UK seaside city dubbed ‘mini Barcelona’ home to ‘gang violence and murders’

A UK seaside city has been dubbed "mini Barcelona" by a filmmaker who complains it's "ruined" by murder, crime and gang violence plaguing its housing estates.

Nestled on Wales' south coast, Swansea's city centre has been likened to the home of the iconic Camp Nou and La Sagrada Familia thanks to its well-kept water feature and surrounding 'plaza'. Yet the compliments from Turdtowns YouTuber pretty much end there, unless a high street almost as nice as Cardiff's is a second badge of honour.

Narrating his first-ever visit to Swansea, the voice of Turdtowns said: "The central area looks like they're trying to be a mini Barcelona. Swansea used to be home to lots of industry as it's a seaside city, but not anymore. The main jobs here now are working in one of Swansea's many call centres."

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Aside from the apparent aggressive street dwellers, Swansea's sky-high crime rates are seriously holding the city, according to Turdtowns. As such, statistics of local criminal activity has been divided into smaller areas. Those results showed it had the "second worst crime rate in Wales", the worst being Newport.

Compared to the national average, Swansea's crime rate is at 104% and the 44th most crime-ridden postcode in England and Wales, figures from Plumpot show.

With a "slightly worse" city centre area to Cardiff, Turdtowns explored Swansea, and was none too pleased with what they saw. Crime appears to be the major reason for said displeasure, with "large amounts of aggressive homeless people" spotted.

Criticism for the area followed up the town of Neath, which was described as "devoid of any character, noticeable architecture, anything memorable, and it's boring". Similar evaluations were lumped onto Swansea.

A desire to purchase an old terraced house should see some set sights on Swansea, which boasts an average property price of £198,000. But for the price, the roads are a "complete nightmare", in what one user described as a Jekyll and Hyde way of living.

One user wrote Swansea was "truly a city of two halves" while another added: "I lived in Swansea about twenty years ago and its been hit hard in the intervening years. Last time I went back it made me genuinely sad."

There were some positives remaining in the area though, with the council able to "get the job done when they commit" to doing so. The area was filled with "gang violence, riots, and murder", and it is now a "city of two halves".

Those living in the area, or have spent plenty of time there, were less than pleased. One user wrote: "Swansea truly is a city of two halves. The city has had tonnes of European money pouring in, building nice university campuses on the outer fringes, but never anything much in more deprived areas (Penlan, Townhill, Mayhill etc).

"There is a lot of wealth floating around in Swansea, but it never reaches the deprived areas, in favour of richer parts like Mumbles, Sketty and the Uplands."

Another wrote: "As someone who as lived in the Swansea area for most of my life it feels like such a novelty to see the area get some attention. Great that someone is finally highlighting some of the terrible deprivation that some parts of Wales faces."

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