets, even our neighbour is currently a Bangladeshi back home whereas before they were English, there was an English guy there. So it is changing, it's changing, and more and more… more recently there's a lot more Eastern Europeans which weren't there when I was growing up and there certainly weren’t as many as there are now and the English people are more concentrated in Docklands. But I found that East Ham is one of those areas where - I don't mean where I live – I mean in the High Street area it's very mixed. It's not like Green Street which is very South Asian and it’s not like Stratford which is more black, it's almost like an amalgamation of different areas. East Ham High Street seems to be .... Then you have that bit when you come out of East Ham station and you go right towards Manor Park and that South Indians and they are obviously very different from other South Asians.
Brian: So I mean my circumstances are that when I leave this job… I haven't moved away from the area because I wanted to, it was because of my job. Once I leave that job I will go back there, then if I find a job that's in another city then that's another city and I'll move away. In terms of living, there is not a place where I would want to live but I would have to because that's where my base is but I would not want to live there. I would still want to live in London, I think London has so much to offer I can't see myself not living in the city, I'm talking about, in the UK I wouldn’t want to live somewhere where my parents want to go, like Essex for example. I think that would be very cut off from opportunities, very cut off.
Eve: So you'd like to live in London but not necessarily in Newham?
Brian: No not there. It would have to be somewhere that is not so downtrodden or not so working-class and I'm saying that because of the safety aspects associated with the area, I don't know if that would apply to all working class areas, I would want to be somewhere safe, basically in London, perhaps a nice part, one of the nicer parts of Ealing, for example, basically within zones 1 2 3.
Eve: So, anyway, if you think back to the area, when your mum and dad grew up here, and your grandparents did too didn’t they, so what do you think has changed? Can you imagine what it was like when they grew up here? Did they ever tell you about it or tell you stories?
Christopher: Well, yeah in a way. I’ve seen like numerous old videos and… photos …and to be honest, Tate… where I work is very, very old. It’s quite rich in history and I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like, to be honest … it probably would have er I dunno.. I would have liked to have seen it, to be honest, I must admit. It does look… I don’t know …in a way to me `I thought it looked better than it does today.
Christopher: Yeah, I mean I’d love.... I don’t know if it’s er, perhaps what it would have been like back in the day cos, I imagine there would have been a better society round here, better atmosphere everywhere round east London. There’s not much round here… there’s no togetherness and I don’t think there’s any community. If anything happened they wouldn’t stick together down the road or… I couldn’t imagine. I couldn’t imagine it happening to be honest, so I’m quite sad that…
Eve: I mean do you know many of your neighbours?
Christopher: To be honest, not really. I mean when I was younger even it shows you how quickly it’s changed because when I was younger there was predominantly more perhaps what you’d call people who’d grown up here, and even if they wasn’t white, it doesn’t matter being black, you know the colour… yeah there was more togetherness even then when I was younger. It’s completely dying out now to be honest with you.
Eve: Yes. Where would you fancy moving to if you were to move?
Christopher: Well it depends. If I stayed in the job I am now, it would have to be somewhere probably not too far… somewhere in Essex probably. It seems to be that way that how this area’s gone… it’s just gone downhill... it seems to be spreading out if you know what I mean. It’s not just this area, it does spread out. Yeah, probably somewhere in Essex… And there’s more togetherness and more community I feel. Yeah I don’t know…
Eve: OK, well let's go back to the area itself. Did you grow up around here?
Jason: Yes, yes. I grew up here and have lived here all my life.
Eve: And can you imagine, so when your mum was growing up here, what the area might have been like when she was young? Do you think there's been a lot of changes?
Jason: Yes, from what I understand the area sounds smaller, much smaller from what I’ve got in my head. It had a smaller town-type feel to it, almost. Everyone you knew were your neighbours and you stayed within that very small area. That's what I imagine it being. Less built up. I think she (mum) likes that close community part of it where you knew all of your neighbours and they knew your business. I think she talks about having felt safe, about being able to leave the door open. Apparently everyone left their door open. That’s a weird concept to me but that's what it was like. Everyone left the doors open for their neighbours who were also their friends.
Eve: Did she tell you other stories about the area and the way it used to be?
Jason: She told me quite a few things about the docks and because they formed an important, well, not necessarily an important part but a large part of her life and as you know her dad used to work there and we visited there quite a few times because of that. But again that's an alien concept to me because they're not actually docks now. There's just a few warehouses left.
Eve: So do you think the area’s changed a lot since she grew up here, since she was a young person?
Jason: Yes, definitely. I think all of London has changed. It's more ethnically…, it's, it's much bigger. It all seems much bigger than what it was in the past, less personal, less of that town feel, more of that busy bustling City that never stops, with people being less personal towards each other. Actually, I do remember, when I was young, the corner shop. We've got a corner shop just up there, we used to go to it as kids and it was almost like a focal point, we always used to buy sweets there. And now I think that shop doesn't seem to be very used. There's less of a human face to things. it's all sort of become more global now.
Eve: So do you think you’ll continue living here or would you like to move?
Jason: No, I've got plans to move out with my friend in February, we're not quite sure where. I would rather stay local to East London just because I know it so well and because the transport is so good but it would feel quite alien to me to go to, say, West London, or somewhere far away yes, yes… Yes, not necessarily Newham. I wouldn't be averse to that, but I just think that's the sort of area I would like to stay in, Eastish London or South East ‘cos he’s in Eltham at the moment.
Eve: And if you think about the future of the area? It's undergone a lot of changes from the time your mum, let alone when your grandad, was alive. What do you think it holds for the future? Well I mean if you had to project into the future?
Jason: I can see a potential issue of it becoming somewhat like Hackney where extreme poverty is next to a more trendy middle class up and coming proportion of society because the new flats that are over at Upton Park where the West Ham grounds used to stand will attract a new type of person and they are redeveloping that entire area. The East Ham Working Man's Club is going to be knocked down and flats built on top and a nice sort of pub area underneath. It will all change the vibes and the feel of that. I mean I don't go out very often but my friends used to go to the Working Man’s Club a lot.
Eve: Yes, I went to see it recently and it looks very sad. I'm not sure if it's open anymore.
Jason: I think it's still open but barely. I was there a few weeks ago but it's not the place it was. It’s a shell of its former self. So it makes sense why they are knocking it down but I just think it will just mirror what’s happened in Hackney and the middle class presence there and it will be sad to see the poverty of the other end.
Eve: So where are all those people coming from who are moving into those flats because they're very expensive?
Jason: It would be people like my friends from Uni. …One grew up in Chichester and his dad worked in a business and was quite a good salesman so I think they had a decent income so they were more middle class compared to me despite the fact that we are quite similar people and compared to where we are and so it's people like him who found their way into London I think and they move into these trendy areas because they can afford to mix with people. So I think it's from outside of London would be my answer.
Eve: More generally, do you think that this area a has a rosy future?
Jason: No, no, I don't think so. I see it more negatively I think the Docklands has always been one of the poverty areas I mean all docks are. They were where people used to unload and the docks are its former life. It's always been a poverty area. Poverty areas do draw out some of the best of humanity but most of the worst too so I don't look optimistically about it because I think you're always going to have that poverty. It’s based on where it's been and that's formed the area.
Eve: So do you think the docks have formed the area?
Jason: Definitely, definitely.
Eve: In what ways?
Jason: I think it was always people who lived by the docks who were the working class types. That culture and that level of income has maintained throughout. I think it's one of the cheapest areas to rent so it's always been like a lower income area and I think it will stay so and then you have that clash of the middle class gentrification side of it which will only make the poverty seen far worse with it being so close by comparison. So no, I don't reckon it will have an optimistic future.
Eve: How about playing in the street? Did you used to do that like your mum?
Jenny: No, not really
Eve: So you might be the one to stay here?
Jenny: I don’t think I’d stay here. It’s too expensive.
Eve: Thanks. So do you think the area’s changed quite a lot then from the time when you were growing up here now.
Nicky: To be honest with you, I do, I do think it’s changed. I think you don’t really see anyone out any more. It’s not like it used to be. You used to see kids outside playing. I used to play kerbsie, bulldogs. You don’t really see that in the street any more. Everyone’s so scared. No one really lets their children out any more.
Eve: So you used to be able to play out when you were young?
Nicky: Yes. I used to go out and I used to have to go home when the street lights come on…when it was getting dark. But you don’t see that any more.
Eve: OK just one last thing. Do you ever see yourself as moving out of the area? Or do you think you’d like to stay here for as long as you possibly can?
Nicky: I’d love to move out tomorrow
Eve: Where would you go to Nicky?
Nicky: Essex. I love Essex. My brother lives in Brentwood.
Eve: What’s lovely about it then cos I don’t know it much?
Nicky: Can I say something. Everyone’s so friendly. You go in a shop they say ‘Good Morning’. It’s like a proper community.
Eve: How about you, Emma? Obviously you haven't grown up here but you visited quite a bit didn’t you?
Emma: Yes I visited a lot when I was younger.
Eve: Did you enjoy coming here when you were younger?
Emma: Yes I enjoyed the area. Everyone was very friendly… I used to go out but not anymore. I don't feel safe.
Eve: And what is it that makes you feel unsafe do you think?
Emma: The stories that I've heard like on the internet that have happened around the area.