Anger won't make us leave, say religious preachers

The choruses of Highway to Hell, YMCA and Pink's I'm Coming Out echo around the quaint Staffordshire market town of Leek each week.

It is a playlist that has been carefully curated by the community, who have grown increasingly upset by language used by religious preachers.

They have particularly homed in on songs that celebrate the LGBT community.

"I'm preaching love instead," says Ryan Smith, 21, who comes into town each week with his speaker, charger and collection of tunes.

It started off as a bit of a joke, albeit one that was borne out of exasperation, after seeing the preachers shout their message in the town every week.

He posted on a local Facebook page saying he would invite people to share a coffee with him while he played music over the preachers in protest.

It got hundreds of likes and comments.

"It's just blown up," he says.

Dozens of people have pitched in with song suggestions and praised him for his mission.

"It's borderline hate speech," he says, describing homophobic and transphobic launguage the preachers have used.

He says others in the town remember it being an issue as far back as the 1980s.

Alan Howard is one of the preachers who travels in to the town centre each week.

He believes preaching "is the air that he breathes" and he will do it until the day he dies.

What does the 77-year-old make of Mr Smith's musical protest?

"I feel sorry for them, really, because they are spiritually blind and all they actually do is cause more attention to the message we are bringing to people," he says.

His group were often accused of being hate preachers, he says, but he insists they are not "coming from there" and were "coming with the love of God".

"Nothing or no-one will ever stop preaching - no law will ever stop me preaching," he adds.

Georgina Arapi has been running Café Apollonia for six years and has an outside seating area where her customers enjoy pleasant weather.

She says the preachers have stood outside her business with a megaphone.

"Customers were coming in saying that they didn't like them there, they disagreed with what they had to say and they found what they were saying hateful," she says.

Ms Arapi says she started to notice a decline in people wanting to sit outside.

She got in touch with police, who asked the preachers to avoid the premises.

A lesbian, who asked to remain anonymous, says she had been subject to abuse from the preachers.

She says: "I've been with my partner and because I am gay they have come full bore at me saying 'it's against God's will, you're a sin of nature and you shouldn't be here'. It's horrific."

She adds: "I get religion, I'm a Catholic myself, but there is a time and a place for it."

She now avoids the town centre on days the preachers are there.

Councillor Bill Cawley, cabinet member for communities at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, says he had first heard of concerns in 2022 when he was the mayor of Leek.

"As a long-term resident of the town, I have always appreciated the tolerance and friendliness of the town," he says.

"The words of the preachers jeopardised that tradition."

Staffordshire Police said it had not had any complaints about the preachers since August 2023.

The council has released a code of conduct for people who wish to busk or preach in the town centre.

It encourages people to report any individual or groups believed to be causing a nuisance.

The authority can then advise further and decide whether a community protection notice needs to be issued.

A spokesperson said the council had not received any complaints.

In the meantime, Mr Smith says he will continue his protest.

He also plans to get t-shirts printed for people to wear in support of his campaign.

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