Boscombe is an area of Bournemouth just outside of the town centre that was once very affluent and in the early 20th century was one of Bournemouth’s wealthiest areas. Later in the 20th century the area became more run down. Talking to long term local residents I found there are many reasons why this happened. Local landlords apparently invited northern benefit claimers to claim their benefits in a more desirable location, ‘Why claim benefits in cold, rainy Newcastle when you can claim them here in sunny Bournemouth?’. Today, Boscombe has a stigma of being a more 'unfavourable' area of Bournemouth with a large homeless and drug addicted population. It is home to a large amount of rehab centres; a study in 2012 found that there were 60 rehab centres in the area. An article in the Bournemouth Echo states that the residents believe that this is part of the areas ‘problem’.
On a separate note, Bournemouth Borough Council installed speakers that play loud bagpipe music in the car parks and travel interchange in the town centre to prevent homeless people congregating and sleeping there.
Using the bagpipe music as a loaded medium, I had it pressed on a 7" vinyl and hosted a launch party for the record in Rose Red Record's, a record shop in the centre of Boscombe.Â