Hello and welcome, this week we’re exploring an area in the historic town of Cheltenham called Hester’s Way!
Now, this isn’t the picturesque Cheltenham you might be expecting, it’s actually listed as the second most dangerous and deprived area in Cheltenham - and it’s bad.
It’s not all bad though, we’re picking this up going past Gloucestershire College on Princess Elizabeth Way, which has some really good reviews and is a great college.
There is the community center, which again, has great reviews from the locals closely followed by the police station which sees a lot of action in this area.
It’s from here on that things take a turn for the worse.
Now most people around the country have heard of Cheltenham.
It’s probably most well known for its racecourse and the Gold Cup, its vibrant nightlife, various art galleries and museums, and just generally the impressive-looking Regency architecture and buildings.
But where there is good there is always bad, and there is certainly a dark underbelly to Cheltenham, and Hester’s way is at the heart of it.
You won’t any of those see tall, impressive, white stone facades in Hester’s Way, it’s mostly these large tower blocks or ugly-looking council flats.
The crime stats paint a pretty clear picture of how bad Hester’s way is.
There were 1,514 reported crimes in Hester’s Way in the last 12 months alone, and that’s with an estimated population of fewer than 8,000 residents.
I was spoiled for choice when looking up shocking headlines, some of the worst revolved around stuff like:
Stabbing and assaults, teenagers stealing stuff, and robbing delivery drivers seems to be pretty popular.
An interesting one was a notice from the police that car breakings are so out of control that residents should park closer to walls, like that’s going to help.
It appears that cash points aren’t safe here, one was pulled out of the wall by a guy using a digger he found on a nearby building site, and another was blown up in an attempt to get some free money - can’t fault them for trying.
Driving around some of the back roads in Hester’s way it’s clear that the neighborhood could do with a tidy-up.
The indices of deprivation report for Hester’s Way is pretty damning, which is always sad to see as it means people are struggling to make ends meet and face all kinds of social and economical challenges.
Hester’s Way is around the lowest 20% in terms in deprivation, both within Gloucestershire and nationally.
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