Inside crack-ravaged seaside ‘zombie’ town where crumbling homes cost just £5k & have FAKE doors to hide shocking decay
IN a green space at the centre of Horden’s maze of boarded-up houses and vacant shops stands Marra, a 9ft sculpture of a miner with his heart ripped from his chest.
It couldn’t be a more fitting reflection of a community which has suffered the same fate.
Artist Ray Lonsdale’s statue, erected in 2015 by Horden parish council at a cost of £19,000 to illustrate the demise of Durham’s mining communities, couldn’t have been placed in a more appropriate spot.
The coastal village entered a death spiral of decline that hasn’t halted since the colliery closed in 1987, throwing 4,000 men on the dole.
In that 36-year period “nowt good has happened in Horden” according to one resident, who paints a grim picture of daily life in a village where the signs of decay are clear on every street corner.
It’s a place plagued by drug use – “crack, smack, blues, yellows, they’ll take anything” – and where even the wrecked and boarded up houses aren’t safe from burglary.
Drug users have become so desperate that they are breaking in to steal any copper pipes and cables left behind to sell as scrap metal in the hope of raising enough cash for their next fix.
Statistically it is one of the most dangerous places in County Durham with 178.9 crimes per 1,000 people and 6,807 crimes committed in 2023.
The new Labour government, elected on a mandate for change, has its work cut out to turn around the fortunes of Horden, something the party was unable to achieve the last time it was in power.
But that’s what residents here are demanding.
“We’re sick of living like this,” says Les Wright, 61, who formerly
worked in security but is now in receipt of sickness benefit.
“This place is crazy and it’s getting worse. People don’t dare go out
of their front doors at night because of all the crime, you could get
mugged at any time during the day, let alone at night.
“The place has been ruined by drugs, it’s rife and there are kids and
adults as well who are addicted everywhere you look.
“There’s a problem with heroin, with crack and prescription drugs like
valium, which they call blues, and other pills they call yellows which
are antidepressants of something like that.
“They’ll take anything and they’re prepared to rob and steal for it.
You have gangs on street corners who will mug people for what little
money they have, the place has become dangerous.
“It isn’t just Horden. All the towns in what used to be mining areas along the coast are the same. Easington and Blackhall are just the same. They got left behind and forgotten and no government wants to spend any money here. Nowt good has happened here in years.
“So you end up with a place that’s just lost hope. I don’t work because I’m not well enough to, but if I was looking for employment here I would have no chance, there’s absolutely nothing and it’s been that way for years and years.
“That’s why it looks so run down, nobody cares about places like this except the people who live here.”
A journey around the streets quickly confirms Les’s take on his home village.
The adjacent numbered rows of terraced houses – Second Street through to 13th Street – which were once the homes of miners and their families, have now fallen into disrepair.
In some streets there are almost as many vacant and boarded up houses as there are occupied ones.
The local authority has made an attempt to cheer up the depressing vista by pasting posters of brightly coloured doors and curtained
windows over the boards on empty houses.
At first glance it gives the street a slightly more cheerful aspect, but it’s fooling no one.
One resident of Fourth Street told us: “It’s literally putting a sticking plaster over the problem. We’ve got smackheads wandering around like zombies and our houses are falling down but the council decides to go around sticking posters up to make the place look better.
“Instead of tarting up empty houses with posters why don’t they spend some money and make this place a decent place to live for the decent people who want to live here?”
Dumping ground
Ben Mohammed, 53, is a letting agent with more than 100 houses in Horden.
He says part of the problem is that the town has become a dumping ground for “bad tenants” unwelcome in other parts of the North East.
Ben said: “Horden gets the people that other towns don’t want.
“Some landlords are happy to fill their houses here with bad tenants who can’t get properties in places like Newcastle, Washington, Durham and Sunderland.
“So they end up here and continue to cause problems and it drags the place down further. I take care with who I let to because I want to be part of Horden’s recovery.
“It’s not a bad place. There isn’t the violent crime you get in bigger cities, the crime is petty and comes from desperation because of the
drug issues.
“The empty houses are getting hit for the copper cabling because they know they can take it to a scrap dealer and maybe scrape together £50 so they can shove it up their arm. It’s sad.
“The place needs some investment. For years now the locals have been having meetings with the police, the fire brigade, the council. They all make reassurances that they’re trying to get on top of things but no money gets spent and nothing changes.
“One thing they could do which would make a real difference would be to put up gates at the end of alleys behind the houses. It’s a proven deterrent and has worked in other towns I’ve had houses in.”
Property in Horden is among the cheapest in the country.
Houses occasionally change hands here for as little as £5,000 and one property on Ninth Street is currently on the market through auction with a guide price of £15,000. There are some here who feel it’s overpriced.
Andrew McLean-Reid, 54, moved to Horden recently from Hampshire to be close to family.
However, during his childhood he was familiar with the beginning of the decline of the Durham coalfield in the coastal towns when his father was a vicar in neighbouring Easington Colliery.
He said: “I can remember the anger as the pits were being closed down one by one, the fires burning and rioting in the streets. That’s where the decline started of course.”
Some landlords are happy to fill their houses here with bad tenants who can’t get properties in places like Newcastle, Washington, Durham and Sunderland
Letting agent Ben Mohammed
He looks across at the derelict Conservative Club, a relic from pre-Thatcher years.
“I’ve never seen that place open,” he says. “It’s shut down like so much of this town, it’s a real shame because the place is full of good people and it still has a strong sense of community.
“But when you close down the only major industry and the only option for people is to try to find people jobs in call centres or working at Asda it isn’t going to work, they are not able to use their skills and knowledge constructively.
“When there are no avenues left to explore people just sit and fester and that’s what has happened here for the best part of 40 years.
Terrifying rise of ketamine sweeping UK
KETAMINE use in Britain has risen 400 per cent in the last decade, shocking figures show.
A total of 3.8 per cent of young people took the Class B drug last year compared to just 0.8 per cent in 2013.
Addiction levels have also dramatically increased, with many now living with incontinence and paralysis.
The drug is particularly prevalent among young people as it’s “pocket money cheap”.
Depending on location, a gram can cost around £10, compared to £40 for MDMA and £100 for cocaine, according to Parliament figures.
A single hit is available for as little as £3 – less than a pint of beer.
Ketamine use hit record highs among 16 to 24-year-olds in England last year, with almost one in 25 trying it at least once, data from the Office for National Statistics reveals.
This is up a fifth from 2020, and almost four times higher than levels recorded 10 years ago.
For all age groups, the figure sits at 0.9 per cent.
One in 20 young people are now considered regular users, and Home Office statistics show there has been a 884 per cent rise in ketamine seizures in just 12 months.
“At least we have a new railway station. It’s not often new stations are built, so that’s something in Horden’s favour.
“I hope it gets better here under the new government. They were elected on a mandate for change so let’s see what they can do for Horden and the many places like it.”
New life
The village has in recent years seen an influx of people coming from larger cities, who have found affordable homes for people on the verge of homelessness by sending them to the other end of the country.
One of them, Milwina Pilch, 35, is only just getting used to her new life.
Milwina, originally from Poland, had been living in the London borough of Ealing with her nine-year-old daughter as a private tenant.
However, when things took an unwelcome turn she found herself in a northern seaside village she’d never heard of.
Milwina said: “Our landlord decided to sell the house where we were living and we couldn’t find anywhere else we could afford so we went to the council in Ealing.
We’re trying hard because we want Horden to be a better place for people to live
Rob Dove
“Because I have my daughter, social services and the council worked together to try to find us somewhere and they said there was
affordable property in the north.
“So within five days we arrived here in Horden. It was a big change for us and we’re just getting used to it.
“In my street there are lots of empty houses and it’s very quiet in the street and in the town. There aren’t many shops.
“But my daughter is in a good school, I have found work as a cleaner and we are near the sea so we’re doing OK.
“People warned us this was not a good place, but we’re happy, we’re doing fine.”
Some locals have rolled up their sleeves to try to improve the fortunes of Horden and its residents.
Rob Dove, 55, a former British Army tank commander has opened a string of family-run businesses.
Using skills he learned in the forces, Rob now has a thriving workshop for the repair and restoration of old military vehicles. Pride of place goes to the Chieftain tank he once drove in active service.
Rob and his family also have a sunbed shop, beauticians and a minibus service in the village
Looking around his workshop, he says: “This pace was derelict when I took it over but we’re now very busy and I’m glad to be able to bring
some work to the village
“We’re trying hard because we want Horden to be a better place for people to live, I just wish more was being spent on the place by the Government.
“When I was setting up these businesses I applied for any funding that might be on offer and there was nothing, we couldn’t even get money to place a sign over the door.
“It would be great if the kids here had somewhere to go to, some sports facilities or anything to occupy their time.
“It wouldn’t take very much to get the numbered streets back to a decent standard and bring some pride back into this community because it’s full of good people if they just had a chance.”
There is one bright spot on the horizon for Horden at least.
A multi-million pound scheme to regenerate part of the village has been approved.
Durham County Council has agreed to invest £6million to tackle housing issues, proposing to buy properties on Third Street with the aim of redeveloping them into high quality housing or demolishing them to build new homes.