The little UK town where 'everyone drinks in the street' after all the pubs close

Locals in a deprived area of West have shared people are resorting to drinking in the street after the closure of several pubs. Ravensthorpe, near Dewsbury, has been blighted by fly-tipping and crime - but is home to friendly people and lots of takeaways and shops.

spoke to local people in the area to find out what it's like living there. Toni, 37, enjoys drinking and chatting in the street and says that, since the local pubs closed, there are no alternative places to meet.

"I have lived here nearly 40 years and I love it," she told . "I have moved away and always ended up back here. This is my town. There are no pubs now so we have to drink in the street."

She said property owners and others don't like those drinking in the street and often urge them to move, while police officers sometimes confiscate their drinks.

She explained: "We do try to have respect for people...there isn't a drinking establishment, so we come here. We hang around the off-licence. Everybody knows us and stops to talk."

Toni said a number of pubs have closed down, adding: "There's no establishment to meet up and have a drink. They banned us from the park and took the shelter down we used to sit in. We are told to move on by property owners."

She has something of a love-hate relationship with Ravensthorpe, saying: "It's horrible around here now but I love it. We haven't got nowt. Every shop is a takeaway. You see people with knives and (nitrous oxide) balloons."

Neal, 34, also likes to drink outside the off-licence. He told : "Seeing everyone is better than sitting at home. I come here and have a few beers. I'm not working; I am on Universal Credit."

Toni says the group is tightly-knit and "stick to ourselves".

Asked about complaints of misbehaviour, she said: "We have done. I'm not saying we are angels."

Not everyone in the group is drinking alcohol. One man, who asked not to be named, suffers from a disability and says he gets picked on by local teenagers. He says he was 'battered' last Sunday by six teenagers but didn't report it to police. He says he was punched around six times and warned not to tell the police.

"I normally stay at home," he said. "I'm that scared - I always get battered. I have been attacked 20 times since 2004."

Toni believes the area has become more violent in recent years.

She said: "People are carrying knives. I know people that have knives pulled on them."

Away from the street drinkers, normal life goes on but there are clearly issues with fly-tipping with dumped fridges and sofas left on pavements, as well as many discarded cans and bottles.

One man, 42, originally from Ghana, works in the care sector and said he has a "good life" in Ravensthorpe.

"It is better over here than in my home country. For now, I feel at home," said the man who didn't want to be named.

A young father warned there are issues with crime in Ravensthorpe.

"It needs improving, with more police and more stuff for kids to do," he said.

"Kids are growing up and seeing drugs on the street corner. That isn't good is it?"

He added: "It's full of drug dealers. It's common to see them in cars. There's nothing to do but be gangsters. There's also too much hate and violence over petty things. People's cars are getting burnt out."