Exploring the UK’s most deprived town, one man was told repeatedly that Jaywick is friendliest place ever, despite the dirt, litter and empty caravans used as skips.
Under Nigel Farage’s stewardship, Jaywick has been identified as the most deprived area in England for the fourth time in a row, first receiving the label in 2011.
On a “mission to show the real Britain”, YouTuber Wendall headed to the town just down the coast from Clacton-on-Sea.
He showed horrific scenes of soiled pebble-dash houses, abandoned vehicles and empty streets covered in dirt and litter. Some bungalows look like a hurricane had ripped through them.
A man in Clacton told Wendall that in Jaywick “the people are amazing – they’re really warm and pleased to talk to you.”
Kevin, who runs the seafront cafe and local initiative Sunspot said his establishment was “one of the positives” of the community. He added: “My dad was in the army and I grew up actually travelling around the world, but I came back to live here when I was 22 and now I’ve lived here 28 years .”
Kevin is a fourth generation immigrant, and his great-grandparents moved to the UK after the war. He added: “I’ve seen the place develop and change over many years. It used to be a holiday destination – it was a place where you could buy cheap land and build a bungalow, and in the winter it was closed. Then, people started living here all year round. Why wouldn’t you? The beaches are fantastic and they’re beautiful. It’s no different to any other seaside town – we’re busy in the summer and quiet in the winter.”
“It’s one of the only places where you can walk down the street and a complete stranger will say hello to you. They’ll say ‘How are you?’, and they’re genuinely interested. Yes, it’s got it’s problems, but what place doesn’t. Bu,t its got that strong community feeling.”
Another couple said, Jaywick is “absolutely brilliant”, saying ‘Benefits By The Sea: Jaywick’ has generated a poor and unfair public image of the place. When asked about the litter problem, they agreed it was an eyesore, admitting one caravan on their street had “become a skip for people that dump their rubbish in it”. They said a lot of East London councils “pigeonhole” people they don’t want in Jaywick in the hope they’ll not be their problem anymore. They said this doesn’t work.
But the couple like life in Jaywick. The woman said: “I know for a fact in the last place I lived, if I knocked on the door in the morning they’re not gonna answer – but if I knock on the door here if I’ve got a problem – they’re going to answer.”
One comment on the video said: “I’m an electrician and have worked extensively in Jaywick over the last ten years, carrying out work under council grants for folks with disabilities. Despite the mess and the obvious bad apples, the vast majority of the people there are decent and welcoming, even those without a penny to their name will make you a cup of tea and offer you a snack. There’s a very old fashioned sense of mutual consideration about the place and I always enjoy working there. In summer the beach is wonderful. I would love to see the place brought back to a better state, it has so much potential.”
Wendall agreed with the locals saying: “I make these videos all around the UK and this is one of the friendliest places I’ve been.” Farage, said the result was “not a surprise”, citing low average income, poor transport and the closure of Clacton’s Butlins holiday resort in 1983.
“Because it’s very cheap housing, people who are very down on their luck move into an area, and with that you get high welfare dependency,” he said. Frage added: “We all understand that welfare is there for those that genuinely need it, but I’m afraid the mental health epidemic is putting an awful lot of young people – whether it’s mild anxiety or whatever it is – on to a variety of benefit payments, and once you put somebody aged 22 on benefits, the problem is they tend to stay there. It is considerably better than last year and I think the council deserves some credit for the Sunspot initiative,” he said.