I remember as a kid in the 70s going to visit my Nan's house, a terrace just off Breck Road. It was an old house but decent and the family seemed happy there. That felt like it changed when they were moved to the new Low Hill estate as part of the slum clearance programme. The houses looked decent but were plagued by building quality problems and the estate layout added to the subsequent social problems. By the early to mid 80s the estate was firmly in the grip of the druggies and whilst my grand parents seemed happy enough I think they developed a fear of leaving the house especially at night and I couldn't help but think that other parts of the Hughes family that ended up in Kirkby probably had the better deal.
By the mid 80s as a teenager, I'd then be getting the train (even they were knackered) into Liverpool most weekends either to go to the match or into town and I'd visit my Nan's. The whole area just seemed to continue on a downhill spiral and I felt like the estate had developed an uncomfortable vibe. Most of my uncles worked on Kirkby industrial estate and had moved out of the city by then, the one uncle that stayed in the city was a builder and was always working away anyway. Eventually even most of the industrial estate was demolished putting them out of work and driving them further out of the area. It was grim, everywhere you'd look around the city, the suburbs and the industrial estates you'd see neglect and dereliction. The only positives seem to be the football and also I still enjoyed going into Liverpool or to Kirkby market shopping as there was always a bargain to be had with whatever cash you had in your pocket, Scousers are if nothing else survivors in that regard.
Throughout all that, I have say that the majority of my family always remained upbeat and maintained a remarkable sense of humour, you didn't really have time to feel sorry for yourself with all the piss taking. Just some really naturally funny people with lightning fast wit, absolute diamonds and I deeply miss those that have passed. In a way the news about Bernard has brought back lots of memories about them and that era of time.
That was very much my view of Liverpool back then.seeing all those run down places and just wondering how much worse things could get.
I remember walking to anfield from the city centre and seeing the “piggeries” as they were known just amazed that people were expected to live in those places ,incredible.
But I also found that the people were great ,down their luck and not much going right but the humour ,friendliness and spirit was fantastic it was a pleasure to meet people like that.
I went all over the country following the reds and many other cities and towns weren’t much better.Manchester was a dump ,dodgy as fuck in places ,anyone who went to Maine road knew you had to have eyes in the back of your head .Leeds ,Newcastle ,Birmingham,London all on their knees.
I went to Stamford bridge for the first time in 78 ,really looking forward to it,it had a certain glamour attached to it in the70 I grew up in … wow ,what a fucking dump ,a shit hole.complete let down ,how naive I was .even the whole kings road ,Fulham road area was scruffy ,run down ,dirty .
And to cap a miserable day we lost 4-2 I think it was ,fa cup .so it puzzled me when away fans would turn up at anfield and sing in your Liverpool slums ,no self awareness and still to this day.
