IT was only last summer that Plymouth was named 'the best place to live in England'.
But locals say the historic maritime city is now plagued by mobs of destructive kids as young as 11, shoplifters, and drug users openly dealing on the streets and "shooting up" in shops.
Business owners have complained about a rise in people stealing and abuse towards staff, windows being smashed, and young gangs trying to break into buildings through skylights.
On the morning The Sun visited we were met by boarded-up shopfronts and walls of graffiti, groups of arguing youths and drunks zig-zagging up the street clutching cans of booze.
Pete Monsgrove, 53, is Plymouth-born and bred and said crime has noticeably increased in the past few years.
“The way things are going are bad," he told us. "I saw a guy, someone I recognised, and he was carrying a machete round town.
"I was like, ‘What are you doing?' and he said, ‘It’s for my protection’.
“This not a huge city with major crime, it’s just a small town, but it has its problems. There are a lot of homeless people now.
“The council are investing millions on one end of town and nothing at the other end. Look around you - it’s a ghost town."
He added that the opening of Drake Circus, a large glass-fronted shopping centre completed in 2006, has had a knock-on effect on the high street.
“This used to a be thriving town, but since they built that hideous mall, the town is dead.
"It’s full of charity shops, the businesses left are struggling.”
Statistics from 2022 show Plymouth is now the most dangerous city in Devon, putting the crime rate at 64 per 1,000 people – 40 per cent higher than the county’s average.
On an evening in January a gang of up to 60 youths rampaged through the town terrorising businesses, smashing windows, climbing onto rooftops and hurling things down into the street.
Three police cars were reportedly smashed up and the police later made more than 10 arrests.
It prompted businesses to call for action. At a recent meeting between police, the city council, Plymouth Against Retail Crime (Parc) and Crimestoppers UK, the chief executive of Plymouth City Centre Company, Steve Hughes, declared: “We can't tolerate this any more.”
"They were throwing things, being abusive and running into shops," Steve told The Sun.
“We’ve got a lot of low rooftops in Plymouth and they were throwing things down into the street. When the police were called, they had no respect for the law. Some of these kids were only 11."
He added: “All city centres have crime, but it’s escalated here. The cost-of-living crisis means there are more homeless people living on the streets.
"We've got people with mental health issues, people with drug addiction and alcohol problems. Shoplifting is at an all-time high.
“On top of that, in the last year or so, we have an awful lot of antisocial behaviour from very young people. We are lucky in that we are a resilient community.”
Businesswoman Lesley Park, 63, who owns a string of franchises of the pasty store Oggy Oggy, told The Sun: “I’ve had people outside the shop causing a disturbance, fighting outside the shop, arguments over drugs.
"I see drug deals openly taking place on the street outside and it’s a huge problem.
“The back area of our shop has been smashed into and we had someone break in by climbing through the toilet window to try and get cash, so we’ve had to install reinforced shutters.
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