Sweet shop drug dealers & a secret £2m cannabis farm… inside the battle to reinvent crime hotspot as UK’s ‘Ponte Carlo’
COPS kicked down the door to the sweet shop in a dawn raid in the home of Haribo sweets and liqourice.
Behind a smiling liqourice allsorts mascot Bertie Bassett and a purple dinosaur lay a suspected cannabis farm.
Local residents claim this is just one of many drug dens that have sprung up in Pontrefact, West Yorkshire, which boasts a rich tradition of sweet making.
West Yorkshire Police busted a £2.6 million marijuana farm last April after raiding a warehouse.
But the somewhat forgotten town is now on the up and has been dryly dubbed ‘Ponte Carlo‘ for its new glitzy nightlife and money pouring in.
Wakefield Council has ploughed close to £30million into the town in regeneration projects.
The town boasts its own racecourse, a Norman castle, bustling market square and vibrant nightlife with a new Ropergate Run pub crawl after new upmarket bars were built.
However, locals are divided over whether Pontrefact has turned a corner from its rundown past.
Taxi driver Darren Rawlston, 52, said: “It’s great we get people travelling in from different places across Yorkshire.
“They go to do the Ropergate Run which is great fun.
“Pontefract has now become a destination in itself which was never the case in the past.
“You see new faces out and it’s different. I really like living here in Pontefract. It’s got so much history and it’s a very picturesque place.”
Drug dens
However, the town is still blighted by shoplifting, robbery and drunken violence.
Polishing his Acorn taxi car in a council estate just by the town centre, the dad-of-one added: “It does have its underbelly.
“There are cannabis farms and here on this estate there are lots of Class A drugs for sale.
“And that brings anti-social behaviour and thieving as people need to pay for it.
“But I think the council are due to bulldoze some of the tower blocks soon which is good as they are an eyesore.
“Pontefract is definitely on the up.”
Drugs dens are believed to operate on the Horsefair Flats estates with wraps of heroin and crack cocaine selling for just £10.
A shop worker who lives on the estate, said: “There are drug dens here.
“You hear lots of people coming into the flats and knocking and doors and then they are gone a few minutes.
“And there are cannabis farms as well. The council have spent money but there’s a lot of fights.
“I used to work in a pub, and a woman grabbed me and pulled me across the bar as I was serving too slowly.
It’s not exactly Monte Carlo – it’s still pretty grim
John Hargrave
“It can be quite mad, especially when the races are on. I think some of it is fuelled by drugs like cocaine.
“However it is still a good place to live.
“The town is very pretty and there are some good places to go out but I don’t think it’s got a lot better.
“It’s still just Pontefract not Monte Carlo, although the Ponte Carlo nickname is funny.”
‘Pretty grim’
Former miner John Hargrave, 76, said: “It’s just northern humour to call it Ponte Carlo.
“It’s not exactly Monte Carlo – it’s still pretty grim.”
Kiosk Newsagents is next door to the Horsefair estate and has been run for several years by dad-of-four Nariman Taha.
Speaking from behind his counter, the owner, 43, said: “I think it is getting worse not better.
“I have noticed in the last four of five months that it is getting quieter.
“I think people are struggling and they don’t have a lot of money to spend.
“We don’t see a lot of trouble here but there is the odd bit of vandalism and there is drug problems in the town.
“There are rumours of lots of cannabis farms and people sell a lot of drugs round here.”
I don’t think the town is getting back – I think it’s going backwards
Neil Rowbotham
Accountant Umayr Hanif was jailed for six years at Leeds Crown Court in April for running a county lines drug operation.
He was twice pulled over by police in Pontefract and caught with more than £156,000 worth of crack, cocaine and heroin.
The crime rate in the town is believed to be double the national average. Just a few weeks ago a man was attacked by three thugs outside the Red Lion pub in the town.
A few months ago two people were assaulted outside the popular Big Fellas nightclub and a man was badly hurt in a machete attack.
Luke Thompson, 25, died last year after being punched in a fight.
He fell into the road and was then hit by a car. Residents have claimed there are regular drunken fights.
Investment hope
Unemployed wagon driver Neil Rowbotham, 58, said: “I don’t think the town is getting back – I think it’s going backwards.
“There are fights and all sorts of things. I was in M&S the other day and a shoplifter grabbed some steaks and just walked out.
“No one did anything.”
Neil, who used to play for Featherstone Rovers reserve rugby league team, added: “The council have spent quite a lot of money on it to be fair.
“But I’m not sure how much difference it’s made.”
We’ve got it all here
Darren Rawlston
Jobless David Hayes, 57, said: “I think the town’s great.
“The Christmas decorations look great and the shopping really good especially when the market is open.”
The town, which dates back to Saxon times, does boast some famous faces including Friends and Cold Feet actress Helen Baxendale, rugby league star Rob Burrow who lost his MND battle this year and late Labour politician Barbara Castle.
The Haribo factory is in the town centre and it is thought liquorice has been grown here since the 1600s with the famous Pontefract Cakes.
There is also an infamous poltergeist. The Black Monk of Pontefract was said to terrify a family living in a house in the 1960s.
Europe’s most violent haunting is said to have taken place at 30 East Drive when family living there reported being shoved, dragged and slapped by a spirit they named “Fred”.
Back at the Horsefair flats, taxi driver Darren: “You can sleep there overnight.
“It’s very popular – people come from all over to do the tour.
“We’ve got it all here.”
Mark Lynam, Wakefield Council’s Corporate Director for Regeneration, Environment and Economic Growth, said: “Like most towns in the UK, Pontefract isn’t immune to some pockets of antisocial behaviour and crime, which we’re working with the police to tackle.
“But we’re also the home of Haribo and the world’s only festival devoted to liquorice.
“As well as one of Britain’s most infamous castles.
And we’ve got an award-winning market, fantastic bars and restaurants. Not to mention one of the best sixth form colleges in the county.
“But it’s the people who make the town. And we’ll keep working with them to help Pontefract be even better.”