‘I’m scared to even look at them’ – concern for ‘almost lawless’ street in Leicester city center

People drinking, taking drugs and standing seemingly unconscious on a street in Leicester city center are causing concern for nearby businesses. Cank Street traders told LeicestershireLive they have seen an increase in anti-social behavior since Paper Tiger closed.

They said a bank on Cank Street and the sheltered entrance of the shuttered store became a popular hangout for people allegedly using illegal drugs, among other undesirable activities. Sandra Potts, owner of Sandra May Hair Studio, described the scene pictured above as a “common sight” in recent weeks.

She said: “It’s not nice at all and it’s upsetting for my customers and my staff. Since Paper Tiger closed and a few other shops in (nearby) Malcolm Arcade have gone, it’s been quiet around here, so they come here, shoot the bank and then go off into their own world.

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“The council and the police have done things in the past but it seems to have gotten a lot worse in the last two weeks.”

Another business owner, Asif Noori, of Quality Stitch, opposite the former Paper Tiger store, agreed that the problems were getting worse. He said: “I’ve been going there since it closed a few months ago and some people do drugs.

“I don’t know what they’re smoking – I’m afraid to even look at them. It tends to be worse later, around 4pm, when things get quieter, but it can be any time. The other day there was a man and a woman and they seemed to be on drugs and running, shouting, first arguing and then laughing.”

The concerns come after LeicestershireLive readers said they did not feel safe coming into the city centre. The comments were made in response to news that the town’s branch of M&S was to close. At the time, one person said “Our city center has become a place you don’t want to be! It’s dirty and people feel unsafe!” Another added that they found visiting the city unpleasant because “there is the gauntlet of drunkards, male drug gangs (and) beggars to go through”.

“You risk getting run over by all the food delivery bikers who have a blatant disregard for pedestrians in pedestrian areas, then there’s all the homeless beggars and all the druggies everywhere, the smell of weed is awful, there’s no police anywhere,” said one third. Comparing the city to Fosse Park, one reader described Leicester as “dirty and you don’t feel safe – at least at Fosse Park you feel safe and clean, no beggars or drug users”.

Commenting on the latest concerns, Blake Edwards, who owns a hairdressers in Cank Street, said: “It’s all the time now. And it can be at any time of the day, from the early hours until later in the evening.

“It’s almost lawless. He usually smokes from some kind of pipe. They do it with pens, inhaling the smoke from a pen or other tube.

“They’ll do it wherever there’s shelter — the fire exits, the Paper Tiger entrance. They are confident that they will do it openly almost anywhere, knowing that there are no repercussions.

“And of course it affects us as a business. It’s all about our customers’ experience, and if they witness all of these things on their way here, it might put them off.

“They should be able to feel at ease coming downtown. But they don’t feel safe.”

He said he regularly reported anti-social behavior to Leicestershire Police and officers visited his business and encouraged him to continue to report such incidents. But he said he feared there were not enough police officers in Leicester to make a big difference.

Mr Edwards added: “There is anti-social behavior all over the town center so it is nothing new. A lot of them have mental health issues and spend the day drinking and it’s a problem. The other day I passed a drunken man standing. in the middle of Market Street with a case of booze in his hand and everyone having to avoid him’.

A member of staff at another nearby business, who did not want to be named, said: “You are seeing more and more and it is putting people off coming to Leicester. people get drunk and do drugs.”

A Leicestershire Police spokesman told LeicestershireLive: “Officers from the Leicester Borough Central Policing Area carry out regular proactive patrols in the city centre.

“The team works closely with Leicester City Council’s community safety department to support members of the street lifestyle community and signpost them to other support networks where appropriate.”

A Leicester City Council spokesman said: “Leicester City Council actively engages with businesses in the area and city center and we encourage reporting whenever this behavior occurs. The council is working in partnership with Leicestershire Police and the Business Improvement District (BID) to understand and address these issues and will ensure we increase our presence in the area and take action where anti-social behavior is reported to us.”