In dire straits after reputation collapsed, a first for relatively wealthy area (11,4)
I believe the answer is:
stockbroker belt
'wealthy area' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in dire straits after reputation collapsed a first for relatively' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'collapsed' could be 'broke' (breaking is a kind of collapsing) and 'broke' is found within the answer.
'for' could be 'to' (eg both can mean 'in the opinion of') and 'to' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stockbroker belt that I've seen before include "Affluent residential area" , "wealthy area" , "area where the rich live" , "Suburbia" , "in which you'll see people out of business?" .)