Click on the sound file below to hear a clip from an interview that Micheal Goodger did with a resident who lived in Salford prior to the demolishing of terraced houses. Around 1967 Goodger visited several residents, interviewed, filmed and photographed them and their living conditions for his film The Changing Face of Salford.
I picked this short clip from the interview because the resident was quite emphatic calling Salford a slum now and a palace in the past. Was he just nostalgic? Goodger’s photographs show a lot of derelict houses but also some very well maintained ones. This suggests that some terraces were indeed falling apart but does that make Salford a slum?
Unfortunately, Goodger’s photograph only state ‘House with Garden’ and ‘James Henry Street’. Does anyone remember where these houses were? Also, why would Gordon call Salford as a whole a slum when his neighbours would be adamant that it was not a slum? What is your opinion about the word ‘slum’ to describe Salford at that time?
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The audio clip is very interesting.
The man being interviewed echoes thoughts that have been prevalent at different intervals over the past 100 years in Salford. Even today, on Facebook groups, “things were better in my day” is a common refrain. Either Salford has been steadily declining for the past century years or our memories are tinged with nostalgia bias, perhaps a yearning for when we felt at our happiest (usually when we were young).
I was born in Salford (Lower Broughton) in 1970, lived through the ongoing ‘slum clearances’ before moving to a new council estate in Higher Broughton toward the end of the 70s. Our terrace was one of the last in the area to be demolished, and I don’t think my parents ever looked back with too much regret or fondness once we had moved.
Entering the new home for the first time was and still is a magical memory. A garden, front and back. Central heating. Indoor toilet. Well-lit rooms throughout. A large kitchen and diner. These basics were luxuries to us back then. And no more mice and rats running around! For me at least, the Salford I left behind was far from a palace. To the eight year old me, though, the new Salford was close. Very close.