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Gaby, who lives in one of the still-habitable houses on Co-operative Street, says she is reluctant to let her three young children play outside. "The 'sharps' are the problem; lots of broken glass, and sometimes they set fire to the bins. It's very dangerous," she says. The 38-year-old has lived in the house for four years and has concerns about the health risks posed by rats attracted to rotting waste such as used nappies dumped in woodland at the end of the road. "Rats are a problem, even in the daytime they're crossing my garden. "Some of the abandoned houses have been set on fire, there are teenagers breaking the windows [to get in]." Her home has been burgled before and her car was stolen. Few traces of the beaming families who posed for the Mirror's photographer in 1971 remain in 2025. Then, the street was nominated as the nicest in the country by housewives Mary Sykes and Bertha Richardson, who wrote a letter to the newspaper and won £2- worth about £40 today - for its publication. They described how the 130 families regularly held street parties and would "conga" in and out of each other's homes. They said most residents were born on Main Street and helped each other through sickness and bereavement with "acts of kindness".
