Birmingham, the second-largest city of England, looked totally different in the 1980s. There were no Selfridges or Harvey Nichols, no Bullring as we know it today. Instead, you had to take your life into your hands as you ventured through the city’s subway shops and underground passages that are now filled in and long since vanished. The city was going through a major economic collapse due to the 1980s recession. The unemployment rates were also high outbreaks of social unrest in inner-city districts were common. Here below are some throwback photos that show what Birmingham looked like in the 1980s. Vote your favorites and also check, what Birmingham looked like in the 1960s.
Birmingham in the 1980s: Stunning Throwback Photos Show A Different City
A police car on Golden Hillock Road, it’s nice to see things haven’t changed much.
A much worse city.. no doubt if this on FB the boomers would decry anything gone as loved etc see any Birmingham mail article .. The city now looks just so much better and every year getting better
I strongly agree. The only thing that could make anyone believe it was better back then was nostalgia
It is there .. the bull ring appears to be too posh, etc, and given that the city is young, the new developments attract younger people, and boomers don’t like it.
There is still a lot of this stuff around. Pubs and shops may have different names, but they look the same.
People love to talk about the old days, but IMO I think it looks a lot better now. Due to the lack of cars, the roads look wider, and because there are fewer of them, there are fewer potholes. My only observation is that there doesn’t seem to be as much rubbish on the streets as there was back then. Now it’s bad.
Birmingham in the late 1950s and early 1960s was more appealing to me. There was less litter and things were cleaner. Many of the old buildings were demolished and replaced with concrete monstrosities. Unlike today’s confusing station, New Street Station was easy to navigate.
Perfectly reasonable and sensible
To me it looks bad and dirty in the past too
When I lived on Cadbury’s Bournville Estate, they kept the pavements clean, removed weeds from between the pavement slabs, and replaced cracked slabs promptly. The pavements were also swept of dead leaves. It’s not like that anymore. We also saw hardly any litter and if a child dropped litter, their parents slapped them and made them pick it up.
Do u have any pics of late 50s bham? Would be good to see
Sadly, I don’t have any. My old photos were digitised and stored on a PC hard drive that failed. Perhaps the Birmingham Mail has some in its archives.