EXCLUSIVE Sleeping rough in Benidorm: How Brits are living in a homeless encampment after losing everything
Every summer the main parades of Benidorm's heaving New Town are packed with Brits.
Crowds flock to the town on the Costa Blanca for its cheap and cheerful drinks, glorious sunshine and beautiful beaches.
But while sozzled stags, excited hens and elderly holidaymakers enjoy themselves - just a few yards away it is a very different story.
Behind Benidorm's rows of Irish pubs, British cafes and sports bars is a rubbish-filled homeless encampment.
Among the shacks and piles of rubble is a desperate community of Brits, Spaniards and Albanians sleeping rough.
The group live in the makeshift structures - without running water or electricity - after a surge in BnB-style properties priced them out of their homes.
Jodie, a British woman who has been unable to find a job or accommodation in Benidorm since Brexit in 2020, said the people living in the encampment have formed a 'community'.
She told MailOnline: 'When I first moved here everyone was on the streets alone, no one talked to each other, but I've made a little community,' she explained.
'I said we've got to help each other out little by little.'
She added: 'We need help, I went to social services begging for help and they gave me an appointment for three months time and we missed it because we have no internet, we literally have nothing.'
Jodie first moved to Benidorm in 1994 with her parents before returning to the UK with her son in 2012, so he could attend a British university.
She eventually returned, but then found out she was no longer legally able to reside in Spain - making it impossible to find a job.
Jodie said: 'I went back to England and when I asked for benefits they wouldn't give them to me because I had been out the country for too long, and now I've come home [to Spain] and I'm an illegal immigrant.'
Jonny Elraiz runs City Streets Community Project, a charity that delivers food to the homeless in Benidorm.
Four times a week Jonny and a group of volunteers cook up to 90 meals and deliver them to those sleeping rough in the Costa Blanca South area of Benidorm.
He drives around stopping on street corners and at the 'commune', which sits below a cluster of high-rise hotels.
The encampment has a direct view of New Town where thousands of Brits descend each summer to soak up the Spanish sunshine and let loose.
It sits on a sandy hill above a car park and is littered with piles of rubbish and waste from building sites.
There is one makeshift road that snakes uphill and passes several abandoned properties that have been marked with colourful towels by groups of people squatting inside them.
Jonny explained that there are plenty of Brits who now consider Benidorm their home but have been forced to sleep rough because they can no longer afford to pay rent.
He spoke to MailOnline about a veteran, who has found himself unemployed and living in Benidorm.
'Mark was a squaddie with the Royal Engineers,' he explained.
'He came out here a number of years ago, he's a builder and had a relationship breakdown, he was just living doing his work but because of the pandemic there was no work and he ended up on the streets.
'He's lost all his papers and he's living on the streets trying to get the odd days work here and there.'
Not only does Jonny hand-deliver meals to the homeless in Benidorm but he also helps those stuck in the country return home.
On a regular basis he receives calls from Brits who have lost their passports, run out of money and are unable to return to the UK.
And while most people assume a weekend of partying will end in a hungover flight home, an increasing number of Brits end up trapped in the country.
In several scenarios tourists have found themselves waking up in prison without their passport and upon release are forced to stay in Spain with nowhere to live until they get a court date.
Spain is currently locked in a debate over anti-tourism with many people in towns popular with foreign holidaymakers protesting in the streets and sometimes attacking tourists.
The protesters claim that a never-ending stream of tourists is increasing property prices and squeezing locals out of their towns - as well over-crowding beaches and damaging beauty spots.
The tourism battle lines in Benidorm are drawn between the traditional quaint streets of the 'Old Town', where native visitors go to unwind, and the buzzing pub-packed strips of 'the New Town' where Brit drinkers party the night away.
One local told MailOnline: 'I want them [the Brits] to stay away from this area, not many people like the British tourists.
Jonny explained that as Benidorm continues to cater towards tourists - expanding rental properties and increasing food prices - locals are facing a cost-of-living crisis.
'I've got two or three guys who have a full-time job and they're living on the streets,' he told MailOnline.
'There's just nowhere to rent that is within the price range.
'There's nothing, you can't find anything, you see people on social media doing a flat share, you're looking at €400 to €200 a week for a room in a shared house.
'The average worker is on €1100 a month, so how's anyone supposed to survive?
'And most of the places are empty. That's the heartbreaking thing about it. You know, a lot of the tower blocks, and in the towns around as well.
'I've got a mate that's got an apartment in one of the tower blocks and eight months of the year there's him and one other apartment.
'Homes should be about where people live it shouldn't be about investment.
'Tourism has been exploited in a way which has had a detrimental effect on the locals.'
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As the clocks hit 12.30am, you could see hyped young people flood onto the beach after the music blasting in the beachfront bars was brought to an abrupt end. Critics say the changes are 'fair' as those wanting to party later into the night can still go to Bar Street, the resort's nightclub strip. But the appeal is not there. Those flocking to Armutalan Street are on the lookout for a family-friendly night out that isn't overrun by hormone-filled teens on their first party holiday. And the infamous Bar Street is not known to be the safest of places. Every pub owner along Armutalan Street and the Long Beach beachfront warned against venturing there alone. And Brits who have visited the resort for 20+ years and call Marmaris their second-home told me to steer well clear, telling me that spiking and harassment is all too common there. Just days before I arrived, one person was shot dead in an 'armed conflict' which broke out between two groups on the Bar Street strip. Mahoney, the owner of Parkhead bar, Mahoney said to me: 'They tell you if you want to go out, go to Bar Street, but the English people's culture is pubs. 'They don't want clubs, only the young people want to go to clubs. Most people that come to this street doesn't want to go to Bar Street. They are older people with families. 'Bar Street is quiet now, people don't go there. It's expensive and it's too much trouble. 'Three or four days ago, someone was shot and killed there. It's so much more dangerous. 'And if I sell a drink here for 150 lira (£2.74), on Bar Street it is three times more expensive. 'But 90 per cent of the people here are British. In this area, on this street, it's mostly British. 'We were the first many years ago to start having kids play area. 'In Marmaris you can ask any tourists about the pubs and the restaurants, everyone loves us. Most our customers they come here over 10 years, 15 years. We are like family with them. 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Let's be honest, it's not fair. 'By midnight people are just starting to get drunk, start enjoying it, and bang it's all closed. 'What are they supposed to do? Go and buy a bottle and go to their room? That's not what they came here for. 'It's only British people that come here, this street our customers are all from the UK. 90 per cent. 'The Brits are mad about it. Most our customers are like our friends now because they come every year, some come four or five times a year. So we are like family with them now. 'It's already stopping people from coming. 'People have already texted us saying they cancelled their flights. 'We're losing customers. They say they are going to Greece now. 'They're killing Marmaris.' Admitting the topless dancing may have been 'over the top', he said: 'Look, yes we have some fault. On some things we're wrong too as bars, we accept that. 'Some people may not like the taking tops off. We done it but that worked, but we see the point and we're not doing that no more. 'But the thing is this was one of the busiest bars in Marmaris, busy every night, if I was doing something wrong why would I be busy all the time? 'People come because they like that. I'm not doing it for myself, people like it. 'But some people don't, so we see the point, we don't allow it anymore. 'We say "we're sorry, we won't do it again". I don't know what the problem is with sparklers, but they say "don't do it" and we say "fine". 'But why are you closing the bar at 12, why are you turning the music off at 12, it's not fair. We weren't taking our tops off after 12, it was happening before.' Bedirhan Saritac continued to tell me how the effects have already been seen in the few weeks since the clampdown. He reckons he loses £2,000 a day (110,000 lira) during peak season due to the new measures. At the next pub down, staff member Adar from Mad Boys repeats the same as Mr Saritac: 'Our tourism season only six months, that has to last us the year. 'After seeing some boys' dances at some bars, like some dirty dances, the government say Turkish people are not this and want to stop it. 'We were very angry but then we saw some of the videos of kids dancing on the tables and it's not good at all. 'But it's not all, just a few doing that. 'Now they don't allow even normal dance, normal cha cha dance, the customers want to dance but they don't allow it. 'We are really hoping it gets better and they change it to at least 1am. 'All customers are saying "if we have to go to the hotel at 12am why we are on holiday? We might as well stay at home." 'All our customers, 99 per cent are British. We don't have any others tourist, just British in this area.' As it hit 11pm, I had expected the strip may become busier. But still it was a stretch to say it was even 'dotted' with people. Some bars were busier than others, but none of them looked how they should coming to the end of June. Speaking to one Scottish family at Chuckle Brothers through the loud music, Claire Quinn, 43, Fiona Muir, 41 and Shannon Luff, 25 said: 'The energy is down, it's a lot quieter than normal. It's terrible to see. 'When you come on holiday you don't want to go home at 12am. 'That's not what I came here for to be told to go home. 'In other destinations you have to go to clubs. The difference is when you come to Turkey and you can sit out here and it still take in the entertainment. 'The tourism has heavily gone down. 'When you've little kids or even teens, when you've got sparklers it keeps them entertained because they can't go out. 'It couldn't have been more family orientated. 'It's put a big damper on it. This is the quieter than I've seen it.' Ms Muir added: 'I've been coming here for 27, 28 years. My kids have been coming since really small. We've all been really shocked. It's a real shame.' Meanwhile, Ms Quinn said this may be her last visit. She said: 'I will not be back. If it stays this way. We come here for the atmosphere and the family entertainment and it's gone. 'I've been coming here twice a year for five years, but this will be my last time here unless it changes. 'You used to get the men dancing on the tables with sparklers, all that entertainment, but you don't get any of it anymore. 'Just look around outside too, it's completely empty. 'It's terrible, really terrible.' Further down the strip Lee Potter, 33, was visiting the bars with his family, Harriet Walker 29, Janine Potter 29, and kids Thomas and Tallulah. He said: 'The first year we came here it was absolutely booming. It was mental. 'We've been coming for four went to Jacob's they were dancing on the tables. 'It was also so cheap. You could get a pint for 80p, now it's about the same as London prices.' On the dancing they said: 'It is was a bit like entertainment, but it was a bit crude. It's not for when your with family. But before you couldn't walk down this street. Now it's dead.' Diane Harvey was here just five weeks ago. She told me: 'Everything was normal. Now it's dead. 'I've been coming to Marmaris for 20 years, it was never any trouble, any problem. 'It was mobbed five weeks ago with tourists, families with babies. 'The boys were all dancing, no trouble, no nothing. 'I came back here on Saturday, and I'll tell you it's the worst I've seen it. 'They can't come up to dance with customers anymore. I would normally be up there dancing with all these boys. 'I'm coming back here in October with friends and it's not going to be the same. They've ruined it, ruined Marmaris. 'Next year I'm not coming here, I'll be going to morocco. 'On all the Marmaris groups on Facebook, they're all boycotting it. They're going to Spain, Portugal. 'I don't know if I'll come here next year, I'm going to Morocco next June instead. Further down by the beachfront, where music has to be turned off by 12.30am, Lauren Bennington, 31, Lea Binns, 24 and Keeley Whitehurst, 20, told me 'it's not the same'. The trio, who had all met back here on the beach many years ago, said: 'We would usually be here till like 5am but now it's half 12 and everyone floods onto the beach. 'We've been coming for eight years. It was packed even last year but now it's so much quieter. 'And the problem is you don't want to go to Bar Street because it's quite rowdy there. 'They used to do the sparklers and the dance shows and the guys dancing, and they say it's bad cos they're doing it in a sexual way but they're not. 'They're just entertaining. And the thing is the sparklers and stuff, the kids love it too it keeps them entertained It's definitely not the same.' Nearby Emma Boriss, 46, and Emily Boden, 24, from Blackpool, warned me against going to Bar Street. They said: 'This beachfront, it's a home away from home. 'But Bar Street, it's dinghy, it's like a back street. 'Someone was shot there a few days ago. 'We've been once with a chap from the Manchester bar before, but we wouldn't ever go back. It's dangerous. 'It's a shame that they've ruined these bits. We'll probably still come, but not if it weren't for the people we know well now. 'I could see how first time goers wouldn't come. They'd go somewhere like Portugal instead.' Almost everyone I encountered walking down the strips at Armutalan Street and the beachfront had been regular visitors who had made Marmaris their yearly trip over years. And the new curfews risked changing this for them. For James Roberts, 28, and Jade Bingham, 27, Jamie Bone, 20, and Dylan Cox, 21, it was their first time visiting. They said: To be fair it's out of respect for the hotels and locals isn't it. 'But we have to say it is a bit of a let down for tourists.'
