Take a look at 24 of the grottiest parts of Northampton town centre

Take a look at some of the grotty hotspots in Northampton town centre.

We recently spoke to veteran market trader Mick Andreoli, who has been running a fruit and vegetable stall in the town for over 60 years.

Instead of new pavement at the Market Square and in Abington Street, Mick told this newspaper that he feels the town needs reduced parking charges, cleaner streets and less anti-social behaviour.

He said: “The town is filthy, no matter how many pavements you put down it doesn’t make any difference. You’ve got to encourage the people to come back into the town and the only way to do that is reduce the car parking charges and get rid of the riff raff; people are scared to come into town – this has been the issue for the last 30 years. The towns in the same position as us are the towns that are not addressing the same issues as us. The towns addressing the problem are doing alright. For example, Market Harborough and Olney.

"Get rid of the druggies, the drunks, the beggars and we’ll have a town centre again.”

This newspaper went into town on a sunny Thursday afternoon (May 9) to see if what Mick was saying was true.

After dodging the multiple potholes to get into the town centre, in a one-hour period, we found multiple urine-stenched alleyways, at least a dozen street drinkers, smashed window fronts, abandoned shops and more unwelcoming sights.

All in all, it did not feel nice to be in the town centre. In fact, it felt very dirty, depressing and quite hostile in places.

West Northamptonshire Council says the town centre could soon have a “more pleasant environment” after a new policy that deals with unsightly bin storage was approved this week.

Councillor David Smith, cabinet member for community safety, engagement and regulatory services, said: “This new policy reflects our commitment to creating a cleaner and more welcoming environment for those living and working in, or visiting, Northampton town centre.

“There is a huge amount of work going on to improve the centre of town, with a new-look Market Square, new street scenes and lots of high quality residential properties.

“It’s incredibly important that we deal with some of the inappropriate bin storage that goes on in the area, thereby improving the environment for everyone.”

In terms of regeneration projects in the town, of which there are many, Councillor Lister, in charge of town centre regeneration at WNC, recently said: “It’s really great to see Northampton start to change. There is so much going on with regeneration in the town. The Market Square, Abington Street and Fish Street public realm works, Four Waterside, The Old Black Lion, the Marefair Heritage Park, then we’ve got the M&S BHS project. There’s so much going on and what we should be looking at is this is an investment in our future of Northampton as a town. People are doing this because they want to see Northampton come back as a town that people loved.

"This isn’t just investment for investment’s sake. It’s us saying it’s Northampton, this is a great place to do business, come and open your shops here. Get people coming back into the town centre. We have to invest in our town and create a place we’re proud of.”

“This is us making it a place people want to come back to, especially when STACK opens and provides a million extra footfall.

“Once complete this winter, the revitalised area and enhanced features will offer a fantastic space for people to use and enjoy. We look forward to this taking shape in the coming weeks and months.”

Take a look through our gallery to see some of the grottiest parts of Northampton town centre.