A seaside village has been forced to plaster abandoned homes with posters of windows and doors to deter thieves after residents fled the area.
Fed up locals in Horden, County Durham, are plagued by drug deals on their doorsteps and yobs breaking into their homes after neighbouring streets were left eerily empty.
Last year house prices plunged to £5k on some terraces in the area as owners desperately tried to sell up on the ghost town streets.
The council has gone to extreme lengths by covering empty houses with fake plastic doors and windows so criminals think they’re occupied.
Full-sized mimics are plastered over the original doors – many of which had been left damaged.
On one street visited by MailOnline this week there were twenty homes plastered with fake windows.
A local said: ‘Things are bad because there is hardly any work around here. It’s become really, really bad with crime’.
A boarded-up home is plastered fake windows and doors in Horden, County Durham
The council has been forced to plaster the homes with posters of doors (pictured, second right) to deter thieves terrifying locals in the village of Horden
A cover sits on the window and door of this house to make it look like somebody is living there
One empty home even had the words ‘rent me’ rubbed onto the front window while another had a note from the council stuck on the front door warning of a rodent infestation
Meanwhile other properties remain boarded up and some terraced homes have gaping holes in glass windows.
One empty home even had the words ‘rent me’ rubbed onto the front window while another had a note from the council stuck on the front door warning of a rodent infestation.
Each street in the area is named after a number, from Third to Thirteenth.
Residents say the problem specifically lies in the ‘numbered streets’, which give the town an unfair reputation.
Speaking outside an abandoned convenience store which has been shut for 20 years, resident Brian Bellingham, 50, said: ‘I’ve been here all my life and it’s getting worse to live here.
‘Every one of these numbered streets will have around 20 empty houses.
‘I think the fake doors look alright considering the houses are empty.
‘It’s better than walking past buildings that have boards up and shattered windows.
‘But things are bad because there is hardly any work around here. It’s become really, really bad with crime.
‘I remember when all these houses were full and everyone would know each other.
‘Now it’s nowhere near the same. These numbered streets are my home though and I would never leave, but it’s getting worse.
‘The house prices have dropped but it’s one of those things, I can’t really change it.
‘I’ve lived here all my life so people know me but you could worry for people moving in from the outside.’
A home has a fake door plastered on its frontage alongside a boarded up window in Horden
An abandoned convenience store which has been shut for 20 years in the village of Horden
A smashed window in an abandoned property in Horden where locals say crime has spiraled
Brian Bellingham (pictured), 52, claimed that each street has around 20 derelict houses on it
Horden was once a proud home to one of the UK’s biggest collieries before its closure in 1987 amid the decline of the coal industry.
Its 4,000-strong workforce even set a record for the most coal mined in a single day when almost 7,000 tonnes were extracted in May 1930.
But residents say the area has struggled ever since it lost the industry and is now plagued by abandoned houses and crime.
Terraced homes fetch as little as £5,000 and many have letting signs outside.
Jeff Ivey has lived in his home for 20 years and now neighbours a property with a fake door.
The 61-year-old said the vacant house used to be occupied by drug takers who made his life hell.
The mailing office worker said: ‘Most of the houses now are empty so it’s actually a bit quieter now.
‘But I have had druggies put next door to me in the past and they were up to no good every night.
‘They eventually left and I made the council put up the fake doors because the windows kept getting smashed.
‘They asked the owner to put them up but he said he couldn’t afford it so the council did it.
‘It was a nightmare but thankfully they got evicted.’
Jeff, who has lived in the area for 40 years, added: ‘I’ve been broken into a few times over the years.
‘I bought my house a while ago and I’ve had stuff done inside but I know for a fact it won’t be worth what it used to be.’
A road sweeper cleans a street in Horden where houses are up for rent and another has been sold
A fake door is plastered on an abandoned home in Horden (centre) where locals have complained of thieves and drug dealers
Pictured: A door handle pokes out of a gap cut into a fake door plastered over a house in Horden
Terraced homes in Horden (pictured) fetch as little as £5,000 as locals try to flee the area in County Durham
Community worker Louise Moss, 38, (pictured) says the working-class town needs more assistance and insists the town is still a nice place to live
The town’s population fell from 15,000 in the 1950s to just 6,807 in 2021. Terraced houses sold for an average of £53k last year.
Supermarket worker Zak Williams, 26, said: ‘The fake doors have been here a while but you hear stories about how these streets were a great place to live years ago.
‘It’s one of those places if you go so far in one direction it is fine, but if you go the other way it can be rough.
‘It’s always had a bad name in my time and I think there has been a general decline since the mines shut.
‘You see general crime like drug deals and sometimes you walk past certain houses and you know they’re up to no good.
‘Sometimes it does make you feel uneasy but thankfully on my street I’ve had no issues.’
However, community worker Louise Moss, 38, says the working-class town needs more assistance from the Government and insists the town is still a nice place to live.
She said: ‘The doors are put on to try stop the thieving and make the place look a bit better.
‘Basically the pits shut here and the Government left the North East to rot.
‘The streets used to be heaven and you could leave your doors open to see your neighbours.
‘There used to be street parties and the place was bouncing but these numbered streets were for the pit workers.
‘They all left because there wasn’t work and it never recovered.
‘The house prices fell drastically and crime increased.
‘Investors from down south buy these cheap properties and they don’t realise the state they’re in.
‘I would love the Government to get involved and give us a hand to make the place more attractive.’
A buckled fake door covers the doorway of an empty home in Horden to deter thieves
Black paint is plastered over the fake downstairs window of an empty home in Horden
The town’s population fell from 15,000 in the 1950s to just 6,807 in 2021 and locals blame a lack of jobs
One resident said the fake doors and windows (pictured) ‘look alright considering the houses are empty’
Jeff Ivey, 61, (pictured) has lived in his home for 20 years and now neighbours a property with a fake door. He said the vacant house used to be occupied by drug takers
Estate agent Anya Carter has experience of dealing with buyers and sellers in the area and says Horden is generally viewed as a nice village.
However, the 19-year-old, from Dowen Estate and Lettings, confirmed that fake doors are installed on properties to deter intruders and says the thieves will often target boilers inside.
She said: ‘The fake doors and windows have been going for a while and they started going up years ago. You mainly see the fake doors and windows on the numbered streets.
‘They are there because Horden is a very deprived area and a lot of people who live there aren’t working.
‘It used to be a great area when the mines were around but it has declined a lot.
‘There are a lot of break-ins and some investors end up pulling out on the properties because they think it’s not going to be worth the hassle.
‘Sometimes the empty properties will be broken into and have things like the boiler stolen. Generally, a lot of people will have their blinds and their curtains closed.’
Anya added: ‘Properties generally don’t sell for more than £30,000 around there.
‘Hordon is quite a nice area in general but it’s the numbered streets that can struggle to sell.
‘A lot of the people who do live there are elderly and don’t want to leave.’
