Eastbourne’s aggressive street drinkers

On my way into town on the afternoon of October 25, I passed three street drinkers standing outside one of the banks, which seems to be the norm in this town.

They were very aggressive and, as usual, using bad language. On my way back to Hyde Gardens a woman came way too close to me to ask if I could spare some money.

Not very happy about that.

I then went to sit down on one of the benches at the end of Hyde Gardens (the other two were occupied by four street drinkers) but it was very wet with rainwater.

I tried to mop it up so that I could sit down and wait for my friend to pick me up and give me a lift home.

I was questioned by one of the street drinkers as to what was wrong with the bench and why I was wiping it, not that it had anything to do with him!

To be honest, one of the group of four stepped in and said “she’s drying the bench because it’s wet”. Thank you to him.

But of course the first one said “she can sit on my lap. It’s not too wet”. And he thought that was very funny. I am a retired woman of a certain age and I am horrified that I am being orally abused by some of these street drinkers.

Why do I have to put up with this? I moved to Eastbourne in 2005 and I love it here, but I am so fed up with having to side-step street drinkers every time I go into town.

I know some of them have a lot to put up with but where are the police or community police? Is there anyone out there on the side of the residents of Eastbourne to protect us from this continuing abuse?