Business owner's fury as 'spice addict' filmed dancing half naked on busy Sheffield street

A Sheffield business owner has been left outraged after a 'spice addict' was filmed dancing with his jeans around his ankles outside his shop.
'Spice user' in Sheffield - Credit John Colgrave'Spice user' in Sheffield - Credit John Colgrave
'Spice user' in Sheffield - Credit John Colgrave

John Colgrave, owner of The Avenue salon on Glossop Road, was driving to work on Saturday morning when he noticed the half-naked man.

In the footage, the man can be seen holding on to a skip, jumping up and down with his jeans around his ankles.

'Spice user' in Sheffield - Credit John Colgrave'Spice user' in Sheffield - Credit John Colgrave
'Spice user' in Sheffield - Credit John Colgrave
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The man can also be seen holding a can of what appears to be lager at 10am.

Mr Colgrave said that there was also another man across the road performing a sex act.

West Street has been recently plagued by drug users abusing spice and the 44-year-old said the problem is only getting worse.

He said: "We've been here ten years and there have been problems with drug users on this street from the start.

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"But the problem has got much worse over the last few years and it's the same for all the businesses around here.

"We have been robbed, had our salon vandalised and our staff have been threatened by these people.

"We have some fantastic customers who spend a lot of time and money coming here and it's not fair on them to experience scenes like this."

Visitors to Sheffield city centre have become accustomed to the common sight of spice users in the trance-like state which led to it being dubbed the zombie drug.

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As a result, police have joined forces with local businesses, the council's drugs support team and homelessness charity the Cathedral Archer Project to draw up a plan of action.

Disposal orders are in place across the city centre enabling officers to order those responsible for anti-social behaviour linked to the drug to leave and stay away for 48 hours.

However, Mr Colgrave wants the council to become more involved and move the Victoria Court Housing Project out of the city centre.

He said: "The problem is the location of the homeless project. We have had a lot of problems on the street but when I saw that on a Saturday morning it was just too much.

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"West Street should be a great place for visitors to come; there's lots of nice shops and places to eat but instead people think 'I'm not going there'.

"We pay a lot of money in business rates and this is the thanks we get.

"I want to see them housed somewhere else and out of the city centre. There are too many drug users on the street and it needs addressing."

Victoria Court is a homeless project on Victoria Street providing temporary or longer supported accomodation through Sheffield City Council.

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Clients must be referred by the council either under homeless legislation or due to a support need.

Residents are assessed by the council to see if they 'have a priority need or a local connection and to check that they are not intentionally homeless'.

Mr Colgrave said that if the situation does not improve then they may have to move their business out of the city centre.

"If we had our business in Dore or Totley then there would be absolutely no problem," he explained.

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"If it carries on like this then there's going to be nobody in the city centre anymore.

"There's so much development in Sheffield and a lot of new accommodation for all the students that are coming.

"But who would want to come to Sheffield when there are things like this going on."

Sheffield City Council have been contacted for a response.