Once a quintessential Victorian seaside retreat, Bournemouth was a magnet for the affluent middle-class, celebrated for its golden sandy shores, gleaming bay, and lively cultural scene.

However, this former icon of a classic British getaway has gradually slipped into decay, beleaguered by rising crime rates, unruly teenage groups, and an underlying tension that has transformed the town into a shell of its former glory.

The situation has become so dire that asylum seekers, residing in hotels funded by British taxpayers, have expressed to the Daily Mail their preference to return to their native countries over continuing their stay here.

Local business operators, residents, and visitors have candidly shared their astonishment over the town’s rapid decline in recent years, pointing to the unsettling presence of drug-dependent individuals and masked youngsters causing chaos.

With growing concerns that tourists might soon start avoiding Bournemouth, the Home Office has ensured a steady influx of people by converting three hotels into temporary housing for asylum seekers.

Located on Meyrick Road, a scenic tree-lined avenue leading to one of the nation’s top beaches, the 102-room Roundhouse Hotel and the 123-room Britannia Hotel are currently serving as migrant accommodations. Further along the coastline in Boscombe, the 79-room Chine Hotel fulfills the same purpose.

Like many communities around the country, Bournemouth has this summer been at the centre of migrant hotel protests, exacerbated by asylum seekers living there committing violent crimes in the town.

In the last week alone, three migrants from the Britannia Hotel have been hauled to court for separate crimes. 

Halil Dal, a Turkish migrant, was spared jail after drunkenly stabbing a man with a broken bottle. Days earlier, Shkar Jamal missed his sentencing for threatening a man with a snooker cue so he could eat fish and chips nearby instead. And Kurdish migrant Hana Hassan was one of a 12-strong mob armed with machetes who attacked a shopkeeper in the town following a nightclub dispute. He was jailed for seven years.

Among the asylum seekers we spoke to was Jordanian Ahmad Hani, 25, who arrived in Britain nearly two years ago – but is so fed-up of Bournemouth, he would rather return to the country he fled from.

Sat on a rock overlooking the glistening ocean, he told the Daily Mail: ‘I don’t feel safe here. I am an asylum seeker here and the Britannia Hotel is not safe for me.

‘I have spoken to the Home Office to go back to my country. Here, too many people don’t have [good] minds and do everything for enemies. There is too much crime. Police don’t help any people here in Bournemouth.’

Speaking about his hotel accommodation, he added: ‘My room is next to the bathroom. I don’t want to live in that room, these hotels are not for people to live. It is old and it is not clean.

‘Some people living in the hotel don’t have any feelings for animals, people or children. Some are dangerous in the hotel, they are seriously bad people.’

Mr Hani said he had ‘problems’ in his country and ‘needed a relaxed life’ but added: ‘There’s too much danger here… the police don’t do serious work.’

He claims that his passport was taken by the Home Office and he asked for it back ‘seven or eight months ago’ so he could make his way back to Jordan.

An Eritrean migrant, sitting drinking cans of Stella Artois with a friend on the cliff top view, had a similar opinion, unable to decide whether he prefers the country he fled from or Bournemouth. ‘I feel so bad here,’ he added before walking back to his hotel.

In contrast, Sudanese father-of-one Abdullah, who crossed the English Channel in a small boat from France 45 days ago, is relieved to have arrived in sunny Bournemouth. 

Sat on a clifftop bench overlooking the water with the French beaches on the horizon, he tells me of his journey across Sudan, Libya, Greece, France and finally the UK: ‘The trip was very dangerous. We didn’t know if we would make it or not.’

Despite being crammed into a tiny dinghy with 50 other refugees, he adds: ‘I risked my life to come but I had no other choice because my country is not safe. I am grateful to be hosted by the UK. Bournemouth is beautiful… I like to walk by the sea and play sports.’

Another Eritrean migrant, who has been staying at the nearby Britannia Hotel for four months after also crossing the Channel, adds: ‘I lived two months in London, but I did not like it, it was too crowded. Bournemouth is nice. I like the beach here.’

When the Mail visited this week, there was a flurry of activity with migrants smoking and drinking, surrounded by a square mile of ten other hotels where paying customers are staying.

Sue Clayton, who was staying at a hotel opposite the migrant accommodation, said: ‘It has unnerved me. I shouldn’t feel like this in my country.’

She added: ‘Bournemouth has changed a lot. My daughter was at university here. I think I’d be really worried if she was here now.’

When told about migrants complaining about living in Bournemouth, she added: ‘They should be considering themselves lucky they have somewhere to live.’

The change in the town’s demographic is clear, with the non-British born population rising by 47 per cent between the 2011 and 2021 censuses – along with the UK’s soaring net migration. 

The tension brought by asylum seekers in Bournemouth hotels is another layer adding to the crime-ridden town’s woes.

Even Bournemouth’s outgoing deputy mayor denounced it as ‘not my town anymore’ as she blasted the ‘pitiful’ decision made by her beleaguered council to remove the tourism department.

It was, perhaps, the nail in the coffin which reflected the downfall of Bournemouth in recent years.

Frustration over the state of the town has even led to a so-called ‘vigilante’ group setting up to patrol the streets at night.

Safeguard Force, who launched in August, say they were forced to take action due to the spate of crime and lack of policing.

One of the most shocking crimes that rocked Bournemouth was last May when two innocent women, Amie Grey and Leanne Miles, were attacked on the beach by criminology student Nasen Saadi. He was sentenced to 39 years in jail after murdering Ms Grey and leaving Ms Miles in a critical condition.

Chaos continued this summer, with a mass brawl breaking out in front of horrified locals and holidaymakers. The fight, on June 30, resulted in a teenage girl being rushed to hospital, while some of the youths hurled missiles at the police.

A week later, a 20-year-old woman was allegedly raped by a Syrian asylum seeker in a public toilet on the beach. Mohammed Abdullah, who lives in west London, denies rape and sexual assault.

When the Mail joined Safeguard Force for a patrol on Wednesday night, founder Gary Bartlett, 60, said: ‘I grew up in Bournemouth, I spent my whole youth here. It’s changed massively.

‘We used to come into town and you’d have a tear-up but you’d walk home safe, no problems whatsoever. I’ve got two daughters, 33 and 32, and they won’t come into town.

‘I knew I had to do something, I didn’t actually give it enough credit for how bad it actually was until I came out and it was shocking.’

The group claim they have had to intervene after seeing a man knuckledusted, an autistic boy set upon by a gang of teenagers, an Asian couple attacked on the beach by a group and a series of suspected knife fights – all since setting up less than two months ago.

As we walk through the ‘crime hotspots’, there is a stench of cannabis lingering in the air. ‘It’s everywhere,’ Mr Bartlett says.

The group is made up of everyday workers who volunteer each night because they feel they ‘need to take a stand’. They hope their patrols in official uniform will deter criminals – but insist they are not vigilantes.

Wearing a stab-proof vest and body-worn camera, one of Mr Bartlett’s team, Tom, says: ‘We will do this for as long as it takes. This will spread from county to county and across the country.

‘It’s about people stepping up and wanting to be a part of something bigger than themselves and put themselves in harm’s way.’

The establishment of Safeguard Force appears to have been welcomed on the whole, but the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner has warned they are not ‘endorsed’ by police amid concerns over ‘vetting, training and administration.’

But fighting back, Mr Bartlett says: ‘99.9 per cent of people love what we are doing. We’ve got to prove ourselves. Our vetting process is really stringent. It’s harder to get into the Safeguard Force than it is to get in the country!’

As we walk down the Old Christchurch Road, there is a feeling it is the calm before the storm. Later, when we return, it is filled with drunken students stumbling around in fancy dress.

But the bustling street, packed with bars, clubs and restaurants, has become a hotspot for crime in recent years – both in the day and at night.

Business owners this week laid bare just how bad it has become after a spate of incidents across the summer.

Takeaway worker Sandip Dhungana, 21, said: ‘I see so much crime here. I see fighting and drug dealers every day. It is disturbing. The people are crazy sometimes.’

Nikesh, a 32-year-old shopworker, said: ‘There’s a drastic change to when I first got here six years ago.

‘The girls can’t go to the parties at night. It isn’t locals – these are the asylum seekers staying at the hotels. They stop the women, they tease, they shout.

‘We have a lot of shoplifting. Two days ago, I caught someone stealing. He was a refugee again. We can’t do anything, police say they can’t do anything.’

He also laid bare the racial tension in Bournemouth, referencing the migrant protests every weekend. One of my friend’s wives was walking around and she was told ‘You’re brown go back home’ by children. This happens.’

The Mail was also shown CCTV of a feral teenage gang brazenly stealing boxes of nicotine pouches from one shop in broad daylight.

Another area locals say is filled with anti-social behaviour is the Bournemouth Gardens and the beachfront – two adjoined areas that have traditionally been hailed as the best parts of the town.

Sarah, 55, who has been coming to Bournemouth since she was a child, said: ‘We’ve been coming for years and years, but I’ve only started to notice all the drugs in the last year. In the last three years it’s changed massively.

‘There’s a lot of drug addicts on the path into town. There are a lot more homeless here. We were sat in the square last year and there were a lot of people that looked like zombies. It was quite bad.

‘There should be more policing in the street. It’s not nice for tourists and kids. They just walk around doing what they like.’

Speaking about the three asylum seeker hotels, she adds: ‘People are sick to death of it now.

‘The problem is they come from war-torn countries. Some of them have mental health problems, we don’t know what criminal records they’ve got. It’s a dangerous game.’

This week, Turkish migrant Halil Dal, 30, was spared jail after stabbing a man with a broken bottle outside the Camel nightclub, on Old Christchurch Road.

Dal has been staying in the Britannia Hotel since fleeing Turkey, where his lawyer said he faced persecution for his political views.

His lawyer said Turkish police had accused him of being a member of a terrorist group, tortured him and forced him to become an informant.

He admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was handed a 24-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months, meaning he is not eligible for automatic deportation under Government legislation.

It came days after fellow asylum seeker Shkar Jamal, 24, missed his sentencing hearing for threatening a man with a snooker cue in a public place so he could eat fish and chips nearby.

And a Sudanese immigrant was cleared of raping a student who he met at the Cameo nightclub, also on Old Christchurch Road.

Last year, four illegal migrants – all Kurs from Iran and Iraq – were jailed for a combined 22 years after walking down Christchurch Road, near the migrant hotels, armed with large machetes and attacking a shop owner.

Hana Hassan, whose address was given as the Britannia Hotel , was sentenced to seven years in prison, Yosef Shaban, 24, to four years in prison, Osama Qadir, 21, to six years in prison and Dawan Mantik, 28, to five years in prison.

Erkam, a student in his final year at university, said: ‘I feel like there is nothing in Bournemouth that is any good, other than the beach. There’s nothing really social to do, I think the young people are turning to crime because there’s literally nothing else to do.’

His friend, Jacob, adds: ‘It’s a bit dodgy. Drugs is the main problem here. On a Saturday night, it’s full of little kids in balaclavas and homeless people.’

Nick Pearse, who works at an amusement arcade on the beachfront, said he deals with anti-social behaviour from teenagers ‘literally every day’.

‘You say anything to them and they square up. They don’t treat Bournemouth with respect, the state they leave the beach in is unbelievable – the amount of rubbish.’

Mr Pearse said the beachfront is also rife with drugs, adding: ‘At night, it’s dead down here because no one wants to come down here – they’re scared.

‘Most days you get fights down here. It gets really bad in the square. And at night people don’t walk through the gardens.

‘I’ve worked here for 16 years and it’s getting worse and worse and worse every year.

‘The only time you see the police down here is if there’s a rape or if something goes badly. I feel like tourism is declining.’

Mr Pearse also revealed how two asylum seekers came into the arcade over the summer and began ‘intimidating’ women.

He explained: ‘There were a couple girls in here, they came in and stood behind them, intimidating them. I had to come over and get them out because I could see in the girl’s faces they were getting agitated. They came over to me and said thanks after, it shouldn’t be like that.’

It marks a tragic decline for Bournemouth, a town where locals and workers are visibly upset about how much it has changed.

Dorset Police insist they are stepping up foot patrols, but we did not come across a single officer on our day and night out in the town.

Chief Superintendent Heather Dixey, LPA Commander for the BCP area, said: “Bournemouth remains a safe place to live, work and visit. However, like most large, urbanised areas, we do have crime, which we are tackling and reducing. Often these offences involve individuals who are known to one another.

“The added influx of visitors we receive during peak periods can lead to additional demand and we have extensive policing plans in place – which includes working with our local partners – to ensure we proactively deter offenders from committing crime.’

She added: ‘While we welcome the responsible use of volunteers who wish to carry out public service to help us achieve our aim, we do not endorse the activities of Safeguard Force.’

The force say anti-social behaviour reduced by 4.6 per cent between April and July this year compared with last year and crime has reduced by 3 per cent.

The Home Office have been contacted for comment.