Hideous ‘eyesore' is meeting place for 300 feral school kids fuelled by cheap booze who beat daylights out of each other
FAMED for its skyline and world class university Oxford is perceived to be a popular and successful city.
That reputation is now being threatened by a spate of mass public brawls, rocketing drug use and a growing homelessness problem that is fast becoming a crisis.
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Nowhere is this explosion of anti-social behaviour more evident than at the Templars Square shopping centre, less than two miles from the centre of Oxford.
The dilapidated shopping centre has become overrun by drug users, drunks and, most recently, huge gangs of children from three rival schools gathering for brawls.
Recently, more than 300 teenagers, fuelled by cheap alcohol bought illegally nearby, brought terror to the shopping centre over three days.
Shoppers and business owners say cops left security officers from nearby stores to deal with the wave of violence, only turning up on the when the fighting was winding down.
Charity shop worker Claire Johnson, 57, told how she bravely stepped in to try and break up the fighting.
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Claire, who spent many years working with children from challenging backgrounds, said: 'In the main, it is boredom that drives these conflicts.
'They've got nothing better to do so they come down here to the shopping centre in groups from their schools and they start picking on kids from rival schools.
'Something will get said on social media and an argument will erupt, then before you know it you've got 300 kids down here from three rival schools wanting to beat the living daylights out of each other.
'This aggression and bravado is fuelled by cheap booze they're picking up at numerous off licenses in the area. Whether or not they are using fake ID or just stealing it, I don't know.
'The result is these mass punch ups we've been seeing in the shopping centre all too often.
'The most recent eruption went on for four days and involved more than 300 school children. It was awful to watch.
'I had to step in several times and try and break up fights all around me. I wasn't scared – I think I was just running on adrenaline and experience of knowing how to handle disruptive children.
'These kids were probably aged around 13 or 14 up to maybe 16.
'I just stepped in between various fighting youths and told them not to be so bloody stupid. Mostly, they listened to me and walked away, but I got a bit of abuse from some of them and I just had to leave them to sort out their grievances.'
Claire, who has grandchildren and three grown-up children, blames an education system that is too quick to exclude children who misbehave at school.
She said: 'Often, once they have been excluded and moved away from their friends and a familiar environment, they become even more disruptive and get into more fights and trouble wherever they can.
'I'd like to see the teachers, the parents and the pupils themselves sitting down in a room and talking through their challenges, not turning their backs on them and moving the problem elsewhere.
'If we don't do that, we're just going to see more and more trouble in this shopping centre.'
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One of the tenants living there, Jason, 37, said: 'It is a nightmare living here.
'I was woken at 3 o'clock this morning by the sound of cops smashing my neighbour's door down to arrest him and if I come home in the evening I have to fight my way through junkies and alcoholics sitting on the stairs.
'It's noisy and frightening living here. It's so bad I can't bring my 15-year-old daughter back to my flat because I don't want any harm to come to her. As a result, we are pretty much estranged now. It is heart-breaking.'
Amidst all the turmoil Templars Square recently celebrated its 60th anniversary with an Elton John tribute act appearing to entertain 1,000 shoppers.
The very next day a 14-year-old boy was assaulted by a group of teenagers nearby and sustained injuries to his face, Thames Valley Police have been appealing for witnesses.
Locals and employees say they have no reason to celebrate and are eagerly awaiting a planned redevelopment of the now 60 year old centre.
Both the local MP and a city councillor have expressed concern over the state of the shopping centre with the the cabinet member for housing at Oxford City Council, Linda Smith, calling it "nothing less than an eyesore in places."
Deborah, 52, left Oxford when she was 16 for London, but has recently returned to the city following the collapse of her marriage.
She said she barely recognises the shopping centre she last saw as a teenager.
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'When I was a kid, this was a lovely building with really good shops and a great place to meet up with friends for a milkshake.
'I hardly recognise it today. There are gangs of youths wandering around looking for trouble and lots of scruffy druggy types.
'Yesterday, I saw a woman lying on her back, absolutely off her head with drugs and today a man came up to me and made crude comments. It was humiliating And all I want to do now is go back to London. I can't believe what has been allowed to happen to this place.'
Claire's colleague, Sharon Walton, said she feels so intimidated by groups of men heckling her when she leaves after a day's work that she heads straight to the shopping centre's security office and books a taxi home.
Businesses and shoppers are desperately waiting for developers' plans to upgrade the shopping centre to materialise.
Plans have been submitted for a luxury hotel, upscale apartment blocks and new retail units, but building work has yet to commence.
Shoppers and business owners complain that the shopping centre's scruffy appearance and neglect are a magnet for down-and-outs, alcoholics and drug users who gather there in large numbers on a regular basis.
Many complain that they have been harassed by drunks and are often asked for money by drug addicts and the homeless who seek shelter in the drab shopping centre.
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A concrete stairwell built in the shopping centre to provide access to flats above sees heroin addicts using drugs every night and it stank of urine and booze when we visited.
Claire said: 'There is no way I'll walk to my bus stop anymore because that route takes me straight past all the drunks and drug addicts leering at women and saying all sorts of disgusting things to them.
'It's just not acceptable but no one seems to be doing anything about it.
'I love working here in the store but as soon as you walk outside, it becomes a horror story.
'The developers need to begin the revamp they promised us as soon as possible because things here are getting worse and worse.
'They recently closed two homeless shelters elsewhere in the city and they all seem to be coming here now.
'The whole shopping centre seems to have become a haven for down and outs, drunks drug addicts and bored kids who want to engage in a massive punch up after school.
'Things cannot go on like this or one is ever going to want to come here to do their shopping again."
Kerry, 50, said that she has been visiting the shopping centre several times a week since she was in primary school, but now dreads having to spend time there.
She said 'They still have some good shops here where you don't have to pay a fortune for stuff, so I do still need to come here every so often, but I only do my shopping here now if I can't buy what I need elsewhere. It is a dump.'
In March police implemented a section 60 order in the area after receiving intelligence of impending violence with weapons, this gave them greater stop and search powers.
Public Space Protection Orders were approved by the city council on April 10, they cover the communal areas in flats in areas serving 199-207 Barns Road and 36-44 Upper Barr in Cowley, near Templars Shopping Park.
Despite this move from the local authority, which came into effect on April 17 and will remain in place for one year, locals are still reporting anti social behaviour and violence in the area.
Breaking the prohibitions in the order, which include gathering in communal, residential areas and obstructing an authorised person, can result in fines or prosecution.
Data from Thames Valley Police shows there were 70 crimes committed in the area of the shopping centre in March alone, the majority of these were incidents of shoplifting but anti-social behaviour, violence and sexual offences were also highly reported.
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