Possible Clues:

• Run-down, disreputable
• Showing signs of neglect
• Scruffy grain before start of year
• Unfit children end in reformatory
• Squalid picture's extremely dirty
• Like some cakes quietly excluded from fast
• Run-down, squalid
• Like a run-down motel
• Note by accredited agency ultimately providing run-down?
• Like fleabag hotels