{"id":84832,"date":"2023-08-28T09:42:17","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T09:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?p=84832"},"modified":"2023-08-28T09:42:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T09:42:17","slug":"uk-city-so-broken-that-even-the-vape-shops-have-gone-and-zombie-drugs-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/uk-city-so-broken-that-even-the-vape-shops-have-gone-and-zombie-drugs-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"UK city so &#8216;broken&#8217; that &#8216;even the vape shops have gone&#8217; and &#8216;zombie&#8217; drugs rule"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An urban explorer visiting a &quot;once great&quot; UK city has said that things have become so dire that &quot;even the vape shops have gone&quot; and &quot;zombie&quot; drugs are rife.<\/p>\n<p>Dozens of shops and restaurants stand empty in Stoke-on-Trent, with entire streets boarded up and urban explorer David Burnip \u2013 better known to his 37,000 followers as The Wandering Turnip \u2013 visited the city to see for himself.<\/p>\n<p>Stoke, once home to the UK\u2019s pottery industry, now stands as a &quot;broken&quot; shadow of its former self.<\/p>\n<p><b>READ MORE: Dark reality of boarded-up Brit seaside town where certain homes &apos;could kill you&apos;<\/b><\/p>\n<p>David, who has travelled the country chronicling the decline of the British high street, says that in the once-thriving city \u201ceven supermarkets can&apos;t survive\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He found a Sainsbury\u2019s superstore now boarded-up and awaiting redevelopment, while a pub, which would once have served cold pints to hundreds of pottery workers after a hot day in the city\u2019s iconic Bottle Oven Kilns, failed to sell when it was offered for sale in 2020 at the bargain price of \u00a350,000.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article30802131.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/1_twon-4JPG.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>It now stands empty, like so many businesses in the once-great city.<\/p>\n<p>Stoke was awarded a record \u00a356 million from the government\u2019s \u201clevelling-up\u201d fund, the largest single allocation, but there\u2019s little to show for it as yet.<\/p>\n<p>Huge hoardings conceal Stoke\u2019s Etruscan Square, but a peep over the fence reveals that there\u2019s no actual building work going on behind them.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article30802133.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/1_twon-7JPG.jpg\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<figure data-mod=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article30236867.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s458\/2_SkegBANNER.jpg\"><\/figure>\n<p> Britain&apos;s 10 worst seaside resorts ranked, and &apos;UK&apos;s Las Vegas&apos; tops grot list<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/s2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/@trinitymirrordigital\/chameleon-branding\/publications\/dailystar\/img\/logo-schema-dailystar.png\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cSo there\u2019s 20 million pounds well spent,\u201d David wryly said during his visit.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s not just the city\u2019s buildings that are showing signs of neglect. During his tour of Stoke\u2019s commercial centre, David spots countless people under the influence of \u201czombie\u201d drugs such as Monkey Dust.<\/p>\n<p>He chooses not to show any of the drug users on camera but says: \u201cI&apos;m sure you can imagine what I&apos;m talking about when I say there&apos;s a lot of people who seem to be under the influence and maybe struggling with drugs.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article30802130.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/1_twon-5JPG.jpg\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<figure data-mod=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article30390384.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s458\/0_Stott-HallBANNER.jpg\"><\/figure>\n<p> Truth behind the house in middle of M62 and the &apos;stubborn&apos; farmer who owned it<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/s2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/@trinitymirrordigital\/chameleon-branding\/publications\/dailystar\/img\/logo-schema-dailystar.png\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cIt&apos;s just really sad and that all just comes down to how the town is reacting to that problem\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Experts have described the presence Monkey Dust in Stoke as an &quot;epidemic&quot;, with extra funding being provided to improve drug treatment facilities in the city.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few glimmers of hope to be found amongst all the boarded-up businesses though.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article30802136.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/1_twon-8JPG.jpg\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<figure data-mod=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article23260667.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s458\/1_GettyImages-1064621742.jpg\"><\/figure>\n<p> Public vote for UK&apos;s 50 worst towns \u2013\u00a0as posh market towns rival deprived areas<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/s2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/@trinitymirrordigital\/chameleon-branding\/publications\/dailystar\/img\/logo-schema-dailystar.png\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>An independent bookshop has recently launched on the road to Newcastle-under-Lyme and David\u2019s enthusiasm is clear to see when he finds a preserved Bottle Oven Kiln that\u2019s been turned into a mini-museum celebrating the Potteries\u2019 past.<\/p>\n<p>Discussing the Levelling Up funding allocated to Stoke, Council leader Abi Brown previously said: &quot;Commitment from the government to a Levelling Up Partnership once again underlines the impact that continually promoting Stoke-on-Trent in all the right places, highlighting the opportunities but also being honest about the challenges, is having.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I\u2019m proud of the strides forward our city is making on a number of fronts, and welcome this commitment from the government to work even more closely to understand how to continue delivering for Stoke-on-Trent.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><b><i><b><i><i><b><i><i><b><i><i><i>For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking<\/i> here<i>.<\/i><\/i><\/i><\/b><\/i><\/i><\/b><\/i><\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.co.uk\/news\/latest-news\/uk-city-now-broken-even-30802107\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An urban explorer visiting a &quot;once great&quot; UK city has said that things have become so dire that &quot;even the vape shops have gone&quot; and &quot;zombie&quot; drugs are rife. Dozens of shops and restaurants stand empty in Stoke-on-Trent, with entire streets boarded up and urban explorer David Burnip \u2013 better known to his 37,000 followers as The Wandering Turnip \u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UK city so &#039;broken&#039; that &#039;even the vape shops have gone&#039; and &#039;zombie&#039; drugs rule - Celebrity Tidings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/uk-city-so-broken-that-even-the-vape-shops-have-gone-and-zombie-drugs-rule\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK city so &#039;broken&#039; that &#039;even the vape shops have gone&#039; and &#039;zombie&#039; drugs rule - Celebrity Tidings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An urban explorer visiting a &quot;once great&quot; UK city has said that things have become so dire that &quot;even the vape shops have gone&quot; and &quot;zombie&quot; drugs are rife. 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