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Oliver Rouane-Williams speaking with an elderly couple in the town centre

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Football fan art to brighten empty shop windows in Ipswich town centre

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Ipswich.co.uk Logomark in a circle

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Empty shop windows in Ipswich town centre will be transformed with large-scale football fan art ahead of each Ipswich Town FC home game. The first posters have already appeared in the former H&M building ahead of Saturday's match against Leicester City.

The big picture: The initiative, launched by Ipswich Central  and local art collective Call Me Ted, aims to inject new life into vacant retail spaces while celebrating the town's Premier League football status.

ITFC vs Leicester City poster in the window of the pop-up Sports Direct store
The first posters can be found in the windows of the former H&M building, currently a pop-up Sports DirectOliver Rouane-WilliamsIpswich.co.uk

Why it matters: The project combines efforts to:

  • Improve the visual appeal of empty shop units

  • Showcase local artistic talent

  • Build community spirit around Ipswich Town's Premier League campaign

The details:

  • New artwork will be installed before each remaining home game this season

  • The first display features three posters in the former H&M building, currently a pop-up Sports Direct

  • The project involves 19 different local artists creating match-specific designs

  • Each poster will also appear in ITFC's official matchday programmes

Behind the scenes: Call Me Ted was founded in August by brothers Steve and Richard Haugh, along with fellow Ipswich fans Kevin Bennett and Andy Mortimer. The group has already worked with several artists, including Tom Armstrong, Joel Millerchip, and Catalina Carvajal.

What they're saying: Lee Walker , CEO of Ipswich Central, said: "This collaboration with Call Me Ted allows us to creatively reimagine our town centre, making it more inviting and vibrant."

Steve Haugh, co-founder of Call Me Ted, said: "Through this project we're really pleased to be celebrating how much Ipswich Town FC matters to fans and the wider community at the same time as showcasing the incredible range of artists on our doorstep. The support we've had has been overwhelming, with the fanbase and local businesses really connecting with the designs."

What's next: Property owners with vacant units are being invited to participate in the scheme. Interested parties can contact Melanie Willis at Ipswich Central by emailing melanie@locusms.com.

Oliver Rouane-Williams speaking with an elderly couple in the town centre

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Are organised crime fronts hiding in plain sight on Ipswich high streets?

Feature
Ipswich.co.uk Logomark in a circle

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We publish the stories that matter and champion everything that's good about our town – without the ads, popups or tracking

The National Crime Agency's crackdown on high street businesses suspected of links to organised crime has made headlines in Shrewsbury but remains conspicuously absent in Ipswich, despite remarkably similar retail patterns.

A pattern emerging elsewhere

While Ipswich residents have yet to witness raids on local businesses, a stark scene is unfolding elsewhere: officers forcing their way into brightly-coloured barber shops, vape stores, minimarts, candy stores and phone repair shops that have proliferated across town centres.

Last month, the National Crime Agency (NCA) coordinated 265 raids on such premises across England and Wales as part of Operation Machinize, targeting high street businesses suspected of being fronts for international crime gangs – but it remains unclear if Suffolk, or Ipswich, has been part of this operation.

Organised crime and the impact on Ipswich's high street
Oliver Rouane-WilliamsIpswich.co.uk

Shrewsbury and Ipswich: towns with similar profiles

In Shrewsbury, a market town not dissimilar to Ipswich, officers detained two Kurdish asylum seekers during raids on barber shops, seizing thousands of pounds in cash and illicit vapes. The intelligence suggested these establishments were linked to money laundering, illegal immigration and drug dealing.

The parallels between Shrewsbury and Ipswich are difficult to ignore. Both are historic county towns with traditional market squares, and a mix of independent and chain retailers. Both have experienced the same influx of barber shops, vape stores, minimarts, candy stores and phone repair shops on their high street.

Yet while Shrewsbury has seen decisive action, Ipswich residents have yet to witness any comparable enforcement activity. At least not visibly. And if it has, it has yet to make any difference.

The Ipswich landscape

According to commercial property analysts Green Street, the average number of barbers per person in England and Wales has doubled in the past decade.

Walk through Ipswich town centre and the changing retail landscape is evident – multiple barber shops, vape outlets, phone repair shops and sweet shops often within yards of each other, typically with very few visible customers.

It is important to note that we are not suggesting any specific businesses in Ipswich are engaged in illegal activity. The presence of these shops alone does not indicate wrongdoing, and many could be legitimate businesses.

But questions should be asked. And questions are being asked – repeatedly – by residents.

The scale of the problem

The National Crime Agency estimates that £12 billion in illicit cash is laundered in the UK annually, with lots of it flowing through criminal front organisations on high streets.

These businesses appeared to surge as shop vacancies grew following the pandemic, creating opportunities for criminal gangs to establish themselves in plain sight.

The suspicious signs are easy to spot: businesses claiming implausible income levels, unpaid utility bills despite supposed high turnover, and the sale of illicit products like illegal vapes and tobacco.

In Greater Manchester, linked mini-marts were found to be staffed by asylum seekers, some working illegally, with hidden compartments concealing contraband.

What Operation Machinize uncovered

During Operation Machinize, authorities discovered cannabis farms, seized Class A drugs, arrested 35 people and questioned 55 suspected illegal immigrants. Three potential victims of modern slavery were identified. Bank accounts worth over £1 million were frozen and £40,000 in cash seized.

Detective Inspector Daniel Fenn, who led raids in Shrewsbury as part of the operation, said: "Members of the public are angry. They can see these fronts are there. The criminals feel they are hidden here. They think they can come to sleepy areas and won't be found."

The same could easily be said of Ipswich.

The pattern of exploitation is particularly concerning – the NCA believes some shops are used as fronts for drug-trafficking, people-smuggling, modern slavery and child sexual exploitation. In 2023, it secured the conviction of one Iranian Kurdish barber shop owner who was using his London premises as a base for smuggling 10,000 people to the UK in small boats.

Impact on legitimate businesses

Legitimate barbers are calling for a registration scheme and stricter regulation. Gareth Penn, chief executive of the Hair and Barber Council, highlighted how illegal barbers have led to fungal infections from improperly cleaned equipment.

More importantly, though, is the damage being done to genuine businesses that cannot compete with those avoiding costs and taxes, and those that cannot find suitable high street premises.

The damage is significant and potentially long-lasting.

Will Ipswich be next?

For Ipswich, the question now is whether Operation Machinize will visibly extend to Suffolk – or indeed, whether it already has without public knowledge.

Unlike local police forces, the National Crime Agency is exempt from Freedom of Information requests, making it impossible for journalists or the public to determine how many Ipswich businesses, if any, have been investigated.

This distinction is important.

While local police forces handle everyday law enforcement, the NCA was specifically created to tackle serious and organised crime that extends across police force boundaries, international borders, or requires specialist capabilities.

Their involvement signals that these high street businesses are not merely local issues but part of sophisticated criminal networks operating nationally and internationally.

Security Minister Dan Jarvis has stated that "high street crime undermines our security, our borders, and the confidence of our communities", promising "decisive action" to bring those responsible to justice.

The road ahead

There are concerns about the effectiveness of current measures. Of the 265 raids conducted, only 10 shops have been shut down permanently. Many businesses raided were back operating within minutes of officers leaving.

The challenge for authorities extends beyond individual shops to dismantling the organised crime networks behind them – networks that may have been profiting in plain sight for years on our high streets. While local police forces can target individual businesses, only the NCA has the mandate and resources to tackle the international networks behind them.

For Ipswich residents concerned about these issues, the prospect of action against suspicious businesses cannot come soon enough. However, due to the secretive nature of NCA operations, we may never know the full extent of their activities in our town – only their results, if and when they choose to make them public.

Oliver Rouane-Williams speaking with an elderly couple in the town centre

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