Appreciate the support as always guys and gals, feel free to leave a comment - I read all of them! - and have yourselves an awesome day, thanks for being here.
I lived in Windrush tower block, about 35 yrs ago, long story cut short. Floor 11 with 2 children, 1 was 10 months & the other was 3 yrs old, lift kept breaking down so that was no fun with the kids, but still loved it as it was my safe home from my abusive husband at the time, I used the flat & my brother used my house, I live in Barton & it was a lovely place about 35 yrs ago, looking at it now I'm so happy I moved to Wales yeah had my ups & downs but happy, now with him gone for good I moved & now live happily in South Wales on my own as all my kids are grown up with their families, I still love & miss Oxford as I was from Iffley Road area. Watching this video has opened my eyes as I keep saying I would love to go back to Oxford to live but no not now. Thank you for opening my eyes.
Having lived in and around Oxford nearly all my life this is pretty spot on lol. Surprised you didn’t include Cowley, specifically templars square (hockmore tower and around the pound house/way flats) that area has certainly seen better days. Security door to the buildings has been broken for years and there is constantly drug addicts smoking/shooting up in the communal stairwell.
As someone who lives near Oxford I would call it overrated. Expensive, crowded, major traffic issues caused by inept councils and some pretty dodgy areas to boot. If you want to live in the Oxford area the surrounding towns and villages are much nicer.
The commute would kill me .Traffic is horrendous . Much rather live in town a ten minute cycle away. Most people who say dodgy areas have never lived there. I could afford a 4 bed room detached in the sticks for the price of a modest terrace in the "" dodgy "" area but wouldn't want to spent half my life sitting in traffic.
I lived in Oxford for 32 years. I agree. I think the rot began to set in the 1980s. Not surprised to see The Bullnose Morris derelict, as it wasn't a pub you'd want to go to more than once. My mother-in-law was in an old folks' home behind the Bullnose, alongside which runs an alley where someone was beaten to death.
As a local I must say these areas are like anywhere else, some bits nicer than others. At the end of the day, all 'social housing estates' highlight the various social problems that are borne from inequality. Blackbird Leys developed a poor reputation primarily through problems with car thieves 'joy-riding' around the early 1990s. Yes, some people turned their noses up and confessed to never having set foot in the area, particularly those living in the most well-off parts of Oxford (North Oxford, outer villages). Personally I have spent quite a bit of time there and find it ok, I think the people enjoy a better sense of community than many other parts of the city. Well done for highlighting the true fact that even 'the city of the dreaming spires' has it's problems, huge inequalities and very 'normal' areas😊 Just a quick point though regarding the pronunciation of 'Leys', it is pronounced 'Lees' like the name 'Lee,' rather than 'Lays'. Hope that helps😊
I had a pint in the Bullnose 16 years ago, but never went back. Loud TVs on every wall. I don’t understand why people make their environment worse by dumping garbage everywhere, including outside their own home.
Even the worst bits didn't look nearly as bad as some other places you've covered. The house prices are crazy though. 300k+ to live in the worst parts of Oxford...
Especially as they were built originally to house car factory workers and their families. The people housed there thought it was a luxury to have one house or one flat for their nuclear family as they had to share bathrooms with other households before or had rented rooms in a large house that weren't self-contained into one flat behind one front door. It has been left to decay. But raising children of a certain age in a flat is not ideal even a spacious flat.
@@neilbucknell9564countries like Switzerland and Norway don't have any areas that are genuinely run down and scruffy like in UK. If you can prove me wrong, plz name them
@@cultfiction3865 Is that true ? I’d agree they’re probably the least likely to but I know people who have lived in Switzerland in what they thought was a pretty bad area, as unlikely as that sounds.
@@jackkruese4258 Switzerland is very affluent and there isn't the dense population of UK so there's more money to go around. There isn't the same culture of dropped litter or scruffiness. If someone can name me one authentically rough area of either Switzerland or Norway I'd be interested to check it out on Google maps
My husband is oxonian and moved to devon and we visit oxford often and i know the rough areas but this shouldnt tarnish the beautiful city oxford is we are trying to move back
These areas are traditional working class areas that have become 'dumping grounds' with no thought to the people who who made it a community. As kid in Barton my neighbours were soldiers, brickies, chippies, Cowley plant workers, lorry drivers... not smack heads
I was born and raised in Oxford, and grew up on Blackbird Leys up until 10 years of age and then we moved up town. I loved Blackbird Leys as a kid, respek! My cousins were born and raised in Barton. Big up Oxford: BBL, Cowley, Barton, Littlemore, Rose Hill, St Ebbes and Jericho!
Barton was a mixed bag for me growing up. The vast majority of people were fantastic but there was always the 'bad' element by the shops at night. I usually avoided that area after dark, but overall I loved my life there.
Great video. All these places where a lot better in the 1960s-70s when I lived there.I expect it's just a few people causing the problems for everyone else around the estates.The rest are nice people wanting to live peacefully.
Born and raised in Barton. Had a happy childhood there. Did a paper round for years and never got mugged or beaten up. It’s always had its issues but wasn’t a bad place to live at all. It’s declined since but that’s true of the whole of the UK. Had friends and family in Wood Farm, Littlemore and Blackbird Leys and never had issues going to and from any of those places either. I left Oxford in its entirety in the 90s. The city is run for the benefit of the University and cyclists. If you don’t fit either demographic, you’re treated with something between indifference and contempt. Still have family and friends there and genuinely cannot understand why anyone would choose to live there.
From near WF myself but have family in all the other areas. Barton in particular has a crazy stigma but I did youth work there for many years and I grew to love the place. Met some really good people. Overall Oxford is ok but outsiders only imagine the centre, old colleges, posh students etc so when I tell people I'm from Oxford I have to explain it's from a part where the open-top tour bus won't go.
@@Harrison5ived It’s always been “Town & Gown”, each just about tolerates the other. Over 32 years lining in Oxford and another 14 in a village just outside, the element that I grew to hate, is the tourists. Sunday opening just made matters worse. Sunday was a day when those of us who lived in the city could actually enjoy the city without the crowds. And don’t get me started on selfie sticks!
As long as Oxford City Council keep putting troublesome families in amongst the nice residents then these estates will always feel run down and crime ridden. If you put a rotten apple in a barrel of good onesm it still is a rotten apple which will spread to the others. Having worked in Oxford since the mid 1980s I would agree with your choice of locations although East Oxford is also interesting! Some of these estates in the last few years have totally changed in their demographic with many eastern european people taking over from the locals who had been there since the estates were new
I went to Oxford for a football match in 2017, I'd vlbeen before but onoy ever round the centre, walking through the bottom end of Blackbird Leys and through I think Rose Hill i was surprised by how poor it was compared to the city of spires I'd been to before
Blame the local councils for that for no longer taking away bulky waste for free when you book an appointment with them to. Even people with cars would struggle to lift a broken down fridge or cooker into the car and wouldn't have room for a mattress in it. You are supposed to replace a mattress every ten years. I hung onto mine for 23 years but it had started to sag 3 years ago.
I'm from Oxfordshire, my best friend grew up in an affluent village but in a row of social housing, it was known as 'The Blackbird Leys of Ascott-Under-Wychwood' & there's usually a fridge somewhere around lol
The council charge £33 per item to collect large electrical goods like fridges, and £22 per item for furniture. They offer a discount for people on housing benefits (£15 per item for large electrical goods, £10 per item for furniture) but, if you're already struggling with the cost of living, then getting rid of a dead fridge for £15/£33 rather than just living with it outside your house feels like a bit of a luxury rather than a necessity. It looks like shit but it's not causing any harm.
@@ukexplored thank you buddy! I’m saving this one for later so showing my daughters your Walsall one (my hometown and football team) 🙈 there fixated!! 🤣
I moved from Belfast to Oxford in 2011. Nowhere in Oxford is as dangerous as parts of Belfast, but I paid twice as much rent (£800/month) for a flat half the size of the one in Belfast. That got too much, so I bought a house in Blackbird Leys in 2018 at the end of a terrace, built by the sone of the family next door. I've not had any security problems since then, although I occasionally come across dodgy builders touting for work. The deprivation statistics are correct but that makes people more reliant on each other rather than being rich selfish bastards hating their neighbours. It also has more parks and green spaces than other parts of Oxford and the best bus service (a bus every 4 to 8 minutes). It also is the place tradesment live. But the city council is buiding more houses here without improving the facilities and services. That's why the parish councill has started developing a neighbourhood plan.
The dog poo bag pile phenomenon is not isolated to Rose Hill - I’ve seen the pile of dog poo bags dumped at stiles on tracks in the Peak District - some dog owners think that fairies ‘magic away’ their non-biodegradable, ‘biodegradable’ dog poo bags.
Since the council collect the droppings it must be them dumping arbitrarily in any location ie in a poor/deprived area. They should be sued for engaging in this criminal behaviour.
There was a political party formed in Blackbird Leas about 10 years ago formed by a local busdriver called the IWCA which campaigned at a local council level for improvements. They managed to get a lot of crack dealers driven off the estate but gave up as the rest of the council simply didn't want to know.
i have lived on every estate in this video growing up .rose hill was and still is the best place i have lived (40+ years) the council has thrown a lot of money at all the estates mentioned except for Rose Hill i think this is the forgotten estate and a pity you did not come into the estate and not mainly the lower end
The Boat Race isn't actually held in Oxford 😜 I used to live in Greater Leys just after it's completion about 30 years ago and BBL looks worse now than it did then. Especially with the Bullnose closed 😞
We need an national education service and a national care service so local authorities can concentrate on highways, waste and recycling, libraries, housing, parks and leisure centres. Two thirds of their budget is taken up with schools and social services as that is statutory..
Were u live then? Oxford social housing residents can't complain really yes Occ r slowly destroying this beautiful city I was born and grown up in.…. !!!!🙄
A lot of this is down to bad housing and estate design. Near me is a small estate with two and three storey low rise blocks of flats scattered about. But the public can walk between the blocks of flats. Each block of flats needs its own enclosed garden not be sited on an open green space. The front doors should be facing the road not the back for better access for deliveries.
Average price of 568,000 pounds in Blackbird Leys?!?!?! Good grief!!! How much does a nice property cost in Oxford then?!? How on EARTH could properties there command that much money???!!!! I am so sorry to see this level of poverty and crime and suffering in England. In the U.S. we are shown "normal" middle class life styles. I am shocked to see this level of crime, poverty, filth. I thought the U.S. had the lock on those sorts of things.
Half the houses in Blackbird and Greater Leys are private. I bought my house for £240,000, but bigger houses are more expensive. In north Oxford there are houses that go for over £1 million. Being close to a prosperous city, with buses every 4 to 8 minutes makes it a good place to live.
I’ve lived in Blackbird leys all my life and it’s only dangerous if you involve yourself in dangerous things. The isn’t as much crime as people make out and Most of the crime that happens there is between people who have problems with eachother. I personally feel safe in Blackbird leys. I agree that people should look after their assets better and be cleaner but the video does not do the nice parts justice as it focuses repeatedly on the bad things (which I understand, is the aim of the video).
@@erertertert44there’s a massive stigma attached to the estate. I know it’s not the safest of places but most of the danger and violence is not aimed at random people. It’s usually an issue between various people! Also, yes there are properties that look abandoned but it’s not easy for some people. Some are just grateful to have a roof over their heads (hopefully one day they’ll be in a place where they can take pride in their property!) There are a lot of nice places in BBL. I’m glad you felt safe in the college there. Fun fact: That college used to be where I did P.E in middle school 😂
Rose Hill? Dangerous? You did call it that, before retracting that later in the video. I was brought up there, granted a long time ago now, but my sister has continued to live there, having bought her home which was once a council house, and lived there happily this past 70+ years. There's very little that's dangerous or actually deprived about Rose Hill and she is more than happy there, as are most people who choose to live there. I feel no sense of menace or experience any trouble there, when I visit which I do frequently. Most homes are now privately owned. Blackbird Leys has had a more chequered past, but is well through its most anti-social period. It's so easy to take footage of the worst of a place and to trot out statistics and opinions to back that up. And regarding your crusade to 'call it out' in the hopes of improving the state of anywhere, that's rather naive! The need for all people to be housed outweighs any other consideration, and never, ever, forget the huge power engendered in Local Authorities. Do you honestly think they would be influenced by the opinion of a few random TH-camrs? They have massive power to push through any plan they wish and aren't out to listen to the public, whether that be you or anyone else. And it's a well known saying that 'You can prove anything with statistics' and I find that to be true. What resources are Local Authorities misusing? Strange comment given how Local Authorities are struggling to keep themselves afloat. No-one wants a slum but no-one wants to pay more council tax! I also see as you slag off Littlemore while showing footage of some very respectable houses. I think you must 'gross out' quite easily and the proper course of action when finding a treasure trove of s*^t is to take the time to report it, not video it and present it as another excuse for downgrading an area.
Doesnt matter where you live there is rubbish dumped for others to clear up and quite often its not the residents who put it there.I was born in Oxford and the people who nake thesevideos should be ashamed because they go to all of the put of the way little nooks and crannies to build up a worse idea than what the reality is.Most of the people who live in these areas are the salt of the earth but as with everywhere there are the bad apples and that includes the so called posh areas of Oxford like Summertown.....
It confuses me how those average house prices are so high, for such 'reputable' areas. All I can think is that Oxford attracts the more masochistic kind of person!!
I grew up in littlemore and b b leys this video had a lot of truth but the footage is clearly carefully selected why not show the areas the residents av bought their homes and have a lot of pride in them
They only show the worst bits and it's usually filming closed down buildings which has become a bit dilapidated because it's not used any more ..and they hunt out the places where rubbish I likely to be dumped.Blackbird Leys is a nice place to live,but as with everywhere it has problems.
My kids were bought up here as well and they are both very responsible people who have both got very good careers and both have children at university.I live there still and have never a problem with anyone in all the forty five years I have lived here
Turd Towns can say nothing nice about the towns he reviews. I would much rather watch Phil Carr as he has humour, points out the good and the bad, counts the number of Wetherspoons pubs and different types of supermarkets, says something about the history of the town, city or part of London and visits the tourist attractions.
Blackbird leys have their nice parts to were not all bad, and you should have spoken to people that live here the main issue is occ won't help they won't spend money and are MP only looks after there own pocket. There are many nice people around here and nice areas.
Oh plus the toys & outside people's gardens are for other people to take try thinking hardship people we as a estate try to help each other by putting stuff outside the gardens or on our walls for people to survive as a community being nice to each other so get the facts right before recording estates & running them down
Plus is it that bad on blackbird leys the pub closed down after covid as lost to much money when covid hit ant & deck went there so it's that bad famous ppl went to that pud don't think them 2 go there if the estate is that bad
Everywhere I've been in the uk and outside of the uk, people believe oxford is posh just because of the university, i lived in Bexhill-on-Sea which is actually majority middle class elderly so actually posh compared to Abingdon about 20 years ago where i grew up, (it's improved massively since), and people in Bexhill-on-Sea thought i had a posh accent and they thought i was posh. Lol 😆
Lived on the leys for years It's multi cultural and the people get on most of the time You seem to hear reggae blasting out loud In the summer months which is a pita The crime rate is not so high as years ago mainly the perpetrators either died or moved elsewhere The area been labour run for years so it won't get better The traffic calming routes have caused plenty of problems around by Cowley But public said no labour council did it anyway The crime will go up soon due to all new houses being built for the unchecked visitors on boats here No mention of this or the sexual crimes by them in our area Overall if you own your own house your lucky if not then what chance at those quotes
I'd be interested to hear the worst areas of Derby and Nottingham, being born in Derby, I'd say it's not notoriously bad but I'm not that up to date with news. Nottingham, can be very up and down, a few years ago there was lot's of gun crime, but hopefully it's quietened down.
Wood farm is fine . As most homes are now private , inside the ring Road and close proximity to the hospitals the area has improved immensely over the past 20 years . The biggest problem is fly tipping around the woods , mainly by outsiders who find it easy to drive into the estate , dump and drive off. The council are to blame for charging to remove large items and strict household waste rules at Redbridge. You have the occasional nutter in social housing ( not all ) but even million pound estates now have to take in a percentage of social people for example the new estate in Wytham. You could possibly buy a nicer house on the outskirts for slightly more money but once the new bus filters/ work place parking levy start soon , commuting into Oxford will be hell and expensive . Bit of a daft video really . Basically you are saying Barton is not as nice an area as the £10 million houses in Park Town. Well who would have thought of that ?
The UK is a beautiful country but the fact is it's always been overpopulated hence the poorest live in such dismal high density. Some of the tenants are wasters and don't care to maintain their properties. Another issue is the sheer lack of skilled employment for those not upto the higher education standards of university such or satisfactory employment in the trades and crafts.
you'll find a lot of these properties are rented out to students in multiple lets. The landlords bought the houses which were originally social housing for large discounts. Now they are making a killing charging sky high rents . That won't improve any area long term
@@paulr2132 couldn't agree more landlords are absolutely abysmal managing these properties,them Asian landlords are the worst of that bunch belive me I know at work anybody looking for a place to rent always asks who the landlord is....I'll leave it at that
That's why Labour government tie themselves in knots. They try and be popular attacking landlords as evil money grabbers then realise most of them are their most loyal voters 😂
I'm so glad the Tories did all that levelling up, can you imagine how neglected and underfunded these communities were before Boris came to the rescue.
Littlemore, Littlemore, me and you will settle a score, written for Eternity, where will be my destiny!!! You have wounded, you have cut, you have hurt, you have shut! Everything that I had, in your place has been laid!!! Barton, Barton, you as well, carry a burden too heavy to tell, the Almighty has seen it all, to relieve us and settle the score!!! And in secret goes the tale, in mystery, secretly, and unveiled, but the heart goes on endlessly, until Peace will reign unceasingly!!! God exists, He will hear, what our heart holds most dear, to bring the Longing of our heart, to a Happy Ending without a doubt!!! ❤️ ✝️ 💙
Grove is one of them , in Oxfordshire . I’ve been bullied for 2 long years , all because I live on the worst street in Oxfordshire.. all coz of the individuals who live on it . It’s not fair the way people treat other people. I don’t believe Oxfordshire is a good place to live at all .and unfortunately, the police do nothing about it, Anti social behaviour … it’s just the way people out forced to live in social housing.. all squashed together in space saving blocks of flats . I personally believe the worst place to live is the uk . Very sad .
The council is doing bang on job to keep poor out of the well off areas in Oxford. Just Google LTN or no through roads & limited journey permits being introduced soon!
Couldn't get past you constantly calling it Blackbirds Lays instead of Blackbird Leys. Ley or Lea means field by the way. Common to call estates like this after something bucolic like a farm or whatever.
Appreciate your comments. Pronunciation in general in a weakness of mine, I do try. Yes, I agree, but I try to keep comments/stats relevant to the areas I’m covering.
well oxford seems to be poor in these areas but however some of these clips show the bad parts of the area. as a resident of rosehill i agree it isnt the best but not as bad as they made jt look.
This is totally false! There are worse places in Oxford. I have lived here for 30 years and you have scoured the estate to find the most run down bits. Try Rosehill and Barton, Blackbird Leys is not all bad!
Appreciate the support as always guys and gals, feel free to leave a comment - I read all of them! - and have yourselves an awesome day, thanks for being here.
I lived in Windrush tower block, about 35 yrs ago, long story cut short. Floor 11 with 2 children, 1 was 10 months & the other was 3 yrs old, lift kept breaking down so that was no fun with the kids, but still loved it as it was my safe home from my abusive husband at the time, I used the flat & my brother used my house, I live in Barton & it was a lovely place about 35 yrs ago, looking at it now I'm so happy I moved to Wales yeah had my ups & downs but happy, now with him gone for good I moved & now live happily in South Wales on my own as all my kids are grown up with their families, I still love & miss Oxford as I was from Iffley Road area. Watching this video has opened my eyes as I keep saying I would love to go back to Oxford to live but no not now. Thank you for opening my eyes.
You're from here lol. "Opened your eyes" smh
Having lived in and around Oxford nearly all my life this is pretty spot on lol. Surprised you didn’t include Cowley, specifically templars square (hockmore tower and around the pound house/way flats) that area has certainly seen better days. Security door to the buildings has been broken for years and there is constantly drug addicts smoking/shooting up in the communal stairwell.
Where is the hockmore tower block located? (I only heard of the foresters tower block)
As someone who lives near Oxford I would call it overrated. Expensive, crowded, major traffic issues caused by inept councils and some pretty dodgy areas to boot. If you want to live in the Oxford area the surrounding towns and villages are much nicer.
The commute would kill me .Traffic is horrendous . Much rather live in town a ten minute cycle away. Most people who say dodgy areas have never lived there. I could afford a 4 bed room detached in the sticks for the price of a modest terrace in the "" dodgy "" area but wouldn't want to spent half my life sitting in traffic.
The layout design is appalling in these estates. Some were influenced by the New Towns.
I lived in Oxford for 32 years. I agree. I think the rot began to set in the 1980s. Not surprised to see The Bullnose Morris derelict, as it wasn't a pub you'd want to go to more than once. My mother-in-law was in an old folks' home behind the Bullnose, alongside which runs an alley where someone was beaten to death.
Great. Knowledgeable. Video. Keep. The. Great. Work. Going.
I'm glad I found your channel, always interesting. You do your research. Very informative
As a local I must say these areas are like anywhere else, some bits nicer than others. At the end of the day, all 'social housing estates' highlight the various social problems that are borne from inequality.
Blackbird Leys developed a poor reputation primarily through problems with car thieves 'joy-riding' around the early 1990s. Yes, some people turned their noses up and confessed to never having set foot in the area, particularly those living in the most well-off parts of Oxford (North Oxford, outer villages).
Personally I have spent quite a bit of time there and find it ok, I think the people enjoy a better sense of community than many other parts of the city.
Well done for highlighting the true fact that even 'the city of the dreaming spires' has it's problems, huge inequalities and very 'normal' areas😊
Just a quick point though regarding the pronunciation of 'Leys', it is pronounced 'Lees' like the name 'Lee,' rather than 'Lays'. Hope that helps😊
Can't believe you didn't mention Templar's Square
Also pronounced Blackbird Lees not Lays
That bugged me from the first moment.
It Leys
Agreed, the square is dangerous and Cowley centre in general
leys u silly twat
@@Dynastone leys mate
Blackbird Leys had a reputation even when I lived in Cowley in the 80s it was known to be rough and dodgy
yep my husband grew up in one of the worst areas and i grew up in Abingdon
So you both grew up in rough areas? @@traceyjane4288
Wasn't a place you'd have parked a Cosworth🤣
I had a pint in the Bullnose 16 years ago, but never went back. Loud TVs on every wall. I don’t understand why people make their environment worse by dumping garbage everywhere, including outside their own home.
Could it be that when they move, they can't pay to have the old stuff removed so just dump it outside?
Even the worst bits didn't look nearly as bad as some other places you've covered. The house prices are crazy though. 300k+ to live in the worst parts of Oxford...
Name a UK city that doesn't have a dark side or some dodgy estates! LOL - awesome video
Especially as they were built originally to house car factory workers and their families. The people housed there thought it was a luxury to have one house or one flat for their nuclear family as they had to share bathrooms with other households before or had rented rooms in a large house that weren't self-contained into one flat behind one front door. It has been left to decay. But raising children of a certain age in a flat is not ideal even a spacious flat.
Name a city anywhere in the world.......
@@neilbucknell9564countries like Switzerland and Norway don't have any areas that are genuinely run down and scruffy like in UK. If you can prove me wrong, plz name them
@@cultfiction3865
Is that true ? I’d agree they’re probably the least likely to but I know people who have lived in Switzerland in what they thought was a pretty bad area, as unlikely as that sounds.
@@jackkruese4258 Switzerland is very affluent and there isn't the dense population of UK so there's more money to go around. There isn't the same culture of dropped litter or scruffiness. If someone can name me one authentically rough area of either Switzerland or Norway I'd be interested to check it out on Google maps
My husband is oxonian and moved to devon and we visit oxford often and i know the rough areas but this shouldnt tarnish the beautiful city oxford is we are trying to move back
we moved from a town in Oxfordshire to a cheaper property a year ago to Scartho in Grimsby and we love it !
These areas are traditional working class areas that have become 'dumping grounds' with no thought to the people who who made it a community.
As kid in Barton my neighbours were soldiers, brickies, chippies, Cowley plant workers, lorry drivers... not smack heads
I was born and raised in Oxford, and grew up on Blackbird Leys up until 10 years of age and then we moved up town. I loved Blackbird Leys as a kid, respek! My cousins were born and raised in Barton. Big up Oxford: BBL, Cowley, Barton, Littlemore, Rose Hill, St Ebbes and Jericho!
Barton was a mixed bag for me growing up.
The vast majority of people were fantastic but there was always the 'bad' element by the shops at night.
I usually avoided that area after dark, but overall I loved my life there.
It would be funny to see you do a video on Bath lol
One of the nicest towns I’ve been to in the UK!
Great video. All these places where a lot better in the 1960s-70s when I lived there.I expect it's just a few people causing the problems for everyone else around the estates.The rest are nice people wanting to live peacefully.
Born and raised in Barton. Had a happy childhood there. Did a paper round for years and never got mugged or beaten up. It’s always had its issues but wasn’t a bad place to live at all. It’s declined since but that’s true of the whole of the UK.
Had friends and family in Wood Farm, Littlemore and Blackbird Leys and never had issues going to and from any of those places either.
I left Oxford in its entirety in the 90s. The city is run for the benefit of the University and cyclists. If you don’t fit either demographic, you’re treated with something between indifference and contempt. Still have family and friends there and genuinely cannot understand why anyone would choose to live there.
Another great vid mate... love how you base it on stats. Nice to see the research has been put in... obviously the locals will never agree 😂
From near WF myself but have family in all the other areas. Barton in particular has a crazy stigma but I did youth work there for many years and I grew to love the place. Met some really good people. Overall Oxford is ok but outsiders only imagine the centre, old colleges, posh students etc so when I tell people I'm from Oxford I have to explain it's from a part where the open-top tour bus won't go.
@@Harrison5ived It’s always been “Town & Gown”, each just about tolerates the other. Over 32 years lining in Oxford and another 14 in a village just outside, the element that I grew to hate, is the tourists. Sunday opening just made matters worse. Sunday was a day when those of us who lived in the city could actually enjoy the city without the crowds. And don’t get me started on selfie sticks!
You should do some more Cities and Towns in the South East like Brighton And Portsmouth or Crawley
Yeah, I'm getting around - both of those are good suggestions.
@@ukexplored basingstoke & andover
Hastings and Eastbourne too
I live near brighton it is very bad i seen ods on high st while i shopped few weeks ago.
@@robdubz1510 high street gone to crap now its not how it used to be
As long as Oxford City Council keep putting troublesome families in amongst the nice residents then these estates will always feel run down and crime ridden. If you put a rotten apple in a barrel of good onesm it still is a rotten apple which will spread to the others. Having worked in Oxford since the mid 1980s I would agree with your choice of locations although East Oxford is also interesting! Some of these estates in the last few years have totally changed in their demographic with many eastern european people taking over from the locals who had been there since the estates were new
I'd prefer the council to send the problem tenants to the million pound estates recently built. He might have to make new video then
I’d say you pretty much hit the nail on the head with this
Is Barton and blackbird leys still beefing ?
Love the videos. Coventry was probably my favourite. Suggest you come to London or try some of the suburbs eg Croydon or Watford
I went to Oxford for a football match in 2017, I'd vlbeen before but onoy ever round the centre, walking through the bottom end of Blackbird Leys and through I think Rose Hill i was surprised by how poor it was compared to the city of spires I'd been to before
Love these videos, so interesting! Thanks for showing us
The popping sound on the comments is so annoying though 😊
There's always a random fridge on the street!
And sofas - *always* sofas!
Blame the local councils for that for no longer taking away bulky waste for free when you book an appointment with them to. Even people with cars would struggle to lift a broken down fridge or cooker into the car and wouldn't have room for a mattress in it. You are supposed to replace a mattress every ten years. I hung onto mine for 23 years but it had started to sag 3 years ago.
I'm from Oxfordshire, my best friend grew up in an affluent village but in a row of social housing, it was known as 'The Blackbird Leys of Ascott-Under-Wychwood' & there's usually a fridge somewhere around lol
The council charge £33 per item to collect large electrical goods like fridges, and £22 per item for furniture. They offer a discount for people on housing benefits (£15 per item for large electrical goods, £10 per item for furniture) but, if you're already struggling with the cost of living, then getting rid of a dead fridge for £15/£33 rather than just living with it outside your house feels like a bit of a luxury rather than a necessity. It looks like shit but it's not causing any harm.
Forgot about Cowley (where a lot of the nonces hung out). Also some estates in Bicester and Abingdon are complete holes.
Barton, Blackbird Leys, Cowley, Wood Farm, Berinsfield, Rose Hill, Littlemore, Sandford to name a few...
You knew it was my 40th Birthday today didn’t you mate!! 😀 …..Smithy
Happy Birthday my man, I'll have a 🍻 on your behalf later! Any excuse will do.
@@ukexplored thank you buddy! I’m saving this one for later so showing my daughters your Walsall one (my hometown and football team) 🙈 there fixated!! 🤣
Another top video! I enjoyed the Vlog. Have you got Worcester coming up anytime soon? ….Smithy
I hope he does Worcester and Malvern!
@@Biscuit-Club Westlands - Droitwich as well
Good post, thank you
I moved from Belfast to Oxford in 2011. Nowhere in Oxford is as dangerous as parts of Belfast, but I paid twice as much rent (£800/month) for a flat half the size of the one in Belfast. That got too much, so I bought a house in Blackbird Leys in 2018 at the end of a terrace, built by the sone of the family next door. I've not had any security problems since then, although I occasionally come across dodgy builders touting for work.
The deprivation statistics are correct but that makes people more reliant on each other rather than being rich selfish bastards hating their neighbours. It also has more parks and green spaces than other parts of Oxford and the best bus service (a bus every 4 to 8 minutes). It also is the place tradesment live. But the city council is buiding more houses here without improving the facilities and services. That's why the parish councill has started developing a neighbourhood plan.
The dog poo bag pile phenomenon is not isolated to Rose Hill - I’ve seen the pile of dog poo bags dumped at stiles on tracks in the Peak District - some dog owners think that fairies ‘magic away’ their non-biodegradable, ‘biodegradable’ dog poo bags.
Since the council collect the droppings it must be them dumping arbitrarily in any location ie in a poor/deprived area.
They should be sued for engaging in this criminal behaviour.
Lol love this 😀
There was a political party formed in Blackbird Leas about 10 years ago formed by a local busdriver called the IWCA which campaigned at a local council level for improvements. They managed to get a lot of crack dealers driven off the estate but gave up as the rest of the council simply didn't want to know.
You missed northway and cutteslowe. You got my area Barton though
i have lived on every estate in this video growing up .rose hill was and still is the best place i have lived (40+ years) the council has thrown a lot of money at all the estates mentioned except for Rose Hill i think this is the forgotten estate and a pity you did not come into the estate and not mainly the lower end
The Boat Race isn't actually held in Oxford 😜 I used to live in Greater Leys just after it's completion about 30 years ago and BBL looks worse now than it did then. Especially with the Bullnose closed 😞
Barton Boys - OUFC!
Spend 24hrs around the back streets off Cowley Rd...
We need an national education service and a national care service so local authorities can concentrate on highways, waste and recycling, libraries, housing, parks and leisure centres. Two thirds of their budget is taken up with schools and social services as that is statutory..
I grew up in that tower block in woodfarm it’s not that bad
Should checkout places like Chelmsley Wood, Kingshurst, etc
The fact that you can see mole hills and not fly tipping is good. 😂
Yes I that that a very strange comment. "Mole finds lawn just the job to start digging" - hold the front page.
Nothing wrong with those areas, if fact really decent for social housing. I’d take one tomorrow to be able to live in Oxford..
Were u live then? Oxford social housing residents can't complain really yes Occ r slowly destroying this beautiful city I was born and grown up in.…. !!!!🙄
A lot of this is down to bad housing and estate design. Near me is a small estate with two and three storey low rise blocks of flats scattered about. But the public can walk between the blocks of flats. Each block of flats needs its own enclosed garden not be sited on an open green space. The front doors should be facing the road not the back for better access for deliveries.
Average price of 568,000 pounds in Blackbird Leys?!?!?! Good grief!!! How much does a nice property cost in Oxford then?!? How on EARTH could properties there command that much money???!!!!
I am so sorry to see this level of poverty and crime and suffering in England. In the U.S. we are shown "normal" middle class life styles. I am shocked to see this level of crime, poverty, filth. I thought the U.S. had the lock on those sorts of things.
Half the houses in Blackbird and Greater Leys are private. I bought my house for £240,000, but bigger houses are more expensive. In north Oxford there are houses that go for over £1 million. Being close to a prosperous city, with buses every 4 to 8 minutes makes it a good place to live.
I’ve lived in Blackbird leys all my life and it’s only dangerous if you involve yourself in dangerous things. The isn’t as much crime as people make out and Most of the crime that happens there is between people who have problems with eachother. I personally feel safe in Blackbird leys. I agree that people should look after their assets better and be cleaner but the video does not do the nice parts justice as it focuses repeatedly on the bad things (which I understand, is the aim of the video).
@@erertertert44there’s a massive stigma attached to the estate. I know it’s not the safest of places but most of the danger and violence is not aimed at random people. It’s usually an issue between various people! Also, yes there are properties that look abandoned but it’s not easy for some people. Some are just grateful to have a roof over their heads (hopefully one day they’ll be in a place where they can take pride in their property!) There are a lot of nice places in BBL. I’m glad you felt safe in the college there. Fun fact: That college used to be where I did P.E in middle school 😂
they only show the worst bits because the aim is to make all the places they film look as bad as possible,they leave out the nice parts.
When Hull?
Do banbury next
Rose Hill? Dangerous? You did call it that, before retracting that later in the video. I was brought up there, granted a long time ago now, but my sister has continued to live there, having bought her home which was once a council house, and lived there happily this past 70+ years. There's very little that's dangerous or actually deprived about Rose Hill and she is more than happy there, as are most people who choose to live there. I feel no sense of menace or experience any trouble there, when I visit which I do frequently. Most homes are now privately owned. Blackbird Leys has had a more chequered past, but is well through its most anti-social period. It's so easy to take footage of the worst of a place and to trot out statistics and opinions to back that up. And regarding your crusade to 'call it out' in the hopes of improving the state of anywhere, that's rather naive! The need for all people to be housed outweighs any other consideration, and never, ever, forget the huge power engendered in Local Authorities. Do you honestly think they would be influenced by the opinion of a few random TH-camrs? They have massive power to push through any plan they wish and aren't out to listen to the public, whether that be you or anyone else. And it's a well known saying that 'You can prove anything with statistics' and I find that to be true. What resources are Local Authorities misusing? Strange comment given how Local Authorities are struggling to keep themselves afloat. No-one wants a slum but no-one wants to pay more council tax! I also see as you slag off Littlemore while showing footage of some very respectable houses. I think you must 'gross out' quite easily and the proper course of action when finding a treasure trove of s*^t is to take the time to report it, not video it and present it as another excuse for downgrading an area.
Doesnt matter where you live there is rubbish dumped for others to clear up and quite often its not the residents who put it there.I was born in Oxford and the people who nake thesevideos should be ashamed because they go to all of the put of the way little nooks and crannies to build up a worse idea than what the reality is.Most of the people who live in these areas are the salt of the earth but as with everywhere there are the bad apples and that includes the so called posh areas of Oxford like Summertown.....
As for crime,that's not exclusive to certain areas either,it's a fact of life that crime resides in every street.
Shocking! Not the Oxford I'm used to seeing
Q:What hood are you from
A: Blackbird Leys, Oxford
😂
...and thanks for your bike 🚲😃
People are always surprised Oxford United fans aren't posh
People who are busy and are building themselves a future do not engage in antisocial self destruction. Dependency is a curse.
It confuses me how those average house prices are so high, for such 'reputable' areas.
All I can think is that Oxford attracts the more masochistic kind of person!!
I grew up in littlemore and b b leys this video had a lot of truth but the footage is clearly carefully selected why not show the areas the residents av bought their homes and have a lot of pride in them
They only show the worst bits and it's usually filming closed down buildings which has become a bit dilapidated because it's not used any more ..and they hunt out the places where rubbish I likely to be dumped.Blackbird Leys is a nice place to live,but as with everywhere it has problems.
@@rosbeynon1432 well put I grew up on Sandy lane in the 80s
Come do Basingstoke
Go back to wales and do the villages around pontypridd
I brought my kids up there and it used to be a friendly and not a bad place to live....
My kids were bought up here as well and they are both very responsible people who have both got very good careers and both have children at university.I live there still and have never a problem with anyone in all the forty five years I have lived here
Littlemore is not rough full of old people alot of my mates r from oxford i use to hang out In BBL alot in cardiff now tho.
You should do a collab with turdtowns.
Turd Towns can say nothing nice about the towns he reviews. I would much rather watch Phil Carr as he has humour, points out the good and the bad, counts the number of Wetherspoons pubs and different types of supermarkets, says something about the history of the town, city or part of London and visits the tourist attractions.
5:49 There it is!
Blackbird leys have their nice parts to were not all bad, and you should have spoken to people that live here the main issue is occ won't help they won't spend money and are MP only looks after there own pocket. There are many nice people around here and nice areas.
Oh plus the toys & outside people's gardens are for other people to take try thinking hardship people we as a estate try to help each other by putting stuff outside the gardens or on our walls for people to survive as a community being nice to each other so get the facts right before recording estates & running them down
Plus is it that bad on blackbird leys the pub closed down after covid as lost to much money when covid hit ant & deck went there so it's that bad famous ppl went to that pud don't think them 2 go there if the estate is that bad
It's pronounced Lees not Lays 🤦🏻♀️
Everywhere I've been in the uk and outside of the uk, people believe oxford is posh just because of the university, i lived in Bexhill-on-Sea which is actually majority middle class elderly so actually posh compared to Abingdon about 20 years ago where i grew up, (it's improved massively since), and people in Bexhill-on-Sea thought i had a posh accent and they thought i was posh. Lol 😆
Lived on the leys for years It's multi cultural and the people get on most of the time You seem to hear reggae blasting out loud In the summer months which is a pita The crime rate is not so high as years ago mainly the perpetrators either died or moved elsewhere The area been labour run for years so it won't get better The traffic calming routes have caused plenty of problems around by Cowley But public said no labour council did it anyway The crime will go up soon due to all new houses being built for the unchecked visitors on boats here No mention of this or the sexual crimes by them in our area Overall if you own your own house your lucky if not then what chance at those quotes
I'd be interested to hear the worst areas of Derby and Nottingham, being born in Derby, I'd say it's not notoriously bad but I'm not that up to date with news. Nottingham, can be very up and down, a few years ago there was lot's of gun crime, but hopefully it's quietened down.
There's much worse areas in the Midlands than Derby and Nottingham.
Lol same all over on council estates gone to shit big time ..I'm in dudley westmidlands ..only going to keep going
Wood farm is fine . As most homes are now private , inside the ring Road and close proximity to the hospitals the area has improved immensely over the past 20 years . The biggest problem is fly tipping around the woods , mainly by outsiders who find it easy to drive into the estate , dump and drive off. The council are to blame for charging to remove large items and strict household waste rules at Redbridge. You have the occasional nutter in social housing ( not all ) but even million pound estates now have to take in a percentage of social people for example the new estate in Wytham. You could possibly buy a nicer house on the outskirts for slightly more money but once the new bus filters/ work place parking levy start soon , commuting into Oxford will be hell and expensive . Bit of a daft video really . Basically you are saying Barton is not as nice an area as the £10 million houses in Park Town. Well who would have thought of that ?
You will find that all the ares shown on here are private homes,there is no such thing as a council house estate any more.
The UK is a beautiful country but the fact is it's always been overpopulated hence the poorest live in such dismal high density. Some of the tenants are wasters and don't care to maintain their properties. Another issue is the sheer lack of skilled employment for those not upto the higher education standards of university such or satisfactory employment in the trades and crafts.
Yeah, I agree, and I try to get those very points across in this video, in particular.
you'll find a lot of these properties are rented out to students in multiple lets. The landlords bought the houses which were originally social housing for large discounts. Now they are making a killing charging sky high rents . That won't improve any area long term
@@paulr2132 couldn't agree more landlords are absolutely abysmal managing these properties,them Asian landlords are the worst of that bunch belive me I know at work anybody looking for a place to rent always asks who the landlord is....I'll leave it at that
That's why Labour government tie themselves in knots. They try and be popular attacking landlords as evil money grabbers then realise most of them are their most loyal voters 😂
Factory fodder now unemployed.
I'm so glad the Tories did all that levelling up, can you imagine how neglected and underfunded these communities were before Boris came to the rescue.
Bro caught my mums car lacking 🤣🤣
Littlemore, Littlemore,
me and you will settle a score,
written for Eternity,
where will be my destiny!!!
You have wounded, you have cut,
you have hurt, you have shut!
Everything that I had,
in your place has been laid!!!
Barton, Barton, you as well,
carry a burden too heavy to tell,
the Almighty has seen it all,
to relieve us and settle the score!!!
And in secret goes the tale,
in mystery, secretly, and unveiled,
but the heart goes on endlessly,
until Peace will reign unceasingly!!!
God exists, He will hear,
what our heart holds most dear,
to bring the Longing of our heart,
to a Happy Ending without a doubt!!!
❤️ ✝️ 💙
One area of Oxford you did miss off the list. Berinsfield........
Grove is one of them , in Oxfordshire . I’ve been bullied for 2 long years , all because I live on the worst street in Oxfordshire.. all coz of the individuals who live on it . It’s not fair the way people treat other people. I don’t believe Oxfordshire is a good place to live at all .and unfortunately, the police do nothing about it, Anti social behaviour … it’s just the way people out forced to live in social housing.. all squashed together in space saving blocks of flats . I personally believe the worst place to live is the uk . Very sad .
Little more and rose hill are worse than blackbird Leys
Yes, never been anywhere that seems to have so many weirdos.
"Chillingworth Crescent"
I live in Oxford
Another clown who spent 5 minutes walking around a city and claims to know about it!
Facts
@@dassfresh 🤣🤣😂
He's using stats. He says it's nice and safe in conclusion.
I’m born and raised blackbird Leys my ends lol
The council is doing bang on job to keep poor out of the well off areas in Oxford. Just Google LTN or no through roads & limited journey permits being introduced soon!
Couldn't get past you constantly calling it Blackbirds Lays instead of Blackbird Leys. Ley or Lea means field by the way. Common to call estates like this after something bucolic like a farm or whatever.
Oh, and the open dealing happens in the pretty bits of town too tbh. It's just open everywhere.
Also worth pointing out that when were assaulted in the street it was in one of the most exclusive, lovely areas of the city.
Appreciate your comments. Pronunciation in general in a weakness of mine, I do try. Yes, I agree, but I try to keep comments/stats relevant to the areas I’m covering.
well oxford seems to be poor in these areas but however some of these clips show the bad parts of the area. as a resident of rosehill i agree it isnt the best but not as bad as they made jt look.
What. About. Doing. Manchester
You chat some cracks, you love the sound of your voice
It is pronounced BLackbird Lees not Blackbird Lays
Most off this mess is down to the council, so what is anyone doing about it
Umm excuse me i was brought up on a council estate and we are not criminals so dont tar everyone with the same brush although i am from devon
Still posh. Even the worst parts
This is totally false! There are worse places in Oxford. I have lived here for 30 years and you have scoured the estate to find the most run down bits. Try Rosehill and Barton, Blackbird Leys is not all bad!
you silly person you obviously did not watch the whole video did you....well who feels silly now.
Bookies should not be a thing its the worst way to get into debt !
Yap yap yap