Houses selling for just £5,000 in ‘ghost town’ that was once thriving seaside destination
Homes in a once thriving seaside town have been put on the market for just £5,000 despite claims it is now a ‘ghost town’.
Four properties in the village of Horden, County Durham have been brokered on RightMove for just £5,000 – two being two bedroom townhouses and one being a three bedroom.
Horden, a former mining hotspot, has suffered from high unemployment since it closed in 1987
(Peter Robinson)
Elsewhere, similar properties are offered indicative prices of £15,000, £22,000 and £25,000 respectively.
In February 2023 the average house price in the UK according to the UK House Price Index was £288,000, £16,000 higher than in February 2022. These averages jumped in England to £308,000 in Wales, a rise of 6.0 per cent £215,000 and in Wales to £180,000 Scotland and £175,000 in Northern Ireland.
Horden, a former mining hotspot, has suffered from high unemployment since it closed in 1987. At the 2001 census, the population dropped to just 8,500, and residents continued to suffer from above-average health problems and poor housing.
In 1951 the population of the village peaked at 15,000 inhabitants, and in 1964 there were cinemas, sports fields and a bowling alley. Opened in 1904, the colliery operated until 1987, when British coal mining was closed by the Thatcher government after a wave of strikes in 1984 and 1985.
YouTuber David Burnip – whose channel is called Wandering Turnip – recently visited the coastal destination and explored the reasons for its decline. Noting that “whole streets were boarded up”, Mr Burnip spoke to a local, who noted that the village had “sunk since the pits on the shore were completed”.
Wandering Turnip: £20,000 homes in a boarded up seaside town!
“There were all the workers’ clubs and all the pubs. There are practically none here now,” the local resident noted. “I mean, the pit work was hard work, but at least it was a job.”
After the mines closed, workers either “went to the factories” or “accepted layoffs,” changing the village’s economic landscape.
Drug use has also increased over the past 20 years, the local resident added, noting that “today a large proportion of the younger generation is using drugs” as was the case for locals in their 40s and 50s.
Meanwhile, residents of the seaside town of Whitstable, Kent, have described being evicted from their homes by holiday renters who have allegedly “eroded” the local community.
Locals have expressed frustration that houses formerly occupied by locals are now being used by visitors, who throw loud parties, block driveways, claim vital parking spaces and leave the streets littered with rubbish.
Those desperate for a solution attended a meeting this month to discuss ways to regulate the industry. It was hosted by Canterbury City Council Green Party members to find a way to balance the problems with the benefits of tourism.
