Resided in Edinburgh for a good few years now and the begging was at best a minor irritation but of late we have noticed it has become more noticeable and those doing it are extremely aggressive in their demands even if they speak no English.

Where I work its university property but at the nearby shops there is a ATM with a resident begger (professional) always with the hand out much to the annoyance of shoppers, but the centre of the city especially Princes Street has become a haven for them sitting near cash machines trying to intimidate to ensure they get money, generally making the place look seedy. In fact the city centre has become very bad for begging.

But on morning last week we were in Portobello a suburb of Edinburgh, genteel and full of local atmosphere, granted it has a Greggs but it's a nice place to wander and shop, anyway passing by Greggs my partner was accosted by this rather dirty looking thing with her hand out, partner shouted in finest German a few choice swear words only to be spat at. Luckily it missed her but if it's frightening to be accosted like this as a youngish woman it must be absolutely terrifying for a vulnerable adult or retiree to be confronted with demands for money from those kind of people.

As I said it was never really noticeable but now it's spreading out into the suburbs and surrounding towns and it's mainly Romanians & Bulgarians working the so called best pitches, I'm all for helping those down on their luck but begging has to be made a criminal offence because failure to tackle the blight head on is going to anger folk.

In London you see many beggars on the tube, either musicians, or eastern european women passing out packets of tissues with a card saying 'God will bless your family' if you donate them money. They are very annoying, are they part of an organised group? I believe so.

It's all professionally organised up here I'm told, I don't mind buskers because they are giving something for something and we get to hear some nice music and or song, what I do fear is the reckoning coming for these beggars because Scots are generally quite nice and friendly but friends have commented that sooner or later a well lubricated Scotsman is going to take exception to be asked for money when wandering home after a boozey lunch etc and deck one of them.

I have heard they even ask schoolkids for money, it's sickening.

Where I live in South Wales we have a gang of about six local beggars who sit outside the local off-licence by day and hold up in an abandoned hotel by night. I have nothing against people who have fallen on hard times, I volunteer at homeless shelters during most Christmases but these people are more aggressive bums than anything else.

They're often off their faces on drugs, will hurl abusive and racist screams at anyone who walks past without "donating", will pee in the middle of the high street or children's parks and often cause a ruckus in shops from either stealing or acting like prats towards the staff and customers. I used to buy them food in the past but they'd throw it away and yell for money instead.

While relatively small in number I agree with OP, it can be frightening for people who get abuse from these yobs. It's also annoying to see how many ambulance and police cars get called out for them every week. Resources which could help other people but are being diverted to pick up another drunk bum who has passed out on booze for the fourth time that week.

I agree begging is now the blight of Edinburgh. I went on a stroll from the Balmoral, along Princes Street, up Frederick Street and back to St Andrew Square and counted over 30 of the b**tards.

What makes it worse was that i saw at least 5 of them chatting away on Iphones, and saw two being picked up by someone in a nice shiney black Range Rover!

Time Edinburgh took a stance and banned them - the professional Romanian beggars spoil it for the genuine ones.

And I agree that they've now moved to the suburbs. There's one woman regularly seen in Prestonpans, Port Seton and Musselburgh. She's been seen getting dropped off by someone in a 65 reg Mercedes!

the big increase I noticed was in 2014 and 2015 here in b-ham .

they're mostly pleasant and grateful for anything you give them altho recently I have had 2 blokes who just looked at me and said basically "I can't get anything with that " when I gave them my change (about 80p) !

In my small town we have about 8-10 people who beg regularly. They're no trouble though, they just sit quietly on the pavements at various points around town, with a hat in front of them. You never see more than 3 of them together and most of them are homeless.

A few of them have addiction issues, so I don't give them money but will get them a hot drink or a sandwich from time to time.

They're all local people, most of them have grown up here.

It's always going to be a problem because how you can do a thorough check on a beggar's credentials in the street, prove your homelessness, show me bank statements, forms of ID, so you're always going to get that!

Nobody can condone spitting, but surely you don't swear at someone in any language?

A few years ago we were in Brussels and there were lots of young Romanian women, each with a baby, begging on the streets
Apparently they belonged to gangs, the babies were not theirs - just issued for the day. I will never forget the sadness in these women's eyes

Central London is inundated with beggars. They are nearly all Romanian and other eastern Europeans with some Muslim women from somewhere in the middle east. They work in gangs, they spread out and then meet up afterwards. I don't think all begging should be stopped, some British people are on the streets including ex soldiers but something needs to be done about Romanian etc gangs aggressively begging. One shouted at me as I'd won a couple of quid on the lottery and he saw then wouldn't leave me alone while shouting "you won lottery you buy me a cuppa" and another eastern European man was literally screaming at me for "just small change please you have small change give me small change". There has been a massive increase in homeless people on London's streets. In central London, Kings Cross, Camden etc there are lots of people sleeping rough and competing with eastern Europeans for begging money. Yesterday in Euston a Romanian Big Issue vendor and a British beggar were hustling on the same set of steps, something I've seen in other parts of London. I lived in Edinburgh in the 1990s and most of the beggars were so called New Age Travellers and Scots. I dread to think what it's like now going by the OP.

I haven't seen any beggars for several years. Banbury may have it's problems but it doesn't seem to have beggars. Brackley certainly doesn't have them.

In Knightsbridge in London there are gangs of Romanian women with babies that looked drugged to keep them quiet, the babies were drugged that is. Also on Oxford Street in central London there are Romanian women busking with pedigree dogs. The dogs bowls are used to put money in. There were a few of them, I wonder where they got the dogs from? Pedigree dogs are not cheap and I suspect they are stolen from parks or gardens.

Edinburgh has always had a big problem with beggars. The council had a big clampdown on them some years ago. I don't think it's any better or worse than it ever was.
I wouldn't call Porty 'genteel' either. Tacky and run down more like.

For now. It's mainly major cities that have the biggest beggar problems. That's where they can beg in gangs and where it's very busy compared to quieter towns.

There's been a massive increase everywhere, I'm afraid, and it's not going to get better anytime soon.

I work with clients who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and we're busier than we've ever been. The council have more people presenting as homeless than they've ever had. Families and vulnerable people who are entitled to emergency accommodation are frequently placed in neighbouring counties because all the b&b's here that take homeless people are full.

The people you can see sleeping rough in shop doorways etc are the tip of the iceberg, too. There are people sleeping in cars, tents, sheds on allotments or crashing on friends' floors. People who do outreach work with rough sleepers reckon that there are at least another 5 for every person you see.

We're seeing different causes of homelessness too. The long wait (at least 7-8 weeks) for any money for people starting Universal Credit claims means that people have often been served a notice to quit before they've received a benefit payment, and the reduction in the benefit cap is just starting to lead to evictions.

Begging, drinking, sleeping rough and drugging is illegal in my town. There is up to £1000 fine. There are big purple notices everywhere.

I've no idea how they expect the homeless to pay a fine.

We have a law that says "no foul language".

When I was in Barcelona in 1990. The beggars outside La Sagrada Familia tipped their money into a bucket and drove off in a Mercedes.

In Belfast we had little or no begging on the streets throughout the troubles, we had the "winos" looking for a "sprassy" but Ive noticed lately we have been inundated with Roma types invading every single popular Pub and nightclub entrance begging while wrapped up in a sleeping bag. Its an epidemic.

Romanian gypsies.

They beg, steal, pick pockets, ATM fraud, credit card fraud, mugging, prostitution, stealing copper cables and other metals, and just about every other illegal way to make money that doesn't involve working, paying tax and contributing to society.

They are criminal, low life scum, and the sooner the better we can kick them out of our country.

There were beggars everywhere yesterday "have you any spare change?" hanging around KP and in town earlier.

I've seen threads on here about it and I never give them anything because of them spending it on booze and drugs.

I have now started to give money to One Roof and told them when they ask for money to go there if they need food/shelter etc. They've been polite enough so far.

Would anyone else do that - say no mate, I'm not giving you money, but I give it to a homeless charity, get yourself down there?

Just noticed this thread after I started a new one

Didn't Edinburgh have an aggressive begging law/act introduced a few years ago after that homeless nutter called "The Kaiser" was causing mayhem?

There are a lot of the eastern European identikit beggar woman who all look the same and usual just sit prostate on the ground with hands in the prayer position. I have seen a minibus dropping them off in the early morning! They are pretty benign and I have never been accosted by any of them but jeez there are a lot of them and they must impact the genuine local homeless people's takings. My mum works with Edinburgh churches that put on a night shelter that gives them food and a hall to sleep in every night in winter across various churches in Edinburgh and she says they don't see any of these woman.

There were beggars everywhere yesterday "have you any spare change?" hanging around KP and in town earlier.

I've seen threads on here about it and I never give them anything because of them spending it on booze and drugs.

I have now started to give money to One Roof and told them when they ask for money to go there if they need food/shelter etc. They've been polite enough so far.

Would anyone else do that - say no mate, I'm not giving you money, but I give it to a homeless charity, get yourself down there?