A short edited documentry about Hulme in Manchester. The housing sceme was a failure from start to finish. The estate was finaly demolished in the mid 1990's
I'm actually quite fascinated by the whole thing, i'm from manchester and I remember "old Hulme" as a child...how on earth these planners could actually think there idea would work still baffles me!! New Hulme is a vast improvement, however I am still drawn to old Hulme for some reason, I find it interesting and quite nostalgic...
It was the architects that designed the crescents - states it in the narrative - and if you have ever dealt with architects they have a quite persuasive way and narratives also states that some issues were overlooked/became apparent later. These days there are crime prevention officers in every police force that look into the design of major developments because far more is known about what could go wrong. So the proposal is not entirely down to town planners!
I lived here and maybe it was a combination of alot of different things, my youth, music scene, and plenty of naughtiness but I loved this place. We had the best time and we didn't care. X
Amazing piece of footage and history about Hulme. I used to visit the area as my Grandma used to live on 'Avenham Close.' I recall the crescents and the old 'Spinners' pub. My brother used to go to the 'Russell Club/Factory' club. Unfortunately, I never saw where that venue was located. However, I visit Hulme nearly every night as my girlfriend lives there. Whenever I am driving down there, I cannot help but think of my Gran and the many bands that played there too and of course the crescents.
I lived in Robert Adam Crescent until the age of 5. I'm so glad I don't have huge memories of living there. I do remember getting stuck in the lift because it broke down. A blue van was the local shop. I look back and what an absolute hole it really was. So glad they were pulled down.
I lived in 2 different flats in Hulme, the now demolished Lupton Walk and later Epping Walk. There's nothing to be nostalgic about the Hulme of the late 80s/early 90s, too much crime, fear filled the air especially after dark. I felt sorry for my old neighbours, and now that I'm older I understand what an awful place it must have been to be old and alone in.
@Jerry Cornelius How good that you're replying some 2 years after post ! Good too that you have a fond memory of that place, I don't but we're all alone in this life and cherish what helps us in it.
@Jerry Cornelius Actually I had a few good nights there - between the sheets. But it wasn't love. In fact an enduring memory I have of living in Lupton Walk is listening to Eurythmics 'Miracle of love' over and over again, and looking onto Bonsall Street. One day the miracle did happen but not in Hulme, but just a mile or so away in the city centre. Still together.
@Jerry Cornelius We might have bumped into one another back then, started 'frequenting' Hulme in 88, moved to Lupton Walk in 89, Epping Walk 89 to 91. Sounds naff but Journey's 'Don't stop believin' is coming to mind now. I ain't rich but I have got love, it's all about what we really prioritise I think.
My great aunt, Joanna used to live there in the 1970s. She was a little, old lady. Unfortunately, she got mugged more than once. Lads took her handbag right out of her hand and she was defenseless. My father tried his best to help her, by doing some shopping. I think the council made a huge mistake building those cresents.
Wilson and Womersley actually compared their "Crescents" to the ones in Bath. I had a copy of the slim brochure that they produced for a curiously-gullible City Council. Many of the City's housing-projects like this giant one were only "good" for a 20-year life (at best) before they became structurally- and socially uninhabitable.
Most of the houses knocked down for this weren't slums. A lot of houses left were worse than the houses knocked down. They were mansion houses but they became run down by landlords.
Hi thanks for this. My friendship group lived there and I will never forget the shock when first visiting as a teen frm a nice suburb. It was so futuristic at night. they had outdoor lifts with a wide recess in them "for coffins". A lot of the accommodation on crescents were three bedroom houses; given to single people on welfare. You got the rooms with no floor coverings; furniture or appliances. Council policy is to strip empty flats.They would struggle in one room in the cold. Flats given to single people, students, people under "Care in the Community". . People needing emergency accommodation. No tenants "well versed in running a household". You cant build a community like that. You need some people who will wash the car and maintain routines. Boring but it creates a sense of security. Same policy seen in "Pruitt Igo" documentary; same result.
i lived on freeman walk 1;16 i remember playing rounders hide and seek waiting for mr bibby at the back was martinscroft primary and in front the gamecock pub. we were the first family to have a payphone and colour tv I'm a script writer now and hulme was a great setting for many dramas ps hated the mice and bedbugs!!!
Cool, I bet there was plenty inspiration from this hell house. I made a little film about sink estates, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-seBzv3bOE5w.html
I used to to the Kitchen an after hours party every Wednesday,Friday and sometimes Saturdays on the top floor after we had been the Hacienda.The Jam M.Cs DJed there and they were ace.It was sketchy as fuck but I loved it.I didn't have to live their though.
Thanks for posting this. I read about the Hulme Crescents in "The Secret Lives of Buildings", it's interesting to actually see them. Apparently things get worse after this documentary, when they ban families from living there ...
They destroyed a community, pulled it down again, and rebuilt it even worse. Our family lived on Hulton Street, knew every neighbour, everyone helped everyone else. They swept away the community spirit and moved everyone out to what was supposed to be nicer and more modern, but never thought of the consequences to people and community. These were slum areas, but they could have forced the property owners to improve their properties rather than pay them a boat load of money so they could pull them down. It wasnt the people that created the slums, it was the landlords and the council. Our family was moved out to Sale, to a nice new modern estate, most of those houses are now falling down...
I used to get driven past these flats in the 80's whenever my Dad would take me into town for shopping or to go to the library. Hulme had a threatening air about it and I used to shudder at the thought of anyone having to live there.
as an american, (even with the architectural dissimilarity) this really reminds me of what i've heard about places here like pruitt-igoe very interesting.
@@thornbird6768. We usually call them "Concrete Jungles." But yeah! You're absolutely right. There like the Projects in America. But I'm guessing you've obviously got way more Gun crimes. I'm not saying we can't get hold of any in the UK, but its legal to own a Gun in America, with a permit. 🤷♂️
there is ultimately no difference in european and american "projects" aside from cultural differences between countries. essentially merging 100 apartment buildings into one hyperdense zone is a concept doomed to fail. regular apartment buildings are usually bad enough, but anyone living in one of these projects is basically participating in a real time human experiment by governments at how cheap and dense can people be clumped together without the human rights organizations on your neck.
+James Mahoney Hey James, I moved to Manchester about seven years ago and am really interested in the crescents and what people thought about them before they were demolished! What was your experience of living there? Why was it bad memories?
+Edwina McEachran Hi my experience was i loved the place and people but i was born in 1974 and grew up a teenager there,there was clubs,pubs,blues to go to my memories was good although the developers got the design wrong with the flats and some of my friends from other areas of manchster said it was like a ghetto me being a teenager didnt see it that way as it had spirit,you live in new hulme?
What was the energy like? I imagine it was full of young people enjoying the rawness of it all. I live in whalley range, and walk past the site most days and always wonder what it was like. So many different opinions, the older generation seem to loathe the memory of it, younger people like yourself seem to have embraced it for what it was, and have much happier memories of it! Shame there seems to be hardly any pubs left in Hulme, all knocked down or empty!!
+Edwina McEachran The energy was vibrant for me personally i seem to have so much to do,maybe because i was young and it had a community spirit,it wasnt a nice place to look at like hulme now but the hulme now dont have spirit like it did though it was run down,i live in salford now 10 years and when ever i go back to hulme it doesnt feel like hulme though its all new and done up and i do think people will have different views on the place maybe contrasting as thats probably what it was.
+Edwina McEachran The energy was vibrant for me personally i seem to have so much to do,maybe because i was young and it had a community spirit,it wasnt a nice place to look at like hulme now but the hulme now dont have spirit like it did though it was run down,i live in salford now 10 years and when ever i go back to hulme it doesnt feel like hulme though its all new and done up and i do think people will have different views on the place maybe contrasting as thats probably what it was.
omg at the orange buses lol cockroach crescents,wouldn't mind but when they ripped these down they threw new buildings up without treating the land so I bet they've still got cockroaches,you had to turn the light on wait for the cockroaches to bugger off before you could go into that room,just going to the loo at night was great fun
i watched your vid and realised the bit thats missing is where they interview my mum in our old flat about the cockroach infestation it would be funny to see the whole version if you have it cheders
As the great gladys knight sang... Try to remember We look back and we think the winters we're warmer. The grass was greener. The skies were bluer! but we kids from the crescent.. Our smiles were bright. We didn't no any better. 😕
They was nice inside , my Nan lived at Coverdale Crescent for many years until knocked down , went upstairs to bed , and a little veranda to sit at , they used to stand out talking all hours , Community back then . Rip Nan xx
I live in an Edwardian terrace in Walworth, South London and many flats are owned by Southwark Council... Let me tell you that the appearance of the building has NOTHING to do with the problems that have been associated with Brutalism
ive watched this video a few times, now i feel like i should leave my own comment, i think the video details are a little bit far fetched i livd here , i lived in william kent 530, cant believe i still remember my door number, i do remember alot more most of it good, but hey i was only 7yrs old, but you never forget
There is a book about the Yorkshire Ripper that quotes from this documentary. One of his victims lived [very briefly, in late 1977] at Lingbeck Crescent, although I don't know if that Crescent is on this. His other Manchester victim was also from Hulme [Greenham Avenue]
Its true. Her body was found by Coronation St star Les Battersby on zn allottment opposite St Berbadettes Church, Princess Parkway. Her name was Jean McDonald a mother of two
That's a fair comment, but it's not always just about where you are, it's sometimes also about the trajectory you're on. I also had a mate who lived there... he was also a student at Madchester Uni and in a fairly successful band. I hope you're doing well now. Hulme does have a lot of character though, for sure.
I worked there several times as a telephone engineer in the 70's. I saw the original designer sketches for it too which looked great in their pastel colours. As stated in the commentary they were designed to recreate the terraced houses but the decks created isolation. Went to a few 'blues' parties there which were always colourful! I saw them being demolished in the early 80's. I'll never forget the sight of black smoke billowing out of the glassless windows as the buildings collapsed and
@@mrkallen no. No kids. Dillon was a one-off. lol He used to eat oranges, and his farts reeked. We were very good friends, and used to live upstairs on the 300 level.
Haha. My mates would call for me and Dillon would see them from across the balcony & would run after them, one of my mates actually jumped off the balcony to escape. Needless to say, it got to the point where no1 would come and knock on for me to play out.
JACKSON CRESENT WAS OPEN OPEN BEFORE 1968 WENT TO THE MOVIES IN JACKSON CRESENT UNIT 4.CINAMA MAM AND DAD LIVED IN NUMBER 15 JACKSON CRESENT ... AREA BECAME A BOG NOT LONG AFTER………
I wonder if it was the first major building contract the councilor's could get a bung/back hander of the contractors for a while, nothing to do with mobilising working classes at all, Bath crescents my arse.Could tell at a glance it was a brutalist fake famous french architect (forget his name ha)corveir or something,nightmare made on the cheap but charged the earth for quick gain housing scam catastrophe.Thanks G.M.C.
Etties party on John Nash crsnt was a top night £1 in £1 dumplings.and |Tania Marie!!!. (come with me ) Tune!!! back in the eighties. was an awful place...5 floors of boxes, but we worked with what we had.
+Sean McClearn Hey Sean, I'm interested in the crescents, and have been trying to find people who lived near or around the area before they were demolished! What were the club nights like? Did you live there or just went for parties?
Every time I get a bus (86) from Chorlton ( where I live from 1965 to 2010) to Manchester town , the black youths come in from Hulmes , everyone frozen cos they started rioted, abusive, threatened at us for no reason, so it’s stopped when the whole crappy council flats demolitions order by Tory’s Micheal Heseltine. so nutters disappeared. Happy memories!
It was a man called cha cha threw his dog off it survived and eventually cha cha was found dead in his flat on Charles Barry with his loyal dog that had eaten half his face away..true story .if you lived round there you would remember this???
