As you drive into Keighley, you can’t **** the views. The countryside surrounding it, is immense. There’s a beautiful old cinema, run by a great bunch of people and the stone buildings are delightful. However, having spent some time in Keighley and getting to know the town: it’s a shamefully segregated, sexist, racist and xenophobic place; with much of the town folk adding fuel to the melting pot by flying the flag outside their bedroom windows and demanding that we celebrate our ‘Englishness’ by all being the same. Forgetting perhaps, that England is an island, made up of different cultures and backgrounds.
It’s one of the most backward towns, I have ever encountered. Full of bitterness, spite, narrow-mindedness and jealousy of it’s thriving neighbouring towns and cities. It seems that the only activities to engage with is sleeping with each other and drinking alcohol to forget. Imagine how fun nights out are there?
Run by a bunch of Tory Toffs who don’t have a clue about the state of the town, Keighley is not a good example of what is great about Yorkshire. One wonders, what do those toffs spend their money on?
Keighley could do with an injection of integration and education, and a campaign to promote equality and diversity.
A night out in Keighley is an experience especially as an outsider, they can almost smell you’re different and don’t belong. Although you are more likely to be accepted depending on your skin colour and religion…
If you want to leave and you’re originally from there, you have to ask permission. Otherwise, the town folk fall out with you and make you feel bad for wanting a better life. If you manage to leave, you always go back….because you can’t really leave…it’s an unwritten town folk rule.
Competitiveness is a major theme and materialism is rife. It’s seems that the girls dream of marriage(-how very 1950’s) and the boys dream of their next lads night out. Lads, lads, lads…the only bit of loyalty that exists in Keighley is this false brotherhood that the men stick by each other….while trying to out do one another with their cars, wages and how many women they have pulled.
I have heard some amazingly racist views in the time I have spent in Keighley. Some are shockingly bad. There’s a clear ‘them’ and ‘us’ school of thought and sadly, it’s rife amongst the younger generation.
It’s such a sad, isolated town. I pray for the future of the town folk and their families.
