[user104658]

Originally Posted by Tozzie

It is my perception and the perception of many many people in this town and neighbouring towns I live in. Yes I do remember how life was in years gone by, I do not like the idea of the diversity when I am driving through a town, stop and ask for directions to be met with contempt. To go shopping and find myself feeling like a stranger in my own country. The town which once people came for miles on coachloads to visit the market is now a filthy town and this saddens me. Please don't patronise me and be condescending, you may be more intelligent than me but that doesn't make you a better person than me. The country today makes me and many many others sad.

The thing is, I feel like you may be seeing some changes and attributing them to immigration and cultural differences when they are perhaps coincidental in many ways. My wife is from a market town in the North of England, I lived there with her for three years. All of the older generations talk about how it used to have a thriving, vibrant local market where people came from up to 50 miles away every week. Nice place, friendly locals, etc.

It is not like that now. It is an absolute ****hole and what is left of the market is, frankly, disgusting. Tat and (probably) stolen goods. The town itself is run down, the people are drunk/high and aggressive, and it's basically just an unpleasant place to be, let alone live.

It is still 99% white British. These people are all locals born and bred.

I feel like you are seeing the changes in small towns / communities that are occurring everywhere and you are assuming that immigration is the cause. I suspect you'd find, if there had been no immigration at all, you'd still have the same complaints about the area and the people.