When you’ve been in business in Exeter’s Sidwell Street for as long as Nick Wedgery, there’s very little that surprises you. But in 35 years of trading he’s never had a man step in off the street, drop his trousers and start urinating in his shop – until recently.
“I have a buzzer that tells me when people come into the shop,” he says. “I heard it go off and there’s a street guy stood having a p**s in the corner of the shop. I said ‘What the hell are you doing?’ He said ‘I’m having a p**s’ and his two mates started verbally abusing me.”
Disgusting behaviour is one thing but the verbal abuse and threats for confronting unpredictable street drinkers is another. Then there is the fighting, the stealing, the shouting and the threat to put his windows in.
Last week, a man was stabbed in nearby Bampfylde Street and ran for his life to Sidwell Street where he was helped by one of the traders. A couple of years ago, outside the betting shop, a man lost his life in a street fight.
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The final straw for Nick was not the stabbing or the man using his shop as a walk-in toilet. It was the chancer who grabbed all the North Face coats he could carry from the racks of a charity shop. While a lone female staff member tried to get him to hand them back his mates dipped in and snatched what they could find.
It was a random snatch and grab, committed in daylight with no one able to stop it. That shop now has a sign saying staff will no longer work alone due to aggressive behaviour.
On the one hand Sidwell Street is one of Exeter‘s most vibrant and interesting shopping destinations. All kinds of independent cafes, restaurants and stores have sprung up in the last few years along the stretch of road from John Lewis up towards the Odeon Cinema.
Legions of foreign students have helped to give the area a cosmopolitan edge. English businesses trade beside Kurdish, Chinese, Thai, Turkish and others. And it is popular with shoppers. Visit on any weekday and you’ll be dodging and weaving for space along the pavement by Sainsbury’s and Poundland.
The traders work hard and don’t want to talk the area down if they can help it. Many people love Sidwell Street and are not ready to give up on it.
But there’s no denying its reputation has taken a dive in recent years. Along with the top of South Street and parts of Cathedral Yard it is a place where street drinkers have attached themselves and don’t seem to be budging.
They start early. “When I come in at 8:15am they are already there,” says Nick, pointing to a bus shelter. “All the drinkers sat there drinking. It’s a place they shelter.
“When people go to the bus stop they see it full of drinkers so they move out of the way a bit. When a bus comes along they stick their hands out but often the bus just sails by.
“They are not homeless. They are people living in hostels. I know a couple of them live in Beacon Heath. They come into the city centre and drink, that’s all they do.
“My staff feel intimidated by them. Customers don’t like coming here because of the intimidating atmosphere. There is stealing from the shops. I see them walking down with booze bottles they’ve taken, trying to smash security tags off on the pavement.
“The woman in the charity shop was in tears. It’s a charity shop for goodness sake. I keep my charity box below the counter because they’ve been in and taken it before.”
Drinking and antisocial behaviour have become commonplace on Sidwell Street for a hardcore group of 20 or so men and women. It happens on both sides of the road, bus shelters and benches, from dawn till dusk.
The centre of activity is the garden around St Sidwell’s Chapel. On most days groups of men and women congregate around the benches. It’s a common sight to see a police car stop to make an arrest or witness shirtless men swaggering about and spilling out among the passing shoppers.
The same problem exists up and down the country. Wherever there is a combination of hostels, support services, off-licences and pharmacies dispensing methadone the picture is the same. A couple of years ago the former police sector commander said street trouble in the city could be traced to about 30 people. The question then, as now, is what sort of city do we want Exeter to be? A place to tolerate them, support them, lock them up or somewhere in between.
All the traders are sympathetic to those living on the street or having a hard time. Personal trauma and addiction is usually the root cause. But, so far, the plan to deal with it is not working.
Nick is tired of pulling his punches when it comes to Sidwell Street. He says it is time for straight talking and wants police to regain control.
“We are still experiencing all sorts of issues in the city centre and Sidwell Street. Abuse, threats of smashing our windows. Also fighting and swearing throughout the day.
“The police, council, BID team, everybody, needs to get together and do something about this urgently. Nobody actually deals with it. The majority of people, 99 per cent, should not have to put up with intimidating behaviour by this tiny amount. The problem has been getting worse for years but I’m just fed up of it now.
“Back in 2017 they brought in exclusion zones and this was going to be the thing that changed everything. There was no drinking in public and it’s never worked. They have not enforced it properly. Occasionally they [police] might confiscate a drink and pour it down the drain but they just come back.”
One shopper said: “They tend to stay in their lane and do their own thing. You might just hear them shouting every so often and looking like they’ll start fighting but generally you just walk around them and avoid eye contact and they don’t bother you. The atmosphere is a bit grim though and I know some people don’t like visiting Sidwell Street.”
One trader, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “The problem is massive but we don’t get our voices heard. It is way too difficult reporting incidents and getting responses. We all understand we have to be sympathetic to these people but the last five years the problem keeps getting bigger and bigger.
“The behaviour of some of them is horrendous. Visually they are damaging the reputation of the town. If you confront them they try to argue and fight. I stay calm and tell them to go away. My worry is that some business owners will take things into their own hands and take action themselves.”
He says Sidwell Street has all the ingredients to be the best street in Exeter with its diverse mix of independent shops. But its reputation is blighted by a small group of people.
“It is flourishing in so many ways because of the people working hard here but would be way better if this problem was sorted out.”
Sonya Ellis runs Exeter Craft Hub. She is realistic about the problems faced by businesses but is proud to champion Sidwell Street.
She is hopeful that recent meetings with police will see results in the near future. Her shop is part of Exeter Business Against Crime which is a security link-up between traders, police and city centre CCTV.
Sonya sees reasons to be optimistic and says better times might be just around the corner if everyone pulls together.
“I think Sidwell Street is a really good area,” she says. “It has the biggest diversity of traders and is so vibrant. What we need is for people to feel safe here. We are working together with police and the council to do that.”
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