The Origins of 'Cracktown'

The Origins of “Cracktown”

Old Lynn District is commonly referred to by the media and some very small groups of reactionary citizens as ‘Cracktown’. Although the origin of this unflattering title is undetermined, it seems likely that the national tabloids labelled Old Lynn as such by referring to ‘the Drug Pit’, a very small piece of derelict land in the South-West block of the town itself (although crystal meth is actually by far the most popular Class A of choice for locals and Swaffhamites, NOT crack cocaine).

Local residents, however, differ in their explanations; some say that ‘the crack’ is the “clear gulf divide between the post-regenerated regeneration of gleaming business communities and the impoverished poorer communities, shunted to one side once the flood came” (yeah right!). Yet others claim the crack in Cracktown refers to a moral weakness or otherwise sociopathic tendency in the moral fabric of its townsfolk. I prefer to think of Cracktown as Craik-town – ‘Craik’ being the Irish term for FUN!


Polly Blank
[Quicklime Offices]
January 2012