Exploring Middlesbrough's Abandoned Houses and Buildings

[@LL-sw7qj]

There are so many trashed properties like this all over the UK and many cities all over the world. Poverty, drugs and mental health issues all contribute. Until these social problems are addressed, this will continue. Things will not improve until people can afford to own property and not be beholden to unscrupulous landlords that are only in it for profit and no benefit to the community. So very sad. Thank you for shining a light on this perpetual problem.

[@wanderingturnip]

You’ve nailed it there. I only skim the surface with these vids

[@KeirAnderson1991]

@@wanderingturnip - Even skimming the surface in terms of the cause of this change suffices as you are actively going to these towns/cities, capturing footage, discussing experiential accounts with locals...truly following your interest and curiosity towards this major societal change we are all undergoing and presenting it to the world (more specifically the U.K) in a friendly and genuine manner. I really couldn't be more of a fan in terms of not only the work you are doing, but the manner and *approach you apply when undertaking it. You are looking in the right direction, you are asking the right questions and most of all, you are bringing others' attention to this clear and present -danger- problem. I applaud you, Sir.

[@megaman2016]

10k property, how much more affordable do you need it 😅

[@christina4018]

I don’t understand the mentality of trashing a house it’s incomprehensible and heartbreaking. The houses you’re seeing all over were well built, and with no new council houses being built you’d think the councils would put two and two together and renovate at least some of them for tenants, using some community service ppl to help out possibly? I thought there were rules about owning buildings deemed dangerous structures, with legal ramifications?

[@wilfulsprite555]

Surely £10k is affordable to almost everybody. People need to be willing to rebuild communities.

[@mick0905]

The problem with buying one of those for £10k is you'd need to spend £50k on it only to be left with a £20k at best house. Unless the whole area was refurbished at the same time then tackling one in isolation is sadly a waste of effort.

[@wanderingturnip]

Yeah absolutely 👍

[@markjoachen]

Also a waste of effort ...if vandalism is bug issue in the area ...sadly today's young and drug addicts don't realise how poor they can make house by destroying it so sad I am sure the young and drug addict of the 1950s never trashed there community like today's generation...we need to promote a scheme were the young and buy a messed up place and make it into something worth selling and then with the profits they could also police the area to protect from vandals with a kind of month by month payment scheme say 50 quid to 100 per house in each street that's ruined by vandals

[@Westhamsterdam]

50k? I reckon 100k

[@rebeccarowlandson7126]

This is why the council should take ownership do them up and rent out to people who need home and families not stuck in b & b. There are not enough council homes this could help loads. Doing them up will be still a lot less than a new build.

[@Westhamsterdam]

@@rebeccarowlandson7126 Be cheaper just to demolish them & put container homes. I suppose the plan is wait until most leave rehouse the rest & then start again.

[@juliebrooke6099]

There should be funding from London for “levelling up”. The local council could buy them in bulk for cheap and do them up, providing skills training for apprentices at the same time, and then rent them out. As someone else said it’s no good trying to improve one house in isolation-whole streets need a boost.

[@andrew6382]

Stop talking common sense because the government and councils do not like that.

[@petesmart1983]

Leveling up doesn't work and there fake trickle down politics. Councils get money for new builds cause of the do called housing crisis

[@benbeasant3443]

Sadly the Westminster elite never visit these places and don't really care.

[@Mounhas]

What you say makes total sense. However, such suggestions are lost on those with their fingers in the pie of corruption.

[@shineyrow9001]

The 'levelling-up' money for Teesside was redirected to the more affluent area of Stockton south - which is, by utter coincidence, the constituency of a Conservative MP.

[@sarahwasheree]

Can’t believe how depressed that area is but loved the poem at the end and history about Middlesbrough. Just shows the state of this country now. Thanks

[@petesmart1983]

Teeside is sadly worst effected

[@rob5197]

Many many areas are so - - a shamble and disgrace for one of the richest country

[@georgeboro5614]

I m a Greek and i used to study 18 years ago at the University of Teesside in Middlesbrough. Back then South Bank was always like that. A no go zone for everyone!

[@KeirAnderson1991]

The needles are of far higher concern than the broken glass when it comes to equipping yourself with better footwear...the consequences should be obvious, so good shout on that one, Turnip. Good work as always!

[@wanderingturnip]

Yeah I was actually proper on edge after I saw that needle. I’ve actually just got myself some boots

[@KeirAnderson1991]

Thanks for the reply! I'm actually glad that you caught sight of the needle as although you had already stated the plan for some better footwear, the thought of needles in these places was of major concern. A had a friend named Aaron and when we were young, around 18 or 19 yrs, he stood on a needle down by the train tracks and the poor guy, he thought his life was over. It pierced his Nike shoe with ease and pressed itself into his big toe. He thought he was going to have any and all diseases, never have clean sex again, never have children...it was quite the afternoon seeing that he was okay. We of course got him checked out at a clinic in the following days and thankfully he was clean, but the memory never left me (or him!) and when investigating properties like this, it is my first concern. Sure, not every drug user is diseased, but these are the environments where not only the disease itself, but the diseased people themselves, thrive.

[@TheKalaxis]

South Bank is around 4 miles to the east of Middlesbrough and yes it has lots of abandoned buildings but it does have some decent parts too. Mostly further up Normanby Road.

[@vintagemovielover4511]

Druggies have squatted in most of these houses and trashed them, be careful masks least f your worries if you walk in on wrong people.

[@leeswain]

Great video, we are being told daily that theres no houses, yet youve found loads.

[@Soggymoggies]

I have worked in Middlesbrough for over 30 years. Like most towns it has its good and bad areas. The local council have a Landlords Licence scheme to try and make private landlords take responsibility to maintain these properties., but it’s a long battle. There are many good people living in these areas and there is still a good community spirit, but the main problem is drugs. Take care when you visit some of these houses.

[@Briardie]

In my experience working around edges of Middlesbrough, Grangetown and Southbank, it is the mainly Asian business men from the South of the country who have bought up loads of cheap houses and run them into the ground.

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

Problematic levels of drug abuse are almost always a symptom of larger issues. It makes for a delightful scapegoat though.

[@svenroeder]

@@Briardie they shouldn't be on the councils lettings approval list then

[@danielcunningham6727]

​@Briardie maybe if you worked hard enough you could too! I imagine it's hard to do that on benefits though! 😂

[@Sophie-kk3st]

@@anhedonianepiphany5588 I agree. people take drugs mainly because they already had nothing to live for and were depressed, so they turn to drugs for quick comfort, and it's a down spiral from there. I see even normal day to day middle class people do it because they felt lonely or discontent. up north it's more of an economy issue, they need to find new industry for local areas, the north need to become self sufficient so people there can have a life. down south it's more of an education problem, people weren't taught to enjoy good fulfilling hobbies so they turn to a quick fix.

[@catxls1835]

Another excellent video. Yeah, South Bank has been a rough place to go for as long as I can remember. Some of the houses you looked at early in the video would have had great potential, if not for the area. Please keep these video's coming as they are super interesting and highlight what is actually happening up and down the Country. Thumbs up.

[@independentpuppy7520]

It's a shame they are in such a state. Once would have been nice houses. Even though cheap to buy it would cost a fortune to get them fit to live in.

[@aceofspades5786]

20-40K a house, the government are spending that per family per year to house people in emergency temp hotel accommodation.

[@riyadkhan8962]

@@aceofspades5786 that is very true

[@sandrafinbar]

@@aceofspades5786 very true. But some would say " I don't want to live in Middlesbrough, I want to live in London " !

[@patrisha573]

THANK YOU, Your woundful out look, on interesting places and areas, Thank you for sharing the truth, Much love ❤ 🇺🇸

[@RetiredandLivingthedream]

I grew up in Southbank as a child and loved it. Sad to see it go down hill.

[@B1ll1709]

No hope for an area or property when a vendor can’t even empty a house of trash before a viewing

[@llanieliowe794]

The landlords who do that obviously don't care about the property or who it goes to. They are just in it for the profit and quick sale of the house

[@AliWade1971]

Imagine having to be the estate agent showing these properties

[@UnbelievableEricthegiraffe]

In Some countries to be a Estate agent (As they are called in the UK) You need to be licensed I'm assuming that the Estate agents couldn't be bothered to clear out the rubbish in these houses.

[@adamcourtenay]

start the bid at £1

[@Sophie-kk3st]

@@llanieliowe794 for a quick sale yes, for a profit no. some of these properties are owned by the local councils who can't be bothered to get their shit together, some were purchased by deluded investors who still had faith in these dead northern towns, they lost out big time obviously. I'm concerned for people in the comments of these videos saying that they'd buy them and do them up to live in/rent out.

[@cannett8966]

Sad that countries like the UK, America, China and Russia say they are so wealthy but they have so many severely poor people! 😢

[@petesmart1983]

Because the wealth isn't spread is the biggest reason, the richest get richer the poor get poorer it's alot worse in America, Russia and china

[@FloydsFripperies]

I lived in South Bank for 3yrs about 10yrs ago. It looks like its gotten worse since then, but its always been rough. The council had really nice looking modern shared ownership houses built on the opposite side of the road to the houses you looked at. I feel very, very, very sorry for the people who bought them. madness when so many houses were empty even then.

[@Draggonny]

Myself and my mother-in-law both worked in South Bank Asda 20 years ago. My dad wouldn't let me walk to or from work on my own. In hindsight, he was right because MIL got mugged walking across the car park to her car. I used to have a house just opposite Saigon's Takeaway. I also lived in TS1 when I was a student. It was an absolute dive. I rented two different places where the boiler would drown in the rain and I'd not have hot water for 6 months of the year. I'd never seen a silverfish or a carpet beetle in my life until I moved to the town centre. We should make our MPs live in shitty student digs in Boro for a winter and see how quick they legislate for private rentals to be fit for human habitation.

[@user-s1o3nr532]

Be interesting to get an update as to whether they sell and if so how much for. Good work mate.

[@wanderingturnip]

Yeah I’ll keep an eye on the auction

[@Westhamsterdam]

No one is going buy.

[@patrickodowd8883]

Any idea how much it sold for

[@lil__gingy1742]

@@patrickodowd8883they haven’t sold most are still boarded up I live about 10 minutes away in grangetown also many boarded up houses,pubs,social clubs etc down minute walks away from my house

[@pimpozza]

I love how you get talking to people to get their take on the situation.. and what a sad situation it has become.. So many boarded up places, vandalism and neglect.. and notices to please not spit! Pubs were the absolute heart of the community once, full of social banter.. Now so many are empty shells.. I was holding my breath seeing so much mold in the first house! As for the second.. wtf! I don't know what effort they could make to market them better without spending a ton of money first.. 😮 With the smell getting worse, I was expecting you to come across a dead body!! Fascinating vid, David.. a sign of the times 😢 But one positive thing.. you found a summer t-shirt in the right colours to take us on these "tours'.. way to go!! 😆 Poignant poem at the end.. talking of which, I wrote am ode to a turnip and a dry stone wall.. posted it on an earlier dry stone wall vid.. it's a bit more uplifting! 😄

[@dallysinghson5569]

Pubs are where you go to lose your brains.

[@seanrm]

I feel most sorry for those who grew up in these areas and still live close by. They must be tired of hearing it by now, but every time they look out of their windows, or open their front doors, their sub-conscious must be continuously asking, "What the fukc happened here"?

[@fern8580]

@s The agglomeration of Middlesbrough increased from 40 inhabitants in 1829, to 7,600 inhabitants in 1851, then 19,000 in 1861 and reached 40,000 inhabitants in 1871, the trigger? coal, then steel, in 2023, no energy = no life, the 143,000 inhabitants (source 2023) have no chance of prospering if they do not find energy.

[@rontheretiredone]

​@fern8580 the government will not let anyone find energy, that's why we are stuffed!

[@alffy1977]

I live in Redcar so very much looking forward to that video. The high street here is pretty much dead but the council are still spending on attractions to try and improve the place. Please mention the awful vertical pier that they built, that no one wanted lol

[@jonsteele7445]

Atleast Redcar is still a majorly majority English town still!

[@jonsnow6741]

Very informative and you will not see this on the BBC !

[@petesmart1983]

Actually there was programs about it Hartlepool which is even worse and Hastings

[@swandive7290]

..finally someone YT with something worth saying & watching ! watching from australia an excellent channel !

[@erin9868]

I know the cheapest houses are kind of the schtick, but I think it would be really interesting to see them juxtaposed with (slightly?) more expensive, but actually liveable or near-liveable, houses. Like, how far do you have to go to get a decent house? How much more expensive is it? Is the area any better? Is there a £40k house that actually okay? Or is it a few trashed, abandoned properties and then £150k minimum? Where I live, neighbourhoods can change drastically from one street to the next. And so can housing prices, quality, even the age of the home. Seeing the worst street and boarded up shops could be indicative of the overall area or it might not be.

[@wanderingturnip]

Yeah great shout! I’ll do this with my next video cheers 👍👍

[@vaughnwilliams1208]

Don't forget to try a Parmo, local takeaway.

[@cutterbacon]

This is the area. Get closer to the sea and its even worse.

[@VanyaYani]

Price for materials to renovate is probably close to £500 per square meter. So 80 sq.m. house would cost £40k to remodel. As for labour, it probably needs 2-3 months of work for 3-5 people. They probably charge £20 per hour, so you're looking at £25k in labour costs. Then, there are permissions and demolition works, furniture and appliances, and the total easily could be £80k. So a newly remodeled house in Middlesbrough costs £100k which is what is it selling for. Why not buy already remodeled one if you're not good at DIY? It's a terrible investment. OTOH, if your intention is to live, you need 9 months worth of living expenses plus £60k capital to spend on the house. If you're frugal, that would make your expenses to be £90k to end up with a house that isn't worth more than that. The minimum house would probably require 40% less, so that would be £60k for a house selling for £50k. Not worth it at this location. You can blame mortgages. People can "buy" a £200k house just for £20k. Of course nobody with £90k cash would want to do all this hassle to have a less than 10% return. They'd just buy 3 houses and live off renters. Financial sector is cancer. BTL struggle is well deserved.

[@vaughnwilliams1208]

@@VanyaYani what nonsense, people renovating houses like this use second hand materials, it costs a fraction of what you are quoting.

[@AliWade1971]

So sad. As you walked into the first area, there were lovely green areas with a playground. The terraced houses are solid and could be wonderful homes - but only if the whole area was transformed. Surely it would be more sensible to renovate houses rather than homing families in temporary accommodation? You definitely need safety boots. Loving the summer Turnip Tee. What a bargain. I was shouting at the tv, not to look in the oven 😂. There is women’s and kids’ stuff in the worst house 😢. So depressing. One suggestion for a video - an area that has been improved and is doing well. We need some good news ❤

[@Sportliveonline]

money ~~~maybe chinese could invest

[@llanieliowe794]

All North East costal towns seem to have been completely left behind since the 70s, and the situation is so unpleasant for the people who live there. Industry is collapsing, councils are underfunded and nothing is really being done to help these places with their high streets, town centres and neighbourhoods. It's a real shame to see, and I think everyone, even those who don't live in the NE coast, think that things need to change

[@15kilkenny]

Your wrong mate. Saltburn,whitby, staithes,Robin hoods Bay just a few that are bustling and some of the best seaside towns in the uk. That's not even going up to Northumberland.

[@llanieliowe794]

@@15kilkenny Those are all in Yorkshire I'm talking about The North East particularly the area from South Shields to Redcar, also not Northumberland

[@15kilkenny]

@@llanieliowe794 that's the north east. But I get what your saying now.

[@tnwo4771]

Saltburn is 5 minutes from Redcar and is not in Yorkshire

[@robotzeroone]

You have to be careful with the guide price on house auctions. Normally it's WAY below the price the house will sell for. Auctioneers do this to get interest and bring in the naive first timers to push the price up. These will sell for at least £30k.

[@Rumade]

That's the real tragedy. The price isn't even that low after the auction and fees

[@shovons]

Yes, definitely look into getting some safety trainers or boots. They need an anti penetration plate at the bottom and toe protection. You're walking into properties with glass, nails, loose bricks etc. Look at getting S3 level protection ideally, S1 at a minimum. 👍

[@GaryHayward]

Middlesbrough's historic original town hall sits derelict, as it has for donkey's years, in the middle of wasteland in the St Hilda's, aka "over the border", area.

[@harv3y874]

Managed to climb into there once, nothing but newspapers and primary school-like paintings on the wall. Also a really weird out of place wall that cuts half of the building off.

[@Elnino09uk]

I grew up in South Bank, it’s a rough place sad what’s happened to it over time. Born and raised on Hampden st.

[@twitchbiddy6880]

Seeing all this urban decay is so depressing. I wish there were some solutions to change this but it’s so huge and widespread 😞

[@Westhamsterdam]

London, wasn´t so great even in the early 80´s

[@LoneWolf-rc4go]

The problem is that this stuff is always going on. It's a cycle where the local government intervenes, pumps money into the community, things improve as the residents take a certain amount of pride in what they have, then things change. People move away, new people come in, they don't have the same connection to the area, the area starts to decay as it's not looked after in the same way, which makes more people move away. After a decade or two the area is back to where it started.

[@Smileyf4ce]

Made me laugh when you mentioned about the jacket as every time i see it i think "he loves that coat" it needs to be in every video from now on lol.. really like your videos (very eye opening) and appreciate the history of the area that you give 😀

[@richardpaine5923]

You deserve a medal.

[@pimpozza]

If David says it's _bad_ I'm expecting the very worst! 😮😆

[@lozzy8821]

I've lived in Middlesbrough for 34 years, I've never set foot in South Bank, you're very brave 😂

[@Awatchandy]

It is a shame to see towns going to waste so needlessly with so many people need homes The hole in the ceiling seems universal, but the North is lacking animal print wallpaper compared to down south.

[@swagalicious34]

Saw what you did around the 2 min mark there Dave trying to get that North Face sponsorship lol.

[@wanderingturnip]

haha one day...

[@andrewpeat6342]

I new you where in Middlesbrough just from the thumb nail. I work around both the areas you visited, the sad thing is both areas used to be bustling working class areas. Neighbours looked out for each other and took care of there houses. But slowly from the 80's to now with industry disappearing and drugs taking over they turned into what you see today such a shame.

[@oddy532]

My aunties house right at the beginning with the bushes coming over the fence. South bank used to be booming and houses went along to the works along the river. Its sad. That road you walked down when you went into the shop was retail outlets right along. Market day on fridau and you couldnt move. All my family lived here, our grandad worked at british steel and the shift turn around was absolutely packed

[@dcallan812]

The main reason its cheap is If you dont belong there , you wont stay long unless your a good street fighter. Dorman long of Middlesbrough built the Sydney harbour bridge and Tyne bridge. Did you go to see the Transporter bridge, its worth a look. Southbank is rough AF Middlesbrough has some nice areas just like everywhere and some not so nice Im in down the coast a bit a little seaside town, thankfully its still alive and kicking with 90% of the shops open,, sadly lacking any really affordable houses for sale. Great video 2x👍

[@NaNa-wj8tw]

You'll never have affordable housing importing 600,000 people net a year. There is no such thing and never will be. You either put the rest of the world before your own nation of citizens like now and have the nerve to tax native citizens for it (ironically making our poorest stump up the most)or you start reversing this madness and have elected officials do their damn jobs not run a country as a forcibly taxed charity for everyone else.

[@petesmart1983]

Even the nice areas are on massive decline

[@jodyelkins7369]

It’s such a shock seeing places like that now and how different they once were and whoever built these times will be shut tomorrow they’ve come now

[@jasinere35]

visited southbank & found it to be completely different to your vid the houses that were derelict were being renovated further down the road new developments had took up some of the wasteland & lastly if you had headed towards the town centre you would have come across a large industrial unit thats been burned down i do plan to return soon to see whats changed & photo more of the area especially the corus steel works offices thats showing up as derelict i live within the boundaries of stockton middlesborough so its easyr for me to travel to these locations

[@rebeccarowlandson7126]

I think the council should get these properties and do them up and have properties to rent out to people who need them. It does get me angry to see property like this when whole families are in hotel rooms and would love a home it just makes me sad.

[@TheTrickshot77]

The fighting aged males in the 5 star hotels would not just refuse these homes, they'd burn them down.

[@wilfulsprite555]

Good point. It takes political will to solve homelessness, and even when the answer is this simple, the will simply isn't there, no matter which party is in control.

[@NaNa-wj8tw]

So when you say the council should get them what you are saying is pay with tax payer money for a private asset to be purchased by force from an individual to then have tax payer money refurbish for millions to then give to illegal aliens most of which are young Muslim economic migrants for free whilst our own citizens have to go through a life cycle of work and pay pay pay for a house and bills most of their working lives? I'm glad you aren't in charge of boxing up paper clips. How about these people are kicked back to their own countries out of the hotels meant for tourists and at our expense including our poor scraping to make a living and then these refurbishment schemes are suggested with traditional council housing for our own people at the lowest rung of society to benefit from eh?

[@Sophie-kk3st]

it won't fix it, because no matter how nice the houses were, the kind of people who rent them will inevitably run them to the ground. it's way more than a housing problem, the north needs a new industry, it needs to find its feet again in the modern economy so people can have jobs again and build lives from there.

[@khoyrulislam]

​@@TheTrickshot77"fighting aged males" give it a rest mate 😂

[@iaincphotography6051]

I worked in Southbank many years back as a Youth Worker (out reach). When the funding stopped the crime went up. Many streets have been knocked down and if memory serves me correct you could buy a house for £1, but you had to live in it and do it up. Rough as it was the people were great and we never had any trouble. Redcar took a good hiding when they shut the Steel works down, over 3000 jobs went, the heart was ripped out of the place. So much for levelling up, just more lies off a government that doesn't care.

[@onenote6619]

Middlesborough was dying back in the 80s. My family moved out from Redcar about that time and things were starting to get bad even then. It was a great place with lovely people, but I'm glad we left before it really went downhill.

[@barnfieldfishing]

Teesside was buzzing before thatcher .imo

[@j4cksincl4ir]

To the young people watching this video, your choice is either leave the UK on a work visa to somewhere like Australia or to stay and make things work. If you must go to university, do a degree-apprenticeship in a construction related course (a firm would pay for your degree and pay your wages and you would graduate without debt). Avoid meaningless degrees which are part of the varsity ponzi scheme (which is part of the banking-university-industrial complex) that is used to justify the existence of academic jobs, put young people in debt and reduce graduate starting salaries. If enough of you colonised these obsolescent areas and refurbished these houses, you'd create your own micro-economy. Refurbish these houses for yourselves and your artistic friends because the creatives transform areas and attract more people and businesses. Even if a mortgage and the average house price was within your reach, you would pay for it three or four times its original, inflated price over your entire working life; whereas you can refurbish a disused building with a loan at a fraction of the size of a mortgage, live in the house, sell it or rent it out. You would only have to do this once and you would find that refurbishing your own house would be a life changing event. With project experience you would want to do it again and again and you would naturally become a developer or a landlord who knows how to maintain property and to keep the community or cooperative economically sustainable.

[@Mandaramaster]

Few degrees are 100% meaningless. Education is its own reward & the whole "debt" thing is a nonissue as you only pay it off over X amount earnt per year, which lets be honest most won't meet anyway.

[@danielcunningham6727]

@Mandaramaster I believe you pay after you earn I think 28k+ per year now if you've got a degree and not earning 28k+ then something has gone wrong somewhere wouldn't you agree? I mean you can earn that being a binman

[@Mandaramaster]

@danielcunningham6727 yup correct, 28k but iirc they've lowered that to about 26k. Plenty of degree careers paying under that especially for a new graduate. It's only a few industries where you'll be jumping into a decently high salary.

[@petesmart1983]

Poor areas have lowest education levels, poverty runs through everything

[@k.avilla8061]

@@Mandaramaster Having a degree that is "not 100% meaningless " is little consolation when you leave college with £30, 000 plus debt and an degree in an inferior subject ( like Media Studies) which employers laugh at and gives you no advantage in the job market whatsoever. It is also little consolation to know that you won't have to pay it back until you're earning over £26,000, thereby taking away the incentive to obtain a marginal pay increase over this figure (unless you're earning appreciably more than this amount). Unless you earn a decent wage, you'll never be able to obtain a mortgage for a property, and the lender will be taking your student loan repayment will be factored-in when your eligibility is taken into account. Hey, but who cares about choosing to study for a degree which won't assure you of meaningful employment when, after graduation, you can live on job-seekers allowance in a room in a shared multi-occ property with 5 other people you don't know, sharing one toilet, taking it in turns to cook in a grubby kitchen which nobody wants to clean, living on baked beans and looking at a picture on your wall in your room (big enough for a single bed ), in your cap and gown, collecting your degree certificate in sociology and telling yourself : "Well, I don't know how I'm gonna get myself out of this hole, but hey, remember; EDUCATION IS IT'S ON REWARD ! Money talks, bullshit walks.

[@BritishEngineer]

14:33 that space heater with deformed metal cover suggests that it was purposely smashed up at one point..

[@ameliethewlis4325]

Interesting that many of the houses are for auction or sold to ‘cash buyers’. This is likely due to them been unmortgageable (I am a property solicitor specialising in residential property).This pushes more property into those who have wealth or a portfolio and takes housings stock further out of the reach of the average person or those in need. It also helps push up rents due to limited stock.

[@benbeasant3443]

Why would someone want them in their portfolio?

[@SnakePliskin762]

​@@benbeasant3443 naive landlords from out of the area.

[@millywood6801]

Morning Swede. I feel sorry for the people that are living near those houses. It's sad to see so many boarded up houses when there are so many homeless people. Yes your right get some strong boots and I would suggest a large bottle of hand sanitizer . OK now this is a mum type question: When you go visiting these places do you let someone know where you are going and around what time you should be back? I'm just concerned, I hope you never come across someone sleeping in one of those houses. Stay safe Swede, Cheers Milly

[@simonbeasley989]

Glad you got a summer substitute for the iconic The North Face coat. But I reckon the holes in ceilings you always find are just as much a feature! Seriously though, I wonder if anyone has ever been brought to justice for what they have done to these houses?

[@janebass3372]

I'm really suprised that the estate agents are happy to let people view these trashed properties without any health and safety checks! What about glass, needles etc? Isn't that a major concern? Should have a basic clean up and checks first surely? Take great care Wandering Turnip when you walk round the properties 😮

[@wanderingturnip]

Honestly, every time I go to one of these places…it’s the first time the person showing me round has seen the place as well. They have no idea

[@janebass3372]

​@@wanderingturnipthat's shocking, they should check out the houses before trying to sell them. Another fab video, yours is my favourite KZbin channel and such a great presenter. Keep up the excellent work 😊

[@andrew6382]

In America it's like that they are sold as seen, however the money is on the land.

[@benbeasant3443]

Doubt they have many viewings

[@geraldgeaf1292]

At the very least they should empty the properties and leave ONLY the house as in the structure before a viewing . This is putting viewers at a health risk and also making it difficult for a view to truly gauge the property as they have to look through the ramage.

[@liamgbooth]

There was a scheme not too long ago offered by Middlesbrough council where you could buy one of these properties for a pound. The conditions where you had to renovate the property. I'm not sure of how popular it was at the time but I don't hear of it now. And I'm local.

[@stshnie]

Don’t touch your face or stick your thumb in your mouth (10:45) whist going round these places. (I saw you opening an oven, touching the handle later in the video.) Take a big pack of antibacterial wipes with you. In fact you should be very wary of just wandering around those derelict shops. All you need to do is trip going down the stairs to the cellar where there are broken bottles lying around (8:15) and you’ll be in trouble - no one knows where you are at any given time. Are you checking in regularly with someone back home who’s got a rough idea what your plans are?

[@wanderingturnip]

Got hand sanitiser in the car 👍👍 good shout on the second point. Might let my girlfriend track me when I’m out wandering

[@michaelburrows3257]

Hiya how are yiu can you do a video of you taking socks off slowly let me see please and saying my name as well its Michael if you can that be great got a foot fetish

[@michaelburrows3257]

@@wanderingturnip hiya can you do a sock strip video of you taking socks off slowly let me see please and saying my name as well its Michael if you can that be great thanks just got a foot fetish sorry

[@samuelduncan3489]

You're doing an amazing job...keep it up. This is more educative, informative and insightful

[@Vikface1978]

Use a gps tracker. Air tag or the like. Then you can see where you’ve been and at what time, how much you’ve walked etc. also load the app onto a computer etc at home so you can be found.

[@tobyjackman3212]

Damn you, WT! I had stuff to do this morning & I've just ended up watching a bunch of your videos instead 🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️

[@wanderingturnip]

My mission is complete 😎

[@asdreww]

Where you've got the terrace houses in rows/blocks, those green areas next to them used to be identical housing too, now demolished - you will see the road grid pattern on google still.. It's hard for an area to recover when it has declining population

[@SlurpyDave254]

Blimey Dave, u brought back a memory or 2 there. My mate George used to live around the corner from the Princess Alice. I last went in there late 80's..and then you walked round to the social club which was the meeting place for the local Yellow Rose cycling club...such a shame how the area has gone, it had great community...Great vid Pal👏👏

[@rob2738]

Sydney harbour bridge was built in Middlesborough!

[@whateveryouwant83]

Honestly I live in Middlesbrough in Normanby about 5 minute drive from south bank the houses and area is so much nicer I would watch what your doing walking about some of these streets in south bank and grangetown these are some of the worst places to live in the uk violence is notorious

[@franrowe8696]

Grew up in Boro, over the border and the community in the late 1960's was fabulous. As a young mum in the early 90's I lived in Grangetown and again the community was fabulous. I hear all these tales about how rough these areas are now and wonder where it all went wrong?

[@whateveryouwant83]

@@franrowe8696 if you’re from there and live there your likely to be fine this guys walking round with a camera showing the worst parts of a town for everyone to see some people won’t like their homes being put all over social media with such negative views

[@franrowe8696]

@@whateveryouwant83 I agree, I was shocked at how much South bank had declined since my Grangetown days!

[@ArtwithKrissy]

super interesting channel, do you view these in hopes of finding something to buy or is it just to show the extent of the problem? I am Cornish and we are suffering a very bad housing shortage, the influx of air bnb and second homes has left some of our towns totally dead for half the year, whilst locals struggle to survive. Seeing other mining/industrial areas being left in such deprivation is heart breaking, we suffer the deprivation, poverty, loss of industry and culture but our homes are sort after making it so staying here is undoable as prices continue to rise beyond normal locals reach. So altho our homes aren't boarded up and left to rot, I feel the emptiness and loss of what was, its so tragically sad.

[@np1584]

It's when you have the mold smell, move to a room nextdoor and there's dog piss all over to the point the floorboards have holes in them/wet rot and then the 3rd bedroom had brown stains on the wall and left over porno mags. That's when you know it's not a keeper and summat rough has happened. Sadly there's plenty of places like this across the whole island. Summat needs done about it because it's such a waste to build on green belt land when there's houses rotting and towns/communities mostly empty or dying.

[@leona_devon]

I know a lot of people probably say this but, why don't the council buy these properties and turn them into social housing surely it's got to be a cheap way doing it, we keep going on about housing crisis and here's a solution

[@cutterbacon]

No funds available.

[@fatty3383]

All the news headlines states these day is the cost of living and not enough homes..where they could do these places up and move people in.

[@NaNa-wj8tw]

All well and good but explain how you ever have enough homes importing 600,000 people a year? Move a few on in time for the next lot to turn up. The amount of ignorant altruism on this channel is mind blowing and politicians have done a fabulous job in brainwashing people with the WEF programme.

[@Rythred]

I love your videos, they're so visceral and you intertwine this wonderful historical narrative. Keep them coming - they're great!

[@kovski88]

I don't know why you say you need new boots - a lovely pair lying in front of you at about 14:29 😂 In all seriousness I think the smell of that place came through the screen so I don't know how you managed to stay in and go through all the rooms. Great vid.

[@murielbrown3013]

Clicked on this because the channel is called Wandering Turnip! Love it! made me laugh out loud, not reall sure why though. I think it conjoured up an image of a dusty footed turnip with his stick and bundle over his shoulder.

[@wrichard11]

I spent the worst four years of my life living in Middlesbrough

[@DJChipsandGarlic]

did you live in ts1 by any chance? there are a lot of nice areas but people dont see that

[@wrichard11]

@@DJChipsandGarlic yeah TS1. Nasty

[@DJChipsandGarlic]

i know this is a year + old but not every housing estate in boro looks like this. like every town really.

[@Lighting_Desk]

The whole area looks like it needs some major attention. Which is frustrating as there's some great archetecture and history thats being left to rot.

[@ChrisOREILLY-gc4yq]

Love the information bro I suppose that is good and bad in every city or town you go to ... We never find nothing like that in our charity shops i5 from Chester UK 🇬🇧👍

[@caleblindley7142]

Must be bad if the bugs get ill and pass out, great video.

[@TomRaine]

Seems the problem is there is no jobs, all exported to other countries. China is a huge coal user. You’d think that as we enter a more digital age that we could create new communities in these kind of places, working remotely etc?

[@andrew6382]

It's a catch 22 there. The government could get apprenticeships schemes started in that area to renovate and do up the houses. It would be cheap labour but they will be learning skills and helping the community. The list of apprenticeships is endless electricians, plumbers, plasterers. tilers, welders, painters and decorators, house clearances, bathroom/kitchen fitters, asbestos removers, hod carriers, scaffolders, brickies, landscapers, cleaners, window fitters, carpentry and the most important of all is tea boys. Those houses could home a lot of homeless on the streets or immigrants in hotels around the country. (No way on Earth will the government have the guts to deport) However what happens after that when they need to find work? There's no industry, retail is dying sadly. My nephew does earn good money being working from home being a web designer and game tester. He gets paid from companies to test out games and remove bugs and makes websites more user friendly. So in theory this parts of Middlesbrough could become a thriving student town.

[@benbeasant3443]

Post war decline of a once mighty industrial nation. Manufacturing and industry gone. Country dominated by a greedy banking sector based in London.

[@MoctorDac]

Been living in Boro my whole life, walked past that poem every day to go to college, and it baffles and saddens me that there's so many houses and buildings in such a sorry state, while there are new ones being built just a few roads over. Doesn't feel right at all... Feels like a proper fall from grace imo. I wanna know who's making these decisions, and why they are so insistent on leaving so many empty shells around town. Even the two tallest buildings in Middlesbrough - Center North East, and Church House - are just completely unused... yet they still keep putting up shiny new offices and buildings and wasting money. Linthorpe Road has just been dug up to add bike lanes all the way down, removing a ton of parking spaces and causing buses to stop in the middle of the road, when before they had actual bus stops to pull into... abosloutely everyone round here hates it and nobody uses the bike lanes. they spent god knows how many million fucking up the main road - only for the new mayor to declare they're putting it back! Makes me sick to think about all the tax money that could've been used to refurbish these houses or been put to better use.

[@Talkathon408]

These days, transport infrastructure like bike and bus lanes are paid for using government grants that must be used for that purpose. The money isn't going to be used for accommodation, it either gets used for transport or the council gets nothing.

[@scottiswatchingtele]

that's why they are buying these up cheap.

[@samuelpinder1215]

Bicycles are for wankers, stop adding bike lanes and fix what needs to be fixed, im in stockton council and theyre useless, theres plants growing between the kerb and the street and nowt has been done about it

[@TheUntypicals]

Not everyone hates the bike lanes, it is well used. Linthorpe Road's problems are long term eg too much suburbs being and no city centre living (Centre House and Church House been empty for decades, whole swathes of Gresham demolished)

[@chuckufarley5884]

Nice one WT, another great video. I'd want to be wearing more protection than a 'The North Face' jacket to walk into those sheetholes.

[@petercole2092]

I do some Urban Exploration my tips are: wear good safety boots thicker the soles the better. Wear a N95 mask when entering properties that have been empty for long periods you do not want any type of mould in your lungs it can lead to serious illness. Gloves are good too. You will often find properties with easy access become popular with the local druggies or even used for grows also beware of possible encounters with people if you do be polite and leave as soon has you can. With regards to these houses they simply not worth the bother God's knows what under that rubbish rotten floors is is one possibility. I like these type of videos just remain alert.

[@atrixa1991]

I know this is an old video, but I just had a flashback to going to a friend's gig at the Princess Alice and a lady drunkenly falling into some kit and splitting her head open. I'm not surprised it's closed down. Hardly any nightlife around any more, for many reasons.

[@JHayler7]

Wonder if the £1 house schemes would have any impact here, simiar to liverpool. But might be better to just demolish the empty buildings

[@nesnibila4888]

honestly if the area's as crime ridden as it sounds like, who'd want to risk a house there

[@littlemy1773]

@@nesnibila4888they’ve done this scheme in a couple other places not just Liverpool. From what I’ve read the crime went down as a result

[@danr9584]

in the US, the City of Detroit landbank has been selling $1.00 houses for years. It has worked out pretty well, but they will still charge property taxes as if its a nicer 70-80k house. There have been investors that buy a bunch of them, not realizing that they will owe all of property tax. They then get foreclosed on again and go back to the City's land bank.

[@alexabc220]

@@danr9584when they did it in Liverpool, it was part of the rules that investors couldn’t buy them. You had to live in them for so long.

[@jonsteele7445]

North Ormesby had hardly any English people Left

[@adamek9750]

I would consider buying one of these kind of properties. Get enough young professionals to move into the areas and it could create a flourishing community.

[@geraldgeaf1292]

So you will buy ONE and then get ENOUGH youn professionals to move in? You need to buy THE ENTIRE AREA to stand a chance for that.

[@tracylane8098]

dont bother, it where pedos and ex offenders get moved to,

[@sarina5352]

Love your videos as always. Faaaar more informative than many useless content on KZbin especially young generation ❤❤❤❤❤

[@manushaqueen4687]

A London council set up a scheme to move homeless people there. The carrot was to give them a brand new permanent house with more bedrooms than they need. It was too good to be true. There was no infrastructure, high unemployment, crime, resentment and some racism towards people that moved in. Within less than a year people moved back to London, into temporary accommodation, rather than live in isolation, fear with little or no chance of finding work and settling down.

[@henntendo]

Redcar’s not too bad, lived there and Middlesbrough me whole life… I like it

[@StonkingWeenus]

You will find out alot about the bombings during the war in the train station. They have pictures of the damage to the train line. The area tends to have a lot of issues with drugs and the cheaper houses in Boro not too far from the cinemas are just enclaves of migrants put in Middlesbrough because it is cheaper. There are the boat migrants arriving via teesport also.

[@RealPixelDude]

i cant imagine what happens to the people that live next to these buildings.

[@ipreferfreedom162]

At the moment some politicians talk about us not building enough houses year after year. Rather than building loads more wouldn't it be better to have a national refurbishment plan. Wouldn't it be better if the country compulsoryly repurchased these houses then we refurbished them all at once?

[@yips_way]

I haven't been into Middlesbrough for many many years, and going by this video I don't think I want to again. Luckily? I don't have a reason to go there like I used to & I suppose it's convenient that the A66 cuts a wound right through the centre for the most part, so if I do venture there I miss the worst of it. Such a shame as my memories of that area were good for the most part.

[@SpencerTechyy]

South Bank and North Ormesby lol being from Middlesbrough and living here it’s a shame a lot of these houses are like this. I lived two roads from the North Ormesby one. It’s a shame.

[@SnakePliskin762]

Used to be a nice area until about 15-20 years ago North Ormesby.

[@xGiRoNiiK]

0:22 half a semi detached house?? haha whats going on there... can you remember that street name?

[@wanderingturnip]

Haha I didn’t even notice that until you said 😂 it’s just off Hampden Street

[@xGiRoNiiK]

91 Harcourt Rd doesnt look so strange from the front lol

[@mangoman9290]

Thats some bizzarre shit right there!. Maybe bombed in ww2 and instead of rebuilding the other half they just fixed up the half that remained?

[@UCCLdIk6R5ECGtaGm7oqO-TQ]

The other half decided it'd had enough of the area and moved away.

[@mangoman9290]

@@UCCLdIk6R5ECGtaGm7oqO-TQ Hahaha, when my wife left me she demanded half of everything, I made sure she got half of everything!

[@TeamCGS2005]

You don't need to book an appointment to view in Middlesbrough. You just walk in through the broken door or window.

[@mandyinabudhabi]

For goodness sake, get some decent boots. Once I saw your footwear, I worried about what you would step into!! Great video, thank you for opening up to the fact that there are plenty of empty homes - unfortunately in areas where there are many other social issues

[@wanderingturnip]

I’ve actually just got myself a pair for my next vid 😂 thank you for watching 👍👍

[@GaryHayward]

You should check out Bishops Avenue, aka "Billionaires' Row", in Hampstead, north London. Architecturally magnolious £25M mansions that have been left to rot for years. Broken windows, collapsed ceilings and vegetation taking over the grand rooms. As bad, if not worse, than any of these cheap gaffs.

[@MMarshallEllwood96]

As a smogie, Middlesbrough born and bred, we lost our way

[@05rosebud]

It would be useful to know the name of the suburbs you are in.

[@pjdee5879]

I think a quick look in the front door and smellivision would be enough for most viewers. No need to explore the various pits of squalor. 3rd world UK conditions courtesy of drugpushers in most cases. It's getting to the stage that there needs to be large residential institutions dedicated to weaning the victims off the gear. There are various small addiction centres across the UK already but they are making a very small dent in the problem.

[@andrew6382]

Boscombe tried that it only made the situation worse. The addicts mingled and networked more, the council before they were BCP did deals with a dodgy landlord who bought houses and converted them in crappy bedsits then became drug dens and still are. The idea was to remove addicts from the towns and inner cities so they could get clean but they brought all their problems with them and friends.

[@bryandonnelly1986]

South bank has always been a dive, nothing but trouble. Can’t wait for the Redcar video my wonderful home town 😂😂

[@TamsinSimmons]

Levelling up never really happened.Whatever levelling up actually meant.Loving all these videos.But wear a hard hat always.

[@Si-zy2lz]

Looking forward to your upcoming Redcar video. I was offered a job near there last year and spent a bit of time looking at places online.

[@crayzmarc]

I was just about to comment and then you mentioned it. There was a kid there almost certainly maybe even a baby as that basket looks like a moses basket. What kind of life hey?

[@mark_8719]

Boro is a right state, a lot of it needs leveling.

[@eleanorhogg7851]

South Bank and Grangetown are to be avoided. There is high crime and not enough resources or money to support. Middlesbrough has the same crime rate as Manchester but only receives something like a quarter of the budget

[@MrCZRC]

The turnip legend is back i love these videos

[@happyapple4269]

Great videos mate. Town councils are truly awful and do massive detriment to the towns they represent. Its the same all over the country. They care more about lining their own pockets instead of doing whats right. Shame on all of them.