Clacton-on-Sea, UK: Living in Post Brexit Society 

This is what happens when the working class fail to educate and inform themselves in order to act in their interests. They fall into ignorance and empty headed prejudice. Its embarrassing the depths to which my countrry has fallen

Somehow I don’t think Clacton was a thriving cosmopolitan hub before brexit. Decline in the UK started long before anyone knew that word.

Man I thought my life was depressing but after watching this I’ve got it pretty good tbh

The barber is treating her customers in an extraordinary way. It’s really the very way to keep your business alive. 👍

I lived in Greece for 3yrs and the first thing I noticed when I returned was how horribly unhealthy everyone looked in England. Greeks are poor, many far poorer than us, surviving on 500 euros a month, but they have the sun and they eat good basic nutritional food and they look so much better for it. The people in this video look like they are waiting to die. It's depressing. And I think when you live in a depressing place surrounded by depressing people you want someone to blame for your unhappy condition - and the Mail, The Express and the Sun blame foreigners.

Conviction that someone has nothing to do when he cannot drink and smoke is a tragedy.

Even the dog looks depressed

Congratulations to the authors of this documentary. The direction of camera, the narrative, everything is beautifully made. The barber lady of Clacton already has a place in my heart.

I absolutely love how she says that immigrants do nothing for the country and that they send money to their homelands, then goes on enumerating the number of businesses owned and operated by those same immigrants in HER street. Really? They opened most of the shops in the area and she still thinks they don't contribute anything to the local economy?

Now what I can't understand is so many people voted for Brexit, and these same people are now saying that they didn't expect it to be as bad as this. I live in Germany, and I knew exactly what would happen, because the German government and media told the truth.

A London banker, a Brit and a Turk are sitting peacefully at a table. On this table stands a delicious marzipan cake, divided into twenty pieces. After a short time, the banker stands up, takes nineteen twentieths of the cake for himself and at the same time whispers to the Brit: hey, that Turk over there is intending to steal your rightful part of the cake!

I still live in the family home here in the east end of London. My family had market stalls along Hoxton/Dalston markets and I had 2 butchers shops. We were at the forefront of multicultural changes in our area and having our way of life changed forever. It's been happening here for over 80yrs. You cannot harp after what is gone forever. Just count yourself blessed you were a part of it and remember the good times , but that doesn't mean the won't be more. Everything changes. Adapt to anything thrown at you, no matter how alien the culture is and just live life the best you can.

The level of ignorance is astounding. The British media has a lot to answer for.

Great documentary. I was born in Clacton, I use to live and work in and around the Clacton area, but left for Australia years ago as the writing was on the wall and I could see the direction it was heading... sad and depressing. In my opinion the area started to go downhill in the early 1980's, Clacton lost Butlins Holiday Camp with its associated employment and spending, and the local council; Tendring District Councils lack of initiatives, investment and resistance to change. I believe a sign of Clacton's low status can be seen in the high street scene, there are plenty of Betting shops, Fast food shops, 50p & Pound Shops, Charity and Secondhand Shops... but no real 'main stream' high street retailers. The man at 21:15 made a lot of sense.

The way the barber is with her customers is wonderful! An asset to the community

Such an original and well put together documentary. Loved the music and images used between 18:00 - 19:00 There is an air of hopelessness and desperation in many towns in the UK and the solutions to solving them are not easy. Although I was appalled with the views I'm not surprised. I still found myself sympathising with most of them, though. Not their views, but their unhappiness and ignorance. The barber was clearly not a bad person, she shows compassion. We don't know her life story and what influences she had on her life. We shouldn't berate people like her, we should listen and then challenge her views in a compassionate way that will make people like her reconsider. We can't berate everyone who thinks like this, I believe a lot of them are reasonable and can come round to a different way.

Turkey, Syria and other countries mentioned are not and never have been members of the EU. Voting to leave wasn’t going to stop that immigration. Yet for British immigrants to go to other European countries to live was seen as OK. It’s all very confusing.

Painful. I feel the most sorry for the poor dog having to listen to all of the doom and gloom.

A fascinating documentary, well done and thanks. I have the utmost sympathy for some of the people here and zero for some of the others.

What a fascinating social commentary. I really enjoyed watching this.

You can see the Sun, Daily Mail, and the Express have done their job.

I'm Essex born and bred, this is a very familiar world to me, albeit Clacton is particularly isolated and forgotten. The thing that gets me is that these people are decent human beings really - most are just struggling through life, day after day, in the way that millions of people have done so for centuries. It is just so tragic that the bloody Tory establishment and the bloody right wing rags just ruthlessly manipulate them in every way they can. When you think about the REAL reason we had Brexit foisted on us, it breaks my heart - because these people are the last to profit from it in any way whatsoever. Meanwhile the super rich are spiriting way billions into their own wealthy pockets and very little of that benefits the UK. We need to do something about the Tory toilet tabloids. Somehow they have to be brought down.

From 12:06 What a sweetheart. Offering to be there for isolated men without friends. It makes me weep to see how the bottom quartile of UK society are struggling without enough money to survive, and in Peter’s case, any meaningful connections.

For international viewers, according to figures from the Ministry of Housing, the Clacton neighbourhood of Jaywick was confirmed as the most deprived neighbourhood in England as recently as 2019.

at this point, I am looking for a Financial Team here in the UK that could save my family and my future from this economic hardship right now.

notwithstanding the content in the video, Clacton has been crumbling for years - everyone who could leave, left

It may be very deprived but I like Clacton and its people. It is a very friendly, tight knit place and people a lot. They make the most of what they have and help each other out. In that sense it is the best of British. I used to go often when at university in Colchester. I’m from Chatham in Kent which has similar poverty issues.

I really enjoyed this mini doc. Interesting and enlightening. Great work 👍🏻

Right after the referendum I left the UK after 8 years of working and living there (went back to Germany) because I knew there'd be chaos. the entire thing was so haphazard and hijacked by all the wrong people from the start. I couldn't vote of course and I was so disappointed. I loved the UK -still do, apart from politics - but I'm better off home. I earn more (teacher) and rents are much cheaper, unless you live in the big cities. And of course, I still have my EU passport :) I just feel so sorry for all my former UK students who are now young adults and don't have the same opportunities that I had.

On a family holiday from Glasgow we visited Clacton.I must admit as a youngster in 1965 clacton was a great holiday resort.We listened to Manfred man .There were rockers on their bikes.I loved Britain.

That hairdresser make those clients day, she's a good listener and a real gem. Seaside towns usually end up like this, it's outdated and lots of unemployment and elderly. I'm from a seaside town myself, now its full of rich people as the house prices are sky high.

The barber was very kind offering the man company and going in to her shop instead of being alone. I am glad she has her regulars and I agree. This is Scotland and there are Turkinsh barber shops everywhere.

Lol, I am a Bulgarian living in the USA. Unfortunately one cannot choose the Motherland and people are often times forced to leave their homes and start new lives in foreign countries in the pursuit of a better life.

Very Depressing. How did the UK end up in such a state

That poor barber must be sick of her life listening all day to those negative people yet she remains positive, Respect to her

I’ve been living in London for 13 years. Left it before the referendum (end of 2015) as I knew the outcome of that referendum and what was about to follow. Being patriotic is OK, being nationalist it is NOT I’m better of in Italy now, I’m not depressed like I used to be. Quality food, lots of sunshine, mountains, seaside ect Still I’ll say many thanks to the UK for the experience I had while I’ve lived there

This is a brilliant but also infuriating snapshot of England. I'm born and raised London and it's a completely different culture here to so much of the country. I think it's really important to see how so much of the rest of the country feel about these issues. The disenfranchisement is obviously very real. A lot of the people in this film feel betrayed by the last few decades of government, and I do think that's real. Governments have increasingly prioritised the interests of the wealthy at the expense of the majority working class. I think almost all of us agree on that. The racism comes in when we try and understand why that's happening and who is benefiting, and perhaps also a difficulty understanding that in the modern world the upper class is international (Our Prime Minister held onto his permanent US visa while serving as chancellor, his wife dodged taxes through non-dom status, as thousand of other wealthy expats also do) and immigrant labour is generally cheaper and easier to exploit (especially illegal undocumented labour, because they can't just quit and get another job).

Brilliantly made documentary - thank you. So, bottom line is Brexit isn't working. Who would have thought?

I know an Indian family who's lived here for 40 years and they can't believe how we handed our country over to other races and let ourselves become second-class citizens , we've just caretakers now with a 'for sale' sign up. Once in hits the middle classes, which it will, they'll start squealing...

Clackton looks so lovely. Definitely a place to consider if you want to top yourself.

The irony of British people complaining about migrants when they were the worlds greatest colonisers is sweet.

If you ever wondered why people sang ‘hurrah the witch is dead’ when Thatcher died this film tells you why.. Towns like Clayton are full of people who thanks to the Tories grew up without any education.. Only 2 people in this video even knew what’s going on and one was an archetypal Thatcherite - a Porn Entrepreneur 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

As a child in the 1970’s living on a South London council estate we would often go to Highfield holiday park in Clapton for a week ..friends on the estate were impressed, they’d go to Brighton or Jaywick Sands.. Clacton was viewed as a more upmarket place to stay .. happy memories, not been back in 45 years

If everyone went back to their own countries the lower class of clacton really aren’t going to pick up and thrive in business. Let’s be honest and stop blaming hardworking Turkish and Bulgarian people for being thick and leaving school with no GCSE’s.

Excellent video and very sad. Down here in Australia we call these people Whingeing Poms. We know all English people aren't like that but there seems to us something broadly embedded in their culture which means that they're never happy unless they're miserable. These people are so defeated which is a shame but they seem to just blame everyone else for their problems instead of doing something about them.

The British look like they are dying. It's truly sad. I would fall into a deep depression if I was there.

None of them seemed to understand that none of the issues they mentioned had anything to do with the EU. Or that BREXIT offered any solution at all.

This is not a post-Brexit society, but a Tory society. And this is exactly how they want it to be.

In 2013 a report was brought out called Turning the Tide which was produced by the think tank Centre for Social Justice founded by Iain Duncan-Smith.It looked at five seaside towns including Clacton all experiencing long term decline and different reasons why.For Clacton a third of the population are of retirement age,the 5th highest in the country but because they don't spend enough money within the local economy,it doesn't create an substantial economic boom to attract businesses and companies to come and invest in Clacton and create jobs.With a high concentration of elderly people you then get a high concentration of retirement and care homes which is what Clacton and a bit further up the coast Frinton has got.Many of the people who work in them are east europeans,If you want to kick them out of the country then thats fine but you lose a big chunk of a workforce that keep these places going however not many british people are running to join the queue to replace them.For that single chap unable to get any form of housing from the local council is sad and I do feel sorry for him but he lost my sympathy the moment he said that its either female with a child or someone with a brown face is giving priority.It's complete hogwash,Tendring District Council does not what is now known as flexible,recyclable properties available to hand out,the last time it had any surplus housing stock where the waiting list was less than 18 months/2 years was in 2011.How do I know this,well before moving away in 2021 after living in Colchester since 2009,I worked on a couple of social projects in Clacton,nearly 40% of the overall funding came from the EU and we came across all the problems first hand that Clacton has and not from heresay and tabloid front page headlines.Does anyone remember Douglas Carswell,the MP for Clacton who jumped from the tory party to UKIP and was one of the main instigators of the Leave campaign,well he's left alright,now in a very well paid job working for a libertarian think tank organisation in America.

he shop seems to me to be crowded only with human cases, the documentary on the other hand is very well made and I find it absolutely sad. I could never live in a place like this. In my opinion the atmosphere and the weather have a huge influence on the psyche.

10:28 This man... "I won't beg on the street, I've never done that. I'm not a thief ". He is honourable and I hope he catches a break in life

Well at least Brexit is going swimmingly.

Very interesting. Id love to see more videos like this. People are real. No actors or actresses . You can feel their lifes challenges as they struggle each day ; Where to eat Where to sleep. I think these people who spoke during this filming liked things the way it used to be. I thank the producers of this eye opener film.

This is such an eye opener, the level of ignorance is astounding.

Walked past Buddies barbers last week and it's closed. Shame as it was a great barbers. I've lived in Clacton for 55 years and it has deteriorated badly. But it's a typical seaside town, like every seaside town.

BREXIT is a powerful example of disastrous British government. I'm a Brit who (no option) left the UK when Thatcher ruled. I liked that she destroyed the ridiculous union behaviour of the 70's, but she was also totally indifferent to human suffering. I've spent most of my life travelling but was resident in Holland for nearly 30 years. Holland (NL) has a drugs problem, has problems with minorities & criminals etc., BUT, when you look at the visuals, and speak in generality (dangerous but often valid), Holland is cleaner, better dressed, more healthy, more modern, better organised, and has a more affluent population than the UK. I do not believe Dutch education is better, nor that the Dutch are better human beings. But they choose to be better role models for their children, to spread money more evenly and create acceptable living standards for the vast majority, and to apply socially-accepted laws quite sternly. You will not see many dilapidated, old, unpainted dirty shop fronts, nor people swaggering with bling and cash. Dutch governments are coalitions that prevent radical changes from one administration to the next. And all Dutch governments/banks support small businesses as a key to big business success. The UK was and is a society for the elite, the wealthy, and the latest type of high-income families, - but screw the rest. A-la Republican USA. And just look at America now - millions of homeless, rampant crime, total gap between citizens and police, mass gun murders every month, and a constant stream of divisive lies from politicians (just like Boris). This is the current direction of the UK. It's not because of immigration or foreigners (which UK has had since 19th century), but because of UK politics and poor government.

Your enemy does not turn up on a boat in tattered shorts, he turns up in a limo and an expensive suit.

For its campaign backers, a key purpose of Brexit was to get cheaper immigrant workers from outside the EU because those from inside the EU were asking salaries similar to U.K. workers. Another was to get rid of all these continental ideas such as social justice, less inequality. You know, the stuff considered normal on the continent. The other main purpose of course was to avoid the EU’s clampdown on tax evasion and money laundering, which was a major threat to the City of London.

Farage said “One thing they said during the Brexit vote is ‘we’re going to get £350 million a week that we can redirect to the NHS and build new hospitals and free care and all that’. Never happened.”

Clacton was always a dump but like most seaside towns it’s getting worse because the people who used to holiday there now go abroad, more cheaply. Often to Turkey… where people work hard.

I’m not a big fan of mass migration but these nice people complaining about immigrants will call themselves expats if they were to move to another country. I always find that interesting

Clacton has been on a downward spiral ever since Butlins closed down in the 80's, I moved from there in 2007, don't know if Clacton still does but it used to hide it's dysfunctional in Jaywick where the rents were cheap enough to not have to pay a top up. The Council have been trying to get their hands on the Brooklands area of Jaywick and clear it to build fancy town houses, so a lot of the dysfuncional are slowly ending up in the town making it look worse. I moved from Clacton to Hastings so it's out of the frying pan and into the fire. Fond memories from Pre EU, but decades of being in it has seen Britain selling it's utilities to european owners, closing down industries and then easy cheap travel throughout Europe has destroyed a lot of seaside towns. Who would have thought that going from one Hotel and a Pier would end up looking like this.

Soooooo depressing. Reminded me of 70's Britain, which we'd started to emerge from thanks to membership of EU. I don't blame those people for the vote that propelled this country backwards, I blame those who lied and convinced them that that's what they should do. And what happened? Everything, everything is worse. Illegal immigration up, prices up, less control over ourselves rather than more, opportunities for our kids and grandkids to live and work in the biggest trading bloc in the world removed, less control over fishing and farming.

Turkey is not and never was in the EU. The EU has nothing to do with this.

How these poor people (in every sense of the word) thought wealthy, posh and disconnected Tories were going to save them from oblivion is beyond me... I'm a rather well-off European but probably feel more for these ill-guided souls than most of the politicians payed to look after them. So sad they didn't realize what they were part of... Also, to be honest, we already have enough trouble with Orban's Hungary, not having to deal with the ever complaining Brits inside the EU is something of a blessing. Sorry, but that's simply the reality...

Bless this lady and her dog.. she's a good soul

Very impressed with the filming and editing, beautifully put together.

One thing that I did notice is that most of the people interviewed or even in the street are very old.

When I was a teenager at the age of 12 I used to think that England was the best place in the world (I am brazilian). I used to have a very romantic image of people having the five o'clock tea every day. I used to see England as foggy and beautiful country where everyone is happy. Now I see it is not like that. 😢

He's not ugly!!! EVERY DOGGIE IS BEAUTIFUL!!! PS I stopped shopping from UK, because after the Brexit, the taxes doubled the total amount of the prices!!!

This was well filmed. Caught the spirit of these sort of towns. So many people left behind; feeling betrayed.

Liked the way her brain emptied when faced with someone who knew what they were talking about. As for her saying that people should be left alone so long as they hurt no one when her whole past theme had been in banning people who had done no harm was so revealing I’m amazed she allowed the film to be broadcast. Unless she still didn’t get it. Watching the Clacton edition of Question Time put me off venturing anywhere near the place with such hostility even reaching the barbers shop.

''To say fascism is wrong, and that all these people died for it, and then attempt to impose such a mindset on a country - That betrays everything they fought and died for, doesn't it? Everything must be taken in context. That's the only way to get to the ultimate truth of any situation, or any point of belief.'' - Some guy at a Barbers in Clacton-on-Sea. A true modern day stoic.

My God this lady is a mental therapist for her clients , seems amazing and sad at the same time. So many disabled people it's shocking to think this is a first world country. The decline of the British Empire is very evident in this documentary . As the newfoundlanders would say "the arse has gone out of er boys"

An excellent documentary. It let the images and the people tell the story.

"I don't mean to be racist", is often usually followed by something ignorant and racist, it is definitely is in the case that concerns us here.

The world has changed so much in the last five years.

Such a wonderland, now I know where I want to live once I've made it! Paradise on earth.

Extremely depressing. Wouldn't like to live there.

All those Turkish barbers coming across from non-EU turkey, leaving the EU will fix that

Aww that barber and Peter ❤ what a wonderful person she is. Great documentary.

Does anybody know why the lady barber is no longer at the barber shop??

Even that little dog, Milo is depressed in Clacton. Note to self: stop blaming other people for your problems and take some responsibility for yourself.

She hates muslims with photos of Muslim Boxers on the wall.

Initially that barber lady seems so nice and sweet, yet so racist. That really broke my heart 💔

This is where I imagine Winston gets his hair cut, just down the road from Victory Mansions, smelling of cabbage throughout

Clacton and similar places is in a mess not because of Brexit, immigrants or even the government. It grew as a sea side holiday town a long time ago but then cheap foreign holidays with jet planes happened and took away it's customers. It no longer has a reason to be, nothing can prevent further decay

For the first time ever, I'm left speechless. I don't even know where to start.

It’s very sad to watch this. In many ways this could be Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, in the U.S. Areas where there is a failure of public education, poor healthcare, poor diet, obesity, alcoholism, drug addiction and lack of meaningful employment, all leading to despair. Perfect electors for the demagogue looking to take advantage by getting them to vote against their own interests. As a retired American having worked in France for decades, I have to wonder the percentage of expat British working in France that return to their native land.

In 1872 the Welsh invented the condom, using a sheep's lower intestine. In 1873, the British refined the idea by taking the intestine out of the sheep first.

'kin 'ell! Now THAT was depressing. The racism, bigotry and ignorance from these people was astounding. Yep, Brexit Central alright. I think if the town was to thrive, maybe, just maybe, that would make a big difference to their outlook. It's only my opinion, but I believe austerity was one of the biggest drivers of the Leave vote. Thank you, Tories.

There's a Kurdish barber up on the curry mile in Rusholme and he's brilliant. Sorts out my barnet, he's open on Sundays and decent price. Can't see the problem!!

its interesting how they have it so backwards. all british seaside towns faced collapse after cheap spanish holidays got popular. now the only people investing in the area are demonised

I know some people like the tackiness of seaside towns (arcades/chippies/dodgems etc) but they just feel so outdated now. A lot of people just use them as somewhere to take their kids for a day or two.

A rum Town, lost in a world of poverty, neglect and racism as an Aunt Sally.

This was so interesting. I teach STEM to adults in Tendring and Essex and am currently focusing on Multiply...free workshops to support with the cost of living crisis. Great to see such a 'real' video. Thankyou it's helpful to understand how the local demographic feels.

This is an organised cyst-emic dismantling of the country. It feels as though there hang a black cloud over the whole of the island. Such an eerie sensation.

The dog is the star.

This is why Scotland needs independence....

The dog is a great companion, many lives saved by good dogs as companions.