SHOCKING video shows a UK high street completely abandoned – with locals saying “it’s like a zombie film”.
Aaron Bastani shared a clip of his wife’s pal visiting her childhood home of Waterlooville, Hampshire, yesterday where she wandered through the now derelict town centre.
The empty and disused shops have been compared to scenes from apocalyptic Hollywood flicks, with Aaron claiming that politicians live in a “parallel universe”.
The clip begins as the woman walks down the road between two rows of shops, passing graffiti of a large penis spray-painted on the boarded-up wall to her right.
She begins narrating as she walks past more graffiti and two benches, saying: “I’ve come down to Waterlooville because I’m helping my mum and dad out with an eye test.”
The woman spins her camera round to show a large, disused building which seemingly belonged to M&Co now boarded up with the windows and doors filled in with large wooden boards.
More vacant shops on the opposite side of the street sit empty and abandoned, with their signs removed and no trace of life around.
The narrator can barely hide her shock as she takes a literal walk down memory lane, adding: “Bloody hell, this is definitely not what it was, I grew up round here.”
The camera then points towards a cannon sitting atop a plinth which she says used to be a makeshift seat for local children.
The woman adds: “I used to sit on that cannon as a kid and a lot of these shops, I remember I used to come and get my Pepe Jeans from one of these shops but look at it.”
As the woman continues down the road, the wailing of police sirens can be heard faintly in the background as she passes a Sue Ryder charity shop.
The shop appears to be the only one open and has a red sign advertising that a sale is currently ongoing, but also has a boarded-up window which seems to have been vandalised.
The exasperation can be heard in the woman’s voice behind the camera as she adds: “There’s bloody nothing here.”
According to locals, there were plans for the shopping centre to be knocked down and turned into flats before developers pulled out.
The camera then spins 180-degrees to showcase the abandoned area once more before the final piece of commentary concludes: “This is crazy.”
The clip was shared online yesterday afternoon by Aaron with the caption: “My wife’s friend took this video and was kind enough to let me share it.
“While politicians and the London media live in a parallel universe, this is reality for much of the UK.
“Economic malaise and high streets that look like a zombie film.”
His post received over 11,000 likes with more than 900 comments from social media users who were shocked at the footage.
One said: “Pedestrianisation killed this high street, landlords killed enterprise and local government failed on every level.
“There are huge plans being discussed, for them to succeed it will need a change of culture.”
Another added: “God, many town centres are awful in the UK, but I think this is the worst I’ve ever seen.”
A third replied: “Knock it down, turn it into a park.”
It comes as the cost of living crisis, high inflation and energy costs are all taking their toll on retailers.
Many shoppers do not have extra cash to spend on anything other than household bills and essential items.
Rising fuel costs and expensive parking also mean that it is also often cheaper and easier for people to get what they need online.
The latest official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show a record 345,000 businesses closed in 2022 – the highest on record since 2022.
Plus more businesses are closing rather than opening for the first time in 12 years – the height of the global financial crisis – though these figures cover all types of company.
Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) this summer found the UK had lost 6,000 stores over a five-year period.
Several major brands have also collapsed and disappeared from our high streets forever, such as Wilko and Paperchase.
Meanwhile some retailers are closing some shops to open bigger and better ones nearby, so it’s not all bad news for shoppers.
M&S and B&M are among the names that have relocated some shops and opened new locations too.
