Homeless, Poverty & Deprivation In The Heart Of Bristol 24hrs in 'Caravan City'

[Applause] hello and welcome to Caravan City this area of Bristol is once referred to as the jewel in the city's Crown but it's now been dubbed Caravan City by the national tabloids let's spend 24 hours in caravan City and find out what it's like to live here you can see here behind me rows and rows of camper van Caravans motor homes you name it it's here Bristol city council has recently stated that around about 800 Caravans are located on the Downs area of [Applause] Bristol Caravan City begins you can see the fella just out the front of his Caravan brushing his teeth like any other campsite really very very surprising however as you can see we are on the outskirts of one of the UK's major cities Bristol is the second most expensive city to live in the United Kingdom potentially this might be a reason why this is happening here just walking beside one of the rows of the Caravans here you just see the state of the place some of them seem to keep it nice and tidy and nice and clean but others we look at that I mean that's not on really is it look at the state of that old battered moped there so you can see Caravan City in the Rose and Rose and just beyond the trees there the most expensive homes in Bristol just rubbish piles of rubbish as far as the eye can see outside the Caravans here you can see someone's tent here being overlooked there by likely million pound properties oh look quite shocking to see really a tent being overlooked by million pound properties crazy what's happening to this country in the distance a dog walker just making our way through Caravan City a limited area rather than it's just going to expand and expand isn't it it seems to be because initially I believe it was just sort of one row and they've sort of been spreading out and out and out yes yes I mean if it was a limited area and they did something about the rubbish i' have no objection at allly but I have a feeling that lots of lots of Caravans are coming from all over the country now because of all the publicity so it's all it's expanding all over the place yeah that's right Bristol city council stated that there's around about 800 Caravans on the Downs area oh my goodness okay yeah and it's it's a difficult one because I am torn I have got sympathy with people that can't afford Flats but an awful lot of sympathy but then they've got to look after the rubbish haven't they look at this over here yeah it's um people have got to be bit more mindful haven't they yes Mindful and then I think they theal Council ought to create several nice areas for Caravans to go exactly exactly is my fault so you just heard it we spoke to a dog walker there who's a local of the Clifton area and she's torn just like I am because it's very very difficult isn't it you know with the cost of living crisis and the housing crisis people can't afford to get flats and buy homes now so do you blame the people when they can come here pitch up for free you know I can't blame them you can see one of the beautiful residential buildings behind me Clifton is one of the most expensive areas to live in the United Kingdom facing out that house onto the beautiful bright yellow horse box look at that there you can see his big caligas set up underneath the front cab stuff with bikes flowers in the window little seating area on the top top so you can go up to the top balcony there and look out onto the beautiful Clift and downs one of the kind locals here of Caravan city is going to show me around his Pad show me how he lives you can see at the top he's got his solar got his wood burning stove awesome off-road tires look at this setup guys wood burning stove look at that it's like an 18th century Cottage mate this is awesome and did you live in this full time dude yeah full time mate that's cracking the bed's on a crank so in the day that's the lounge area oh wow and then yeah it cranks down and then comes level here at night bedroom area dude that is sick this is like a mixture of Cornwall and glenury all in one I need got oven fridge burner for heat dude that's absolutely sick full Sola yeah mate thank you so much for allowing me to have a look into it well it puts mine to shame mate I'm going to be in trouble tonight I think wow what a setup that guy had that was incredible it certainly puts mine to shame makes me think I could be in trouble later on tonight when I try and do my cooking and might bit some Bobs could be fun I know you're all dying to see where I'm going to be staying tonight so let me show you here we go this is where I'm going to be spending the next 24 hours here's my ebike no better way to explore Bristol than on an ebike with Bristol being the UK's first cycling city as you can see this is more of a day van guys this little board at the back there pops down fills the Gap there that's your bed storage underneath there I normally have my surfboards along the back here but today I've got the ebike the foo C11 ebike just stopped for 5 minutes for a little sit down here in caravan City doors open enjoying the view there she is the pH C11 big thanks to the guys at foo for sending this one out to me and we're off you can see the grand residential buildings here overlooking the Clifton downs one of the most expensive areas to live in the United Kingdom with Bristol being the second most expensive place to live outside of London the residents of this building every morning are greeted by the site of hundreds of Caravans motor homes and camper van conversions another gate estate here surrounding Clifton Downs is hundreds of buildings very similar to this some of the most expensive property to be found in the United Kingdom I certainly don't blame the people who have pitched up here however if I was a resident in one of those big gated Estates I don't know how I would feel with this being my my view every morning another Caravan couple of camper van and motor homes up ahead camper van Caravan camper van pulled back on to Caravan City now and I must say some are keeping it up together but there is certainly those that have got PES and PES of rubbish bags out the side of their Caravans we spoke to some lovely locals over the other side a minute ago that kindly showed me around his camper quite the conversion he's got there just see it just carries on and on and on and this is just one row of maybe 20 or 30 of these I must say I've never seen anything like it other than a traveler site of course but these aren't Travelers these aren't gypsies row and rows and [Applause] rows excuse me sir annoyed about is that it's a they've got parking restrictions there right so why isn't you know if I park my car there they'll they'll put a ticket on it exactly so why why should they have priv Vision yeah it's difficult one as well isn't it just a difficult and what about the rubbish well that's the health issue in it in itself isn't it you know I mean it's uh they they should find somewhere else for them you know they shouldn't uh yeah you know I feel sorry that they're in that situation but exactly it's a tricky one sir is the councel are just dragging their feet yeah this has been going on since 2020 I believe isn't it probably before that really yes okay okay I mean it started off with a few and now it's going all over the place now right cuz if they don't if they don't deal with it it's they're going to carry on it's going to get yeah that's right it is going to grow and grow and eventually they're going to be right up in Clifton I Street so okay sir I thank you for your time thank you very much bless you thank you very much I've arrived back on Caravan City let's locate my van amongst the hundreds and hundreds of other ones and let's get some food cooked I've just spoke to one of the locals here of Caravan City and he stated to me that today there's been Daily Mail journalists here BBC journalists here you name it they're all around there at the moment at the size of that one big American style one there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of camper van Caravans motor homes you name it it is here another camper van here it's like every single Road you walk down on the Downs there's Caravans camper van just pitched Up full time some over there some more there another camper van now I wonder if a lot of these are just here and are completely left and abandoned it doesn't seem to be much life here I mean look at the state of that one just arrived back at the van and I must say it's getting a lot more lively here at Caravan City now the music's bearing people are set out now cooking dinner I wonder what the night has in store for us I'm pretty excited everybody I've met thus far has been really really friendly not so open to talking on camera I must say but on the whole everybody's been really really friendly quite excited for tonight you just get the pedestrians just walking past you as you're cooking your tea is so bizarre as my burgers are sizzling guys I've been enjoying the view I can certainly see why it's so popular being a van lifer or van dweller is that the correct term do let me know in the comments below I do not mean to offend however I can certainly see what draws so many people in the Simplicity of Life the beauty the freedom yeah I like it I've got very lucky today with the weather absolutely glorious the Sun's shining it's about 12 or 13° it's a fairly temperate however cooking these Burgers would be a damn sight more difficult if it was blowing a hulie and it was peeing downam with rain get your buns out oh I burnt them I burnt them oh no I've burnt them look at the state of them what have I done ah bloody hell not so bad as it Burger in hand beautiful view slightly being spoiled by the soundtrack of Bristol which is the police siren you can hear in the background but on the whole I can't complain let's see what tonight has in store for us the sun has set here in caravan City let's explore and find out what it's like after dark let's go strolling through Caravan City now super peaceful everybody seems to be fairly friendly it's really really peaceful you can see everybody going about their business making dinner outside their plots it's like kind of like any other Caravan Park to be honest however we're just in the middle of a city this little micro one with the red door's pretty cool I like that that one certainly seen better days I found the mythical parking parameters 5 hours no return however that's certainly not being regulated so it's officially nighttime on Caravan City and one thing I have noticed is an influx of cars that are pulling into the area I'm assuming it's homeless people that come to this area specifically to sleep I don't know if anyone else knows let me know in the comments see the smoke from the wood burner there so peaceful well guys you can hear the rain I'm absolutely drenched the heavens have opened upon Caravan City and I am soaking let me get these wet clothes off and I'll show you my setup well guys I do apologize for the little bit of skin but everything is soaking let's get let me give you a little tour of the van let's go so you can see small little double bed here this was the bench and I just fold down this little bottom section here creates the little double bed little single sleeping bag on there for me tonight small little tablets down there so you can Max and relax chilling out watch a tablet got me funky little curtain there bit [Music] psychedelico of course I got the pho C1 here I've got me artificial grass on the floor here it's nice and waterproof so when I come into the vehicle to get changed between surf CHS I don't get anything soaking wet got me funky surf stickers here shout out to EA EA surf in tenar Reef got Custer Point surfboards there Devon the wave that's me for tonight guys I'll catch you in the morning well good morning guys I did not sleep very well at all I am really tired about 3:00 this morning repeatedly this happened as well there was a car that was driving through and he would just toot his horn over and over and over again clearly trying to wake up everyone who was sleeping in their Vans and whatnot the thunder and lightning started kicking in as well it's just so loud so loud and cars always driving past behind me yeah I didn't sleep very well but anyway let's open up the van let me show you the view and we'll carry on we'll crack on for the [Music] day new mates for the night well guys my trousers are absolutely soaked still my trainers are absolutely soaked still brilliant kettle's on the boil coffee Cup's ready to go M trouses are drying out in the sun we'll get a coffee down me neck and then we'll head back into Caravan City just down this way well guys it's the morning after I'm walking around with soaking wet trousers soaking wet trainers but it's all good we're back on Caravan City the sun is shining everybody's going about their business brushing their teeth washing up from the night before it's just like any other campsite really my night here was really really peaceful there was no disturbances there was a little bit of music on from the Caravans before the rain came that put a dampener on that one but otherwise there was nothing really to report it was quite noisy from the weather and there was a car that persistently drove past beeping his horn I guess in some sort of Rage at the people that are parking here I don't know but on the whole I had a really really nice night here the people are really really friendly very nice welcoming I've spoken to a number of people here however I don't blame them but they don't want to go on camera because of the recent hit pieces put out by the national tabloids and the mainstream media just yesterday there was Daily Mail reporters here and the BBC so rightfully so most of the residents of Caravan City have got their guards up and I can't blame them I did spend some time last night with a couple of the residents here of the camper vans and they were listing the differences to me between the van lifers and the Caravan dwellers now I will say there is a number of Caravans with big piles of rubbish outside it's not all of them it's certainly not all of them in fact the majority of them are keeping it clean and tidy but the ones with the big piles of rubbish out the site there you go the ones with the big piles of rubbish they're huge and it's causing big problems with rodents rats all sorts of problems here just spoke to one of the lovely locals here of Caravan City on this fine Bristol morning and he did unfortunately tell me that there is some major drug problems amongst some of the Caravan dwellers here on this specific row on the Clifton Downs in caravan City now it's kind of state in the obvious to be honest but there is some huge drug problems here on Caravan City amongst some of the residents not all to be honest with you the majority and most of them that I've come across have all been really friendly actually have like fulltime jobs and everything it's really sad to be honest with you that they're being forced to be in a position where they do have to live in a van or a caravan but there is those on the other hand that are homeless substance abusers and have no other way well guys I've mentioned the Clifton area of Bristol a number of times in this video so why don't we hop on the bike and I'll head over to the Clifton area of Bristol on the bike now and you can just see the expanse of the Clifton TOS area 400 Acres that was gifted to the people of Bristol just rolling through the residential areas of Clifton now you can see the beautiful Victorian architecture on full display the Clifton area is one of the most expensive in Bristol and Bristol is the second most expensive city to live in the United Kingdom I'm on the white ladies Road area of Clifton now a very stunning High Street here in Clifton very very vibrant oh look an electrical bike shop if you are looking for an ebike head over to Foo check out the C11 and use the code Joe Fish 50 and get yourself £50 off I think the ebike fits it's in very well here see loads of electric scooters and electric bikes in Bristol can see all the wonderful quaint cafes eies bars here in Clifton here the University of Bristol building 1 mile from Caravan city with a statue commemorating King Edward and behind the Baptist Church and the Bristol School of Art the Royal West of England Academy of Art building some truly stunning architecture on display here Mounted Police Officers yeah we still have those in the United Kingdom look at those tremendous buildings it's like something out of Harry Potter I think it's one of the University of Bristol buildings okay guys that was the Clifton and Redland area of Bristol let's head back to Caravan City if you're looking to get yourselves an ebike check out the pho C11 and use the code joish 50 and get yourselves 50 off you can thank me later well that's the end of our 24 hours in caravan City let me know in the comments below what you think where whether or not the people should be allowed to stay or should they go I'll see you on the next one

Channel: JoeFish

Views: 262,781

Keywords: uk, caravan city, bristol, england, homeless, uk crime, poverty in the uk, skid row, slab city, housing crisis, cost of living crisis, poverty, destitution, deprived, homeless camp, real britain, joe fish, uk travel, documentary, uk documentary, whats britain like, whats england like, on the streets, street interview, real life, UK Skid row, UK Slab City, Homeless Camp, Homeless encampment, slum, Backpacker Ben, Bald and Bankrupt

Id: qDoejzPpYTo

Length: 22min 33sec (1353 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 06 2024