I went back to 'Britain’s roughest estate' in the Black Country to see whether it’s changed two years on
Residents have again called for help years after their neighbourhood was classed as ‘the roughest in Britain’.
In 2023, residents of Walsall’s Bakenall ward spoke to the Express & Star about their issues with consistent crime after a YouTube video dubbed their neighbourhood ‘the roughest in Britain’.
The video went viral, having been watched more than 336,000 times on the video platform, only days after being posted, highlighting the constant struggle of residents in the area.
Following the release of the video, we visited the neighbourhood in November 2023 to see if the area was truly as bad as the video made it out to be.
At the time, residents raised issues with persistent anti-social behaviour, crime, and gangs of youths and adults roaming the street; many residents said that they ‘don’t feel safe’ in the area.
Now, we have revisited the neighbourhood more than two years later to see if the situation has improved.
One resident, who gave a fake name of Steven in fear of reprisal for talking to the press, said: “It’s just gotten worse.
“I remember reading the original story years ago. We actually thought that things might improve a bit, but it just got worse, really. There’s no pride.”
Another resident, who used the name of Sanita, said that she is singled out because of her African heritage, and that the area has turned progressively more racist over the years.
She said: “It hasn’t gotten better, not even a little. It’s quite bad living here. It just gets worse.
“It’s actually quite racist around here. I can hardly even talk to my neighbours. I was actually called an ‘N’ word the other day. It’s almost daily now.”
Over the years, the area has been subjected to numerous acts of anti-social behaviour and high-profile crime, including the shooting murder of 20-year-old Connor Brookes on July 8, 2024, and the tragic death of seven-year-old Katnis Seleznev, who was fatally struck by a stolen motorcycle on July 27, 2023.
Another resident, this time using the name Mark, said: “It’s been one thing after another here. You generally don’t go out at night.
“I don’t know if I would say the roughest in Britain, but it’s definitely bad here. People have said that they will sort it out, but no one’s doing anything. You just lose a bit of hope.”
While it has been more than two years since the video was first posted declaring Blakenall as ‘Britain’s roughest neighbourhood’, it seems that, according to residents, nothing has really changed, despite their repeated cries for help, and calls for change.