ANGRY traders in one of Wrexham’s most famous shopping streets are demanding action to free them from intimidating drug addicts and beggars.
Traders want to know why they have been left out of a dispersal zone introduced recently in the town centre to control similar anti-social behaviour problems.
Shopkeepers in Charles Street say that during the past few months they have been subjected to a catalogue of incidents, including troublemakers using pavements and doorways as a toilet – sometimes in broad daylight – coming into shops to ask customers for handouts and even attempting to snatch a shopper’s purse.
The traders say this continual intimidation is driving business away.
Traders’ grievances are being championed by local councillor Keith Gregory who says many law-abiding people are now too frightened to use the street and he has vowed to see it “reclaimed” for them.
One of the shops affected is Charles Street hairdressing salon New Wave, where receptionist Danielle Dunne said: “We’re getting problems down here every day from eight o’clock in the morning.
“The drug addicts and beggars come down the street shouting and swearing with each other.
“Our customers can hear them and it is very upsetting for them.
“The staff are also being intimated by them when they go outside. They even touched one customer’s hair and asked for money.
“With things so bad I can’t see why we were left out of the dispersal order.”
Lorraine Roberts, owner of the Flower Power florists further along the street, said:
“This has been going on for a long time.
“These people sit on the benches in the street drinking and approaching people for money.
“They are also using the street and doorways as a toilet, sometimes during the day.
“There are a lot of nice new customers coming to Wrexham at the moment but I know some of them have been so shocked by seeing all this that they won’t be coming back.”
Michelle Bougatsas, owner of the Nia boutique in Charles Street, said: “Recently one of my own customers, a lady of 70, was walking outside here when she was approached by one of these people who tried to snatch her purse. Luckily, he didn’t get it off her although she was very shaken by it.”
John Barrow, owner of the Just Up Your Street dress agency and coffee shop, said: “There are beggars in the street every day from early in the morning.
“They are preying on old people and asking them for money.
“They also use my front window as a toilet and most weekends I have to wash their business or vomit off the glass.”
Claire Hodkinson, who owns the A1 Eyeware opticians, said: “We recently had four of these people in the shop, shouting and swearing at each other, which was very intimidating.
“We should definitely have been included in the exclusion area.”
Cllr Gregory said: “Because of the problems we’re having people are telling me they don’t want to use Charles Street because they feel too frightened to walk down there.
“If this carries on the shops will cease trading and the shops will shut down.
“The street needs to be part of the dispersal order – the shopkeepers should be protected as they pay the same business rates as everyone else in the town.
“I am determined to see this street reclaimed for the people.”
Inspector Alex Goss, who is in charge of policing in Wrexham town, said he wanted to examine the statistics on such incidents in the area before making any comment.