The plight of the homeless and the impact on our city has concerned Bath Newseum regular David Kernek in a letter he has sent to B&NES Leader Cllr Tim Warren – and copied to this website.
I print it in full without comment. The images were taken by David Kernek.
Dear Councillor Warren,
I am sending these photographs, taken in the centre of Bath on December 30, to you with the hope that you would be interested and concerned.
Someone had been living – if it can be called living – in the doorway of 19 New Bond Street for at least a fortnight.
A tourist, passing as I took the New Bond Street picture, told me it was “disgusting”.
Apart from the human misery such pictures evoke, it is clearly not a good look for a World Heritage Spa town or, as the Visit Bath describes it more than somewhat optimistically, “a unique, feel-good city.”
Regards,
David Kernek
Seeing these images just makes me feel incredibly sad. Its not ‘disgusting’ but a real issue that needs addressing. Bath may be a World Heritage Site but it has issues of poverty and homelessness just like any other city. In fact I think it hits home more in Bath because there is so so much wealth on display. In the season of goodwill the plight of those who have to bed down in a doorway should touch all of us…wherever that doorway may be!