As a kid growing up in 70s Brierley Hill, I always held the place in high esteem, and would always be proud to say I come from Brierley Hill! That culminated one year when me and my mate went to Turkey, early 90s if memory serves, and we'd gone on a day trip somewhere and ended up at a restaurant and I remember talking to a guy opposite, he came from Manchester somewhere, anyway, all of a sudden he said, you come from Brierley Hill don't you? My mouth dropped, as most people, usually say you're from Birmingham - which doesn't get a too polite response back, as any Black Country bloke would confirm I'm sure, any way, I said yes, how do you know - he was a lorry driver delivering/picking up goods to the freight terminal that used to be down Moor Street every week and he'd recognised the accent! Unfortunately, I travel through Brierley Hill still, due to my job and my heart sinks to see it as it is now, as to how I remember it growing up; same with Dudley, Lye, Cradley to name a few - all once thriving towns with atmosphere, where you felt safe going about your business! Something went very, very wrong with society and how it conducts itself and the respect, a lot of its residents once had towards their town and each other, has long since gone. Such a shame, some call it progress, but, and I don't think I'm looking through rose tinted specs when I say, I know what era I'd rather be in!
im from gornal but live not far away in sedgley now i know brierly hill well and can only echo your words, i was an 80s child and in this day and age everything is much different unfortunately for the worse
That 'Something ' was when they voted in the EVIL Thatcher and her Neoconservatives. I was also a truck driver running out of Moor St. I remember once a rookie driver loading in front of me, I ran over to Andy the forklift driver to stop him loading him just in time. I told him he's a bloody idiot using round tree trunks as bearers for the long ingots. I thought common sense would've told him not to use the round tree trunks as they would've rolled the long ingots over the back going up moor st. Living around Bilston where I took on the Wolverhampton Council, never a more blatant den of thieves. I won a very important case against Wolverhampton and the Neoconservatives back in the 1990s. I visited Yeovil couple weeks ago and that too is devastated by the money grabing bestards in the council with most of the shops empty. They're gonna destroy everything in the country before long just because of their tax avoidance scams. They've designed the investors to move their money into tax havens where they can get exemption for tax purposes and use it for inward investments again tax free and with government guarantees. This is still their scam. Of course we should be blaming the idiots that voted for them, but when your promised things from liars how do you know what's right and wrong. But public enemy number one is still a Tory voter who believes everything they say. See, RAF recruiting flying pigs and they believe them.
Turk's Head, changed beyond recognition. Indian restaurant. The working class of Britain and every other country are the building blocks of that country. the so called elite are the moss that grows on and feeds off those proud bricks. I am happy to have worked hard and I love these people.
They were articulate; independent; and they shared common hardships. This produced resolute, diverse characters which collectively made a dynamic and irrepressible society, the workshop and moral reservoir of the West. Lost now amongst the neutral pabulum of our entitled masses
You make these people sound almost mythical with your misty eyed romanticism, which you have articulated quite superbly. The unvarnished truth however, was never so epic. I grew up in South Wales in the 1970s and yes there were resolute and uncompromising characters in my memory full of dark humour, Shavian wit and pumped up burvera. Lots of them were idiots too, with low aspirations and even fewer choices. Most I recall were provincial minded, not particularly self aware and were on fast track to an early grave brought on by alcohol and nicotinic abuse. My own father was in the front of the queue. For what it's worth, have a read of "The Uses of Literacy" by Richard Hoggart. It's an examination of working class culture in the northern towns of England. A great read.
Uncle had a fruit & veg stall in the market, my Dad’s first job was at Round Oak Steelworks, I spent several hours a week in Brierley Hill Swimming Baths, and worked my college holidays at Royal Brierley or Stuart Crystal. I remember quite a few of those pubs they showed. Drove through there a couple of weeks back and barely recognised the place.
We used to go to the Brierly Hill baths twice a week in the evenings, three families. It was much more modern than Stourbridge, where I came from. Happy days!😊
It’s easy to correct. Just ‘unwoke’ the British pub. It’s a 10 step process. 1. No women. 2. No children 3. No food except nuts on bar. 4. No jukebox 5. No TV 6. No mobile phones 7. Smoking reinstated (tobacco only) 8. No vapes 9. No drink-driving laws 10. Put the signs back outside that say “No dogs, certain ethnicity, or certain ethnicity” (I can’t even type it because this woke channel or woke tube will delete my comment) Number 11 is much more difficult. How to get men back in pubs now they are acting like women and spending their money like women, ie drinking American soft drinks, vaping, aimlessly driving around in cars, parking up in retail parks, hanging out at McDonalds, Subway, KFC, 24 hr service stations, eating Dunkin Donuts, watching RU-vid, going on Instagram, TikTok, dating apps, playing video games, eating Burger King, getting their hair done, getting the 41st expensive tattoo, eating ‘curries’ and drinking ‘lager’, buying £2 cans of ‘American Craft Ale’ pish from the supermarket, sitting on the sofa watching Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, etc etc etc…ALL of their money goes here not in the pubs it’s no wonder pubs are dying. So it’s an 11 step process really. The first ten are easy.
I found this fascinating. I come from the south coast and I’m not hearing a Birmingham accent at all, it sounds like a mix of country and northern. It was a bit confusing as I was expecting to hear more nasal tones. I know with the coal industry in the East Midlands that you’d hear people in Nottingham sounding like people from south Sheffield because of the inter-trading and possibly movement of people working up and down that sort of the country and perhaps with the Black Country there was a similar thing with Lancashire. I agree about the style of story telling they were really intense and watchable.
What a great documentary. I am from Wordsley, or Wudsley to keep in the spirit of things. If this is from 1965 that's about the time I used to go to the Saturday morning matinee at the Danilo Cinema which is just up the road from the Turks Head. I kinda remember this old pub, but does anyone know when the new Turks head turned up and did they knock the old one down or just reface it?
Hi John...it was knocked down in the 60's and rebuilt...my mom and dad ran the blue brick which is shown at the beginning and she said she remembered it being knocked down.
