A once-bustling neighbourhood has been reduced to a ghost town, now referred to as Britain’s very own ‘Chernobyl’, with only a handful of residents left.
Bargain hunters can grab a one-bedroom flat for a mere £7,000 in the crumbling Clune Park estate in Port Glasgow, Scotland, which has 430 flats. To brighten up the desolation, an imaginary pub and chip shop have been painted on a wall.
Backpacker Ben explored the desolate area, which Stephen McCabe, leader of Inverclyde Council, likened to “somewhere like Chernobyl”.
Ben recounted: “About 25 years ago, everyone left and it’s been abandoned ever since. Now it looks like Chernobyl, but apparently four people still live here.”
Originally built in 1905 to accommodate the families of Glasgow’s shipyard workers, Clune Park is now largely deserted, with many homes appearing as though their inhabitants vanished overnight.
“Everywhere you look, it’s like a nuclear bomb or something has gone off. Everyone has fled and it’s just been like this ever since.,” Ben observed, reports the Daily Star.
As of 2022, reports suggested that about 20 people were still residing in Clune Park, but now, Ben believes only four remain. With no shops or facilities, there’s little to keep them there.
The Clune Park estate in Inverclyde is notorious for having the highest level of housing deemed below the tolerable standard (BTS), with the majority of its properties considered unfit for human habitation, the local council reports.
Ben reminisced about a previous visit to a dilapidated area in Sunderland, where he observed “North Korea-style” fake food items and windows painted on boarded-up buildings, an attempt to make the desolate scene somewhat less bleak.
Port Glasgow presents a similar facade, according to Ben. “They’ve got fake shops to make it look better; fish and chips, The Fudgy Cafe, tobacco stores, a butcher’s,” he detailed.
There’s even an imitation pub named the Black Bull, which, despite its cheerful exterior, serves no actual beer.
Describing it as a complete ghost town, Ben noted that everything has been “everything smashed in, boarded up, and left to rot here for the past 25 or 30 years”.
In 2020, one flat within the estate was auctioned off for a mere £6,000, though it remains uncertain if the buyer ever took up residence. The estate comprises mainly small units, including 69 bedsits, 310 one-bedroom flats, and 51 two-bedroom flats.
Despite ongoing discussions about demolishing the development, private landlords have resisted selling their properties, thwarting Inverclyde Council’s efforts to demolish the site and begin anew.
A spokesperson for Inverclyde Council expressed the authority’s continued aspiration: “It remains our ambition to acquire properties at Clune Park to allow for the delivery of long term regeneration of the area.”
“While progress has been frustratingly slow and costly, the ambition still remains and discussions are continuing to achieve this aim at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Meanwhile, Clune Park estate’s condition continues to deteriorate daily, with crumbling masonry, broken windows and smashed toilets transforming the once-proud little estate into a scene straight out of a post-apocalyptic nightmare.
