overrun

The city is a global tourist destination, but locals are growing increasingly frustrated with the influx of visitors, with many saying they only come to the area ‘for work’

Cambridge, a city brimming with more than 800 years of history, draws in admirers from across the globe who are eager to take in its stunning architecture, world-famous universities and quintessential English charm. Yet, locals lament that the city centre is swamped by tourists, with most people “only coming in for work”.

Cambridge’s economy leans heavily on its tourism and hospitality sectors, playing host to an impressive 8.1 million visitors annually.

Despite its historical richness, Cambridge is surprisingly small, leading most tourists to visit for just a day. The sector accounts for nearly a quarter of local jobs and continues to expand, but residents aren’t exactly overjoyed.

Street performer Ray Brenan voiced his annoyance, stating: “Apart from a few old stones and its cobbled streets, I have nothing else nice to say anymore. Take away the universities and there’s really nothing else to it, it’s overrun with people visiting.”

Cambridge is globally acknowledged as the home of one of the world’s top universities. As a collegiate institution, administration is divided among smaller establishments, with over 25,000 students living and studying within their individual colleges, reports the Express.

Among the most esteemed colleges is King’s College, famed for its iconic chapel and prime city centre location. Long queues of people can be spotted outside the entrance gates along the pavements, filled with sightseers snapping photographs.

Local market trader Lorain Cheeseman revealed: “Everyone just comes here to visit people at the university”.

“We get a really huge amount of visitors, everyone is always here on holiday,” Cheeseman added. “There are a lot of students in the city, I don’t live here anymore, I just come in to work.”

Another market vendor expressed similar views: “I don’t live here and I don’t know many people who do nowadays.”

The majority of tourists who descend upon Cambridge are day-trippers. They arrive in crowded coaches, where large groups of sightseers are dropped off.

They spend several hours exploring the city before hopping back onto their transport. Express services from London also enable tourists to reach Cambridge in under an hour.

However, some local workers view the influx of people positively.

“I love selling ice cream to the visitors. Everyone is so nice and really friendly, but it does get very very busy at the stall,” shared Kristof Santha, a local ice cream stand worker.

Masters student at Cambridge, Muhammad Mudassar, echoed this sentiment: “People here are more friendly than other cities, but most people are students here like me.”

LOCALS in “Britain’s most dangerous” say it has become overrun with knife-wielding kids who are making their lives hell.

In a children’s playground at 2pm on a weekday afternoon, two masked drug dealers bear down on our photographer, spitting threats.

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The two young men had seen him taking pictures in the town centre park and wanted to make sure they didn’t appear in them, one putting on a balaclava and the second pulling up the hood of his jacket.

After threatening to smash up his equipment, one of them explained the reason they were there.

“We’re here to f*** up your society by selling drugs to the white boys,” he snarls.

It’s an alarming – but perhaps not surprising – welcome to Middlesbrough, the Teesside town which now has the unenviable status of “Britain’s most dangerous”.

New Home Office statistics reveal that the town suffered 158 crimes per 1,000 people – or to put it another way, one person in six was the victim of crime in the past year.

The Community Safety Partnership stats show Middlesbrough was eclipsed only by Westminster (423 crimes per 1,000) and Camden (195) – although both have much higher populations.

Another survey, by Statista, found the Cleveland Police area, which includes Middlesbrough, has the highest per capita crime rate in the UK, followed by West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and the Met.

After encountering the town centre drug dealers, The Sun went to the crime-plagued Hemlington estate on the south western edge of the town to speak to locals.

The hot topic of the day was the suspension of bus routes to some parts of the estate due to stone and brick attacks by children aged as young as 10.

And another community facility, the Cleveland Huntsman pub, had just had its licence revoked after a man was allegedly stabbed and slashed in an altercation following a spate of criminal damage at the premises.

A number of knife-related cases from recent months are heading through the courts, including the murder of 28-year-old Jordan Hogg.

Four men and two youths deny stabbing him to death in the bleak Fonteyn Court.

It was also on Fonteyn Court that a 19-year-old man was stabbed on August 11 at 5.20pm – and within five minutes a 21-year-old man suffered the same fate on nearby Dalwood Court. 

There was a weary acceptance from locals.

“It’s sickening but at the same time it’s just bog standard,” says one elderly woman who stops to chat on Fonteyn Court.

The kids are carrying knives before they’ve left primary school and they learn from the older lads how to use them, the number of stabbings is out of control.

Resident in Fonteyn Court

“The kids are carrying knives before they’ve left primary school and they learn from the older lads how to use them, the number of stabbings is out of control.

“I’d say we need more bobbies, but they have no respect for authority. I mean, just look around you.”

She has a point. The street is split around 50/50 between occupied and boarded up houses. Disconcertingly, voices can be heard coming from behind some of the green shutters.

Mattresses are dumped on pavements and the remains of torched wheelie bins, sofas and shopping trolleys litter the deserted green areas where children might once have played.

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The one rare sign of cheer is that someone has placed a giant paddling pool at the centre of a grassy area, a hosepipe leading through the back gate of a neighbouring house.

People are loath to speak publicly for fear of reprisals, but one shopkeeper tells us “feral” kids are at the centre of the problems.

“You can see them lining up at the side of the road to bomb the buses with bricks,” he says.

“Some of them are tiny little kids, screaming and swearing as they chuck stones.”

Police travelling undercover on buses

The situation became so bad that officers from Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Policing Team travelled undercover on buses in the area, leading to the arrest of a 10-year-old boy on suspicion of four counts of criminal damage and three counts of causing danger to road users. 

He was later referred to the Youth Offending Team while another boy aged 14 was identified and dealt with for separate offences.

Middlesbrough Council identified a further 10 kids involved in nuisance behaviour, with home visits and “diversionary activity referrals” doles out to their parents.

Acting Inspector Des Horton, from Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “This operation not only helps us to identify those involved in these incidents, but also allows us to build up intelligence and provide reassurance to the drivers of the buses that are being targeted.”

In an unconnected incident, two teenagers have been charged with attempted murder after a 17-year-old was stabbed in the estate’s Phoenix Park in May.

And on August 14, a dozen police vehicles swarmed the estate after a police officer was injured as he responded to reports of a man in possession of a knife.

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An arrest was made following a five-hour stand-off in which cups, bricks and chairs were hurled in the direction of emergency workers.

Chinese takeaway owner Wailan Lau, 48, has lived in Hemlington for the past 25 years.

He told The Sun: “It has got worse and worse over the years, the number of stabbings we see now is completely out of control, it never used to be like this.

“Where I live is fine, I have the same neighbours I have had for years and it is a proper community, everyone looks out for each other.

“But some parts of the estate are just dangerous, so much so that buses and taxis will not go down those streets.

“A lot of the problems we face are down to drugs and in a lot of cases it is drug dealers fighting drug dealers, but sometimes innocent people get caught up in that, which is scary.

“Kids seem to carry knives all the time and the ones who do are getting younger. 

“It’s sad to see this town become one of the worst places in the country for crime because it’s a good place full of good people, unfortunately parts of it have become dangerous.”

Asked whether he knew anyone who had recently been a victim of crime, 17-year-old Harvey Wilson initially shook his head and then suddenly remembered: “Oh yeah, I was held at knifepoint.”

The casual way he recounts a terrifying encounter is chilling.

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Harvey, who hopes to become a carpet fitter when he finishes his studies, said: “I’d just gone for a walk near Albert Park in the town and two lads stopped me and pulled a knife.

“Thankfully I’d left my phone at home and didn’t have any money so they just walked away.

“I’ve been able to forget it pretty quickly but I suppose it is quite scary how many people carry knives. I never would but people do.

“There are areas where you know not to go and if you keep yourself to yourself you probably won’t get any trouble, it’s the people who try to make a name for themselves who end up getting hurt.

“If your name gets known you’ll end up getting hurt.”

Things are getting worse and there are way too many young kids getting killed and injured with knives or getting involved with drugs.

John Clark, 82Middlesbrough resident

In the Parkway Centre, just outside Hemlington, John Clark, 82, reflects on the change in his home town over the course of his lifetime.

He started his working life as a hand rammer making sand castings at steel foundry on the river Tees.

John said: “That was my life, working in steel works and foundries and all of that has gone, there’s nothing left of the industry that built the town and that’s a big part of its problems.

“When I was a kid we had prospects and there was work to pay us a wage and keep us occupied, now the young people have nothing.”

He nods down at his young grandson in the buggy he’s leaning on and says: “I don’t worry for myself when I go about in Middlesbrough but I worry for him and younger members of the family.

“Things are getting worse and there are way too many young kids getting killed and injured with knives or getting involved with drugs.

“The brand new sports shop near us got ram raided the other night as soon as it opened by people in flatbed trucks. The place was left in a right mess and he lost all his new stock.”

Rebecca Green, 40, agreed that poverty plays a part in MIddlesbrough’s crime epidemic.

She said: “We live in a part of the world that has high levels of deprivation and that feeds the crime rate, when people are struggling to live they do desperate things.”

Student Shay Thorpe, 18, hopes to be a social worker.

“I’d move away if I could,” she says. “Even though I have always lived here, there are some parts of the town that I wouldn’t go.

“The town centre is scary and you can see from looking round that there’s a major drug problem there.”

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The tiny chocolate box village of Great Tew in Oxfordshire has just 156 residents and is served by one pub and a small cafe – but A-listers are moving in in their droves

Welcome to Britain’s Beverly Hills – where the hum of private jets fills the air and a single sausage roll will set you back £8.

The tiny chocolate box village of Great Tew in Oxfordshire has just 156 residents and is served by one pub and a small cafe. But in recent years, famous names have arrived in their droves, with everyone from the Beckhams and Simon Cowell to US chat show host Ellen DeGeneres calling it home.

And hundreds descended on the local church last month to watch the late tech billionaire Steve Jobs’ daughter Eve, 27, wed Olympic showjumper Harry Charles, 26. The newfound popularity of Great Tew – which has more thatched cottages per square mile than anywhere else in the country – has sent house prices skyrocketing, with a simple three-bed in the OX7 postcode now fetching at least £2.5million.

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Villagers reckon celebrities are drawn to the peace and quiet, but fear the parish will buckle under the strain. One says: “We’re overrun. People come here to celebrity spot. We’ve gone from being a place virtually nobody’s heard of to one of the UK’s most sought after. It’s pretty unbelievable when you think about it.”

It hasn’t always been this way. In the 1970s, many of the cottages lay derelict. One historian described it as “one of the most depressing sites in the country” and coachloads of people would visit to get a glimpse of the abandoned village that time had forgotten.

But things changed in 2015, when exclusive private members’ club Soho Farmhouse pitched up on the outskirts. The venue hosted Meghan Markle’s hen do in 2018. The £2,500-a-year club, which offers everything from surfboard yoga sessions to a Japanese grill house serving seared fish salads, quickly became the go-to weekend escape for the well-to-do.

A year later, David Beckham, 50, and wife Victoria, 51, nabbed the neighbouring barn conversion, which boasts a pool, football pitch and outdoor kitchen, for £6.15m. They were quickly followed by Simon Cowell, 65, and his fiancée Lauren Silverman, 48, who, locals say, have got stuck into village life.

One resident reveals: “Simon rides an electric bicycle. He’s a creature of habit and rides around the village each day on his set route before picking up a latte and smoothie from Quince and Clover.”

A small coffee at that cafe-cum-delicatessen costs £4, while ice creams start at £6.50 and smoothies at £7.95. Eggs and avocado on toast is priced at £17.50, a salt-beef bap is £16.95, and a sausage roll – albeit one adorned with fennel and sunflower seeds – comes in at £8.

Prices at the Falkland Arms pub next door – the go-to watering hole for the Soho Farmhouse set – are more modest, with cocktails starting at £8.45. Many of the rich and famous arrive in helicopters and private jets, landing at nearby Enstone Airfield before being ferried to the pub in one of the club’s electric Porsches.

Ellen DeGeneres is another local – and the 43-acre pad she bought there is on the market for £22.5m. The US TV host, 67, and her wife Portia de Rossi, 52, paid £15m in 2019 and, according to the estate agent, have transformed the converted barn into “an enchanting and secluded rural retreat”. There is a gym and pool, and the potential to turn the helicopter hangar into a tennis or padel court.

There wasn’t, however, enough room for Portia’s beloved horses, so they moved nearby. Great Tew is smack bang in the middle of the so-called Cotswolds’ golden triangle, sandwiched between the affluent market towns of Chipping Norton and Burford. Former PM Boris Johnson, 61, and his wife Carrie, 37, live in the nearby village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell and 65-year-old Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm is a 15-minute drive away. And US Vice President JD Vance, 41, is reportedly spending his summer in a sprawling manor house a stone’s throw away.

Pyramiden, a town in the Arctic Circle that has stood empty of humans since 1998, is a living museum to Soviet life. Visit today and you will find cups left on the table, skiing equipment abandoned in the hallway and newspaper cuttings on the wall

An eerie ghost town has been left exactly as it was when crews abandoned it 27 years ago.

The Mary Celeste ship has been etched into the memories of school children for decades. The American merchant brigantine was discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores on December 4, 1872, with food still on plates as if the crew was about to sit down to dinner. The mystery surrounding the abandoned ship has captivated people for over 150 years, leading to numerous theories about the fate of its crew.

Far less well known is the story of Pyramiden, a town in the Arctic Circle that has stood empty of humans since 1998. Visit today and you will find cups left on the table, skiing equipment abandoned in the hallway and newspaper cuttings on the wall.

“Walking Pyramiden today gives you a glimpes into the Soviet-style nostalgia, outdoor as well as indoor. Best of all, its not an artificial scenery aimed for some kind of movie-production. This is real. The smell of papirosa, likely the strongest cigarette ever made, stains on the indoor walls. Hammer and Sickle ornaments and the Soviet star are used as decoration around the town,” the Barent Observer writes of Pyramiden.

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“In a remote room inside the Palace of Culture are a few empty bottles of the cheap domestic Rossiya- and Priviet vodka. A book with the transcripts from the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union lays on a desk. That was the first congress presided over by Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Central Committee.”

There are few signs of life beyond the occasional hardy seabird, an Arctic fox or a polar bear looking for its next meal.

Unlike the Mary Celeste, there is no mystery around why the occupants of Pyramiden left in such a hurry. The Russian state-owned mining company Trust Arktikugol closed down Pyramiden’s mining operations in April 1998, following 53 years of continuous activity.

The end of the settlement neared as coal prices dwindled, difficulties with coal extraction from the mountain became more apparent, and 141 people tragically lost their lives in 1996 at Operafjellet. Miners and their families perished in the plane crash that had been ferrying them from Pyramiden to Barentsburg. Such was the scale of the tragedy and the impact it had on the town of 1,000 that its continued operation proved impossible.

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The town was first founded by Sweden in 1910 but was sold to the USSR 17 years later. From 1955 to 1998, up to nine million tonnes of coal were thought to have been pumped out of Pyramiden. Svalbard belongs to Norway under the Svalbard treaty, which allows citizens from all its member countries to become residents. The treaty reads: “All citizens and all companies of every nation under the treaty are allowed to become residents and to have access to Svalbard including the right to fish, hunt or undertake any kind of maritime, industrial, mining or trade activity.”

In its pomp, it boasted a theatre, studios for creative arts, and a library. The schools, 24-hour canteen, and sports complex are all gone. All that remains is a statue of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, the northernmost monument to him in the world.

Today, the main thing occupying the ghost town now are the terrifying polar bears. However, six people operate as rifle-carrying warders in the summer. Despite the nearest settlement being some 31 miles away, dark tourism has been gently ticking along since 2013, but you can only access Pyramiden by boat or snowmobile for nine months of the year. One visitor to the town in 2018 wrote in Haaretz : “There are thousands of angry polar bears all around us.”