Imran Khan, owner of Carpet Mill in Bearwood Road, Bearwood

Frustrated traders say an influx of 24/7 off-licences, mountains of rubbish and fly-tipping and shoplifting are driving customers away from Bearwood in their droves.

Businesses in Bearwood, on the border of Smethwick and Birmingham, say the problems have got so bad they are considering leaving for good.

Abuzaffar Sonde, owner of Islamic store Ar-Raqib in Bearwood Road, is one shop owner debating whether to remain open – saying a rise in crime and the ‘wrong crowds’ were driving Bearwood in the wrong direction.

He said the influx of late-night shops and takeaways combined with rising crime and anti-social behaviour – particularly daily shoplifting, pickpocketing, begging as well as drug-taking – was giving Bearwood a poor reputation as unsafe and dangerous and that was having a significant impact on footfall.

“For me I think that’s where the council is going wrong. Too many of one particular type of shop makes no sense to me,” he said on a rainy morning at his Bearwood shop.

“I’ve gone and counted them myself and there are 15 shops all the same and all 24/7.

“There’s no need for that. And we’ve got five bookies and to my surprise there’s going to be another 24/7 casino.

“Families are being shattered by gambling and people don’t have the money in their pockets and we’re just encouraging more people to gamble.”

With the lease running out on his shop, Mr Sonde said he was having to weigh up whether to remain open in 2026 – but the demise of Bearwood was beginning to make his decision seem a little easier.

“We’ve got to the point where next year we will have to see what we are going to do,” he continued. “Business rates and property rates are all going up, electric and water are going higher. Income is shrinking but outgoings are sky-rocketing.

“We have to balance whether running a business here is feasible and the [state of the] high street is not helping.

“When we first opened I thought Bearwood was thriving but now it is falling off. I fear having seen what happened in 2008 [with the financial crisis] and the impact it had. Shutters were down and Bearwood attracted the wrong crowds.

“I feel like a few years ago it seemed to be going in the right direction but now it is going in completely the wrong direction.

“People are fearing the same, there’s definitely a crisis going on. “Bearwood used to be very beautiful. Everything was available, you didn’t need to go anywhere else. It had everything but that time has gone.

“If I wasn’t a business owner here and all I saw was takeaways and 24/7 shops then what reason do I have to come here?”

The rumours that Bearwood will be losing its Poundland store and the upcoming closure of its Halifax branch meant the high street was being dealt even bigger blows with no signs of letting up. But while economic woes were forcing even national chains and high street ‘staples’ to question their future in Bearwood, the mountains of litter, continuous fly-tipping, and constant shoplifting was also putting visitors off.

Imran Khan, owner of nearby Carpet Mill, said his car had been broken into twice this year and he was forced to remove display rolls from the front of his shop with thieves often running off with hundreds of pounds worth of stock. “The good, decent people are being driven away. If branches like Poundland and Halifax are going, what does that say about the area? You see a decline on the high street when even the big companies are going.

“And there’s nothing in these 24/7 shops under £5 so how are they paying their rent? If they are 24/7, they are going to attract the people, there’s going to be lots of loitering and the crime and begging.

“The area is completely in decline. I don’t know what’s going to happen in a couple of years but it really is on a decline. It’s an unfortunate, sad story. It’s a decent area. You cross the road into Harborne and it’s a completely different area, it’s a different world.”

But while the list of issues in Bearwood was mounting for many traders, it was a different story for cafe owner Harji Kaur, who runs Cafe Craft further down Bearwood Road. She said: “I only work here, I don’t live here but it’s the best I’ve seen it in 21 years.

“All the shop units are full at least, it’s better than boarded up. That must be a good thing. I can’t say it’s bad because that is not what I see, maybe others think that, but I don’t agree.”

The increase in HMOs has also proved to be a problem for Bearwood councillor Bob Piper who told a Sandwell Council planning meeting this week that the influx was turning the area into a slum.

“If you drive on to places as far as Bearwood, you’ll see, it’s turning into a slum. There are great piles of waste because the planning inspector has approved something like 60 of these [HMO] properties on Bearwood Road.”

This had followed objections from residents in Bearwood over another late-night off-licence, which was approved by Sandwell Council this week, who said smashed glass bottles, drug paraphernalia and human waste were making Bearwood Road a “health and safety risk.”