Chester's Northgate Street is among the top 50 crime hot-spots in Britain.

The problem cluster saw 37 offences recorded in April putting it joint 28th in the worst 50 trouble spots for crime in England and Wales, according to our data unit.

Described by the Home Office as ‘crime on or near nightclub’, a break-down of the Northgate Street crimes reveal there were eight concerning anti-social behaviour, six drug-related, four of violence and sexual offences, three of public order, seven of theft, two of criminal damage and arson, five of shoplifting and two of theft from the person.

Northgate Street-based Rosie’s nightclub recently hit the headlines after four teenagers from Frodsham ended up in hospital when they took illegal drugs in the club linked to serious illness and even death elsewhere in the country. But Rosie’s denies it is responsible for the crime hot-spot.

Rosies Nightclub in Northgate Street, Chester

A spokesperson for the venue said: “Northgate Street is a busy thoroughfare with a strong late night economy. There are a number of late night bars and businesses that operate on the street and close by.

“These crime statistics do not tally with the relatively small number of incidents that were reported by Rosie’s management and therefore cannot be attributed to our business. We have a close working relationship with the licensing officials within the police who have indicated they are very happy with our policies and proactive management of the business.

“The safety of our customers and employees is a priority at all times and our low record of incidents, less than two a week despite welcoming on average 20,000 customers a month, is one that we are proud of.”

Night time economy, addicts and racegoers

Other businesses in the area expressed mixed views about the scale and cause of the trouble with some blaming the night time economy but others pointing to street addicts and drunken racegoers.

Hot dog man Geoff Mesney, who has been in Town Hall Square for 34 years, played down the problems saying “it’s probably no worse than it’s ever been” but did point to a smashed-up phone box.

This phone box in Northgate Street was vandalised overnight on Monday, June 22

He said: “It’s a nice little area, a nice ambience, people just relaxing and enjoying themselves generally. I’m not here at night. Would I want to leave my trailer here at night? Possibly not,” he said. “I think any town on a Friday and Saturday night, go down A&E and you will see.”

Street entertainer Ken Arnold, AKA Squeaky the Clown, who works in Town Hall Square, commented: “Most of the homeless people here are very nice but it’s like anybody else, when a person’s desperate they do silly things.

“When they’ve got worries and problems and stress and tension and all these things going through their heads they turn to alcohol and drugs because they’re trying to get rid of a lot of tension and stress.”

Ken Arnold, AKA Squeaky the Clown, entertaining in the Northgate Street-Town Hall Square area of Chester

Ken rejects the crime hot-spot label but did recall someone once threw a glass bottle which smashed in front of him while he was entertaining in an alleyway off Northgate Street.

Mark Thomas, of Francis Thomas greengrocers in Northgate Street, sees the street during the day and in the middle of the night.

He said: “A lot of crimes are occurring in the evenings. I’m here at night because I come at 3am and at times it is not a place I want to go. Very often there is somebody on my doorstep begging. And the police are not really interested in clearing that sort of thing up. There’s no recourse at night. If you ring up these people they only work 9-5pm.

“The fighting comes because inhibitions are low because of alcohol. The takeaways up here serve pizzas later on into the night and people are hanging around waiting because it’s cooked on the premises. So while they’re hanging around trouble starts.”

Mark Thomas of Francis Thomas greengrocers in Northgate Street, Chester

Mark says the crime hot-spot label is ‘probably accurate’ but skewed due to the nighttime activities. He sometimes hears miscreants being warned by CCTV operators over loud speakers attached to the camera poles that police will be called if they do not behave.

“Whatever we try and do about it, it’s expensive because you need the council and the police to be working around the clock and they go light at night,” commented Mark, who has suffered shoplifting during the day. “Other than that, in the daytime it’s very pleasant.”

'Scum bags'

Ray McBurney, owner of Antonina’s Gelateria ice cream parlour, who also lives in the city centre, describes some of those causing the trouble at night as ‘scum bags’.

He said: “Northgate Street is known as the alcohol trail and it leads from student land to club land and all points in between. There’s a lack of policing, the policing in this town consists of that camera right up there or they will sit in the van down there waiting to be called on the radio. They don’t have anyone saying ‘Keep it down lads’.

“One incident, I had the window kicked in. They come out, they took footprints, I got the CCTV footage,” recalled Ray, who reckoned the offender hit out after an argument with his girlfriend.

“I gave them the CCTV footage and nothing happened. Another time we came in and the outdoor area was a crime scene, someone had been beaten up. There was some blood here.

“There was something going on with a couple of lads. They were talking and while one of them had his head turned, bam, he knocks him down and he’s kicking him in the head.”

Ray McBurney, owner of Antonina's Gelateria ice cream parlour in Northgate Street, Chester

Ray believes revellers and race goers are responsible for most of the trouble, remembering the time a racegoer, who was at the pub next door, took one of his chairs without asking and the abuse hurled in his direction when he asked for it back.

As to the answer, Ray suggests: “Maybe some police walking around? The old policeman on the beat.”

Not a 'no-go area'

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Roberts said Chester city centre, including the Northgate Street area, should ‘absolutely not’ be seen as a ‘no-go area’ for law-abiding citizens.

He said: “People bandy these things around and it’s just not the case. I have worked in different force areas like Manchester and the perception that Chester is a dangerous place and it’s just not borne out by the facts.”

Mr Roberts said higher crime rates were reflected at major city centres which attract a lot of people, with alcohol a factor, especially at night. He said there were dedicated foot patrols as well as vehicle responses to incidents guided by CCTV. Lines of enquiry were always followed up following a crime.

He added: “We can’t stop everything. If you’ve got 10,000 people drinking heavily sometimes you will never stop everything but we do our best to keep trouble to the absolute minimum. Do we want to do better? Of course we do, but let’s keep things in perspective.”

Low crime rate

He said the overall crime rate in Cheshire last year was the lowest for 25 years.

Members of the public can check out crime levels in their area by searching the Crime Mapper website at www.police.uk.

Cheshire Police point out that the site assigns some crimes from small side streets to nearby, larger streets which means not all the crimes associated with Northgate Street would have happened in the street itself.

Police spokeswoman Jennifer van Deursen explained: “Police.uk, also known as Crime Mapper, is a national website that allows members of the public to see crimes and incidents of anti-social behaviour have taken place in their local communities.

“However, to ensure privacy of individuals, incidents of crime or anti-social behaviour (ASB) are mapped to a point on, or near, the street where it happened, rather than the actual location itself – this is referred to as a ‘safe location’.

“In the case of the figures that are referred to in your article they actually relate to all of the incidents of crime or ASB that have occurred near to the Northgate Street ‘safe location’ during April 2015, and not specifically crimes within a nightclub on Northgate Street.

“Looking at force records there were actually 16 incidents of crime or ASB on Northgate Street in April 2015, and the remaining 21 incidents occurred at locations close to Northgate Street, but have been mapped to the ‘safe location’ on Northgate Street.”

Crime Mapper also revealed there were a total of 455 crimes in the city centre inner policing area during April and statistics for Foregate Street suggest another problem area, with 20 crimes recorded during the same month including nine offences relating to anti-social behaviour.

Our data unit claims a small shopping area, just yards from London’s Olympic Park, is the nation’s number one crime hot-spot – with around one offence every five hours.

A total of 158 crimes were recorded in Meridian Square, Stratford, in April, putting it more than 50 offences ahead of the next highest postcode area.