Is Teesside getting worse for violent crime?

I was in a very pretty Market town in South Wales (like Yarm but with an accent). Only 4 Lovely country style pubs etc.
I was playing darts with my mate, (we were in the RAF and had accents not local to the area).
Anyway, a couple of lasses came over and asked if they could join us, so we were just having a laugh playing darts.
No flirting or attempting to chat them up.
Next thing, one of the boyfriends came into the pub and kicked off with us.
Next thing we know, 6-7 lads piled into us and ran us out the pub, kicked the living sh** out of us in the street, and ran us out of town.
 
Combining drugs and alcohol leads to an increase in paranoid psychotic episodes, so that will be a factor.

That said, I used to go out in Middlesbrough every Friday and saturday night for a decade and there were a couple of lengthy periods (possibly a long as a year) where I would see at least one fight every weekend.

Add to that away matches in the 80's.

Then again, if you read some of the reports of Middlesbrough in the late 19th/early 20th centuries then it really does sound like the Wild West.
 
My nieces other half is a copper. Transferred from Manchester to Middlesbrough. He claimed Middlesbrough was far worse than Manchester!
 
Teesside was a rough place to drink in the late 1980s and with far less cocaine doing the rounds. Probably worse now with the paranoia drugs causes. I recall fights breaking out most Friday and Saturday nights in Mbro town centre. A mate of mine was glassed in the Madison one night. His crime? he smiled at a girl near the bar and a man tapped him on the shoulders when he turned round he smashed him in the face with a glass. He was slurping drinks through a straw for weeks I remember.

We also have of course the local 'Hard' man and bully who will remain nameless, that the local newspaper seems obsessed with deifying every now and again. Books only serve to try to turn these people into local 'Heroes' and 'Legends'. My Heroes are the emergency services who put their lives on the line every day, or save the lives of others.
 
Mountain Climber said:
Teesside was a rough place to drink in the late 1980s and with far less cocaine doing the rounds. Probably worse now with the paranoia drugs causes. I recall fights breaking out most Friday and Saturday nights in Mbro town centre. A mate of mine was glassed in the Madison one night. His crime? he smiled at a girl near the bar and a man tapped him on the shoulders when he turned round he smashed him in the face with a glass. He was slurping drinks through a straw for weeks I remember.

We also have of course the local 'Hard' man and bully who will remain nameless, that the local newspaper seems obsessed with deifying every now and again. Books only serve to try to turn these people into local 'Heroes' and 'Legends'. My Heroes are the emergency services who put their lives on the line every day, or save the lives of others.
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That happened to a mate of mine in The Waterfront in Stockton. Spoke to the wrong lass and ended up scarred for life. There are some despicable people around but it isn't just Teesside.
 
I am shocked how downhill some places on Teesside have become.

Look at Ormesby - someone said their house was shot at twice recently, a pensioner was badlt beaten up in his own house in Henry Taylor Court, never heard of anything like that in the 1970s, certainly not in Ormesby.

At Bankfields the local shop looks like the Alamo just before the Mexicans attacked. If was never like that 35 years ago.

I think fights in pubs near closing time have always been around in many parts of Teesside, but I think the rise in drugs and poverty have created some new crime.
 
Let’s be honest there are large parts of the Boro that are a no go zone for “law abiding average people”. I have lived here all my life and hate it when people ask where I’m from . I can see my head dropping and my answer being more of a whisper . Hate myself for doing it but you can just see the blank gaze in peoples faces when you tell them.
 
Johnnyweetabix said:
Let’s be honest there are large parts of the Boro that are a no go zone for “law abiding average people”. I have lived here all my life and hate it when people ask where I’m from . I can see my head dropping and my answer being more of a whisper . Hate myself for doing it but you can just see the blank gaze in peoples faces when you tell them.
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Wow, I'd hate to be you. I can't imagine being so ashamed of the place I'm from that I would cower from public view.

If I'm being honest I would say that Middlesbrough or indeed anywhere on Teesside is no worse for violence than most places and there are many that are worse. I'm certainly not aware of any no go areas so perhaps you can tell me where they are.
 
100’s of post industrial town around the country, all with the same or similar problems.
The only thing Middlesbrough ( and many Towns) lack is opportunity.
Where that will come from I don’t know.
You should never be ashamed of where you’ve come from.
 
Johnnyweetabix said:
Let’s be honest there are large parts of the Boro that are a no go zone for “law abiding average people”. I have lived here all my life and hate it when people ask where I’m from . I can see my head dropping and my answer being more of a whisper . Hate myself for doing it but you can just see the blank gaze in peoples faces when you tell them.
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Maybe the blank glaze is a reaction to the whispering, cowering fool in front of them.
 
Johnnyweetabix said:
Let’s be honest there are large parts of the Boro that are a no go zone for “law abiding average people”. I have lived here all my life and hate it when people ask where I’m from . I can see my head dropping and my answer being more of a whisper . Hate myself for doing it but you can just see the blank gaze in peoples faces when you tell them.
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Whereabouts in Boro would you not dare to tread?
 
Some places look dodgy because they’re run down or have small groups of people on the streets not doing anything productive. I think the more removed from that environment you are, the more dangerous it can appear, but it’s really not that bad 99% of the time.
 
Johnnyweetabix said:
Let’s be honest there are large parts of the Boro that are a no go zone for “law abiding average people”. I have lived here all my life and hate it when people ask where I’m from . I can see my head dropping and my answer being more of a whisper . Hate myself for doing it but you can just see the blank gaze in peoples faces when you tell them.
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I think the blank gaze is usually because they haven't a clue where Middlesbrough is. Have you tried to say "it's just down from Newcastle"?
 
BlindBoyGrunt said:
Wow, I'd hate to be you. I can't imagine being so ashamed of the place I'm from that I would cower from public view.

If I'm being honest I would say that Middlesbrough or indeed anywhere on Teesside is no worse for violence than most places and there are many that are worse. I'm certainly not aware of any no go areas so perhaps you can tell me where they are.
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I'd have to disagree with you there. I don't know which towns you think are worse, but there aren't many. Obviously there are bigger gangsters in the big cities, and larger organised crime gangs. However, as far as the 'average' level of aggression goes, within the general population of the town, Middlesbrough must be right up there.

Crime stats are among a number metrics that those surveys use when they rank the best or worst places in the country to live. (And sadly when Middlesbrough gets featured, it's not in the best ones)!
 
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