Britain in the 1950s 

I born in 1949 into a working class family. We were the luckiest generation in history and it will never be repeated.

I thank God I was brought up then and not now.

We feel we are living in a foreign country now. Things have really deteriorated so much.

What has happened to the world? Nobody is happy anymore. Just greed, hate, selfishness and murderous thoughts. We should love and help each other. We are all from the same source.

Oh England ...my England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 what has happened to it ... destroyed by those traitors in Parliament !

It was much better than it is now .

England then was another country and by Christ I'm homesick.

They were great times not liike broken Britain today

Born in 1947, I have much better memories of the 50s than this video portrays. Maybe inner cities were drab and dreary, but living in a more rural area, we had a clean and cheerful environment

Bliss, no diversity, no inclusion, no gender nonscense. No WEF, no 15 min cities. Just native in a harmonious society.

Multi culturalism has ruin this once great country ,makes me weep , if my father were to see this he would ask why his generation went to war for freedom

I was born in 1946 when my dad came back from Stalag Luft 3 (he was not on the great escape wing.) One of my earliest memories is the air raid shelter in the back garden of the rented house that was home to 4 adults and 3 children. In 1952 the king died and 1953 on my birthday they had Lizzys coronation with a huge number of RN ships in the solent and the firework display was amazing. We stood in Oakhill road and watched for ages. 70 years later the house is still called Braeside.

Pubs with me on the step with a arrow route biscuit and lemonade whilst my wonderful dad had a beer at the bar with no need to keep an eye out because England full of English was a very safe place to be.

Love those old photos.. Life seemed more relaxed Easy going... less crime Would love a time machine

No 🔪 crime ,no ethnic minority guilt trips ,just people doing their best to carry on after the second world war And hoping for a better world and standard of living

In those days you could borrow some flour or sugar from your next door neighbour these days you would be told were to go, thats if you knew your neighbour.

I was born in the early 50's in a 2 bed council house, slept with my sister until 7, parents couldn't afford school meals we came home for lunch, usually a fried egg and 5 chips. No car, everywhere by bus, the house had one coal fire and was freezing in the winter, no holidays, same food every week etc etc. Only this week I heard one of my neighbours telling the other that because of inflation they were cutting down to 2 foreign holidays, shame eh? Every local house has at least 2 cars and everyone is fat, yep times are hard lol.

There was good and bad. Far less crime; less traffic;

We had one power point and one bulb socket in each room in our house. Dad came home for lunch on his motorbike. We were not well off but we had enough clothing and food and plenty of coal. What more does one need? Oh yes. A loving family.

The 60's weren't that much better but as most people are saying - I'd go back to those times in a heartbeat compared with today.

What a fantastic snapshot of our great country, and not too long after WW2. Look at it now 🥺😥

Lovely compilation! Great images and an excellent choice of music.

How did we get from there to here to shit hole we become because no one stood up and said enough enough that day approaching

way too many cars for it to be the fifties more like the sixties as I remember them I was born in 1948, but still some great photos

Forget the sombre music. I was a child in the 50s, there were people everywhere, children playing in the streets, pubs full of people talking and singing. We had less of what doesn't matter and more, much more, of the things that DO matter. Boy, I have some fond memories of that wonderfully HUMAN time. Forget the sombre music, it tells the wrong story.

Yeah, the thing about 50s Britain was that everyone was in Black and White, having slowly emerged from the sepia-tone of the 20s and 30s. I was born near the start of the 60s and I recall everything fairly quickly moving into colour, although a few older people weren't too keen. By the end of the 60s, Flower Power was getting us past the pastel stage. Then we had glam rock and everything got really vibrant, but Thatcherism put a stop to that and, over the last forty years, we have been devolving into a sort of fridge-light blue, washed out monotone with day-glo highlights.

Technology may solve a problem but it resolves nothing, creating only the circumstances for still greater problems to develop that require still more complicated and expensive solutions in their turn. That sums the rise and fall of Britain from the 50's very well. There was poverty and whilst there was greater respect there was also rancorous bitterness and envy between the classes. There was also joy in the simplest things, in community, in shared rationing. There were social problems, ex-servicemen with PTSD turned meths drinkers. There was a profound appreciation of the cultural differences between the regions and countries comprising the Unite Kingdom, from 'Bonnie Scotland' to 'Devon, Glorious Devon'. Above all, there was industrious hope for a better future. The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

What's for tea? Chicken surprise. That sounds nice. What's the surprise? No chicken! What's for tea? Bread, and duck. (At this point you dropped to the floor before mam's open palm clipped you around the ear)

Ah the sweet smell of nostalgia, glad I was born in the 50s and grew up in the 60s.

I was brought up in Coventry directly after the war and remember it all too well. Ration books, bomb shelter in back yard, no bathroom, outside toilet and yet got through like so many others. Family had a pet dog and cat and chickens in the back yard. Ah, memories, memories.

I was born in 1956 and lived through 'the best of times' great music and society was more cohesive and happier. I left school at 15yrs old in 1971 and had the choice of 3 good, career jobs. Unheard of now

i was born 1956 went to work at 15 at 1971 just retired made it

Born in the UK in 1950 these pictures are so relevant. Thanks for uploading them . ❤❤ Gymslips and school blazers. Mods or rockers.

Good place friendly people know unrecognisable bad place Tories and labour brutal wrecked country shocking

In the 50s we were told " that we have never had it so good ". Then someone decided to give the country over to foreigners.

I was born in 1950 and they WERE happy days. Camping holiday in Cornwall every July. Lived in a council house with just one coal fire. Our village had one bus an hour and the fare into anywhere with shops was 4d single. We had no cars, phones, computers but we had freedom. Playing in the fields all day during school holidays

Not very diverse in those days and people did not see it as a problem.

I would live there in a heartbeat! It's far from perfect, but way closer than today.

I was born in 51 the times were hard but us kids had loads of fun. Come summer break my mum would hardly see me would come home at 12ish for a jam sandwich and go back out with my mates and the stray dog that use to come along and play with us, then come home for dinner which was neck of lamb stew if we were lucky. Bloody good old days.

I’d go back to those times without hesitation,yes times for our parents were hard but as kids it was idyllic,we had respect for neighbours,Police Officers and of course teachers.Yes we have modern technology and of course this is a good thing in some respects,but the simple things we had then made us appreciative of what we had.HG Wells where’s that time machine.

We were loved had good parents who worked hard to give us the best they could no hand outs then no television for some but we all played together the same god bless our great country we lost ❤❤❤❤❤

I certainly think even in the last few years this country has slid further downhill.Watching our woke media shows we have been sleepwalking into a horrible new era.....

Was still the same up into the late 70s

It is so worrisome to see the current state of England. I am from India and being an Indian I used to reckon that most polite and civilised people are the British people. The third world crowd from South Asia and Africa literally has destroyed Britain. I do not why British government is not taking any major action against the migration of third world migrants

Why the mournful music? I was 8 in 1951, had an enviable education, successful surgery on a brain haemorrhage (following an accident), family was rehoused from a room and kitchen with outside toilet and no hot water or electricity to a new 3 bedroom house with all mod cons, and eventually was able to pick and choose my job when I left college. And, oh, the joy when sweets came off the ration!

Politicians used to help then , now they help themselves.

The good old days when Britain was a free democracy, before hate speech, trans rights and no border controls

Thank you for the memories. It could have been me in some of those photographs.

Back when Britain was great 👍

Come on people. Stop bemoaning. There ois still a vast number of good sensible people. Thete are many signs we have had enough of being pushed around

I'm 69 now and when I think of those years I see it just as in this video..... black and white..

I was born in 1948, and coming closer to the end of my life, and all I can say is thank goodness for that. I’ve seen this country go downhill rapidly in the last 20 years and non of the younger generations seem to give a toss, and are willing to let immigrants take their jobs, take their homes and generally turn this country into a 3rd world country with impunity. When will they learn? Perhaps never

0:18. Yes remember being able to play in the street with hardly any cars going past. In south London in the 1950s.

I wouldn’t trade my growing up then, to grow up now!

True English white people, took me back to 1953 when I was born, not a foreigner in sight.

Born in 1950...... really miss growing up days. Everything was magic until Kennedy was murdered. Since then, well.......

Destroyed by politicians

The cost of WW1 and WW2 bankrupted Britain and they are still paying the price today , unfortunately they turned to socialism post WW2 because of the poverty, and it turned Britain into a failed deindustrialized failed state.

Wretchedly governed and Ill policed...and a foreign country ..2024.. Thank God I lived in England before it's downfall. God help the youngsters. 92 now

"The golden age never was the present ".

Several of these photos are from the 1960s

The 1950's? Happy memories of a London crime free, could walk the streets at night after a night out in the pub with no potential problems. But now London is at least 70% immigrants which has changed London for the worst whatever the politicians try to tell you!

The war had only just ended. We need another to have any hope of regaining the spirit that existed in the 50’s.

Best times. No woke. People queing. When england 🇬🇧 was teuly a happy place and now it's just hell on earth 🌎

I can just about remember the late 50s and they were as bleak as they look in these photos. I remember going to primary school then and detesting every single minute of it. The teachers seemed all unhappy with their lot in life and were bent on taking it out on us kids. They bullied us for the slightest things. What, you didn't learn your times tables properly? That's a caning or a hard rap with the edge of a ruler on the fingers then. I swear, if I'd have met anyone of them in the street later in life when I was bigger I'd have needed someone to hold me back. But there were also a lot of positives. Unemployment was unknown of as far as I remember, my dad changed his job quite often, but wages were very low. Still, and this may sound quite strange these days, although my dad was just a common labourer and my mum was a stay at home mother of five kids, my parents were homeowners. In fact most of my dad's workmates and friends owned their own homes. Try and afford that now on a single unskilled wage.

There is a lot of the 60's in this.

There's a couple of photos here that looked more like 70s than 50s.

You could leave school and easily find a job, free further and higher education for those who wanted it, buy a house after 4 or 5 years, roads safe and traffic free. The 1960's the good old days.

I mourn the loss of my country 😔 I do not recognise it anymore, it's not my country anymore. I am glad that I grew up in a time when there was freedom and innocence for children and you knew everyone in the street.🇬🇧

NOT ALOT OF MONEY ABOUT, BUT ALOT OF DECENT, RESPECTFUL PEOPLE, EVERYONE JUST TRYING TO MAKE THE BEST OF THINGS.

And it was all given away without a single bullet fired

Great times when you could play in the street ,boys playing football and cricket ,girls skipping and playing rounders.Yes please take me back.

Some of these photographs are from the 60s. Although times were hard until the mid-60s, there was much greater social cohesion than can be found in Britain today. In many ways, it was a much happier place, despite the poverty.

Being a 50s kid this video wakens good memories of how our country was, Remember ice on the inside of bedroom window glass, Now its 2022 and this government returns us to those icy days due its lack of investment in UK energy, instead we pursue a net zero agenda we suffer they dont , this is madness, we are suppose to be going forward in time not backwards. Yes those days were good for children growing up and adults too, but now i just dont like what the country has become i simply do not recognise it . Our streets were safe then our borders secure , unlike now.

I'm a 50s kid and only remember having a lot of fun despite shortages and housing at that time, alot of developments and regeneration was going on, and a Mars bar was the size of a brick costing three old pennies.

i was born in 1949 and lived on a council estate all my life only had 3 professions all my life 1 of them for 45 years .i worked hard hardly had a sick day i retied better off with my pensions than working ,i loved my time growing up i was always out in the countryside with friends ,it was not till i was in my mid teens i came to realise the sacrifices my mum was making to cloth and feed us all she divorced my dad when i was 10 and we all mucked in all 7 of us , my mum was bedridden for many years and is was never a chore for us all to look after her it was our honour ,god bless you mum .

Far better world than now

The post war years were by far the happiest although ppl struggled & still on rations in the early 50s.People lived simple lives.They were content & enjoyed the peace after living thru 6 yrs of gruelling war! Children were children & played with imagination,they were not materialistic or corrupted by Tv. I'd give anything to bring that kind of life back.

It was tough but compared to today’s complete mess I’d return to those hard days in a flash.

There was no unemployment. Young men left school and learned a trade. There was a real sense of community. We were more content with our lot and appreciated the more simple things in Life. We had a great NHS. There was still a lot of poverty that comes from social standing and stygma. I was born in 54 and I have fond memories of growing up in a small Perthshire Town in Scotland. There was so much to do, all year round.

lovely old black an white photos look how all the streets were clean back in the day nnot like this pc crap of a generation

Best Days, we were English Then.

I would go back to the 50's at the blink of an eye, hard yes, but wonderful compared to these days, we had nothing, but everyone we knew had nothing, and we helped each other

BUT for those of us who had lived through the War ,this was freedom! No bombing ,no blackouts ,yes rationing still for some things but not so many Government restrictions . Why do you think think so many of the people in the photos are happy and smiling? You need to compare these pictures with some during the previous decade . I know what I am talking about , born in 1938 , I remember those times

England is becoming unrecognizable now and we all know why. Thanks, good video.

Took me back to my childhood, thanks.😀

I loved the 50s great memories.

The 1950s were my formative years living in Oldham, Lancashire and it was an era where children could play outside without being accosted or abused. 👍🥳

No multicultural ridden divided isolated English people, booming industry, everything made here, British cars everywhere, kids playing out unsupervised, no grooming gangs, busy pubs n clubs, busy high street, everyone knew everyone, people married, bought a house, lived in it forever, worked at the factory end of the road, booming seaside resorts, no immigrants........what decade is it? 1950s? Bloody hell, my apologies, I thought it was my era, the 1980s!

lt comes back to me, playing in the streets of liverpool , almost dock side, mams, aunties , uncles and cousins, hard working families trying to survive, the rationning still on, and bombed out buildings to play in. The security of common spirit and background, and who wouldnt want a pint at the end of the day.

In the 50s I asked my dad why we didn't lock our backdoor. His response was if they are so hard up as to want anything from our house they can have it!

Your comments in the description are very true - I know 'cause I was there! Bombed out, broke, rationed and taxed yet we didn't look for somewhere else to live, we stayed on, got stuck in and rebuilt and regrew.

But this can't be right, the BBC tell us UK was always diverse!

All we tried to do building this country back up after the war. Now kids just throw everything back in our faces, look at what has happened to what was once a lovely country.

I was born in 1953 and lived through many problems i.e. heating no glass in windows miles walks to shops have to catch a bus to school and walk 2 miles to bus stop. Had to play sports outside in rain snow. We lived through 15% mortgages had little fresh food, poor clothing no internet no tele. People today think they are struggling they don't know half. We struggled through hardships non of the modern people will ever see and what do the government do give us £783 a month to live on whilst people on benefits get £90,000 a year nearly £2,000 a month what sort of society do we have now in them days people helped each other now you don't even see person next door for months. Well done the British Government for taking us from the greatest nation in the world TO THE WORST

I have built a time travel machine . No joke .Anyone want to go back to the fifties ?

I sat on a wall with my mate with a notebook and pencil collecting car numbers. On a good day we got six.

What you never had you never missed ,that’s just the way it was !anything like a seaside holiday or the weekly comic was something to look forward to ,in this day of mass communication in every way possible opens the door to life on the other side ,what we didn’t know didn’t bother us!

Blair let them all I . It’s changed too much.

Lovely and homogenous and a better country