In recent months, several incidents involving violence have unfolded in Horsham town centre. The most recent of these incidents took place at around 11pm on Monday (May 29), and led to 13 arrests of people aged between 13 and 19.
Several weapons were also seized and a Section 60 order provided the police with additional stop and search powers in the aftermath. This recent incident follows on from a similar case of disorder in January and September.
Often considered one of Sussex’s nicest and most upmarket towns, the news has been surprising and worrying for residents and businesses alike. SussexLive went to Horsham to speak with locals about their experiences in the town and whether these recent violent incidents have made them worried for their safety.
READ MORE: Worthing’s oldest hotel where Charles Dickens once stayed undergoes £3m refurbishment
Reg Clark has lived in Horsham for the past seven years and admitted to loving large parts of the town. Asked about the recent incident, Mr Clark said: “I heard there was trouble in Carfax the other evening. That was all I’d heard until now.”
However, both Reg and his wife had previously been told to avoid other parts of town following recent incidents: “Children have told us not to go through Horsham Park. A few times older people have been going through there and have been threatened to give their money up,” the couple said.
“I had never known that to happen here before. Apparently, people were threatened with knives.”
Asked whether incidents like the one on May 29 worry him, the 73-year-old added: “Yes they do, I don’t like to hear that. Nobody likes to see youths getting out of control but if there was more of a police presence I feel like they wouldn’t.
“There is never much of a police presence in Horsham, well I’ve never really seen one. Since being in Horsham I’ve probably seen about five police officers.
“I don’t think police really patrol beats anymore. They drive around in cars but trouble-makers could just wait for them to go past. If there’s more of a police presence then you’re less likely to get that kind of behaviour I think.”
Whilst the issues do worry Reg, he also admitted that he does not personally feel threatened by the violence on display but feels for those who are more vulnerable. He added: “I sometimes go out on a Friday night but I’m back home before it gets late anyway. And I don’t feel threatened in Horsham. I grew up on the streets of the East End so I’ve seen it all before.
“I’ve seen it all, but as you get older you’re less likely to be able to protect yourself. So I understand peoples’ fears of crime. Once they start mugging people and things like that it becomes a different feeling – people will get a fear to go out.
“If people see violence and disorder, I think it will get to them, especially older people. You don’t want to feel fearful to go out, It’s a terrible feeling I think. You have to feel safe in your home environment.
“Like that underpass over there – after a certain time I would never walk through one of them, even when I was young. But this is the town centre, you wouldn’t expect it around here.”
With an array of weapons seized in the latest incident and reports of groups with weapons earlier in the year, some may have been becoming more concerned with their own safety. Reg believes carrying a weapon is more ‘for show’ but is concerned at children carrying them around.
“At that age, it’s just bravado, and they think they’re ‘big’” But people lose their lives to knives all the time.
“Hopefully it’s just a one-off and when their parents find out they’ve been arrested they’ll put them into order. It’s sad that it’s happening in Horsham because I think it’s otherwise a really nice place to live.”
Mr and Mrs Sayers were in Horsham waiting for a bus when we spoke to them. The couple, who admitted to seeing the news in the local paper the following day, said they were surprised to see such incidents taking place in Horsham.
Dorothy Sayers said: “We only heard through reading about it, we don’t really come out in the evening. We were quite shocked, I saw something happened the other night and I heard something about the nearby park too.
“It’s not very nice, especially when there are families around. Some people just won’t feel safe going out anymore. I don’t know what a child of that age is doing out at 11 o’clock at night anyway.”
This is not the first incident of this kind this year. In January, there were reports that residents were staying indoors after a gang, some wearing balaclavas, caused issues in the town.
For the Sayers, this causes some worries, with Dorothy adding: “We have a teenage grandson who has just been given a bit of freedom so that worries me as to what he could accidentally walk into. I was almost in disbelief at what had happened.
“I was shocked when I read it on the internet this morning. I think Horsham really tried to keep up with the times and has been a really nice place to live in.
“But I don’t think you’re ever going to stop gangs. This is the problem.
“What can they [Sussex Police] do? If I had a relative who was a police officer, I wouldn’t want him running into a gang of twenty-odd teenagers, some with weapons.”
Alan later added: “It has got worse I must admit but it’s mainly what we read. Perhaps they do need more police officers around – but who’s got the answer.”
The pair also questioned the excuse that children may get into these issues as there is a lack of things for them to do. Dorothy added: “We’re in our seventies and we didn’t have anything to do [when we were that age]. We certainly didn’t pick up a weapon and start attacking people which you tend to see more of nowadays.”
Horsham Pubwatch, is one group that has been making attempts to curb disruption in the town centre. The group consists of a collection of pub licensees in Horsham that work to prevent “unruly people” from gaining entry into pubs and other venues. Whilst the recent episodes of violence have not taken place within any bar, the group hopes that strict punishments will prevent unruly behaviour from gaining a foothold in the town.
A statement from the group reads: “We have seen a rise in youth-related anti-social behaviour which has been taking place over the last 18 months. These individuals are generally too young to come into licensed premises and therefore fall outside of our remit.
“Whilst these individuals are not gaining access to our member premises it is fair to say that their behaviour has had a negative impact on the nighttime economy as well as causing harassment, distress and injury to some of our member licensees, customers, door supervisors and staff.
“We are in a unique position as licenses to always have eyes on the street, unlike the police who can not always be available. We report the issues that we experience with vigour.
“We have a close relationship with the police and Horsham district council and as a partnership are launching a new communications system within the town called DISC. “Disc is currently used by shopwatches, pubwatches and larger Business Crime Reduction Partnerships covering over 550 towns and city centres across the UK. Schemes like these effectively identify early-stage offenders and reduce re-offending. They also help local policing identify prolific offenders and provide evidence for their effective prosecution.
“The introduction of this system will enable us to continue to communicate with each other but also for the police and other interested parties to be present within these information-sharing conversations. Police will get real-time information from the town’s licensees and businesses without us having to call 101 and waiting for that information to filter down.
“As a final note, we are constantly told that the concerns being shared either by word of mouth or on social media do not match the reports that are being received by the police. If the police are not informed then they will have no way of authorising additional resources where they are needed.
“You may not ever get a reply from your reporting of an offence but that should not allow you to think it has not been seen. Together if we continue to report our issues even if we feel that it’s going nowhere we will be able to make a positive difference to our lovely town.”
READ NEXT: