GANGS of feral youths as young as 11 are bringing terror to a seaside town made famous by a popular BBC sitcom.
The young hoodlums’ thuggish behaviour has made of Barry in South Wales’ Vale of Glamorgan a no-go zone for many locals.
Award-winning comedy staple Gavin & Stacey – starring James Corden, Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon – was filmed there from 2007 to 2024.
Barry – including the peninsula Barry Island – has since become a tourist hotspot for fans of the show, which itself presents the image of peaceful seaside living.
But for many residents, that’s not the reality.
They’ve been left in fear for their lives by the gangs running wild around the town’s King’s Square and High Street.
In one incident earlier this month, an economics degree student walking home in the early evening told The Sun how he was punched and kicked unconscious by three teenagers who ambushed him “for the fun of it”.
Elderly women who have lived in the area their whole lives complained of being assailed by foul-mouthed “little monsters” intimidating and mocking them in the crudest terms.
And always, locals told us, the scourge of appears to lie at the heart of the town’s problems.
Every drug imaginable, wheeled to users on e-bikes within minutes of a order by balaclava-wearing “couriers”, is available in this forgotten corner of the UK, we were told.
So bad have things got in Barry that as of now, cops have been given extra powers aimed at restoring the rule of .
South can now use dispersal orders, granted under Section 34 of the Anti-Social Behaviour and Policing Act 2014, to move individuals or groups from the area for 48 hours “if their behaviour has, or is likely to, contribute to disorder or cause harassment, alarm, or distress to members of the public”.
Anyone under the age of 16 and subject to this legislation will be taken home or to a place of safety, South Wales Police said.
For economics undergraduate Kaleb, 28, however, the new measures have arrived in his home town too late.
Just two weeks ago, as he made his way home from university lectures, he was attacked without warning or reason by three teenagers.
In a split second their blows left him unconscious in the street.
The ferocity of the unprovoked attack left him black and blue and terrified of walking in the town after dark again.
He said: “I just wanted to get home, have dinner and head for bed.
“They squared up to me, saying in very aggressive tones, ‘What? What? What?’.
“I put my hands up to show I didn’t want any trouble but next thing they started punching me.
“I fell to the ground and that’s when they kicked me unconscious. By the time I cam round, they’d gone.
“It must have been over in under a minute and I was a bruised, bloody mess.
“I remember thinking as I went down, ‘Are they going to knife me next?’. It was horrific and psychologically I am scarred now.”
Kaleb says he now avoids going outside after dark, which he feels is “so unfair”.
“This place is my home and I should be able to feel safe here, but I don’t now.”
He added: “Where were the cops? All the dispersal orders in the world won’t stop this kind of thing.
“Law and order has broken down in Barry and it needs fixing.
“We need significant resources to mend this town but I don’t see it happening.”
Kaleb went on to say that youths need places to hang out so they don’t turn to beating up “random strangers” for “kicks”.
Retired head teacher, David Wood, in his mid-70s, also blames a lack of investment and resources in the town over the past 20 years for the breakdown of law and order in the community.
He said: “Fifteen or 20 years ago this area was thriving. There was here and the place was prosperous.
“There weren’t these gangs of young children roaming the streets finding trouble.
“But as the investment dried up, social conditions worsened and poverty began to set in.
“Nowadays we are living in an extremely deprived area and the young are perhaps filled with a growing sense of hopelessness that pushes them into drugs and violence.
“It’s too easy to blame it all on them and wash our hands of it. We have to be braver and thing bigger, see the whole picture.”
As we speak, several balaclava-wearing youths on fast, electric bikes swing by.
Nearby, Ann, a retired, 75-year-old former worker shakes her head. “I see this all the time,” she said. “The little devils sometimes knock me off my feet as they whoosh by on the pavement as I’m walking home or to the shops.
“It’s pretty obvious what they’re up to and God help you if you challenge them.
“I’ve been on the wrong end of language I shouldn’t have to listen to many times around here.
“Once night falls, I stay inside my home nowadays.
“It’s pretty lawless out here after dark now, and not so pleasant during daylight hours either.”
Locals also complained of the youths, as young as 11, they said, fighting – usually after drinking cans of beer in the shadow of the town’s magnificent library and recreation park.
Dennis, 45, said: “These kids shouldn’t be roaming Barry late at night.
“They get high on drugs, get drunk and they are a real handful… The cops do nothing.”
Some masked youths called the police on our photographer, alleging they were being spied on.
When cops arrived and said no crime had been committed, the gang surrounded the snapper to try and take his camera.
A spokesman for South Wales Police said: “Officers attended the area following concerns raised by a council worker that a person was taking photographs of young children.
“Following enquires, the reporting person and children were informed that the person was a legitimate journalist.
“Unfortunately, there is no further report of threats being made or an attempt theft of camera.”
